News

The main take away from our research is that when it comes to preventing the spread of fake news, privacy is key   The term “  fake news  ” has become ubiquitous over the past two years. The Cambridge English dictionary defines it as “false stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media, usually created to influence political views or as a joke”. As part of a global push to curb the spread of deliberate misinformation, researchers are trying to understand what drives people to share fake news and how its endorsement can propagate through a social network. But humans are complex social animals, and technology misses the richness of human learning and interactions. That’s why we decided to take a different approach in our research. We used the latest techniques from artificial intelligence to study how support for – or opposition to – a piece of fake news can spread within a social network. We believe our model is more real...

Second-hand noise is the new smoke - we need have a debate on how to govern the cacophony of modern life, before it starts killing us too We used to be able to smoke everywhere. On trains, in bars and restaurants – even in the office. And then slowly, but surely, the spaces where people could light up a cigarette began to disappear. Why? Because we learned about the health-risks, new social norms started forming, and we would no longer accept the exposure to second-hand smoke. Will we one day feel the same way about  noise pollution  ? Sure, no-one ever died because someone’s earphones were playing too loudly. But the same principle applies; is it fair to inflict your second-hand noise on your neighbours and colleagues? The United Nations health organization (WHO) calls ‘noise’; “an underestimated threat that can cause a number of short- and long-term health problems, such as for example sleep disturbance, cardiovascular effects, poorer work and school pe...