Exploring bleeding edge experiments, oddities, new and bizarre dicoveries, and fact-checking conspiracy theories since 2008. No question is out of bounds and no topic is too strange for a deep dive.
# tech
In a legal and technical first, a robot lawyer is about to help a human defendant. Is it a good idea? And what happens next?
# tech
Governments are no longer just interested in controlling social media narratives with bots and premium content. They’re now reaching for new laws.
# tech
While pundits worry about the effect of deepfakes on global politics, trolls are using the technology to make fake porn of people they hate. And the victims rarely have any recourse…
# tech
Social media is changing the world for the worse, which has some people wondering if it’s time to start regulating it. But regulation could be a much worse cure than the disease.
# science
Far too much of what passes for forensic science in courtrooms fails to meet basic scientific standards while sending people to jail. And those who could fix this problem are refusing to help us.
# tech
Australian lawmakers stunned the country’s techies by passing a law requiring them to help law enforcement snoop on encrypted data on request, and putting e-commerce and basic digital security at risk.
# health
A California law mandating disclosure of any potentially cancer-causing chemicals is starting to cross the line from useful advice into eye-rolling alarmism.
# politics
Trump & Co. are showing us what happens when amateurs with huge chips on their shoulder take on jobs that require nuance and expertise.
# tech
If your code can result in people being sent to jail for decades, if not death row, that code should be open source and subject to review. The courts don't seem to understand that yet.
# space
Asteroid mining may require changes to The Outer Space Treaty and the consequences of amending it badly could be very serious...