Serbia just elected the world’s brainiest parliament
https://www.science.org/content/article/serbia-just-elected-world-s-brainiest-parliament
Dozens of academics become politicians after student group’s stunning victory
Facial Recognition Could Be Coming to a Starbucks Near You
https://uk.pcmag.com/ai/168185/facial-recognition-could-be-coming-to-a-starbucks-near-you
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said the company is ‘exploring experiences that recognize participating customers as they arrive, present personalized digital menus and make payment more effortless.’
Just another good reason never to use Starfucks...
RE: https://fediscience.org/@eumbot/117536354747942359
Isn't beautiful? Just remember this is the only planet we have, there is no planet B, we have to look after this one, if we want to keep living here...
Seabirds racing home over the ocean can get jet-lagged
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/seabirds-racing-home-over-the-ocean-can-get-jet-lagged/
A long flight home from feeding grounds messes with birds’ internal clocks.
Original research here https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz2542 (Paywalled)
Environmentalists stage Halloween demonstration over ‘scary’ fossil fuels
https://www.itv.com/news/2026-10-31/environmentalists-stage-halloween-demonstration-over-scary-fossil-fuels
Climate groups gathered outside Bute House in Edinburgh to protest against the Scottish Government’s decision to give the go-ahead for a new, gas-fired, power station at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire.
Grassland set-asides provide nesting habitat for bumble bees in agroecosystems
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.70605
OpenAI CEO says it's 'quite terrible' for your PC to have RAM — Altman says data centres offer better utilization
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/openai-ceo-says-its-quite-terrible-for-your-pc-to-have-ram-sam-altman-says-data-centers-offer-better-utilization
With data centres full of RAM, your PC is apparently the problem.
Sooner the AI bubble bursts the better...
Manosphere's impact on boys and men calls for public health action, report warns
https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/30/manospheres-impact-on-boys-and-men-calls-for-public-health-action-report-warns
The ‘manosphere’ is fuelling harmful attitudes and worsening health inequalities among boys and men, prompting calls for a public health response that addresses the root causes of its growing appeal.
Read report here https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2826%2902027-1/fulltext
Google struggling to make AI Mode searches pay
https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/10/29/google-struggling-to-make-ai-mode-searches-pay/5306181
That’s a problem, cos it just spent $51 billion on infrastructure and still needs to rent compute from others to run its cloud
When are we going to end the Cult of The Sacred Driving Licence?
https://kimharding.net/blog/the-sacred-driving-licence/
LibreOffice's 'no AI' stance meets LLM-assisted code
https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/10/29/libreoffices-no-ai-stance-meets-llm-assisted-code/5306084
Core developers avoid AI coding assistants, while community contributors face disclosure and review rules
Read full article then decide whether you want to use LibreOffice or not. Just remember that no one is trying to make you use it or not, it is your decision and no one else's.
The Tour de France slows rise of far right: "It looked like our town was actually important"
https://www.bikeradar.com/news/tour-de-france-slows-rise-of-far-right
Voting in towns and villages on the route of the Tour found to shift less to the right than nearby areas, according to research
Trying to work out the difference in road wear between a cargo bike and a car using fourth power law, but getting a bit lost.
If average kerb weight of new cars 1947kg and Cargo bike, loaded, kerb weight 40kg bike + 80kg rider + 50kg load = 170kg, what would the difference (973.5/85)*4 = ? = ?
Can anyone help?
There has been a wave of legitimate peacefully protests turning violent across Europe, anyone suggesting that this is due to "frustration" from the protesters, is either an idiot or is promoting violent to undermine democracy.
Political violence is not intended to achieve democratic change, it is aimed at bringing in Autocracy. The far Right and the far Left are two sides of the same coin!!!
RE: https://mastodon.scot/@kim_harding/117523360674264985
Interesting to note the background on this, what started out as legitimate peacefully protests then grew to include concerns over alleged corruption, shortcomings in the healthcare system and limited opportunities for young people.
As with France and elsewhere, agent provocateur then started inciting violence on the fringes to start riots.
It begs the question are the Russians paying more than €5,500 to their useful idiots?
Albania adopts measures to impose fines up to €5,500 on people at protests that become violent
https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/29/albania-adopts-measures-to-impose-fines-up-to-5500-on-people-at-protests-that-become-viole
The fines, which can go as high as 500,000 leks (€5,500), are not limited to people directly engaged in violence and will be imposed on "anyone who chooses to remain in a crowd" that is carrying out acts of violence or looting in a public space, or that is "concealing their identity".
AI-hallucinated citations should be treated as research misconduct
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-03407-2
Women might have invented language — but not alone
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-03392-6
An eloquent analysis of the origins of human speech suggests that social cohesion, not conflict, drove our use of words
What If We Made Advertising Illegal?
https://simone.org/advertising/
What if we made all advertising illegal? It's such a wild idea that I've never heard it in the public discourse.
But why? It makes perfect sense. The financial incentives to create addictive digital content would instantly disappear, and so would the mechanisms that allow both commercial and political actors to create personalized, reality-distorting bubbles
Should Europe ban meat advertisements?
https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/25/should-europe-ban-meat-advertisements-we-asked-a-climate-psychologist-to-find-out-what-wou
It would have a far greater effect if the EU banned car/motor advertisements, that is a far greater source of harm!!!