internet

Competition to attract audiences encourages media outlets to spread misinformation, according to a study published in Science Advances. The research applies a mathematical framework - called a zero-sum game - to analyse the dynamics between immediate media benefits and long-term damage. The model showed how an ‘arms race’ can emerge between news sources: when one player resorts to misinformation, the other has to do the same in order to compete.

A team of researchers from the University of California (USA) has analyzed the presence of hate speech on the social network X (formerly Twitter) since its purchase by Elon Musk in October 2022 until June 2023. Their findings are that this type of racist, homophobic and transphobic speech increased by approximately 50 % throughout this period. In addition, the presence of bots and fake accounts did not decrease, contrary to Musk's own promises. The results are published in the journal Plos One. 

A team in the US has for the first time achieved quantum teleportation over 30 kilometres of fibre-optic cable already carrying internet data traffic, says a study published in the journal Optica. This type of teleportation would allow quantum communication to be combined with existing internet cable infrastructure. 

Internet 'addiction' in adolescents is associated with changes in neural networks in their brains, a review of studies has found. The analysis published in PLoS Mental Health brings together the results of 12 previous functional magnetic resonance imaging studies, conducted in young people aged 10-19 in Asian countries (Korea, China and Indonesia).

A team of physicists led by Harvard University (USA) has succeeded in linking two quantum memory nodes 35 kilometres apart using existing fibre optics in the Boston area (USA). This is the longest distance achieved to date. According to the authors, who publish their results in the journal Nature, ‘demonstrating that quantum network nodes can intertwine in the real-world environment of a busy urban area is an important step towards practical networking between quantum computers’. 

There are no criminal offences to punish synthetic pornography, plus we lack sufficient means to carry out forensic examinations of victims' and perpetrators' phones and staff to process these cases quickly. The law could limit these AI tools to professional and virtuous environments, only by known developers, and for products whose purposes don't violate public order or privacy, and aren't criminal; such measures would be more than enough.

A 'quantum internet' would allow, among other things, the flow of inviolable secret messages. Building such a network involves teleporting information between non-interacting elements of the system, something researchers in the Netherlands claim to have achieved. They publish it in Nature.