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[…]

[…] 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[…]

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[…]

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[…]

[…] 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[…]

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[…]

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[…]

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[…]

It turns out that where in traditional face to face leadership, people prefer leaders who are vocal, charming, friendly (ascription qualities). In virtual leadership, people prefer leaders who facilitate, are organised and actually do stuff (achievement factors).  In two independent samples—a laboratory experiment involving 86 teams (n = 340; sample one) and a semester long project involving Read more about Who Emerges into Virtual Team Leadership Roles? Different people from face to face leadership[…]

253 emails have been leaked from private (high-level) mailing lists of Debian, in which its representatives vocally complain about the talk Linus Torvalds gave at the most recent DebConf conference. Some people insist that he should be permanently banned from future conferences because the language he uses is inappropriate and infringes on the project’s Code Read more about ‘Linusgate’: Namby pamby doesn’t like Linus calling FSF names at debconf, feels cancel cultury about it.[…]