#21 Responsible Media Coverage: Hype in Our Stories About Chatbots | WeAreSTS
Release Date: 12/30/2022
#203 Baby-Botox: Anti-Aging Is Out Of Control | WeAreSTS
WeAreSTS
Children as young as eight are targeted by influencers and advertisers towards anti-aging products, from skin creams and anti-wrinkle devices to “baby botox”. Maddy Ross (Human Sciences ’25) investigates how influencers and social media algorithms drive anti-aging anxiety to ever increasing levels while industry advertising markets solutions to ever younger people, especially girls. She identifies increasing concerns over risks that are physical, psychological, and social. Are young people being exploited without even knowing it? Influencers play a key role in these processes, especially...
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#202 Outlaw Ocean – Ian Urbina’s Book is STS1Book for 2024-25 | WeAreSTS
WeAreSTS
Ian Urbina’s 2019 book, Outlaw Ocean, brilliantly investigates hidden worlds of human activity on the high seas. From modern day pirates and traffickers to gargantuan fishing fleets to “freedom-loving” recluses and entrepreneurs, his stories build on the idea of oceans as lawless spaces well beyond the awareness of most people. He documents extremes of human behaviour. He also describes the extraordinary scale of extraction and exploitation that takes place off shore. In this world, who’s “free” and what are the consequences of “lawless” spaces? Outlaw Ocean is this year’s...
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#201 Dark Matter and the Search for Elusive Evidence | WeAreSTS
WeAreSTS
What is dark matter? Mary Westover investigates, featuring insights from Dr. Joe McLaughlin and Dr. Marcello Messina. She visits the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy to understand how a research lab sunk deep into a mountain and holding a giant tank of liquid Xenon holds the promise of evidence for this most elusive substance. From the lab's mountain setting to the complex physics involved, this episode provides a deep dive into one of physics’ most perplexing questions. This episode is a practical project submitted by Mary Westover as part of her UCL degree, MSc Science Communication. She...
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Season 2 Trailer
WeAreSTS
Well, the wait is over. The time has come. Season 2 of WeAreSTS is on its way. This season we’ll feature some cracking projects from STS students. And we’ll have conversations with all sorts of folks here in the department. I’m gonna sneak in a few bonuses too, just to add that tiny bit of sparkle. WeAreSTS is your window into science and technology studies. You know that science and technology don’t live inside isolated bubbles. You know they’re shaped by all sorts of forces and constraints. STS explores that interplay between science and context. For some, it’s money and...
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#30 Don’t Look Up! How Hollywood Imports Science Policy into Films | WeAreSTS
WeAreSTS
Hollywood chooses to portray experts in particular – sometimes peculiar – ways. Those choices have profound impacts on how audiences think about subjects as diverse as dinosaurs, robots, and climate catastrophes. But do those portrayals also change the way we think about the experts themselves and the process of expertise? Does Hollywood play some kind of under-the-table role in teaching us which experts to trust? That’s the theme for today’s podcast. Today, we listen in on a conversation between three experts here in STS who study science policy making as a process. They talk about a...
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#29 Can Comedy Help Us Tackle Conversations About Climate Change? | WeAreSTS
WeAreSTS
Ever heard of climate change comedy? Here’s the idea. The climate crisis dominates our news. But more and more, messages about action are ignored. Fatalism is growing. People seem frozen with the scale of the problem. It’s clear we need new ways to tackle these tough conversations. In this episode, STS’s very own Grace Tyrrell explores the growing niche of climate change comedy. With her guest Dr Matt Winning, an environmental researcher and comedian, Grace shows us how climate change comedy works and she explores the question of how these two ideas can fit together. Grace is finishing...
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#28 Promising Potential for Generative AI at University: Is it a Personal Tutor for Every Pocket | WeAreSTS
WeAreSTS
Mandy dives optimistically into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on education as we know it. Think ChatGPT and all those related tools called generative AI. Along the way, we touch on some fundamental and relevant concepts from science and technology studies - including the Turing Test and technological determinism - that can help us gain a more nuanced understanding of emerging technology and big tech. With insights from UCL experts and others in Silicon Valley, we explore the incredible potential of AI to enhance university education, plus we dip into some of the...
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#27 Top Stories in Science Journalism from STS Students | WeAreSTS
WeAreSTS
The assignments students do in STS modules today are nothing like what they used to be. These days, they build portfolios with all sorts of things: short writing, long writing, posters, blogs, in-class presentations. Add to these, projects like podcasts, film clips, campaign strategies, briefing papers, debates, and full-on project proposals. Research of different kinds. They all require hard work, creativity, and rising to the challenge. We diversify our curriculum because we know the future holds work as varied as we do ourselves each day. We want our students skilled up, practiced, and...
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#26 Women in History of Science Through 53 Original Sources | WeAreSTS
WeAreSTS
Women in the History of Science brings together primary sources that highlight women’s involvement in scientific knowledge production around the world. Drawing on texts, images and objects, each primary source is accompanied by an explanatory text, questions to prompt discussion, and a bibliography to aid further research. Arranged by time period, covering 1200 BCE to the twenty-first century, and across 12 inclusive and far-reaching themes, this book is an invaluable companion to students and lecturers alike in exploring women’s history in the fields of science, technology, mathematics,...
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#25 Are We Over-Hyping Mindfulness for University Students? | WeAreSTS
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Chances are you’ve had something to do with “mindfulness” recently. Maybe you’ve been sent to “mindfulness” training. Or, perhaps you’ve been listening to a mindfulness podcast. Or, perhaps you’re using a “mindfulness” app, such as HeadSpace. In this episode, Franziska Link investigates the growing use of mindfulness therapies at universities, such as UCL, in their provision for student support and welfare. What good are they? What do they involve? What are the pros – and the cons – of this approach. Franziska interviews four people with quite different relationships to...
info_outlineIs AI sentient? Do machines have souls? I’ve got an even better question: are these questions the most important ones we should be asking? Headlines claiming machines could be alive are definitely eye-catching. But hype does not come unaccompanied: misinformation, fear, and fake news are close friends with sensationalism. They target audiences who probably know enough about the topic, but not enough to critically analyse the information fed to them. Understanding the role the media plays in opinion-making about new science and technology is vital when we are dealing our own decision making over risk, harm, and benefit.
Further information on Hype, Chatbots, and AI
- Gemma Milne, 2020. Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How To See Past It (listen to our episode interviewing Gemma)
- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/world/siri-alexa-ai-gender-bias.html
- https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/2022/06/dangerous-fallacy-sentient-ai
The full conversation between Google engineers and LaMDA is available online.
Featuring
Reporter and researcher
Interviewees
- Dr Stephen Hughes, Lecturer in UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS)
- Dr Amanda Rees, Professor in the Sociology Department at the University of York
- Dr Nina Seppala, Deputy Director (Academic Affairs) of the School of Management at University College London
Host
- Professor Joe Cain, UCL Professor of History and Philosophy of Biology
Music credits
Intro and Exit music
- “Rollin At 5,” by Kevin MacLeod
https://filmmusic.io/song/5000-rollin-at-5
Interval music
- “Andréa’s theme” by Michael Sansbury
Podcast information
WeAreSTS is a production of the Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at University College London (UCL). To find out more, or to leave feedback about the show:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/podcast
This site also includes information for how STS students and staff can get involved with our programme.
WeAreSTS producer is Professor Joe Cain.
Twitter: @stsucl #WeAreSTS