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Deplaning: Why is the 747 coming to the end of the runway?
Science, Maths & Technology

Deplaning: Why is the 747 coming to the end of the runway?

...change not only aviation but the entire tourism industry. Its economic design did much to move international travel within reach of middle-class holiday goers rather than just the privileged few. [A cargo-carrying 747] However, the venerable Boeing 747 may be nearing the end of its production life – its manufacturing rate is to be halved to six a year. A shift towards...
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Article 5 mins
The OU meets Pink Floyd
History & The Arts

The OU meets Pink Floyd

...change that I’m conscious of is the way that drum kits now are so much heavier weight. They’re built to be played in a far more ferocious fashion actually. When you look back to the first kit I had, or any of the vintage kits that fascinate people now, the drums themselves are terrific, but the fittings are absolutely appalling, and small wingnuts and so on to hold...
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Audio 5 mins
Is it ever morally acceptable to visit a mass murder site?
History & The Arts

Is it ever morally acceptable to visit a mass murder site?

...change our minds, say that there is no difference, and find both tours unsavoury. However, if we still think there is a difference, this might reveal something interesting about the way we think about morality. It is easy to think that the contrast with thinking morally is thinking selfishly. After all, the moral thing to do is (for example) to divide the cake equally...
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Article 10 mins
The many forms of workplace bullying
Money & Business

The many forms of workplace bullying

...changes and restructuring can often lead to bullying. Here it seems the uncertainty around job security, hours, status, pay, position and work overload can often lead to workers lashing out at each other and a rise in bullying incidents can occur. Bully or victim? Targets of workplace bullying were traditionally thought to be introverts – submissive, shy, and quite...
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Article 5 mins
How Elvish has had greater impact than Esperanto
Languages

How Elvish has had greater impact than Esperanto

...changing things, which evolve to reflect the culture of the communities who speak them. The idea of an international auxiliary language, on the other hand, is to provide a stable, unchanging code, which can be easily learnt by anyone. But human languages are never static; they’re always dynamic. So Esperanto has a fundamental flaw built into its very conception. And the...
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Article 5 mins
Why do we keep running?
Health, Sports & Psychology

Why do we keep running?

...changed completely our ways of working, leaving us desperately searching for the easiest means to exercise because it is no longer a part of our working day, but an addition to it. The number of runners will only continue to increase in the coming years, as austerity bites and convinces us to work ever longer hours, over more days. In rejecting our lethargy, we will...
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Article 5 mins
Revealing the surface of an asteroid using robotic telescopes
Science, Maths & Technology

Revealing the surface of an asteroid using robotic telescopes

...changing distance of the asteroid from the Sun and Earth) against phase angle to construct a “phase curve”. Using different models of the response of an asteroid surface to incoming light, we may infer properties about the surface by finding the parameters of the model that best fit our observations. With these observations, we hope to be able to characterise the...
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Article 10 mins
Large language models - the chatty computer
Digital & Computing

Large language models - the chatty computer

...changed ChatGPT’s behaviour to avoid some issues entirely or to admit that as an AI, it could not make an informed decision. The intervention of human trainers created a LLM capable of generating helpful, relevant responses whilst largely avoiding offensive behaviours that bedevilled previous high-profile AI experiments such as Microsoft Tay. Having said which, a recent...
View article Large language models - the chatty computer
Article 5 mins