Was the Millennium Dome really so bad? The inside story of a (not so) total disaster
The inside story of an often reviled, yet somehow enduring British infrastructure project – the Millennium Dome.
Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to “flatten the curve”
A data story modelling the potential impact of different responses to infectious diseases, using a fictitious disease ‘simulitis’ for illustrative purposes.
Wikipedia Is the Last Best Place on the Internet
A look at the utopian vision of Wikipedia, the only not for profit in the top ten most visited sites on the web, and a journey through some of the tricky challenges inherent in creating any encyclopaedia, let alone an online one that is crowdsourced. Wikipedia is now so integrated into the web that its data arm powers all sorts of other services; a sign of its maturity to be sure, though also occasionally resulting in blips, such as when Apple’s Siri voice assistant “briefly thought Bulgaria’s national anthem was “Despacito”.
History as a giant data set: how analysing the past could help save the future
A look at the meeting of history and big data.
A Search for the Source of Italy’s Malaise
A look at Italy, where research suggests inhabitants have a lower degree of satisfaction with the status quo than their peers across a broad range of opinions and indicators, from antipathy for membership of the EU, concerns about loneliness and fear of unemployment to a declining birth rate, and an increasing number of academics leaving the country.
Collaborators in creation
A look at the interplay between “physical and social technologies” in driving human progress.
Six ways coronavirus will change our world
Azeem Azhar examines the the trends in medical emergency management, scientific collaboration, genomic technologies and remote working that the coronavirus outbreak may influence.
Sound and the city
A story examining the lack of silence in urban environments, and its impact on the people living in them.
Weather Reports: Voices from Xinjiang
A collection of powerful testimonies from people related to, or formerly amongst, the estimated 800,000 to 2,000,000 people understood to be detained in concentration camps in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
How The 2010s Killed The Celebrity Gossip Machine
An analysis of how celebrities’ ability to communicate directly with their fans through social media has resulted in a power shift towards stars and away from the paparazzi driven media.