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Conspiracy videos suggesting that the California wildfires were lit by government laser beams have clocked up millions of views on YouTube. News site Motherboard found conspiracy theories and fake news topped search results and suggestions, when looking for clips of the California wildfires. It said YouTube had "not adequately stopped these conspiracy theories from blossoming on its platform". YouTube said it has made a long-term commitment to tackle misinformation. At least 80 people have died in the fires which swept across the state of California in November. 500 people remain unaccounted for after the so-called Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise. But YouTube has provided a "thriving" home for misinformation about the fires, Motherboard said. It found people searching for the fire were recommended topics such as "conspiracy 2018", "directed energy weapon" and "laser beam". ...

One of George Soros's lieutenants has called on US politicians to probe Facebook, after the social network confirmed that it had hired a PR firm to make claims about the financier. The head of Mr Soros's grant-making network claimed Facebook had smeared the philanthropist , adding "this needs independent, congressional oversight". Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's deputy chief, has also clarified her role. She said she had been told of the PR firm but had not remembered its name. The latest developments follow the social network's decision to publish a memo by its departing communications chief, Elliot Schrage. In it, he confirmed Facebook had directed t he PR firm Definers to investigate Soros's links to the Freedom from Facebook campaign, which is seeking the company's break-up. Mr Schrage added that related documents were then sent to journalists on Facebook's behalf. The memo had originally been sent to Facebook's staff and had alr...

Problems with computers could be blamed for up to 900 patient deaths in the NHS a year, experts have said. Computers are embedded across the NHS but many are "bad" and "low quality", according to two academics. Devices in hospitals - which are used for a range of applications from storing patient records and making appointments to systems embedded in devices like MRI scanners and dialysis machines - are "unnecessarily buggy" and "susceptible to cyber-attack", according to Harold Thimbleby, professor emeritus of geometry at Gresham College in London and professor of computer science at Swansea University. ...

Chats on dating apps are often stilted, awkward and repetitive, so when you find common ground with your match, it can make conversation a lot easier. Whether it’s a love of chocolate milk or a desire to communicate through emojis alone, finding a shared interest is key. And one prime example of this is the couple of computer programming fans who recently matched on Tinder and went on to have a conversation in programmer-speak. ...

Do you have free will? Can you make your own decisions? Or are you more like an automaton, just moving as required by your constituent parts? Probably, like most people, you feel you have something called free will. Your decisions are not predetermined; you could do otherwise. Yet scientists can tell you that you are made up of atoms and molecules and that they are governed by the laws of physics. Fundamentally, then – in terms of atoms and molecules – we can predict the future for any given starting point. This seems to leave no room for free will, alternative actions or decisions. Confused? You have every right to be. This is one of the long-outstanding unresolved problems in ph...