23Feb/24

Dating apps are accused of being ‘addictive’. What makes us keep swiping?

Dr Anastasia Hronis, University of Technology Sydney

A class-action lawsuit filed in the United States against Match Group – the parent company of dating apps Tinder, Hinge and The League – is making headlines around the world.

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19Feb/24

History’s crisis detectives: how we’re using maths and data to reveal why societies collapse – and clues about the future

Daniel Hoyer, University of Toronto

American humorist and writer Mark Twain is believed to have once said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

I’ve been working as a historian and complexity scientist for the better part of a decade, and I often think about this phrase as I follow different strands of the historical record and notice the same patterns over and over.

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12Feb/24

How AI could change our relationship with religion

Sreevas Sahasranamam, University of Glasgow

Science and faith are often kept in two distinct boxes that hardly ever intersect. However, I believe that as AI becomes more mainstream, it will fundamentally alter our engagement with faith and spirituality.

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11Feb/24

conspiracy theories are the result of two sets of hardcore fans colliding

Melissa Avdeeff, University of Stirling

At Super Bowl LVIII, Taylor Swift will appear on the field at Allegiant Stadium after her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s team, the Kansas City Chiefs, wins the game. But she won’t be performing. Swift’s appearance will be a Pentagon-backed psy-op to turn the rigged game into a calculated political endorsement, to secure the 2024 presidential election for Joe Biden.

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10Feb/24

The rise of African prophets: the unchecked power of the leaders of Pentecostal churches

Josiah Taru, Rice University

Over the last 20 years there’s been an unprecedented increase in charismatic Pentecostal prophets – or men of God as they’re called in Pentecostal parlance. Across Africa their unchecked influence has spread into social, economic and political institutions.

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09Feb/24

Orca Scan launches three-step solution to connect millions of retail products to the internet

Cambridge-based software company Orca Scan has partnered with GS1 UK, the UK arm of the global not-for-profit association that sets and maintains standards for barcodes, to help brands upgrade traditional barcodes on their product packaging to the next generation of GS1 Digital Link QR codes. Read more

09Feb/24

Ax-3 Astronauts Splashdown, Completing First All-European Commercial Astronaut Mission to ISS

After undocking from the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, Feb. 7, the Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) crew safely splashed down off the coast of Florida aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at 8:30 a.m. ET on Feb. 9, 2024. The Ax-3 crew’s return officially concludes the first all-European commercial astronaut mission and Axiom Space’s third crewed mission to the ISS. Read more