Absinthe has a terrible reputation; it’s believed to cause raging drunkenness, hallucinations, and death. Thujone, a chemical found in the wormwood used in absinthe brewing, was thought to be highly dangerous after a series of experiments by Valentin Magnan, where mice died and dogs barked at walls, leading to the ban on the green-tinged beverage. However, this was fuelled by fear and misinformation; Magnan used high concentrations of thujone in levels that absinthe couldn’t hope to reach.
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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
