the conversation
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If K’Gari Did Help Protect the Great Barrier Reef From Sand, the Entire Formation of the East Coast of Australia Is Linked to a Singular Story
Scientists had always been puzzled why the Great Barrier Reef formed long after Australia had conditions suitable for reef growth. It turns out the answer might be K’gari (Fraser Island). K’gari, the world’s largest sand island and a UNESCO World Heritage Area, juts out from the Australian coastline where the continent extends furthest east. It…
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Binance’s Failure to Rescue FTX Could Spell Out a ‘Crypto Winter’
Life in the cryptocurrency industry is rarely quiet for long, and after a tumultuous summer, it seems the market is now entering a “crypto winter”. Over the past week, the founders of two of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges – Binance and FTX – have had a public Twitter spat that triggered the collapse of one…
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Where Does Lava Come From and What Is It Made Of?
Have you ever seen lava? What does it look like to you? Lava can be red, fiery and liquid or cool, dark and solid, like in the picture above. In the picture you can see red hot lava, flowing over black solid rock where the lava has cooled. Lava is molten rock, melted because of…
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What Exactly Is ‘Shadowbanning’?
Tech platforms use recommender algorithms to control society’s key resource: attention. With these algorithms they can quietly demote or hide certain content instead of just blocking or deleting it. This opaque practice is called “shadowbanning”. While platforms will often deny they engage in shadowbanning, there’s plenty of evidence it’s well and truly present. And it’s…