Tag: pkar

Dr Radha Modgil: Exercise pills… a hard idea to swallow

COMMENT DR RADHA MODGIL: EXERCISE PILLS… A HARD IDEA TO SWALLOW A new pill could offer the physical benefits of an active lifestyle, but what about the boost that exercise can give your mental health? Keep active and get moving are messages we hear a lot of when it comes to wellbeing advice. And with […]

Dr Julia Shaw: How to create a virtual child

COMMENT DR JULIA SHAW: HOW TO CREATE A VIRTUAL CHILD Criminal psychologists and computer scientists are using virtual avatars to train people how to interview vulnerable children Ask a child a question, and you will quickly learn that many of their answers are quite scattered. You ask how their day was, and they respond with […]

Dr Kate Darling: The (squirrel’s) ghost in the machine

COMMENT DR KATE DARLING: THE (SQUIRREL’S) GHOST IN THE MACHINE Why questions about robot sentience can lead to far-reaching conversations about the people we want to be The news media went wild in June over a report that Google engineer Blake Lemoine believed one of the company’s advanced AI systems, LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue […]

Money: Can it buy you happiness?

MONEY: CAN IT BUY YOU HAPPINESS? We all need enough to cover our basic needs, but beyond that the link between wealth and wellness is less clear ‘Money can’t buy you happiness’ is either a well-known piece of folk wisdom, or a tired cliché. Is it right, though? Scientifically speaking, the answer is… mixed. A […]

Dark matter: Is it time we gave up looking for it?

DARK MATTER: IS IT TIME WE GAVE UP LOOKING FOR IT? After decades of looking for dark matter and coming up short, some researchers say we should take the possibility of a new theory of gravity more seriously Two cosmic anomalies tell us that something big is missing from our model of the Universe. First, […]

Rewilding: Is it all just a celebrity cult?

COMMENT REWILDING: IS IT ALL JUST A CELEBRITY CULT? In July, four bison were released in Kent. But is rewilding the best way to boost biodiversity? Rewilding is all the rage. Landowners are exhorted to rewild farmland, moorland and mountains, while governments are asked to commit to rewilding policies. During No-Mow May (a wonderful initiative) […]

Sony WH-1000XM5: The gold standard for headphones

INNOVATIONS PREPARE YOURSELF FOR TOMORROW Sony WH-1000XM5: The gold standard for headphones Some of the best headphones around, says Alex Hughes, but they don’t come cheap Let’s get this bit out of the way, Sony’s new flagship headphones, the WH-1000XM5, cost £379. By any measure that is expensive, even when compared to the likes of […]

First drive: Toyota BZ4X

INNOVATIONS PREPARE YOURSELF FOR TOMORROW First drive: Toyota BZ4X Has Toyota’s first fully electric car been worth the wait, asks Daniel Bennett Toyota isn’t afraid to try new things. It made hybrid cars popular with the Prius, it sold the first commercial hydrogen car with the Mirai, and it’s now working with the Japanese space […]