The Vulnerable World Hypothesis
"This paper introduces the concept of a vulnerable world: roughly, one in which there is some level of technological development at which civilization almost certainly gets devastated by default, i.e. unless it has exited the ‘semi-anarchic default condition’. Several counterfactual historical and...
Source: doi.org
Embracing Authenticity: Why Non-Algorithmic Social Media Platforms Are More Social Than Instagram, Tumblr, or Threads
The fallacy shared both by social media services and educational services is one of trying to engineer the perfect mix of content for their clients. What we find, I think, in both education and online media is that authentic content - that is, content based in a person's actual life and relations with...
Source: downes.ca
Gender differences in individual variation in academic grades fail to fit expected patterns for STEM - Nature Communications
Fewer women than men pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), despite girls outperforming boys at school in the relevant subjects. According to the ‘variability hypothesis’, this over-representation of males is driven by gender differences in variance; greater male...
Source: nature.com
IT tools and gadgets
I really enjoy finding tools that just do the job and don't try to profit from you or your data. Here are some of the ones that I find useful. Send a large file or lots of files Transfer files up to 6GB in size. No registration required. No ads. Links expire. FileTransfer.io ... https://filetransfer.io/...
England's 'freedom day' marred by soaring cases and isolation chaos
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 'freedom day' ending over a year of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in England was marred on Monday by surging infections, warnings of supermarket shortages and his own forced self-isolation.
Source: reuters.com
Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants
All viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, change over time. Most changes have little to no impact on the virus’ properties. However, some changes may affect the virus’s properties, such as how easily it spreads, the associated disease severity, or the performance...
Source: who.int
World's wealthiest (and 'business as usual') 'at heart of climate problem'
"These [polluter elite] are people who fly most, drive the biggest cars most and live in the biggest homes which they can easily afford to heat, so they tend not to worry if they’re well insulated or not. … They’re also the sort of people who could really afford good insulation and solar panels...
Source: bbc.com
Use of 360° virtual reality video in medical obstetrical education: a quasi-experimental design Vera Arents. Pieter C.
Background Video-based teaching has been part of medical education for some time but 360° videos using a virtual reality (VR) device are a new medium that offer extended possibilities. We investigated whether adding a 360° VR video to the internship curriculum leads to an improvement of long-term recall...
Source: biomedcentral.com
AT&T lobbies against nationwide fiber, says 10Mbps uploads are good enough
AT&T admits fiber is most "future-proof" but wants US to fund slower networks.
Source: arstechnica.com
Brain-Based Learning, Myth versus Reality: Testing Learning Styles and Dual Coding | Science-Based Medicine: Ed. Note: Today
Brain-Based Learning, Myth versus Reality: Testing Learning Styles and Dual Coding | Science-Based Medicine: Ed. Note: Today we present a guest post from Josh Cuevas, a cognitive psychologist and assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of North Georgia. Enjoy! "Since early on...
Source: sciencebasedmedicine.org
9 errors of judgement about the pandemic
America Is Trapped in a Pandemic Spiral: As the U.S. heads toward the winter, the country is going round in circles, making the same conceptual errors that have plagued it since spring.
Source: theatlantic.com
Gene sleuths are tracking the coronavirus outbreak as it happens.
“Gene sleuths are tracking the coronavirus outbreak as it happens.” “By tracking mutations to the virus as it spreads, scientists are creating a family tree in nearly real time, which they say can help pinpoint how the infection is hopping between countries.” This demonstrates how the use of...
Source: technologyreview.com
YouTube
YouTube’s algorithm is pushing climate misinformation videos, and their creators are profiting from it: One-fifth of the ads on climate misinformation videos were from Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, or other green/environmental groups. "Avaaz cites YouTube’s much-debated algorithms as the main...
Source: niemanlab.org
Australia Rolls Out AI-Powered Phone Detection Road Cameras - ExtremeTech: The Australian state of New South Wales is the
Australia Rolls Out AI-Powered Phone Detection Road Cameras - ExtremeTech: The Australian state of New South Wales is the first in the world to deploy phone detection cameras on its roads.
Source: extremetech.com
Video for learning
Video for learning is great at some things, not so great at others. Great summary of recent evidence from Donald Clark. What can we learn from Netflix? (Use technology appropriately not just the buzzwords) Episodic vs. Semantic memory (Remembering the right things from video isn't as easy as you think)...
Source: blogspot.com
Teaching a difficult topic in medical genetics using a problem-based concept resembling a computer game.
Teaching a difficult topic using a problem-based concept resembling a computer game: development and evaluation of an e-learning application for medical molecular genetics: E-learning through serious gaming. Teaching concepts such as genetic testing and the digital literacy required to analyse data can...
Source: biomedcentral.com
Are there automation-resistant intelligences? The question we all want to ask is 'will my job be taken over by a robot?'
Are there automation-resistant intelligences? The question we all want to ask is 'will my job be taken over by a robot?' "Our model predicts that most workers in transportation and logistics occupations, together with the bulk of office and administrative support workers, and labour in production occupations,...
Source: ox.ac.uk
Millions of British children breathing toxic air, Unicef warns: More than 4.5 million affected, says UN group, while tests
Millions of British children breathing toxic air, Unicef warns: More than 4.5 million affected, says UN group, while tests suggest children’s shorter height increases exposure on busy roads
Source: theguardian.com
Winners of the 2018 PLOS Computational Biology Research Prize | PLOS Biologue: It's time to celebrate the best of PLOS
Winners of the 2018 PLOS Computational Biology Research Prize | PLOS Biologue: It's time to celebrate the best of PLOS Computational Biology! In 2017 PLOS Computational Biology launched the "PLOS Computational Biology Research Prize" program with the aim to recognize some of the journal's most outstanding...
Source: plos.org
The Red Roads to Timbuktu : Image of the Day: Iron-rich laterite give the roads to this remote city in central Mali a distinctive
The Red Roads to Timbuktu : Image of the Day: Iron-rich laterite give the roads to this remote city in central Mali a distinctive color.
Source: nasa.gov
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