A seemingly unremarkable conch shell that laid unnoticed in Toulouse’s Museum of Natural History ended up harboring a secret for many years — evidence of Paleolithic humans using conch shells for music. The shell played low notes, and was altered in such a way that was undeniably human; the tip and outer lip of the shell had been removed, and two holes for bird bones were made in the second whorl. 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
