I walked the dog recently along the Thames Path, around the source (or one of the sources, so as not to cause a fight) of the River Thames. This time of year, much of it is all dried up, and you can walk along the bed of what in the winter is full-flowing river. Wondering […]
Can a robot write a symphony? Can it turn a canvas into a beautiful masterpiece?” Can you? This exchange from the film ‘I, Robot’ (and later parodied in a million memes) captures human fears and concerns about coexisting with robots, and what it means to be human. Fast forward 20 years, and artificial intelligence is […]
You will all know this experience. Sitting in a job interview, you are asked your biggest weakness. Desperate to impress, you used a humble brag; I’m a bit of a perfectionist, I get so invested in success. Something similar may have happened in the world of artificial intelligence. Anthropic, the company behind the large language […]
Last week, NHS GPs began prescribing Mounjaro for weight loss for the first time. But for many people reaching out to their doctor, the response is likely to be disappointing – the NHS has made it clear that the drug will only be available to those who meet a strict set of criteria. The public […]
Much jubilation has ensued following the Prime Minister’s announcement that the UK is rejoining the European Union Horizon science programme. Many of my colleagues are extremely relieved that they can at last apply for the fat grants which make careers and reputations for those lucky enough to get them. Heads of large scientific organisations and […]
The financing of companies and investments has a central role in modern society. An entire academic discipline – finance – is devoted to the topic, and it accounts for significant proportions of national economies. Despite its enormous long-run impact on our technological capabilities, however, the way we allocate funding in science is comparatively unexamined. We […]
One of the most radical and potentially life-changing announcements in yesterday’s Budget has attracted the least attention. Instead of going through costly and time-consuming approval processes, Britain will now adopt the best drug and medical device regulatory practices from around the world. Think tanks like the Adam Smith Institute and the Government’s Chief Scientific advisor […]
Science and technology policy is back on the menu for the Westminster village. A new Department for Science, Technology, and Innovation has just been set up. The Advanced Research and Invention Agency is hiring programme managers to deliver their work. The Chancellor is using ChatGPT to write the introduction to his speeches. And rightly so. […]
When it comes to analysing behaviour, is big data beautiful? The corporate behemoths certainly seem to think so. The size and apparent analytical power of the data sets many of them have accumulated has led to much head-scratching, not least among human-run market research firms who fear their stock-in-trade could soon be redundant. Likewise, consumer […]
‘It’s not what they talk about down the Rat and Parrot’, chuckled Chris Mason to Justin Webb this morning on the Today programme. Oh how niche, they laughed, to an audience of people who voluntarily listen to politics news at 7.40 in the morning. I mean, of course, on the one hand they’re right. Reshuffles, […]
Ever since Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein published Nudge in 2008, the theory that bears the same name has been all the rage. Briefly put, ‘nudge theory’ is the idea that small adjustments in the environment (‘nudges’) can influence people’s behaviour, often beyond conscious awareness. A simple example Thaler gives is putting healthy foods in a […]
Few of us would question the need to break the silence around mental illness. Countless campaigns have drilled into us that such silence is harmful and that we should try to break it wherever we find it. Britain Get Talking is one such campaign. It launched with a splash on Britain’s Got Talent a few […]
You might not realise it, but in many ways 2022 has been a great year. Amidst all the headlines about war, recession and strikes, it’s been easy to dwell on the negative. But much of the most significant news has actually been very good. Sometimes it might be relegated to the middle pages, others it […]
A change is coming to your dinner plates soon – in the form of ‘alternative proteins’. The vision of this fast-growing industry is to feed the world without the need for animal farming, which accounts for over a quarter of all human-made carbon emissions and is the leading threat to natural ecosystems. This vision is […]
A long day in the office can leave you empty of energy and overcome with desire for TV and a takeaway. But you’ve been sitting down all day. So why do you feel as tired as your friends who have physical jobs? Struggling through your list of essential tasks feels ever more gruelling as the […]
The new Prime Minister Liz Truss has kicked off her time in Number 10 with a promise to ‘get the United Kingdom working, building, and growing’. Given that the UK has already experienced one lost decade after the financial crisis and is currently on course for another, there can be no more urgent priority than […]
The UK BioBank is one of the most influential biomedical initiatives in the world. It contains genetic, health, and lifestyle data on half a million people and has been used to make extraordinary contributions to our understanding of human health. Over the past ten years, 28,000 researchers from 86 countries have used the BioBank to […]
Has banning junk food adverts on the Tube dramatically reduced obesity and saved the NHS £millions? That’s the claim made in a study published today – ‘The health, cost and equity impacts of restrictions on the advertisement of high fat, salt and sugar products across the transport for London network: a health economic modelling study’ […]
READER QUESTION: I am 59 years old, and in reasonably good health. Is it possible that I will live long enough to put my brain into a computer? Richard Dixon. We often imagine that human consciousness is as simple as input and output of electrical signals within a network of processing units – therefore comparable […]
While Westminster has been fixated on the fallout from Partygate in recent weeks, one of the most consequential pieces of post-Brexit legislation was recently introduced in Parliament. The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill comes at a time when food shortages are hitting the headlines. Warning signs were already evident in 2021: a combination of extreme […]
We’re used to railing against the iniquities of the planning system on these pages, more often than not when it comes to new homes being scrapped for some pathetic reason like the need to save a car park (or, indeed, a marginal Tory MP). Just last week we had the bizarre spectacle of the Lib […]
It will come as a no surprise to students of Novak Djokovic’s career that he ‘has always supported the freedom to choose what you put in your body’. Here, after all, is a man who eschews gluten but is happy to eat the grass at Wimbledon. But it’s not the tennis player’s unusual diet that’s […]
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