Group 20 The fate of many companies, CEOs and even western governments has been shaped by the eruption of corruption scandals linked to foreign investment. Only in 2011 the UK’s parliament passed The Bribery Act (1)which holds a “commercial organization” liable for “failure … to prevent bribery” and it is partly inspired by the American … Continue reading Securing engineering contracts in developing countries — is corruption a necessary evil? →

Group 59 Most companies now feature video interviews as part of their recruitment process to evaluate potential candidates. These interviews are increasingly being assessed by machine learning (ML). ML, in this context, applies algorithms to quantitatively identify successful features in human behaviour as observed in the video interview. For example, features such as facial expressions, … Continue reading Engineering – You’re Hired? The Machine Learning Revolution →

Group 47 Can you survive in a world where smartphones and computers do not exist? Tech giants such as Microsoft and Google have been shaping the future that we are living in right now. Embracing Internet of Things have changed how we deal with matters such as communication, shopping and entertainment. However, excessive reliance has … Continue reading Children and Technology: Development or Disaster? →

Group 58 The online shopping industry is continually growing, with the UK’s e-commerce market becoming the third largest in the world. Accordingly, retail focus is shifting towards optimising product shipping, by reducing delivery cost and time. Drones are the next technological leap, carrying packages of 30kg at 54 km/h and have direct routes to customers. … Continue reading Should we implement delivery drones? →

Group 72 The development of new medical treatments for both infectious and non-infectious diseases within the United States relies heavily on the usage of animal testing. The main purpose of these studies focuses on drug testing and toxicological screening. In 2016, the USDA reported a 7% rise in the usage of animal testing, reaching over … Continue reading Is the use of animal testing for medical purposes considered ethical? →

Group 32 No New Faces For decades, technologies have been helping law enforcement to solve crime, it therefore doesn’t come as a surprise that, presently, machine learning has become the preferred method to tackle crime. However, using data analysis technology to predict crimes before it happens is a relatively new idea. Such a possibility may seem like a plot from … Continue reading Predictive Policing: Will cameras become racist? →

Group 80 On July 20th 1969, America celebrated a global triumph when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped foot on the Moon. However, the US government spent the equivalent of over $150 billion and lost the lives of eight US citizens. This begs the question, “Should America have sent man to the Moon?” At the … Continue reading One Small Step for Man, One Giant Weep for Mankind? →

Group 78 Virtual reality (VR) – a technological development that we would be more likely to associate with the gaming or entertainment industry than warfare. Yet as VR seems set to become a part of our future, it has already begun to, and seems set to increasingly play a huge role in warfare. Though this … Continue reading Virtual Reality Warfare – VRtually insane? →

Group 79 With greenhouse gas emissions at an all-time high and global non-renewable resources depleting rapidly, drastic reform is required in the way we produce our energy. Nuclear remains an unpopular option, wind and solar cannot be depended on for consistent generation, and battery storage technologies are decades away from large-scale feasibility. Biomass provides cheap, … Continue reading Biomass: Energy of the Future or (Bio)Massive Waste of Space →

Group 77 As an engineer, you can be exposed to sensitive information that you may find disturbing or believe to be illegal. You overhear someone talking about shortcuts they’ve taken in the design process or find a report of malpractice in your company that could put lives at risk. What do you do with that … Continue reading Whistleblowers: Should they be sued for leaking secrets? →

Group 57 Nobel Prizes, in their respective field, are awarded annually to those that have made the most important discovery or improvement. Some might consider the winners of Nobel Prizes to be controversial, especially the German chemist Fritz Haber who was awarded the prize in 1918 for his work in synthesising ammonia. Today, the process … Continue reading Was it ethical to award Fritz Haber the Nobel Prize? →

Group 1 If you prefer to hear the article instead of reading, here is an audio version to the document… it takes about 5 minutes to hear it. Since the dawn of time, humans have been trying to achieve the impossible. The Wright brothers’ gave humans flight, the Human Genome Project revolutionised the medical field … Continue reading Do you want to be out of your mind? →

Group 63 Lab-grown meat’s (LGM) main draw is that it bypasses the need for animal slaughter for meat production. Critics argue that it reinforces speciesism. LGM only requires an initial stem cell sample found within muscular tissue retrieved from livestock. The stem cells are then grown in culture to form muscle fibres, which can be … Continue reading Tasty test tube burger? →

Group 34 Improvements in technologies, such as robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), will undoubtedly put jobs at risk. As machines become more intelligent, dextrous and skilful, there will be few tasks that humans can do better than their robot counterparts. Automation. But, what does it mean for humans? Well, according to IPPR subsequent job losses … Continue reading AI: Automated Income? →

Group 9 Virtual Reality (VR) is a barrier-breaking technology which allows complete immersion into a virtual environment, letting communication of ideas be easily and economically undertaken worldwide. The usage of VR within engineering in particular provides a competitive advantage within the training sphere, allowing previously dangerous and costly instructional processes to be undertaken much more … Continue reading Is Virtual Reality a good substitute for real-life training for engineering applications? →

Group 73 Each year around 1.25 million people die from car accidents alone, which equates to around 3500 deaths every day. With autonomous vehicles on the roads becoming more of a reality, would the use of these vehicles be the right answer to solve this problem? This article will discuss the reason for and against … Continue reading Are autonomous vehicles the answer? →

Group 53 ‘I don’t know about you, but I don’t want Albert Einstein to be my pilot. I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!’ Donald J. Trump said. Safety, convenience, greater efficiency as well as better flying experience. Those are the reasons why autopilots are … Continue reading Mayday!!! Autopilot or Human? →

Group 2 The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more common in a variety of industries, the legal profession being no exception. This article examines the ethics of using an AI as a judge to determine the sentencing in court cases. Judges use sentencing guidelines that are laid out by the Sentencing Council in … Continue reading RoboJudge – Is the Devil in the Data? →