Have you ever wondered how karate masters could break blocks of concrete without shattering their own hands? It turns out that it is not strength or durability, but technique which matters the most: it’s all for naught if your hand doesn’t reach a speed of 10.6 meters per second. And why doesn’t your hand shatter? It turns out that human bone is five times stiffer than concrete and fifty times harder to break. 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