A US judge has temporarily blocked a new law in Texas that effectively bans women from having an abortion. District Judge Robert Pitman granted a request by the Biden administration to prevent any enforcement of the law while its legality is being challenged. The law, which prohibits women in Texas from obtaining an abortion after Read more about Texas abortion: Judge temporarily blocks enforcement of law[…]
Just How Much Time Do We Spend On Our Phones? Phones have become so essential that it’s become tough to imagine our lives without them. What’s funny about this is that most people alive today can remember a time when we didn’t have cell phones, let alone smartphones. Even so, it’s difficult to recall exactly Read more about Just How Much Time Do We Spend On Our Phones?[…]
China’s authorities have called for internet companies to create a governance system for their algorithms. A set of guiding opinions on algorithms, issued overnight by nine government agencies, explains that algorithms play a big role in disseminating information online and enabling growth of the digital economy. But the guiding opinions also point out that algorithms Read more about China to have insight into and regulate web giants’ algorithms using governance model[…]
he Wall Street Journal has had something of a banner week tearing down Facebook. Its series on a trove of internal company documents obtained by the paper has unveiled Facebook’s secret system for treating certain users as above the rules, company research showing how harmful Instagram is for young girls, how the site’s algorithmic solutions Read more about Facebook Documents Show It Fumbled the Fight Over Vaccines[…]
Internal memos show how a big 2018 change rewarded outrage and that CEO Mark Zuckerberg resisted proposed fixes In the fall of 2018, Jonah Peretti, chief executive of online publisher BuzzFeed, emailed a top official at Facebook Inc. The most divisive content that publishers produced was going viral on the platform, he said, creating an Read more about Facebook’s 2018 Algorithm Change ‘Rewarded Outrage’. Zuck Resisted Fixes[…]
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Institut Pasteur in France have developed a technique for reconstructing whole genomes, including the human genome, on a personal computer. This technique is about a hundred times faster than current state-of-the-art approaches and uses one-fifth the resources. The study, published September 14 in the journal Read more about Scientists can now assemble entire genomes on their personal computers in minutes[…]
The people who happen to be in a city center at any given moment may seem like a random collection of individuals. But new research featuring a simple mathematical law shows that urban travel patterns worldwide are, in fact, remarkably predictable regardless of location—an insight that could enhance models of disease spread and help to Read more about Simple Mathematical Law Predicts Movement in Cities around the World[…]
[…] according to a new study, the food you ate just before your walk past the bakery may impact your likelihood of stopping in for a sweet treat—and not just because you’re full. Scientists at Northwestern University found that people became less sensitive to food odors based on the meal they had eaten just before. Read more about Your sense of smell may be the key to a balanced diet[…]
[…] display items that come from the same category as the target product, such as a board game matched with other board games, enhance the chances of a target product’s purchase. In contrast, consumers are less likely to buy the target product if it is mismatched with products from different categories, for example, a board Read more about Online product displays can shape your buying behavior[…]
[…] Parkour is rooted in French military history, and more specifically escape and evasion tactics using only the human body, trained using “parcours du combattant”; an obstacle course based training method. Whilst sharing common features, it should not be confused with freerunning, which places less of an emphasis on efficiency, allowing for more acrobatic movements. Read more about Parkour: The Ultimate Guide For Beginners[…]
Scientists in the UK say the same sort of echolocation practiced by bats may also help people living with blindness better navigate the world. In a new study, they found that blind and sighted participants who took part in a 10-week training program were able to learn how to perform echolocation, and the blind participants Read more about Researchers Trained People to Echolocate in Just 10 Weeks[…]
According to Action News Jax, Bartram Trail High School altered 80 different yearbook photos – all of them of girls. In many of them, crudely photoshopped rectangles in the colour of the girls’ clothing can be seen covering up their chests. Many of those students have expressed outrage. “I felt confident that day and I Read more about Parents outraged after Florida high school edits girls’ yearbook pictures to make clothes more conservative[…]
[…] It turns out a process called galvanic vestibular stimulation—also known as GVS—can be used to alter a human’s sense of balance by electrically stimulating a nerve in the ear using electrodes. Researchers haven’t quite figured out the best uses of the technology—medical, military, and entertainment companies are all investigating it—but when used properly it Read more about Driving Simulator Lets a Player Feel a Car’s Motions by Short-Circuiting Their Sense of Balance[…]
A new experimental treatment could someday give people a way to grow missing teeth, if early research on lab animals holds up. Scientists at Japan’s Kyoto University and the University of Fukui developed a monoclonal antibody treatment that seems to trigger the body to grow new teeth, according to research published last month in the Read more about New Treatment Makes Teeth Grow Back[…]
Scientists working on the psychology of problem solving may have hit upon why things always seem to get more complicated. A newly uncovered heuristic – a mental shortcut or rule of thumb – shows bias towards adding features to find a solution, rather than subtracting existing features. A simple experiment in Lego has provided some Read more about Feature bloat: Psychology boffins find people tend to add elements to solve a problem rather than take things away[…]
Here we show that individuals who are asleep and in the midst of a lucid dream (aware of the fact that they are currently dreaming) can perceive questions from an experimenter and provide answers using electrophysiological signals. We implemented our procedures for two-way communication during polysomnographically verified rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep in 36 individuals. Some had Read more about Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep[…]
now, for the first time ever, scientists have evidence showing they can reverse false memories, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “The same way that you can suggest false memories, you can reverse them by giving people a different framing,” the lead researcher of the paper, Read more about Scientists Implant and Then Reverse False Memories in People[…]
[…] a group of mavericks out of Switzerland have detected a magnetic signal in a plant. Using a highly sensitive magnetometer, an interdisciplinary team of researchers have measured signals from a Venus flytrap of up to .5 picotesla. To make matters even more mind-blowing, this signal is roughly equivalent to the biomagnetic field strength of Read more about Venus Flytraps Have Magnetic Fields Like the Human Brain[…]
[…] According to a recent report by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (2020), each year in the U.S. farmers throw away up to 30% of their crops, equal to 66.5 million tons of edible produce, due to cosmetic imperfections. […] They discover that consumers expect unattractive produce to be less tasty and, Read more about How “ugly” labels on imperfect food can increase purchase of unattractive produce[…]
Working hours for the average worker have decreased dramatically over the last 150 years. Why should we care? The evidence presented here comes from decades of work from economic historians and other researchers. Of course, the data is not perfect — as we explain in a forthcoming post, measuring working hours with accuracy is difficult, Read more about Are we working more than ever? – Our World in Data[…]
Playing through the greenery and litter of a mini forest’s undergrowth for just one month may be enough to change a child’s immune system, according to a small new experiment. When daycare workers in Finland rolled out a lawn, planted forest undergrowth such as dwarf heather and blueberries, and allowed children to care for crops Read more about Daycares in Finland Built a ‘Forest Floor’, And It Changed Children’s Immune Systems[…]
‘Technology ensures that we’re all served our own personalised news cycle. As a result, we only get to hear the opinions that correspond to our own. The result is polarisation’. Or so the oft-heard theory goes. But in practice, it seems this isn’t really true, or at least not for the average Dutch person. However, Read more about Do algorithms make us even more radical? Filter bubbles and echo chambers[…]
Formula 1 drivers have been told they cannot wear clothing bearing any slogans or messages while doing official duties after grands prix. The move is a reaction to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton wearing a T-shirt at the last race in Tuscany referencing the case of a woman killed by US police. The FIA said podium finishers Read more about Formula 1 drivers told they cannot wear slogans or messages in post-race duties[…]
This graphic looks at 29 different psychological tricks that marketers use to try and influence consumer behavior. Source: 29 Psychological Tricks Used To Make You Buy More
Why are the terms “Nazi Germany” and “Mengele” become trending topics on Twitter? The words dominated the social media platform on Monday after it was revealed that a whistleblower has alleged “high numbers” of immigrant women at a U.S. concentration camp in Georgia were sent to be given unnecessary hysterectomies. Many of the women reportedly Read more about U.S. Concentration Camp in Georgia Sent Women to Be Sterilized[…]