The Concept of ‘Cat Face’
A longform look at machine learning and where Google have taken it since their acquisition of the British artificial intelligence company Deep Mind.
Plastic Surgery With a Mouse Click
An article that looks at how deep the special effects industry’s abilities run in changing the way that film and TV stars appear. Beyond simply documenting how this industry works, the piece raises some questions about what viewers actually want – reality or artifice?
The Cognitive Biases Tricking Your Brain
A piece looking at the huge number of cognitive biases human beings are lumbered with, from a bias against evidence that counters our existing views, to prioritising rewards in the present over increased returns in the future.
Alibaba v. Tencent: The Battle for Supremacy in China
The story of two homegrown technology heavyweights slugging it out for dominance in China.
Thus spake Albert
A piece looking at the prevalence of Albert Einstein aphorisms in the public consciousness_Ñ_at an extraordinary level even for someone of his stellar reputation. The story examines his sayings and how they were in some cases applied in his own life and times.
Beyond the Bitcoin Bubble
Talk about the Bitcoin bubble and fortunes made and lost is one thing (cf. the news this week that rapper 50 Cent was paid in Bitcoin for an album, forgot about it, and is now $8m richer), but this insightful piece proposes that the blockchain technology behind it can unlock things of far greater value.
Lake Chad: The World’s Most Complex Humanitarian Disaster
A thorough piece of reporting looking at a crisis caused by a toxic blend of issues – weak government, climate change, violent extremism, and structural weaknesses left behind by colonialism.
My year inside the international Alt-Right
The advocacy group Hope Not Hate infiltrated the alt-right movement and this is the story of their mole’s experiences, starting in the UK and expanding elsewhere. The piece is part of an investigation into the politics and personalities of the alt-right that runs wide and deep.
How Aristotle Created the Computer
A piece looking at the history of computers through ideas, rather than through devices – tracing the path from Aristotelian logic to computer science.