Category: Technology

Tim Peake Fred Duval / Shutterstock The UK Space Agency (UKSA) has become part of the government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The announcement was made on August 20 2025 by Chris Bryant MP, minister of state for data protection and telecoms. Cutting red tape and duplicative bureaucracy within DSIT and UKSA seems […]

TSViPhoto/Shutterstock Psychologists have long considered how a tendency towards irrational thinking or particular personality traits might predict peoples’ interest in conspiracies. Yet these individual factors do not explain the group processes through which conspiracy theorists are extending their influence and impact. Over five years, we sought out and got to know people on the cusp […]

As generative AI reaches maturity and its limitations become more apparent, a new paradigm is emerging: agentic AI. Touted as the next evolution in artificial intelligence, agentic systems promise autonomy, iterative reasoning, and goal-oriented action. Yet, despite growing interest, the term remains loosely defined and frequently misunderstood—fueling both hype and skepticism. A recent Gartner report […]

In the archaeology galleries of the Yorkshire Museum, an incredible Viking silver neck-ring takes centre stage. The ring is made of four ropes of twisted rods hammer-welded together at each end, its terminals tapering into scrolled S-shaped hooks for fastening behind the neck. Weighing over half a kilo, it makes a less-than-subtle statement about the […]

Orla/Shutterstock I recently asked myself if I’ll still have a healthy brain as I get older. I hold a professorship at a neurology department. Nevertheless, it is difficult for me to judge if a particular brain, including my own, suffers from early neurodegeneration. My new study, however, shows that part of your brain increases in […]

News media shape public understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) and influence how society interacts with these technologies. For many people, especially those who have not sought more knowledge about AI elsewhere, media platforms are a primary source of information. This is particularly significant in Africa, where historical and socioeconomic contexts like colonial legacies and uneven […]

Magellanic penguins in the surf. Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock Poohsticks, the game in which Piglet and Winnie the Pooh throw sticks into the river from one side of a bridge, and then rush over to the other side to see whose stick appears first, is all about current flow. Disappointingly, neither Piglet nor Pooh mention fluid dynamics […]

You might have noticed that humanoid robots are having a bit of a moment. From Tesla’s Optimus to Figure AI’s Figure 02, these machines are no longer just science fiction – they’re walking, and in some cases, cartwheeling into the real world. Now China’s Unitree Robotics, best known for its nimble quadruped robots, has unveiled […]

Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock When I ask a lecture theatre full of students how they would feel if they could never listen to a piece of music again, most are horrified. Many have been plugged into their headphones until the moment the class begins. But without fail, one or two will shyly admit that their lives would not […]

People stop trusting science when it doesn’t meet high expectations. Billion Photos/Shutterstock When people trust science, they can make better decisions, follow helpful rules and work together on big problems like health, climate change and new technology. But if people stop trusting science, it’s easier for false information to spread, and harder to solve those […]