Positive thinking

Jennifer Cobbe   Over the weekend, allegations emerged surrounding the use of Facebook user data by a data analytics firm called Cambridge Analytica . But while they have allegedly broken Facebook’s rules, the real problem is Facebook’s business model. And it’s a model that isn't unique to Facebook. It originated with Google, which realised that the data gathered as people used its search engine could be analysed to predict what they wanted and deliver targeted advertising, and it’s also employed by most ‘free’ online services. This isn't just a problem with Facebook. It's a problem with the internet as it exists today. ‘Surveillance capitalism’ was the term coined in 2015 by Harvard academic Shoshanna Zuboff to describe this large-scale surveillance and modification of human behaviour for profit. It involves predictive analysis of big datasets describing the lives and behaviours of tens or hundreds of millions of people, allowing correlations and patters to b...

   Danny Dorling, University of Oxford and Lucinda Hiam, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine In the first seven weeks of 2018, over 10,000 (12.4%) more people died in England and Wales than was usual for the time of year . No official explanation from government health officials for this sharp rise in mortality has been forthcoming. It became crystal clear in early 2018 that the health and social care system was not coping with the demands being placed upon it. On January 2, in an unprecedented step by the NHS, thousands of non-urgent operations were cancelled. Many hospitals were already at, or beyond, their safe working levels, even though the weather was warmer than normal so any surge in demand was not due to unusually cold conditions. Another suggestion has been that the main reason for there being so much demand was a rise in influenza. Our analysis of the first available data finds that flu only accounted for a very small part of the o...

Facebook suspended the profile of Cambridge Analytica, a well-known, British data analytics firm. The profiles of Strategic Communication Laboratories, Cambridge University psychologist Aleksander Kogan and the head of Eunoia Technologies, Christopher Wylie, were also suspended. Paul Grewal, Vice President of Facebook confirmed that Professor Kogan in 2015 had violated policies by passing data to Cambridge Analytica. Cambridge Analytica is partly owned by Robert Mercer, big supporter of Trump. It is believed that the company had an important role during the American elections and the Brexit referendum. Kogan's app, thisisyourdigitallife, proposed a predictive personality test, describing on the social network as "a search app used by psychologists". The app got the information legitimately, but it violated Facebook's platform policies" passing the information to SCL/Cambridge Analytica and Eunoia Technologies. The app also collected other information, such...

On Tuesday morning, the Vice Principal of the University of Aberdeen sent out an email to the entire student body. In it, he cheerfully announced that, following an ACAS-facilitated proposalto settle the ongoing dispute over cutting University staff’s pensions, he ‘expect[s] the current industrial action to be suspended from […] Wednesday, 14 March 2018’. The VP furthermore assured students that the university management ‘remain[s] committed to minimising the adverse impact of the dispute’ and ‘thank[s] all students for their forbearance over this challenging period’. Most astounding about this statement was that it was sent out hours before the Aberdeen branch of the UCU union – let alone UCU as a whole – had made a decision on the proposed deal. This means that either the university management was uninformed about UCU’s widely publicised decision timeline or it sent out an intentionally misleading email to the entirety of its student body. Both these explanations are utterl...

Craig McKenzie, University of Dundee and Niamh Nic Daeid, University of Dundee Could fentanyl, a synthetic opioid painkiller that has been linked to an alarming increase in drug overdose deaths in North America , now be gaining a foothold in the UK? Drugs-related deaths are increasing in the UK, and the issue of fentanyl and its chemical relatives (or analogues, known as fentanils) require specific attention due to their potential for harm, having already killed thousands in the US including, in the form of a fake prescription drug, the singer Prince . Fentanyl is used in medicine as a strong, low-dose, short-duration, fast-acting pain reliever. But its potency and the perceived ease of smuggling it have made it attractive to illegal drug suppliers interested in profit margins, with little concern for users. In the UK, fentanyl is appearing as an additive in street heroin. Fentanils, and other controlled psychoactive substances such as the synthetic cannabinoids foun...

Jen Bagelman, University of Exeter and Jonathan Cinnamon, University of Exeter A few weeks ago – back when we used to teach and research rather than stand at picket-lines challenging the marketisation of the university – we discovered that we share something in common. As international staff our right to strike and participate in peaceful, collective action is limited by the Home Office. Days before the UK-wide universities strike we were anonymously slipped the following information under our door, printed off and photocopied from the University and College Union ( UCU ) website: For staff employed under a Tier 2 visa, you should be aware that your sponsor is required to report unauthorised absence (such as strike action) if it continues for more than ten consecutive days … your sponsor is required to report unauthorised absences to the Home Office. The Home Office considers industrial or strike action as an unauthorised absence. So if you take industrial action ...

   Kieron Rooney , University of Sydney The World Health Organisation recommends limiting “free sugars” to less than 10% of our total energy intake. This equates to around 12 teaspoons a day for an average adult. But more than half of Australian adults exceed this limit , often without knowing. “Free sugars” don’t just come from us sweetening coffees and teas or home-cooked dinners; they are added by manufacturers during processing. It’s often a surprise to learn just how many teaspoons of sugar are added to popular foods and drinks: The Conversation , CC BY-ND Most of the concern about excess sugar consumption has been focused on weight gain, and rightly so. Our livers can turn sugar into fat . Too much sugar – and too much soft drink, in particular – can cause fat to be deposited on our waist . This is known as visceral fat. Visceral fat is especially harmful because it...