Communications of the ACM
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How the “Frontier” Became the Slogan of Uncontrolled AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been billed as the next frontier of humanity: the newly available expanse whose exploration …
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Blade: the emotional computer.
by Paul Curzon, Queen Mary University of London Communicating with computers is clunky to say the least – we even have to go to IT classes to learn how to talkContinue...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Why the Romans were pants at maths
In case you've ever wondered how on earth the Romans multiplied numbers using Roman numerals...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
“The Truth About AI” – get ready to get tickets to the Ri Christmas Lectures 2023 #XmasLectures with @Ri_Science
The ballot for this year's AI-themed Ri Christmas lectures opens on 14 Sep, but there are other ways to see the lectures live, or later when broadcast.
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
How far can you hear? Modelling distant birdsong.
by Dan Stowell, Queen Mary University of London How do we know how many birds there are out there: in the countryside, and in the city? Usually, it’s because people...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Threads & Yarns – textiles and electronics
by Paul Curzon, Queen Mary University of London, from June 2011 At first sight nothing could be more different than textiles and electronics. Put opposites together...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
3D models in motion
by Paul Curzon, Queen Mary University of Londonbased on a 2016 talk by Lourdes Agapito The cave paintings in Lascaux, France are early examples of human culture...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Frequency Analysis for Fun
by Paul Curzon, Queen Mary University of London Frequency Analysis, a technique beloved by spies for centuries, and that led to the execution of at least one Queen...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Keeping secrets on the Internet – encryption keeps your data safe
How do modern codes keep your data safe online? Ben Stephenson of the University of Calgary explains When Alan Turing was breaking codes, the world was a pretty...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Composing from Compression
by Geraint Wiggins, Queen Mary University of London Computers compress files to save space. But it also allows them to create music! Music is special. It’s oneContinue...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Balls, beams and quantum computers – performing calculations with patterns of light
by Jane Waite, Queen Mary University of London Have you played the seaside arcade game where shiny metal balls drops down to ping, ping off little metal pegs and...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Getting off the beach, fast
by Paul Curzon, Queen Mary University of London Paul goes on holiday and sees how a car park can work like a computer. Computers get faster and faster every year...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
[From the archives] “A mob for the Earth” – online communities supporting the real world, and businesses
A mob for the Earth by Paul Curzon, Queen Mary University of London One Saturday afternoon last spring in San Francisco, a queue of people stretched down the pavement...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Happy World Emoji Day –
“Emoji didn’t become so essential because they stand in for words – but because they finally made writing a lot more like talking.” Gretchen McCulloch (see Further...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Negligent nurses? Or dodgy digital? – device design can unintentionally mask errors
Magicians often fool their audience into ‘looking over there’ (literally or metaphorically), getting them to pay attention to the wrong thing so that they’re not...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Free CS4FN magazine issue 29 arriving in schools now, on Diversity in Computing
Schoolteachers, school librarians and home educators who subscribe* to the FREE Computer Science For Fun magazine will be receiving their free print copies this...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Digital lollipop: no calories, just electronics!
by Jane Waite, Queen Mary University of London Can a computer create a taste in your mouth? Imagine scrolling down a list of flavours and then savouring your sweet...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Engineering a Cloak of Invisibility: Manipulating Light with Metamaterials
by Akram Alomainy and Paul Curzon, QMUL You pull a cloak around you and disappear! Reality or science fiction? Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak is surely Hogwarts’...
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Solving problems you care about
Programmable design challenge: sixth formers on @QMUL's summer internship came up with creative solutions to solve real world problems.
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)
Stretching your keyboard – getting more out of QWERTY
How the QWERTY keyboard has been adapted for languages with different alphabets, using Input Method Editors.
From CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun)