Category: Technology

A collection of miscellaneous artefacts from Caherconnell Cashel. Michelle Comber Popular media, from computer games to movies, often portrays medieval life as being dominated by fighters and farmers. In these depictions, there’s little evidence of a world beyond political struggle and simple subsistence. Leisure activities are often overlooked, despite the fact that they existed in […]

BEIJING — Tech giant Xiaomi has reached a landmark 800,000 electric vehicle (EV) deliveries just 29 months after handing over its first production car. The rapid scaling of the company’s automotive division highlights a major shift toward software-defined, hyper-automated manufacturing in China’s competitive EV market. At full operating speed, Xiaomi’s 720,000-square-meter Beijing EV plant rolls […]

Grok's Odysseus wears cloth we have no evidence for. Grok Imagine Tech billionaire Elon Musk was up in arms about the recent adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey by director Christopher Nolan, which he heavily criticised for its diverse casting and accused of lacking historical accuracy. Claiming he wanted to show that artificial intelligence could bypass traditional […]

This autumn looks like it could be a good year to spot large numbers of wild mushrooms. Already many can be seen covering tree roots and shady spots. Mushrooms are the part of certain fungi that you see above ground. The rest of it is either underground or within a tree trunk. All mushrooms are […]

Hackers have stolen around US$6.3 billion (£4.7 billion) from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, most of which was taken in under an hour. According to Binance, the attack exploited systems and individuals with the authority to carry out transactions involving such large sums. Such vulnerabilities exist everywhere; statistics show that people and the systems they directly […]

Ales stenar (Ale’s Stones) in southern Sweden is a monumental Iron Age stone ship-setting overlooking the Baltic Sea. These structures were graves or cremations surrounded by stones in the shape of a ship. It dates to around 600–1000 AD and broadly coincides with the period of back-migration into the region. Nicolas Delgado Clausen, CC BY […]

The use of digital agriculture is expanding across Africa. Tools like artificial intelligence (AI), sensors and blockchain are helping farmers receive information about weather, pests, markets and farm management. AI can analyse images and other farm data to detect problems or support decisions. Digital traceability systems can record where food comes from and what happens […]

Wikimedia We think of artificial intelligence based on large language models as a discovery of our own moment. But Jonathan Swift – yes, the writer of Gulliver’s Travels (1726) – foresaw it all in the 18th century. In our modern world we are repeatedly told by companies, governments, journalists and others that our lives can […]

Autumn walks in Britain are glorious, as the foliage changes colour and cool crisp air begins to bite. However, some of these European trees hide a much darker secret. For example, the yew tree’s lovely red arils – the cup-shaped coverings around the seeds – carry toxins that may have been used to poison arrow […]