The story of Josip Brkić’s winemaking sounds like that of a Warner Bros drama: under communist reign, he was only allowed to sell in clear, unmarked bottles, without his own branding; during the war he saw shells being dropped on his home town as his crates of bottled wine were being delivered; eventually he found his saving grace, ‘biodynamic farming philosophies’. Adding his own twist of ageing his wine in barrels made from trees near the vineyards, Brkić’s story is a beautiful example of “discover[ing]…an entire new world”. 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