Quantum advantage is the milestone the field of quantum computing is fervently working toward, where a quantum computer can solve problems that are beyond the reach of the most powerful non-quantum, or classical, computers. Quantum refers to the scale of atoms and molecules where the laws of physics as we experience them break down and...
The comprehensive, even sweeping, set of guidelines for artificial intelligence that the White House unveiled in an executive order on Oct. 30, 2023, show that the U.S. government is attempting to address the risks posed by AI. As a researcher of information systems and responsible AI, I believe the executive order represents an important step...
Getting readers of a news story interested in numbers can be a challenge. But the benefits of engaging readers in data can lead to a better understanding, preventing misinformation and misrepresentation in the news. New research by Haiyan Jia, assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and Communication and the Data X Initiative at Lehigh University,...
Two-thousand years ago, forts were constructed by the Roman Empire across the northern Fertile Crescent, spanning from what is now western Syria to northwestern Iraq. In the 1920s, 116 forts were documented in the region by Father Antoine Poidebard, who conducted one of the world’s first aerial surveys using a WWI-era biplane. Poidebard reported that...
Knowing How Technology and Artificial Intelligence Have—and Have Not—Affected Jobs in Recent Decades Offers Insight into How They Could Affect the Future of Work No matter how helpful it is, technology has always generated some worker anxiety. Tailors rioted against quick-stitching sewing machines in their day, and, centuries later, the invention of mechanical switching likely bred a...
Young people (24 years and younger) spend an average of six hours a day online, primarily using their smartphones, according to research from the University of Surrey. Older people (those 24 years and older) spend 4.6 hours online. Surrey’s study, which involved 796 participants, introduces a new internet addiction spectrum, categorising internet users into five...
A genetic testing company publicly stored consumers’ genetic data with no encryption. The FTC stepped in. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has finalized an order with 1Health.io (formerly Vitagene), a genetic testing company that was the subject of a June 2023 FTC complaint. 1Health.io, to quote the FTC’s recent press release, “left sensitive genetic and health data unsecured,...
A new study shows unprecedented heat is likely to lead to the next mass extinction since the dinosaurs died out, eliminating nearly all mammals in some 250 million years time. The research, published in Nature Geoscience and led by the University of Bristol, presents the first-ever supercomputer climate models of the distant future and demonstrates how...
For the first time, scientists have mapped the reproductive strategies and life cycle of an endangered coral species, offering hope it can be clawed back from the path to extinction. The purple cauliflower soft coral, Dendronephthya australis, is endemic to south-eastern Australia, with the largest populations historically found in the Port Stephens estuary in New South...
Almost 80% of plastic in the waste stream ends up in landfills or accumulates in the environment. Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists have developed a technology that converts a conventionally unrecyclable mixture of plastic waste into useful chemicals, presenting a new strategy in the toolkit to combat global plastic waste. The technology, invented by ORNL’s...
