How the next-generation bots is interfering with the US election
Social-media platforms such as Twitter were used to sow discord in the United States in the run up to the 2016 presidential election, according to a report finalised this year by the US Senate. Russian operatives used tools such as bots — automated accounts that share content — in an...
Why schools are unlikely coronavirus hotspots
Data gathered worldwide are increasingly suggesting that schools are not hotspots for coronavirus infections. Despite fears, Covid-19 infections did not surge when schools and day-care centres reopened after pandemic lockdowns eased. And when outbreaks do occur, they mostly result in only a small number of people becoming ill. However, research...
Analysis: How the experts messed up on coronavirus
Masks work? NO.” Scott Atlas, a member of Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, wrote a tweet the Saturday before last that opened with these words — only to find it deleted by Twitter a day later. In the offending tweet, Atlas had written that the World Health Organisation (WHO) and...
Irony of climate scientists flying more often than other researchers
In recent years, a growing number of climate-change researchers have made the conscious decision to reduce their carbon footprints by avoiding air travel or flying less. But an analysis suggests that, despite these efforts, climate researchers travel and fly more than those who work in other disciplines. The study, published...
Should African countries fire sell their oil and gas assets?
Does the energy transition imply a total ban on fossil fuels and should countries fire sell their oil and gas assets? No, energy transition does not mean a total ban on fossil fuels. In simple terms, energy transition refers to a shift from fossil fuels to cleaner forms of energy....
Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala wins WTO director-general seat
Nigeria’s former finance minister and a former managing director of the World Bank, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has become the first female Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), shattering the glass ceiling. Okonjo-Iweala broke the glass ceiling, emerging as the first African and the first female to attain the position...
Lab-brain: Fuzzy definitions and ethical concerns
Some scientists think it is futile to even try to identify consciousness in any sort of lab-maintained brain. “It’s just impossible to say meaningful things about what these bunches of brain cells could think or perceive, given we don’t understand consciousness,” says Steven Laureys, a neurologist at the University of...
Can consciousness be created in a laboratory?
Almost all scientists and ethicists agree that so far, nobody has created consciousness in the lab. But they are asking themselves what to watch out for and which theories of consciousness might be most relevant. According to an idea called integrated information theory, for example, consciousness is a product of...
Scientists grapple with ‘if lab-grown brains can be conscious’
In Alysson Muotri’s laboratory, hundreds of miniature human brains, the size of sesame seeds, float in Petri dishes, sparking with electrical activity. These tiny structures, known as brain organoids, are grown from human stem cells and have become a familiar fixture in many labs that study the properties of the...
Air pollution tied to 15 per cent of Covid-19 deaths
Long-term exposure to air pollution may be linked to 15 per cent of Covid-19 deaths globally, according to a new study. Published in the journal Cardiovascular Research on Tuesday, the research from German and Cypriot experts analysed health and disease data from the United States and China relating to air...
