"The first real mass-level AI misinformation case": Should you be worried that a picture of the Pope in a puffer jacket went viral?

Welcome once more to our round-up of the best stories from New Scientist this week. In this edition, we look at whether the human population will go down, whether animal populations should go up and an exciting new idea about wrinkles. But first, the Pope:

Should you be worried that an AI picture of the Pope went viral?

Earlier this week, I was idly scrolling through Twitter when I saw this picture of the Pope in a puffer jacket. Thinking little of it, besides mild amusement, I continued scrolling – but later I discovered the image had been created by AI generator Midjourney. I wasn’t the only one fooled, and that raises some interesting questions about a rapidly approaching future in which visual misinformation can be created with ease. Journalist Chris Stokel-Walker explores the issues in this fantastic analysis piece.

Reducing inequality could see the world population fall to 6 billion

Everyone alive today has only ever known a world in which the global population is growing, but people who are currently children will almost certainly live to see a shrinking human world at the end of this century, based on demographic factors that are already locked in. The question is, just how far will the human population fall by 2100? I was surprised to see this prediction that it could go as low as 6 billion – a milestone I remember us crossing in the other direction in the 1990s!

Restoring just nine groups of animals could help combat global warming

Questions about population go hand in hand with those about the environment, given the massive impact we have on the rest of Earth’s life, and the end of this century will see a planet that looks very different to the one we have now. Generally, we’re presented with two visions of the future – either a warmed-up hellhole where we’ve failed to get control of climate change, or a green tech utopia in which we have. This paper suggests a third option: massively boosting the numbers of key animal populations (a billion extra elephants!) could lock up enough carbon to get us a large part of the way below 1.5°C of warming. Whether this could be done fast enough is another matter, though, and cuts to human emissions will still be needed.

More from New Scientist

• The number of people under 50 being diagnosed with cancer is on the rise and no one knows exactly why. Our health reporter Clare Wilson dug into the details.
• Our magazine cover story this week is about the suggestion that wrinkles, rather than being merely a sign of ageing, could actually drive it. If that’s true, efforts to look young might be more than just vanity.
• It’s not too late to sign up to our online event with particle physicist Don Lincoln, who will be talking on 4 April about how Fermilab in Illinois has helped deepen our understanding of space, time and everything else.

Thanks for reading and do remember to share this newsletter with your network by hitting the repost button.

Jacob Aron , News Editor