Method

AI-generated misinformation: 3 teachable skills to help address it

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 3, 2023

To my surprise, some asked ChatGPT about my biography.

Key Points: 
  • To my surprise, some asked ChatGPT about my biography.
  • To overcome this threat, educators need to teach skills to function in a world with AI-generated misinformation.

Worsening the misinformation problem

    • Generative AI stands to make our existing problems separating evidence-based information from misinformation and disinformation even more difficult than they already are.
    • Text-based tools like ChatGPT can create convincing-sounding academic articles on a subject, complete with citations that can fool people without a background in the topic of the article.

New critical thinking applications needed

    • This approach will likely serve less well in an age where AI can so easily spoof the very cues we look to in order to assess quality.
    • While there are no easy answers to the problem of misinformation, I suggest that teaching these three key skills will better equip all of us to be more resilient in the face of these threats:

1. Lateral reading of texts

    • Rather than reading a single article, blog or website deeply upon first glance, we need to prepare students with a new set of filtering skills often called lateral reading.
    • In lateral reading, we ask students to search for cues before reading deeply.
    • Doing this task well implies the need to prepare students to consider different types of research.

2. Research literacy

    • This means teaching students about research quality, journal quality and different kinds of expertise.
    • Thinking about research quality also means becoming familiar with things like sample sizes, methods and the scientific process of peer review and falsifiability.

Technological literacy

    • We don’t think about who creates the technology and how biases of programmers play a role in what we see.
    • Through these three skills: lateral reading, research literacy and technological literacy, we will be more resistant to misinformation of all kinds — and less susceptible to the new threat of AI-based misinformation.

Even platypuses aren't safe from bushfires – a new DNA study tracks their disappearance

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 3, 2023

You’d be forgiven for thinking water-dwelling animals like platypuses were spared.

Key Points: 
  • You’d be forgiven for thinking water-dwelling animals like platypuses were spared.
  • But our new research, published today in Biological Conservation, reveals platypuses are disappearing from waterways after fire.
  • We found platypuses were less likely to be found in burnt catchment areas, six months after fire.

An evolutionary masterpiece

    • They’re one of only five species of mammals that does – the other four are echidnas.
    • And they have electroreceptors in their bills to help them find food in rivers and streams.
    • There may be gradual changes over time, or rapid responses to a big disturbance, such as a fire.

DNA detective work

    • Ideally we would have good data on species before and after a fire, to draw comparisons.
    • Other research shows aquatic invertebrates (animals with no backbones) and fish can be harmed by bushfire, especially when rain follows fire.
    • We took more environmental DNA samples from the same 118 sites at six months after the megafires, and also 12–18 months post-fire, giving us three data points for the same rivers and creeks.
    • Read more:
      Scientists at work: We use environmental DNA to monitor how human activities affect life in rivers and streams

What we found

    • But the difference between burnt and unburnt sites was negligible after 18 months.
    • The combination of severe fire and rainfall minimised the chance of finding platypuses living at a site.
    • We classified high severity fire as fire which removed all of the leaves from trees and burnt grasslands or pasture.

Understanding change

    • Climate change is predicted to lead to more frequent, severe and extensive bushfires in south-eastern Australia, as well as to more extreme rainfall events.
    • Our work adds to our understanding of how just one species could be harmed by the climate crisis.
    • We need these types of systematic surveys to provide baselines and monitor how populations and communities are changing.

How do astronomers know the age of the planets and stars?

Retrieved on: 
Monday, October 2, 2023

How do we know the age of the planets and stars?

Key Points: 
  • How do we know the age of the planets and stars?
  • – Swara D., age 13, Thane, India
    How do we know the age of the planets and stars?
  • Planet properties like temperature are often set by the star they orbit rather than their own age and evolution.

Sussing out a star’s age

    • With very accurate measurements, astronomers can compare these measurements of a star to mathematical models that predict what happens to stars as they get older and estimate an age from there.
    • Over time, their spinning slows down, similar to how a spinning wheel slows down when it encounters friction.
    • A steady decline in magnetic activity from a star can also help estimate its age.

Piecing together a planet’s age

    • As natural clocks, radionuclides help scientists determine the ages of all kinds of things, from rocks to bones and pottery.
    • Similarly, soil brought back from the Moon during the Apollo missions had radionuclide ages of up to 4.6 billion years.
    • Although studying radionuclides is a powerful method for measuring the ages of planets, it usually requires having a rock in hand.
    • We cannot yet directly measure the ages of planets outside our solar system with current technology.

How accurate are these estimates?

    • Astronomers believe planets are roughly the same age as their host stars, so improving methods to determine a star’s age helps determine a planet’s age as well.
    • By studying subtle clues, it’s possible to make an educated guess of the age of an otherwise steadfast star.
    • We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

'The boss of Country', not wild dogs to kill: living with dingoes can unite communities

Retrieved on: 
Monday, October 2, 2023

They are arguably our most maligned, misunderstood, and mismanaged native species.

Key Points: 
  • They are arguably our most maligned, misunderstood, and mismanaged native species.
  • Since colonisation, Australian governments and land managers have trapped, shot, poisoned and excluded dingoes from large parts of their Country.
  • By collaborating and drawing from both Indigenous and Western knowledge, we can find ways to live in harmony with our apex predator.

How are dingoes currently treated?

    • In the Northern Territory, Queensland and Victoria, dingoes are managed as protected wildlife in National Parks and conservation areas but they’re unprotected on private land.
    • In Western Australia, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales, dingoes are unprotected wildlife.
    • This is based on the mistaken belief that interbreeding between dingoes and dogs was widespread across Australia.
    • Read more:
      New DNA testing shatters 'wild dog' myth: most dingoes are pure

Stark contrasts in dingo management

    • Stretching more than 5,600km across Australia, the dingo barrier fence is the longest continuous artificial environmental barrier in the world.
    • In South Australia, dingoes south of the “dingo fence” are declared “wild dogs” and subject to an eradication policy.
    • The existence of an isolated and threatened “Big Desert” wilkerr (dingo) population on the border between these two states highlights their differing approaches.

What do dingoes mean to First Nations peoples?

    • Despite the harms of colonisation on dingoes and First Nations, Indigenous people continue to feel and nurture this connection to dingoes.
    • Maintaining their culture means fulfilling the general cultural obligation and rights of First Nations peoples to protect this sacred animal.
    • The national dingo declaration is clear: First Nations peoples want an immediate end to the “genocide” (deliberate killing) of dingoes on Country.
    • The recent Victorian decision to maintain lethal control of dingo populations against the wishes of First Nations peoples is extremely disappointing.

Non-lethal ways to protect livestock

    • While lethal methods have historically been used to protect livestock from dingoes, there is growing awareness of their limitations.
    • Firstly, these methods have not been consistently effective in eliminating livestock losses.
    • It may also alter how successful they are at hunting kangaroos, causing more attacks on livestock.
    • These guardian animals establish protective bonds with livestock and effectively deter dingoes from approaching, reducing livestock losses for graziers.

Working and walking together

    • We would like to acknowledge retired graziers Angus and Karen Emmott and family from far North Queensland.
    • Bradley Smith is an unpaid director of the Australian Dingo Foundation, a non-profit environmental charity that advocates for dingo conservation.
    • He also serves as a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) dingo working group, which is part of their Species Survival Commission (Canids Specialist Group).

Trade unions and the new economy: 3 African case studies show how workers are recasting their power in the digital age

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, October 1, 2023

In Nigeria they are angry over the rising cost of living and in South Africa, municipal workers are striking for better wages.

Key Points: 
  • In Nigeria they are angry over the rising cost of living and in South Africa, municipal workers are striking for better wages.
  • But it’s becoming increasingly difficult to build sustainable worker organisations as companies employ more people on a casual basis in the digital age.
  • In our new book, Recasting Workers’ Power: Work and Inequality in the Shadow of the Digital Age, we focus on workers’ power.

Three case studies

    • We found the factory workers were using a range of tools – old and new – to organise.
    • But they also drew on old practices (institutional power) by taking up cases through the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and the amended Labour Relations Act.
    • Both offer the possibility of workers being able to get permanent jobs in the company at which they work.
    • In Kampala, we found that the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers’ Union was also using new approaches to organise workers.
    • Importantly, where trade unions have taken up the issues of informal workers, unions have also undergone fundamental changes.

What next?

    • But it also suggests some grounds for optimism in the new and hybrid forms of organisation and the coalitions that are emerging.
    • The question raised by these findings is whether these embryonic forms of worker organisation are sustainable.

Lost in the coffee aisle? Navigating the complex buzzwords behind an 'ethical' bag of beans is easier said than done

Retrieved on: 
Friday, September 29, 2023

Perusing the shelves in the coffee aisle, though, you see too many choices.

Key Points: 
  • Perusing the shelves in the coffee aisle, though, you see too many choices.
  • Yet when it comes to commodity goods like coffee, the complex production chain can turn an uncomplicated habit into a complicated decision.
  • As a coffee enthusiast and marketing professor who researches marketplace justice, I’ve long been fascinated with how ethics and coffee consumption are intertwined.
  • Marketers attempt to simplify this overload by using buzzwords that sound good but may not get across much nuance.
  • However, you might consider some of these terms when trying to decide between “100% Colombian” and the Vieira family.

Fair trade

    • “Fair trade” implies the coffee is fairly traded, often with the goal of paying farmers minimum prices – and fixed premiums – above the C-price.
    • There are a few different fair trade certifications, such as Fairtrade America or Fair Trade Certified.
    • These relationships potentially allow the importers to work directly with farmers over multi-year periods to improve the coffee quality and conditions.

100% arabica

    • There are several species of coffee, but approximately 70% of the world’s production comes from the arabica species, which grows well at higher altitudes.
    • Like with wine, there are several varieties of arabica, and they tend to be a bit sweeter than other species – making arabica the ideal species for satisfying consumers.

Single-origin

    • If someone labeled a peach as “American,” a consumer would rightly wonder where exactly it came from.
    • Others have developed blockchain solutions where each step along the coffee’s journey, from bean to retail, is documented in a database that consumers can look at.

Shade-grown

    • Farmers or importers are left justifying the cost and wondering if the specialized label can attract a large enough market to validate their decision to certify.
    • That said, many farmers who have the ability will do shade-grown regardless, since it’s a better farming practice and saves some costs on fertilizer.
    • In the end, all this information – or lack thereof – is a tool for consumers to use when making their coffee choices.

Every science lab should have an artist on the team – here’s why

Retrieved on: 
Friday, September 29, 2023

But I’m not a scientist – I’m an artist and lecturer in illustration.

Key Points: 
  • But I’m not a scientist – I’m an artist and lecturer in illustration.
  • Despite their importance in education and society, science and art are often seen as distinct fields, which, in my opinion, stifles beneficial connections.
  • I want to foster these connections by helping to make sense of scientists’ work for a wider audience through my own work as an artist.
  • There has always been a lack of understanding between art and science in terms of approaches to imaging and its potential.

Getting in on the science

    • This artistic expression of scientists’ data can provide them with tools for showing their work in a different way to a different audience.
    • For example, I work with scientists while they conduct image experiments, to discover how and why they generate image data of cell behaviour.
    • However, these scientists devote their lives to medical research and have little opportunity to interact with colleagues from other disciplines.
    • While scientists were busy documenting their results, I was captivated by the real-time visual depictions on the computer screen.

Benefits for everyone

    • The variety of collaborations increased my appreciation for technical advances in scientific visualisation.
    • In a world where innovation thrives at the intersection of disciplines, every science lab should welcome the presence of an artist.
    • Together, they can explore the enormous potential of arts-science collaboration to spark creativity, deliver ground-breaking discoveries and make that knowledge accessible to a wider audience.

AI disinformation is a threat to elections − learning to spot Russian, Chinese and Iranian meddling in other countries can help the US prepare for 2024

Retrieved on: 
Friday, September 29, 2023

Elections around the world are facing an evolving threat from foreign actors, one that involves artificial intelligence.

Key Points: 
  • Elections around the world are facing an evolving threat from foreign actors, one that involves artificial intelligence.
  • Countries trying to influence each other’s elections entered a new era in 2016, when the Russians launched a series of social media disinformation campaigns targeting the U.S. presidential election.
  • Over the next seven years, a number of countries – most prominently China and Iran – used social media to influence foreign elections, both in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.
  • It’s not clear how these technologies will change disinformation, how effective they will be or what effects they will have.

A conjunction of elections

    • Seventy-one percent of people living in democracies will vote in a national election between now and the end of next year.
    • Nine African democracies, including South Africa, will have elections in 2024.
    • Australia and the U.K. don’t have fixed dates, but elections are likely to occur in 2024.
    • Many of those elections matter a lot to the countries that have run social media influence operations in the past.

Election interference

    • They talked about their expectations regarding election interference in 2024.
    • Of course, there’s a lot more to running a disinformation campaign than generating content.
    • A Columbia Journalism Review study found that most major news outlets used Russian tweets as sources for partisan opinion.
    • And the current crop of generative AIs are being connected to tools that will make content distribution easier as well.
    • These persona bots, as computer scientist Latanya Sweeney calls them, have negligible influence on their own.

Disinformation on AI steroids

    • Countries like Russia and China have a history of testing both cyberattacks and information operations on smaller countries before rolling them out at scale.
    • Countering new disinformation campaigns requires being able to recognize them, and recognizing them requires looking for and cataloging them now.
    • Disinformation campaigns in the AI era are likely to be much more sophisticated than they were in 2016.
    • There have been some important democratic elections in the generative AI era with no significant disinformation issues: primaries in Argentina, first-round elections in Ecuador and national elections in Thailand, Turkey, Spain and Greece.

Education for reconciliation requires us to 'know where we are'

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, September 28, 2023

Joining our group were Cree Elder Phillip Campiou, a cultural knowledge keeper, and members of the Riverdale Community League Truth and Reconciliation Committee.

Key Points: 
  • Joining our group were Cree Elder Phillip Campiou, a cultural knowledge keeper, and members of the Riverdale Community League Truth and Reconciliation Committee.
  • The gathering was an event called “Knowing Where You Are.” We conceived and planned this experiential learning activity as instructors of foundational courses in the bachelor of education program at Concordia University of Edmonton.

Importance of place

    • We chose this activity at this place because of the layered history of the bridge site, which has significance as a meeting place among First Nations, Métis and settler people.
    • Riverdale is situated on Métis river lots 18 and 20 in what is now central Edmonton.

Education for reconciliation in Alberta schools

    • We and other educators have been responding to four of the 94 Calls to Action released by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2015.
    • The intent of education for reconciliation is to include opportunities for students in kindergarten to Grade 12 to learn about the histories, experiences, knowledges and contributions of Indigenous Peoples to Canada.
    • They provide guidance to practising or aspiring teachers, as well as those who supervise and evaluate them.

Decolonial approaches to education

    • For us, knowing where you are is both an expression of our willingness to fulfil a mandate defined by the Teaching Quality Standard and of our commitment to a decolonial approach to teacher education.
    • We strive to de-centre the physical university as the necessary site of learning, and to take an Indigenous teaching and learning approach that is a meaningful step toward decolonized teacher education.

Where do you stand?

    • As a decolonial approach to education for reconciliation, “knowing where you are” has been inspired by different methods of investigation, each crucially determined by local history, knowledge, conditions and purposes.
    • One of these methods for examining local history begins with the metaphor of digging where you stand, named and inspired by the work of Swedish author Sven Lindqvist.
    • Another that has guided us is Cree scholar Dwayne Donald’s adaptation of a phenomenon known as “pentimento.” Pentimento refers to the re-emergence of earlier layers or layers of paint on a canvas, which Donald explores in his 2004 article, “Edmonton Pentimento: Re-Reading History in the Case of the Papaschase Cree.” Inspired by the work of historian Patricia Seed, Donald proposes “‘pentimento re-reading’ as a way to recover stories and memories that have been ‘painted over.’” This involves “the acknowledgement that each layer mixes with the other and renders irreversible influences on our perceptions of it.” The tendency to separate the stories of Indigenous and settler Canadians is one symptom of the legacies of colonialism and paternalism that have characterized Canadian society.

Continuous presence of the past

    • Nêhiyaw (Cree) and Saulteaux scholar Margaret Kovach writes that “we know what we know from where we stand” in her discussion of Indigenous research methodology.
    • To us, it implies that teacher education informed by Indigenous approaches to teaching and learning ought to be pursued in a way that is aware of the continued presence and relevance of the past.

People who have made commitments

    • They visited the tipi (lodge) erected every summer on a prominent hilltop in a community park by Elder Phillip Campiou, and learned from him.
    • Finally, students visited with members of the Riverdale Truth and Reconciliation Committee, who spoke of the personal and collective commitments they have made in support of truth and reconciliation.

A model for learning

    • We were encouraged by how engaged the students were on the day of the activity, as well as by evidence of learning revealed in work submitted later in the term.
    • We are optimistic that such activities matter, though we know translating specific insights, experiences and understanding into deep learning requires ongoing commitments.

From stock markets to brain scans, new research harmonises hundreds of scientific methods to understand complex systems

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Understanding how the different components of these systems interact with each other is a fundamental challenge for scientists trying to predict their behaviour.

Key Points: 
  • Understanding how the different components of these systems interact with each other is a fundamental challenge for scientists trying to predict their behaviour.
  • Scientists have developed hundreds of different methods for doing this, from engineers studying noisy radio channels to neuroscientists studying firing patterns in networks of interacting neurons.

A scientific orchestra

    • But one way to think about what we’ve done is to imagine each scientific method is a different musical instrument playing in a scientific orchestra.
    • By presenting these methods as a full orchestra for the first time, we hoped we would find new ways of deciphering patterns in the world around us.

Hundreds of methods, more than 1,000 datasets

    • These covered a huge range of subjects, from stock markets and climate to brain activity and earthquakes to river flow and heart beats.
    • In total, we applied our 237 methods to more than 1,000 datasets.
    • But when we organised our scientific orchestra, we found that the scientific instruments grouped together in a strikingly different way to this traditional organisation.

The orchestra in the real world

    • We also put our full scientific orchestra to work on some real-world problems to see how it would work.
    • Properly orchestrated, the full ensemble of scientific methods demonstrated improved performance over any single method on its own.
    • Time will tell what new music scientists will make as they step up to conduct our new scientific orchestra that simultaneously incorporates diverse ways of thinking about the world.