Stories of Impact

Dr. Barron is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, and the Deputy Head of the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University in Sydney. He discusses how the brains of honeybees can provide a model for studying diverse intelligence.

Can computers be given a sense of morality using AI, and what are the implications for decision making in a hospital setting?

Can the study of Humpback Whale communication help researchers understand communications from an alien intelligence?

Young black teens in South Africa's townships are learning to be radio reporters by trying to understand the concept of "Ubuntu" and what it means to their community.

How does altruism begin. Is it biological? Is it taught? Researchers are trying to understand the DNA of altruism by studying toddlers.

Evolutionary anthropologists are probing the depths of animal intelligence like never before, revealing stunning new insights about humans too.

Scientists at the "Centre for Existential Risk" grapple with the unprecedented number of planetary threats facing humanity, from runaway AI and cyber attacks to bioterror and nuclear war.

The global search is on for the next Ramanujan, a poor Indian drop-out who won a coveted spot at Cambridge University in the 1920's for his extraordinary genius in mathematics.