Worldcrunch
Gugliemo Marconi, the legendary Italian inventor of wireless communication, the man who connected the world, is not celebrated as he should be — because of his politics. As Italy marks the 150th anniversary of his birth, it may be time for the nation to finally come to terms with Marconi the inventor and the entrepreneur — and let go of the fact that he was a member of the Fascist Party.
Researchers are testing eDNA as a tool to locate lost soldiers’ remains. Can the approach one day help solve crimes?
An investigation reveals that the company does not own any of the three renewable power plants it claims to operate in Spain — as well as a scheme allowing Amazon to dodge full regulatory oversight of its projects.
Home to the unicorn Vinted, Lithuania’s capital is fostering its image as a Northern European tech hub and cultural capital, in an effort to attract new businesses and talents — despite its cold weather and two difficult neighbors: Russia and Belarus.
No single, unified list exists of all species cataloged by humans. Some scientists want that to change.
Faced with the challenges of population growth and climate change, the development of new technologies such as precision fermentation or cultured meat are paving the way to an era of new food.
For the scientist who performs medicial research on the recently deceased, there are few regulatory or ethical guardrails.
Safety or addiction concerns about TikTok are very real. But would U.S. elected officials seek to ban or control this social network if it were not Chinese? Are U.S. social networks less harmful? For France Inter, Pierre Haski warns us to take a step back when pointing the finger at TikTok.
Located between Marrakech and Casablanca, the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University is trying to replicate the recipes that have made the United States’ Silicon Valley successful, fusing research and business — with special attention given to green energies and food sovereignty.
An endeavor to retrieve samples from the red planet is in the works. Some scientists wonder if it’s a wise investment.
The American billionaire and founder of Tesla and SpaceX is increasingly openly supporting the ideas of the radical right and Donald Trump. Long gone are the days when Silicon Valley voted Democrat: Elon Musk is the embodiment of this openly self-assured “tech right”.
Following the announcement of Colombia’s first rare earths mining project, Climate Tracker reports on the incomplete licenses, unreal expectations, bad relationships with indigenous populations and suspicion of planted minerals that surround the venture, which seeks to extract minerals critical for the energy transition.
Sweden recently announced that the country’s schools will remove digital technology from classrooms because of poor student performance. Some ask how useful is digital learning. But it also poses the question: is “digital de-escalation” even possible?
Despite the lack of tangible evidence that the Chinese-owned social media platform poses a security risk, the recent vote at the House of Representatives in favor of banning TikTok from the U.S. shows that none of this matters, when it’s China we’re talking about.
The threats posed by advanced AI are serious and varied. Among them is a direct threat to capitalism so much that in the end we will be faced with a choice between two systems: a new form of communism or unchecked chaos.
Apple’s announcement that it has discontinued its car project is bigger than it may seem. It is a serious admission that a car revolution is not as close as we thought — and really good news for German automakers.
A document leak from a major hacking company opens the door to the Chinese system of digital espionage and influence, which is part of worldwide system that is changing the nature of geopolitics.
French researchers have recovered a pair of viruses that were long frozen below the Siberian tundra. In this case, the microorganisms are harmless, but others may not be.
The competition dreamed up by Spain’s former soccer star Gerard Piqué is developing at breakneck speed in Spain, and beyond. Thanks to a fun format and rules borrowed from a number of other sports, it is attracting a younger audience, which is something advertisers are keen to see.
In Oulu, Finland, near the Arctic Circle, 500 researchers at the 6G Flagship laboratory are already outlining the next generation of mobile technology, due to arrive by 2030. Nokia’s homeland wants to turn the page on 5G, which failed to win over the industry.
The Skiif navigation app relies on GPS and user data to tell skiers which chairlifts are crowded…and where accidents have backed up traffic on the slopes. Sound familiar?
Artificial intelligence can now provide you with a friend or a romantic partner — for a fee. Italian daily La Stampa tested whether true romance can blossom between human and machine, or if it’s the ultimate bug…
Chatbots and other machine learning tools could make the legal system more equitable for those seeking civil justice, or it could do other things with that power too….
Whether we’re kids or adults, with different risks and problems posed, we share the same challenge: how to use screens, and use them well.
There have been increasing incidents at the regional level that indicate the Kremlin is developing a system, with elements from Chinese and Iranian censorship, to restrict internet access to build a new higher level of control over information.
Francesco Profumo, a former Italian education minister and the current rector of the Open Institute of Technology, explains why artificial intelligence needs a voice like Father Paolo Benanti, the only theologian on the UN Committee on Artificial Intelligence.
Streaming video channels that allows interactive home shopping has been booming in China, and is beginning to win over customers abroad as a cheap and cheerful way of selling products to millions of consumers glued to the screen.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide laws are still largely taboo, as Italy has been reminded recently. Still, lawmakers from New Zealand to Peru to Switzerland and beyond are gradually giving more space for people to choose to get help to end their lives — sometimes with new and innovative technological methods.
Rationalism and technology are no longer tools in our hands but govern our lives, in a depressing world of our own making.
Stuffed toys, fetish objects, lucky charms, pets — we all have our comforting objects or companions, even if we sometimes find it hard to admit to ourselves. It’s an anthropological need that makes our lives more comfortable. But with smartphones, chatbots, and soon robots, taking up a new role as our future companions, we need to rethink whether our new, digital teddy bears create more harm than they provide comfort.
To avoid succumbing to machines, we must understand the difference between risk and danger, argues noted Italian technology ethicist Paolo Benanti.
Amid a mounting sense of urgency about the threat of climate change, our smartphones’ human and environmental consequences are back in the spotlight — and so are the solutions to minimize their impact.
In the short term, a fall in consumption of material objects would be an economic and social catastrophe. In the long term, it is necessary.
It’s an opportunity to recreate an otherwise bypass cultural moment. But there are limitations in combining live music and a pre-recorded voice: You can’t respond to the temperament of the audience. You can’t speed it up when required
If computing power becomes a major tool for superpowers like China and the U.S., then what does the latest U.S. technology blockade mean for the race to a more powerful AI? Honk Kong-based daily The Initium looks at the nuclear race of our time, with chips as the modern-day equivalent of enriched uranium.
As COP28 heats up, a close-up look at the massive European earth observatory program 25 years after its creation, with its disturbing monthly reports of a planet that has gotten hotter than ever.
Putting the latest AI breakthroughs at the service of national security raises major practical and ethical questions for the Pentagon.
Authorities in Moscow continue to struggle to stem the tide of data breaches from hackers inside and outside Ukraine, who have been one of the unsung heroes in the resistance to the Russian invasion.
As the importance of the global microchip economy continues to grow, companies like Intel may one day reign supreme over today’s corporate giants: Meta, Apple and Google. And, in a measure some are calling “reverse globalization,” production is beginning to move back into the Global North, including Poland. In a rare visit to Intel’s factories in Malaysia, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza takes a look into what the future of its manufacturing will look like.
“Ghost Kitchens” or “Dark Kitchens” — restaurants that only serve delivery customers — have exploded in the post-pandemic landscape, and are now becoming more common in Europe. In spite of their convenience, many have reported poor working conditions and health code violations.