Topic description and stories

About half the world’s population uses the internet. How do we take advantage of this digital connectivity and also protect society from risk?

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Viral charity campaigns have a psychological 'recipe' and all-too-brief lifespan

13 Feb 2017

New work focusing on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge reveals very brief shelf life of such viral campaigns, and suggests the nature of ‘virality’ and...

Read more
pharmaceuticals

How bright is your digital future?

18 Jan 2017

Dr Jag Srai, Head of the Centre for International Manufacturing at Cambridge's Institute for Manufacturing, and colleagues are developing new ways to...

Read more
Still from Pain in the Machine

Pain in the machine: a Cambridge Shorts film

02 Nov 2016

The pain we experience as humans has physical and emotional components. Could we develop a machine that feels pain a similar way – and would we want...

Read more

Protecting our data and identity: how should the law respond?

28 Oct 2016

Many of us see our privacy as a basic right. But in the digital world of app-addiction, geolocation tracking and social oversharing, some may have...

Read more
Facebook Like Button

Facebook updates could provide a window to understanding – and treating – mental health disorders

28 Oct 2016

Our Facebook status updates, ‘likes’ and even photos could help researchers better understand mental health disorders with the right ethical...

Read more
Moon1

Elvis is alive and the Moon landings were faked: the (conspiracy) theory of everything

25 Oct 2016

As a global population we are awash with conspiracy theories. But what effect do these really have on the public as we go about our day-to-day lives...

Read more

Combating cybercrime when there's plenty of phish in the sea

21 Oct 2016

As more and more crime moves online, computer scientists, criminologists and legal academics have joined forces in Cambridge to improve our...

Read more
2019 by ExperiensS

Artificial intelligence: computer says YES (but is it right?)

20 Oct 2016

Computers that learn for themselves are with us now. As they become more common in ‘high-stakes’ applications like robotic surgery, terrorism...

Read more

Could cryptocurrency help the ‘bottom billion’?

17 Oct 2016

Many of the world’s poorest poor don’t have access to a bank account and yet depend on being able to transfer money across borders. Could digital...

Read more

Barbed wire

Internet censorship: making the hidden visible

14 Oct 2016

Despite being founded on ideals of freedom and openness, censorship on the internet is rampant, with more than 60 countries engaging in some form of...

Read more
'Syrian Hero Boy'

The Whistle: verifying digital evidence of human rights violations

12 Oct 2016

Smartphones and social media have made it easy for accidental witnesses “in the wrong place at the wrong time” to capture and share violations and...

Read more

When is a book not a book?

10 Oct 2016

The e-book has made continued inroads into the publishing world but the printed book has defied predictions of its death. Research by Professor John...

Read more

Pages