New Scientist Australian Edition 18-Jul-20

Virtual events The art of statistics Statistician David Spiegelhalter asks if we can communicate uncertainty about facts, numbers and hypotheses without losing credibility. Thursday 23 July at 6pm BST and on demand. newscientist.com/events Podcasts Weekly Half a year in a world of covid-19, meat production breaking Earth’s nitrogen limits and figuring out the weight of gravity. Plus: two debut missions to Mars from the United Arab Emirates and China. newscientist.com/podcasts Newsletter Launchpad Our free newsletter sends you on a monthly voyage across the galaxy and beyond. newscientist.com/sign-up/launchpad Online Covid-19 daily update The day’s coronavirus coverage updated at 6pm BST with news, features and interviews. newscientist.com/coronavirus-latest…

Virtual events The art of statistics Statistician David Spiegelhalter asks if we can communicate uncertainty about facts, numbers and hypotheses without losing credibility. Thursday 23 July at 6pm BST and on demand. newscientist.com/events Podcasts Weekly Half a year in a world of covid-19, meat production breaking Earth’s nitrogen limits and figuring out the weight of gravity. Plus: two debut missions to Mars from the United Arab Emirates and China. newscientist.com/podcasts Newsletter Launchpad Our free newsletter sends you on a monthly voyage across the galaxy and beyond. newscientist.com/sign-up/launchpad Online Covid-19 daily update The day’s coronavirus coverage updated at 6pm BST with news, features and interviews. newscientist.com/coronavirus-latest…

I am pleased to share with you that New Scientist is now seeking applications for the second iteration of our Diversity Internship Programme, a positive action scheme for aspiring journalists from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. At New Scientist, we believe very strongly that science is for everyone and that its power to enrich and inform our lives is universal. But science journalism – as with all journalism – remains largely the preserve of the privileged few, with many barriers preventing a diverse range of voices from entering the newsroom. The goal of our internship is to remove some of these barriers. Money is one of those, so we pay the London Living Wage. We also don’t ask that applicants have had any formal journalistic training, as this is…

I am pleased to share with you that New Scientist is now seeking applications for the second iteration of our Diversity Internship Programme, a positive action scheme for aspiring journalists from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. At New Scientist, we believe very strongly that science is for everyone and that its power to enrich and inform our lives is universal. But science journalism – as with all journalism – remains largely the preserve of the privileged few, with many barriers preventing a diverse range of voices from entering the newsroom. The goal of our internship is to remove some of these barriers. Money is one of those, so we pay the London Living Wage. We also don’t ask that applicants have had any formal journalistic training, as this is a personal…

DONE wisely, artificial intelligence “can be the best thing ever for humanity”, says the fundamental physicist turned AI researcher Max Tegmark in our interview this week (see page 34). We subscribe wholeheartedly to his assessment. Seldom has there been a technology with such an obvious power to improve our lot – or one with such obvious dangers. The risks are potentially existential. The excerpt from our recently published Essential Guide: Artificial Intelligence (see page 46), a classic article from strategy researcher Kenneth Payne on AI warbots, provides a case in point. Yet they are also insidious: in amplifying biases, for instance against women and minority groups, that exist in the data AI feeds on; in undermining democracy and the rule of law via the automated propagation of information designed to play…

DONE wisely, artificial intelligence “can be the best thing ever for humanity”, says the fundamental physicist turned AI researcher Max Tegmark in our interview this week (see page 34). We subscribe wholeheartedly to his assessment. Seldom has there been a technology with such an obvious power to improve our lot – or one with such obvious dangers. The risks are potentially existential. The excerpt from our recently published Essential Guide: Artificial Intelligence (see page 46), a classic article from strategy researcher Kenneth Payne on AI warbots, provides a case in point. Yet they are also insidious: in amplifying biases, for instance against women and minority groups, that exist in the data AI feeds on; in undermining democracy and the rule of law via the automated propagation of information designed to…