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Tag: United Kingdom

Tag Archives: United Kingdom

21Feb/23

15-minute cities: how to separate the reality from the conspiracy theory

February 21, 2023Environment9/11 conspiracy theories, Alessia Calafiore, Alex Nurse, Anne Hidalgo, Carlos Moreno, Conspiracy theories, Conspiracy theories in the United States, Creative Commons, Denialism, Geography of England, Liverpool, Local government in the United Kingdom, Neighbourhood, Paris, Richard J. Dunning, Theory, United Kingdom, Urban planningadmin

Alex Nurse, University of Liverpool; Alessia Calafiore, The University of Edinburgh, and Richard J. Dunning, University of Liverpool

Conspiracy theories aren’t a new thing, and for as long as they’ve been around they’ve ranged from the benign to the absurd. From the six moon landings being faked to the Earth being flat, or our ruling class being lizards, we’ve all probably come across them in one form or another.

Yet, in a surprise twist, the hottest conspiracy theory of 2023 comes from an unlikely corner: town planning. This relates to the idea of “the 15-minute city” and has even gone so far as to be mentioned in UK parliament by an MP who called the idea “an international socialist concept” that will “cost us our personal freedom”.

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17Feb/23

Kids’ online safety: A fragile balance

February 17, 2023SecurityBill, Child protection, Digital media, Elizabeth, Frankfurt, Frankfurt Airport, Human behavior, Humans, Iceland, Identity management, India, Internet privacy, Joe Biden, London, New Delhi, Parental controls, Privacy, Privacy law, Samuel Woodhams Digital, SNAPCHAT, Social media, Thomson Reuters Foundation, United Kingdom, United Statesadmin

By Samuel Woodhams | Digital rights researcher and journalist

Last week, Joe Biden sounded the alarm over the lack of child protections online during his State of the Union address. He called for a ban on the collection of kids’ personal data and the prohibition of targeted advertising to children, saying: “We must finally hold social media companies accountable for the experiment they are running on our children for profit.”
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07Feb/23

Turkey-Syria earthquakes: a seismologist explains what has happened

February 7, 2023EnvironmentAftershock, Baghdad, Cairo, Creative Commons, Earthquake, Earthquakes, Egypt, Iraq, Istanbul, Jenny Jenkins, Mechanics, Olancha Earthquake Sequence, Ridgecrest earthquakes, Seismology, Syria, Turkey, Types of earthquake, United Kingdomadmin

Jenny Jenkins, Durham University

An extremely large earthquake has occurred in the southeast of Turkey, near the border with Syria. Data from seismometers which measure shaking of the ground caused by earthquake waves suggest this this event, in the early morning of February 6, was a magnitude 7.8 out of 10 on the moment magnitude scale. Seismic waves were picked up by sensors around the world (you can watch them ripple through Europe) including places as far away as the UK.

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05Feb/23

Six parts of your car that gather data on you

February 5, 2023TransportArtificial intelligence, Automatic identification and data capture, Automatic number-plate recognition, Control engineering, Creative Commons, ECall, Electronic control unit, Electronic toll collection, Embedded systems, Power control, Rachael Medhurst, Road traffic management, Seat belt, SHUTTERSTOCK, Technology, United Kingdom, Walesadmin

Rachael Medhurst, University of South Wales

You can tell a lot about someone from the car they drive. The data that many vehicles now collect can reveal the patterns of our daily lives and provide insights into our behaviour, actions and even our state of mind.

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31Jan/23

THE WHO: THE WHO WITH ORCHESTRA LIVE AT WEMBLEY

January 31, 2023MusicAlbums, Concept albums, I'm One, London, Mod revival, Musicians, Pete Townshend, Quadrophenia, Record labels, Rock musicals, Rock operas, The Who, Tommy, United Kingdomadmin

On July 6, 2019, The Who headlined Wembley Stadium in London for the first time in forty years. The show was the only U.K. date on their ‘Moving On’ Tour and featured the band accompanied by an over 50-piece orchestra performing classic tracks from Quadrophenia, Tommy, Who’s Next, Who Are You and more as well tracks from their WHO album, their first studio release in thirteen years. Continue reading

30Jan/23

Deep Fake Neighbour Wars: ITV’s comedy shows how AI can transform popular culture

January 30, 2023TelevisionAdrienne De Ruiter, Applications of computer vision, Ariana Grande, Artificial intelligence applications, Chris Ume, Computer graphics, Conor McGregor, Corridor Digital, Creative Commons, Daniel Emmet, Deep learning, Deepfake, deepfakes, Dominic Lees, Donald Trump, Elizabeth, Elizabeth II, framestore, Fred Sassy, Greta Thunberg, Human behavior, Humans, Idris Elba, Julie Andrews, Kanye West, Keanu Reeves, Kendrick Lamar, Kim Kardashian, Kobe Bryant, Lisa Bode, London, Los Angeles, Mark Zuckerberg, Mashup, matt stone, Nico Pueringer, Nipsey Hussle, OJ Simpson, Pornography, Sam Gorski, Simon Cowell, Sweden, The Technology S, Tom Cruise, Tom Graham, Trey Parker, United Kingdom, Viral videoadmin

Dominic Lees, University of Reading

ITVX’s Deep Fake Neighbour Wars is the breakthrough in television’s use of artificial intelligence that experts in the cultural use of deepfakes like myself have been waiting for.

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27Jan/23

The spy clause and the end of anonymity

January 27, 2023SecurityAnonymity, Canada, China, Computer networking, Computing, Cryptography, David Kaye, Digital technology, Hamilton, Human rights, Instant messaging, Internet privacy, Iran, Manchester, Mathew Ryder, Phil Bradley-, Rebecca Mackinnon, Russia, Samuel Woodhams Digital, Social networking services, Terms of service, Thomson Reuters Foundation, United Kingdom, Virtual private network, WhatsAppadmin

By Samuel Woodhams | Digital rights researcher and journalist

The long, turbulent history of UK’s Online Safety Bill can be traced back to 2017, with the publication of the Internet Safety Strategy green paper. Since then, the proposed legislation has gone through endless revisions, been delayed and, at times, looked like it might be dropped entirely. Continue reading →

24Jan/23

Researchers from University of Birmingham, U.K., show novel adaptation for existing furnaces could reduce steelmaking emissions by 90%

January 24, 2023EnvironmentBlast furnace, Building materials, Carbon dioxide, Chemistry, Furnace, Industrial furnaces, Industrial processes, Industrial Revolution, Physical sciences, Smelting, Steel, Steelmaking, United Kingdomadmin

Researchers from the University of Birmingham, U.K., have designed a novel adaptation for existing iron and steel furnaces that could reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the steelmaking industry by nearly 90%.

This radical reduction is achieved through a ‘closed loop’ carbon recycling system, which could replace 90% of the coke typically used in current blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace systems and produces oxygen as a biproduct. Continue reading

24Jan/23

Prince Harry is wrong: unconscious bias is not different to racism

January 24, 2023Human InterestAcademic disciplines, Anthony Greenwald, Articles, Bias, Brian Nosek, Creative Commons, Discrimination, Harry, Hatred, Implicit-association test, Institutional racism, Keir Starmer, Mahzarin Banaji, Meghan Tinsley, Psychological testing, Psychology, Racism, Social psychology, Tom Bradby, United Kingdom, United Statesadmin

Meghan Tinsley, University of Manchester

When Prince Harry sat down with ITV journalist Tom Bradby for a conversation about his marriage, his estrangement from the royal family and his tell-all memoir, Spare, one particular segment stood out. Bradby said that Harry had accused some members of his family of racism, but Harry shook his head firmly.

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21Jan/23