Fake news: you ain’t seen nothing yet
Generating convincing audio and video of fake events
EARLIER this year Françoise Hardy, a French musician, appeared in a YouTube video (see link). She is asked, by a presenter off-screen, why President Donald Trump sent his press secretary, Sean Spicer, to lie about the size of the inauguration crowd. First, Ms Hardy argues. Then she says Mr Spicer “gave alternative facts to that”. It’s all a little odd, not least because Françoise Hardy (pictured), who is now 73, looks only 20, and the voice coming out of her mouth belongs to Kellyanne Conway, an adviser to Mr Trump.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Creation stories”
From the July 1st 2017 edition
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Is your hay fever getting worse?
Climate change could be to blame
A landmark study of gender medicine is caught in an ethics row
Some say the trial is unethical. Others, that not doing it would be immoral
Rates of bowel cancer are rising among young people
Childhood exposure to a common gut bacterium could be responsible
The great Iberian power cut need not spell disaster for renewables
But there are lessons to be learned
Can at-home brain stimulators make you feel better?
For now, the evidence for neuromodulation products is slim
Australia’s dingoes are becoming a distinct species
Many will still be culled under false pretences