Humans

Whether it is the science of sleep, the physics that changed the world or the inner lives of bees, we’ve got you covered for holiday reading

Humans

21 July 2022

By Liz Else
NDinfinity/getty images
ONE of the best things about science books is that there is always something new and marvellous to savour when you have enough time. Those who are lucky enough to be going on holiday are spoiled for choice: there has been a book bonanza so far this year from both established heavy hitters and challenging newcomers.
Starting with the ever-popular dinosaurs, Riley Black’s The Last Days of the Dinosaurs is a vivid glimpse into the period just before (and just after) the worst day ever for life on Earth, when a 10-kilometre-wide asteroid ploughed into what is now Yucatán, … More

A Google engineer recently claimed an AI was alive and that it had hired a lawyer. If judges were to accept these claims, it could lead to AIs being frozen in their biased states, writes Annalee Newitz

Humans

| Columnist

20 July 2022

By Annalee Newitz

Shutterstock/PeachShutterStock
IN EARLY June, a Google engineer named Blake Lemoine dropped a bombshell. He told Washington Post reporter Nitasha Tiku that his employer had secretly developed a sentient artificial intelligence, and that it wanted to be free.
The AI in question is called LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications). It is a large language model, or LLM, a type of algorithm that chats with people by drawing on a huge body of text – often from the internet – and predicting which words and phrases are most likely to follow each other. After chatting with LaMDA, Lemoine decided it … More

Chilli plants can thrive in summer and survive the winter even in temperate climes, says the heat-loving Clare Wilson, who offers some top tips

Humans

20 July 2022

By Clare Wilson
GAP Photos/Rachel Warne
CHILLI plants hail from warmer parts of South America. As a result, they aren’t natural candidates for growing in temperate countries like the UK, unless you have a greenhouse. But they also do well in pots, so if you have a suitable spot by a window to nurture them indoors, you can produce a good crop of chilli peppers.
The chilli is such a valuable culinary addition because it contains a chemical called capsaicin that binds to heat receptors called TRPV1 on our tongues, triggering sensations ranging from tingling to agony, depending on the concentration. The discoverer of this process … More

If you can’t leave the country over the holidays, then video games have you covered, whether you fancy flying a plane with Microsoft Flight Simulator or exploring a galaxy of planets with No Man’s Sky, says Jacob Aron

Humans

20 July 2022

By Jacob Aron
Asobo Studios/IGDB

Subnautica
Unknown Worlds Entertainment
PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch

No Man’s Sky
Hello Games
PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

NEXT week, I am leaving the UK for the first time in over half a decade, having been travel-constrained since 2016 by a combination of young children and the coronavirus pandemic. With that in mind, I have been thinking about the best travel … More

Companies are increasingly looking to engender loyalty by tapping into our evolved need to belong. But the emotional costs of bonding sessions and other techniques can be high and the sense of belonging false, warns Jonathan R Goodman

Humans

| Comment

20 July 2022

By Jonathan R. Goodman
Michelle D’urbano
ONE of Apple TV’s latest shows, WeCrashed, is a drama series based on the founding and subsequent travails of WeWork, the workspace-providing company once known for its cult-like culture. The founders of the firm encouraged its employees to blend work and life through ritualistic retreats and events, dubbed Summer Camps, and to view their colleagues and managers as family – a tradition in corporate life that aims to instil a feeling of camaraderie in staff.
At a glance, this, and similar practices in the corporate world, seem really weird, as rituals and familial connections don’t have much to do with the … More

Feedback lifts the veil on the cartoon dogs debunking Russian propaganda, while also checking in on the hunt for the legendary Sasquatch

Humans

20 July 2022

Josie Ford
The dogs of war
Even the stationery cupboard, so well insulated from the outside world, now resounds to the yapping of shiba inus. Cartoon versions of these goofy-looking dogs, sporting tracksuits and fatigues in trademark Volodymyr Zelenskyy chic, are popping up across social media in response to Russian disinformation about the Ukraine invasion. No sooner do you post a pro-Vladimir Putin line, than tens of thousands of GIFs and JPEGs appear in reply, showing the dogs blowing up Russian fuel depots and firing anti-tank weapons.
Behind the dogs lurks NAFO, the North Atlantic Fella Organization. Former US Marine @IamtheWarax says … More

These entrancing orbs look like something plucked from distant universes, but they were in fact created by photographer Charlotte Greenwood using her own spin on cliché-verre printing

Humans

20 July 2022

By Gege Li
Charlotte Greenwood
Photographer Charlotte Greenwood
THESE entrancingly vibrant orbs look like something plucked from an alien planet, but they were in fact created without a camera by photographer Charlotte Greenwood as part of her ongoing project, Cliché-Verres in Colour.
Confined to her home during the lockdowns of the covid-19 pandemic, Greenwood was motivated to pursue a form of photography outside the traditional photographic darkroom. Her technique is based on cliché-verre, which combines photography with painting or drawing on transparent surfaces, such as glass, to create negatives.Advertisement
Greenwood put her own spin on cliché-verre to create these images, which reveal the interaction between traditional art materials and household substances. She wishes to keep her process secret to preserve the mystery and allure of her work, she says.
The top row of images are titled Toxin, Mocha III and Oculus, while the bottom row shows Halcyon, Cerulean and Cosmic Conception 1.
“I present unseen perspectives of the natural world that offer viewers new ways of seeing and allow them to perceive micro details usually invisible to the naked eye,” says Greenwood. “As I work with unpredictable and uncontrollable materials, creating the images is a true collaboration with nature.”

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From an Ancient Egyptian plague to the Black Death and Spanish flu, epidemics have often spurred societal transformations. Understanding why can help us create a better world after covid-19

Humans

18 July 2022

By Laura Spinney
Pete Reynolds
FIRST the pharaoh changed his name, from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten. Then he decreed that a new capital should be built far away from the old one. And in this city, one god should be worshipped, forsaking all others: the sun god Aten. Akhenaten’s heresy didn’t last long, ending with his death less than 20 years later. It was a blip in the 3000 years of cultural stability that characterises Ancient Egypt, but its enduring trace in art and thought places it among the most debated religious revolutions of all time. One common explanation is that Akhenaten was fed up with the powerful priests in the old capital of Thebes, who worshipped many gods.
But what if he was actually fleeing an epidemic? The idea isn’t new, but it has enjoyed a revival since covid-19 arrived. Having lived through the worst pandemic in a century, many Egyptologists and archaeologists are looking back with fresh eyes. They have seen first-hand the social impact a pandemic can have – the exacerbation of inequality, rejection of authority, xenophobia and search for meaning – and realised that these probably aren’t without precedent.
“Communicable disease plays a cultural and economic role that is repeated through time, up to the present day,” says Louise Hitchcock at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Witnessing how tightly entwined social discord, viral ideas and real viruses are, Hitchcock and others are asking if this could explain major cultural shifts throughout history, from Akhenaten’s time to the Black Death and 1918 flu. Could it even explain some of the ideological crosswinds that buffet us now, and that may shape the post-covid world?
The … More