SHOCKING: 24 | Mind Blowing Facts

‘Make this face look gay’: AI models alter faces to give people stereotypical ‘gay,’ ‘straight’ or ‘criminal’ features

Ask an artificial intelligence model whether a face looks gay or straight and it will refuse to answer. But ask it to alter a person’s photo to make them look gay or straight – or criminal – and it often will, using stereotypical features.

The Conversation · Oct 8

Leap seconds have helped keep clocks synchronized with Earth’s rotation, but their time may be over – here’s why

You’re probably used to the month of February having an extra day every four years, during the leap year. Timekeepers added that extra leap day because Earth completes one orbit around the Sun in about 365 and one-quarter days. If we didn’t add leap days, the equinoxes and solstices that…

The Conversation · Oct 8

AI is changing pilgrims’ journeys, but sacred journeys have always adapted to new technology

In 2025, two scholars of religion decided to make a multiday pilgrimage along the Kumano Kodō trail – an ancient route in Japan connecting Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples – guided by an artificial intelligence assistant.

The Conversation · Oct 8

Grief, anger and elections: Israel marks three years since October 7 attacks as nation prepares to vote

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and leading opposition figure Gadi Eisenkot took to social media as their country marked three years since the devastating Hamas attacks of October 7. As the country mourned, the rival politicians played the blame game.

The Conversation · Oct 8

Anne Carson wins Nobel prize in literature – how she discovered new possibilities within language

For over four decades, Anne Carson has been quietly redrawing the map of contemporary literature. Poet, translator, classicist, essayist, performer and visual artist, she has produced a body of work that refuses easy categorisation.

The Conversation · Oct 8

A biologist queries whether AI ‘borrowed’ his work to make major discovery – an expert explains the rules

AI company Anthropic recently announced that its popular system Claude had identified an unusual family of biological molecules. These molecules were enzymes, a type of protein that speeds up chemical reactions in living organisms.

The Conversation · Oct 8

Hospital appointments can make greener travel harder

The timing of a hospital appointment does more than tell you when to see a doctor. It can also shape how you get there. For some older patients, an early appointment can fall before their concessionary bus pass, which provides free bus travel, becomes valid. An unreliable bus service can…

The Conversation · Oct 8

Social media provides valued community spaces for autistic young people

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition which influences how people communicate and process information. A significant proportion of autistic children do not speak, or only speak a few words. Many find it difficult to communicate face to face, especially when interaction is fast moving or dependent on interpreting bodily cues.

The Conversation · Oct 8

Andrew Garfield plays a ploughman in The Uprising – but the real medieval rebels weren’t all peasants

The Uprising is the first film inspired by the peasants’ revolt of the summer of 1381 – the largest popular rebellion in medieval England.

The Conversation · Oct 8

Andrew Charlton flags requiring AI companies to run tough ‘risk management’ systems

Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy, Andrew Charlton, has flagged the government is looking to regulate AI companies by forcing them to run rigorous “risk management” processes.

The Conversation · Oct 8