News by Subject Technology & Engineering

A groundbreaking study published in Information & Communications Technology Law by experts at the Centre for Law and Development at Qatar University discusses the legal and ethical implications of Big Tech's development of "digital thought clones." Digital thought clones can allow technology companies to accurately predict and influence people's behavior according to their digital habits. The authors call for legislation to protect people from technology companies' malicious use of their digital footprint.

Researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Jena University and University Hospital have developed an optical toolbox to build microscopes for a few hundred euros that deliver high-resolution images comparable to commercial microscopes that cost up to a thousand times more. The 3D printed open-source modular system can be combined in the way the research question requires -- from the observation of living organisms in the incubator to a toolbox for education.

The rise of online hate speech is a disturbing, growing trend in countries around the world, with serious psychological consequences and the potential to impact, and even contribute to, real-world violence. A new paper offers a framework for studying the dynamics of online hate and counter speech, and offers the first large-scale classification of millions of instances such interactions on Twitter.

Scientists at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna show that the accelerating fragmentation of society - often referred to as filter bubbles -- is a direct consequence of the growing number of social contacts. According to their new theory of social fragmentation, societies can only be either cohesive or fragmented, with abrupt changes from one state to the other at certain tipping points. Filter bubble societies are a risk for democracies.