Chris Stokel-Walker
New Scientist
United Kingdom
Contact Chris
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Past articles by Chris:
What is the Venus-Jupiter conjunction and how can you view it?
The solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter, and its brightest planet, Venus, will appear to touch in the sky tonight – here’s why → Read More
Tweets reveal hardware stores cause disgust but motels bring joy
A study of more than 1.5 million tweets over one year suggests that people in San Francisco feel disgusted when at hardware stores and Londoners are most joyful at motels → Read More
Web3 promises to reclaim the internet from tech giants – will it work?
There's a lot of hype surrounding the idea of a decentralised version of the internet that would give more power to ordinary users. Here's what it would take to make it happen → Read More
AI chatbots could hit a ceiling after 2026 as training data runs dry
The stock of language data that artificial intelligences like ChatGPT train on could run out by 2026, because AIs consume it faster than we produce it → Read More
Most people who threatened to quit Twitter for Mastodon haven't left
Of more than 140,000 Twitter users who announced they were moving to Mastodon, just 1.6 per cent have actually quit Elon Musk’s social media platform → Read More
Meta’s text-to-audio AI can create common sounds and generate music
Meta’s AudioGen text-to-audio artificial intelligence model could create sound for video games, film soundtracks or music production → Read More
The Seed Detective review: Why we must save rare vegetables
Saving unusual vegetable varieties from extinction is essential for protecting crop diversity, which is under threat from mechanisation, argues Adam Alexander in his richly detailed new book → Read More
Like, Comment, Subscribe review: Inside track on YouTube's success
Over 17 years, YouTube has transformed from a place to share home videos to a cultural juggernaut that helps elect presidents. A new book from Mark Bergen gives unparalleled insights into the platform's rise → Read More
Ukraine's army of hackers failed to thwart Russia and quickly gave up
As Russia invaded Ukraine, much was made of Ukraine's volunteer "hacktivist" army, but an analysis of cyberattacks against Russia suggests they achieved little more than minor digital graffiti → Read More
Banning anti-vaccine groups on Facebook may just move users to Twitter
People who were in Facebook groups shut down seemingly for violating vaccine misinformation rules went on to tweet more anti-vaccine content in the following month → Read More
Scent review: How fragrant plants weave their magic
From frankincense to cacao and vanilla, Scent: A natural history of fragrance shows how aromatic substances have helped shape human culture → Read More
Using hand gestures can improve your experience of video calls
Signals, such as putting your hand over your heart to signify empathy or thumbs up to show you agree, seem to improve people’s experience of video calls more than typing words or using emojis → Read More
Flexible robot hand with precise grip lifts 1000 times its own weight
An 8-gram actuator - a device that converts energy and signals into movement - that operates as artificial muscles lifted 8 kilograms while maintaining human-like hand movements → Read More
Top 10 search results from Google and Bing differ by up to 75 per cent
An analysis of search results in the US and Germany found that the top 10 results from Google and other search engines differ widely → Read More
Secret code in letter ink unlocks text of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Ink laced with molecules that can store data has been used to write a letter containing a hidden, encoded message – the encryption key to unlock a text file of the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz → Read More
Ink filled with secret molecules can hide encryption key in a letter
Ink laced with molecules that can store data has been used to write a letter containing a hidden, encoded message – the encryption key to unlock a text file of the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz → Read More
Robot that can perceive its body has self-awareness, claim researchers
The team claims to have given a robot self-awareness of its location in physical space, but others are sceptical → Read More
The headline tricks that make people share news stories on Facebook!?!
Unusual punctuation in headlines makes people more likely to share news stories on Facebook, but phrases like “this will blow your mind” are a turn-off, finds a study → Read More
How Minds Change review: The science of persuasion in a divided world
David McRaney's argument that it is possible to find common ground with those holding diametrically opposing views is a tonic, finds Chris Stokel-Walker → Read More
Reddit moderators do $3.4 million worth of unpaid work each year
Volunteers who maintain the standard of content on Reddit’s forums do 466 hours of work every day – labour that would cost 2.8 per cent of the firm’s revenue → Read More