Covid-19 hastened the digital shift with consequences for the ‘data divide’, wellbeing

Sometimes it can seem like we’ve uploaded our whole lives to the internet: bank accounts, social media posts, dating profiles, work emails – it’s all out there in that nebulous cloud of digital information that is the world wide web. The problems with this new digital way of life are well known. Social media is … Read more

Getting AI ethics wrong could ‘annihilate technical progress’

AI can be used to identify potential perpetrators of violent crimes and assess the risk of a criminal re-offending. Image credit - Max Pixel, licensed under CC0

An intelligent water gun that uses facial recognition to identify its targets is helping to highlight some of the emerging human rights issues surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) – an area of research that is on the rise as new technologies become more and more prevalent in our daily lives. ‘It’s very difficult to be an … Read more

How do we feed the world? The internet of things can help

Image credit - Flickr/ Andrew Newill, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Connecting objects and devices through the Internet of Things (IoT) can help solve the greatest challenges of our time, from cutting emissions to feeding a growing population, believes Alicia Asín, CEO and co-founder of Spanish technology company Libelium which makes IoT hardware. Asín was the second-place winner of the 2018 EU Prize for Women Innovators. When it comes to … Read more

Studies linking green space to lower suicide risk are ‘just a snapshot’

When assessing the link between surroundings and mental health, researchers need to look at people's entire lives, says Dr Helbich.

Research suggests that where we live can affect our mental health but Dr MarcoHelbich, an urban geographer at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, believes these studies only offer a limited snapshot of our lives. Using a smartphone app and register data, he is tracking people through their daily routines and their residential history to see … Read more