Polymers (solidified liquids) could make great cheap lenses because liquids naturally form spheres; however, after reaching a certain size, they flatten into a puddle because of gravity. But Prof. Moran Bercovici and Dr. Valeri Frumkin present a simple solution: injecting liquid polymers into other liquids (called buoyancy liquids) eliminates the effects of gravity, so they maintain their spherical shape. The buoyancy liquids just need to have the same density as the polymers; because polymers have similar density to oil, their buoyancy liquid is water mixed with salt, sugar, or glycerin. Read full article here
Societal Issues
AI Predicts Crime A Week In Advance With 90 Per Cent Accuracy
An artificial intelligence model built by Ishanu Chattopadhyay and his colleagues analysed crime data in Chicago from 2014 to 2016 and managed to predict future levels of crime down to the nearest 300 metres, a week before they actually happened. While extremely useful, this artificial intelligence has been shown to expose racial prejudice in law enforcement. Hopefully, as the study’s data and methodology have been made available for others to evaluate, these prejudices can be avoided in the next iteration. Read full article here
Merv
August 15, 2022
