Scotland will get a new first minister today. And unless something very unexpected occurs, that first minister will be Humza Yousaf, who was elected leader of the Scottish National Party yesterday.

It’s an exciting moment in many ways but, as Paul Whiteley highlights, Yousaf’s victory was incredibly narrow. That is very significant for a man hoping to deliver independence for Scotland because it suggests he is about to experience precisely the same hindrances as his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon.

Sorry to boast but I have been described as being “upsettingly good” at Wordle by those seeking to compare (and subsequently shying away from comparing) scores. So it was gratifying to read that ChatGPT can’t touch me. In fact, AI might be threatening to take over many aspects of our lives, but it is absolutely garbage at word games.

And if you suspect someone of lying, there are notorious physical signs you can look out for, right? Not so fast, pop psychologists.

Laura Hood

Politics Editor, Assistant Editor

EPA/Robert Perry

Humza Yousaf becomes Scotland’s first minister: a decade of polls suggest he’ll struggle to deliver independence, just like Nicola Sturgeon

Paul Whiteley, University of Essex

The SNP’s new leader only just squeaked over the line against his rivals, which is a bad sign for his ambition to take Scotland out of the UK.

shutterstock. Shutterstock / DVKi

ChatGPT struggles with Wordle puzzles, which says a lot about how it works

Michael G. Madden, University of Galway

The AI chatbot ChatGPT can do many things, but its inability to solve Wordle explains parts of its programming.

B-D-S Piotr Marcinski/Shutterstock

Lie detectors: body language tells us surprisingly little about whether someone is being honest

Aldert Vrij, University of Portsmouth

But there are other techniques professional investigators use to test the plausibility of people’s stories.

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