Category: Technology

Modern spiritualism began as a religious movement in the 19th century. It promised to bring the living and dead together in conversation, usually through a medium – a person who claimed an ability to directly contact the deceased. The core foundational belief of spiritualism was that death was not the end – a typical tenet […]

This post is available as a printable one page handout in English and Spanish. Recordings of law enforcement, whether by bystanders or by those directly encountering officers, can be powerful tools of government accountability and can support movements for social change. But recording officers can come with risks. Below are important legal and practical considerations […]

Larry, the Downing Street cat, has had to adapt to seven different prime ministers moving into No 10 over the past decade. Yet while the nation’s attention is fixed on the departing and incoming political leaders, who is thinking about the effect these upheavals might have on one of the property’s most enduring residents? Cats […]

In mid-2026 Cape Town’s city council ended the use of ShotSpotter, a US-developed gunshot detection system and a form of dragnet surveillance. The system was first piloted in 2016. The council said it was reviewing a renewal of the contract. The acoustic system was marketed as being able to detect and alert police officers to […]

mybox / Shutterstock People often take their muscles for granted. They pick up a bag, tighten a grip, climb a hill, hold a cup of coffee and the body quietly adjusts force, speed and position without the person ever thinking about it. Muscle turns chemical energy into movement. It is able to produce force smoothly […]

Watches, bands, and rings—if you want to digitally monitor your fitness, more companies than ever are selling devices to do it. And more Americans than ever now own at least one wearable health device. But what are the companies that make fitness trackers doing to protect our sensitive data from prying eyes? A lot less […]

Dabuch/Shutterstock Summer can be lovely – until a wasp turns up. Whether they present as an irritating picnic visitor or an uninvited loft guest, common social wasps are as much a part of our summer as festivals, sun cream and the growing despair of how to entertain children who’ve forgotten how to be bored. But […]

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is defined as the ability of disease-causing microorganisms to withstand treatments like antibiotics. Often described as a silent pandemic, it is already responsible for an estimated 1.27 million deaths each year, with the highest burden in Africa. Efforts to tackle antibiotic resistance have largely focused on hospitals and clinics, where antibiotic use […]

The European Commission’s decision to fine Google €890 million (US$1 billion) for failing to comply with the EU Digital Markets Act sounds like a significant financial and political intervention against one of the world’s largest technology companies. The ruling is certainly further evidence of Europe’s desire to regulate US big tech platforms more strictly. But […]

The concept of “surveillance pricing” is just one part of a much larger problem and business model: corporations maximizing their profits by invading our privacy. The all-too-common business model is to systematically harvest, collate, and store as much of our personal data as possible, and then monetize it through use and sale. When it comes […]