Category Archives: Research

Academic e-books and the changing face of university libraries

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For many years now there’s been a trend in university libraries to focus on the provision of e-books and online resources over physical publications. This is especially true in recent times as university libraries seem to be moving towards a space to study rather than a place to find knowledge. Continue reading »

Robot Wars S3, and implications for future warfare

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Series three of the new-look Robot Wars has come to an end, and with it, one of the best series to date. While fans of the show will have certainly enjoyed some of the most intense, destructive robot battles seen in the show’s long history, the final ended with a deserving victor, proving that reliability and driver skill still trump money and new tech.

Warning: this blog contains spoilers.  Continue reading »

Survey results: A question of (animal) life and death

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A few weeks ago I posted a short survey via my Facebook page, asking readers to answer some questions relating to animal life and death. The idea was to test a few hypotheses I had been playing with relating to the different values we place on animal life. The main focus being that certain animals are valued far more highly in our society than others. The results of my survey can be found below. I will hold off on my comments for now, as I’m interested to see how people react… Continue reading »

‘They took our jobs!’: AI, robots and the future jobs market

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I read with great interest today that Sir Anthony Seldon, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham, has claimed that AI will replace teachers in schools in the near future. As you might expect, the various media outlets have been inundated with comments from members of the public decrying there merest hint that that a machine could do a human job.

But is it really such a far-fetched idea? Continue reading »