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
Facial Masking for Covid-19
"Facial Masking for Covid-19 — Potential for “Variolation” as We Await a Vaccine | NEJM: Facial Masking for Covid-19 Increasing the proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections that are asymptomatic with the simple public health measure of universal masking might reduce the severity of disease and ensure...
Source: nejm.org
Learning to Summarize with Human Feedback: We've applied reinforcement learning from human feedback to train language models
Learning to Summarize with Human Feedback: We've applied reinforcement learning from human feedback to train language models that are better at summarization. Our models generate summaries that are better than summaries from 10x larger models trained only with supervised learning. Even though we train...
Source: openai.com
Evidence slowly building for long-term heart problems post-COVID-19: While there are anecdotes aplenty, there's also some
Evidence slowly building for long-term heart problems post-COVID-19: While there are anecdotes aplenty, there's also some solid science behind the worries.
Source: arstechnica.com
Oppose the educational technology algorithims and technosolutions?
Essay by Audrey Watters on schools and the technology industry ... basically f**k the algorithm. "Robot Teachers, Racist Algorithms, and Disaster Pedagogy: I have volunteered to be a guest speaker in classes this Fall. It's really the least I can do to help teachers and students through another tough...
Source: hackeducation.com
A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged "According to the team’s analysis,
A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged "According to the team’s analysis, when the virus tweaks the RAS, it causes the body’s mechanisms for regulating bradykinin to go haywire. Bradykinin receptors are resensitized, and the body also stops effectively...
Source: medium.com
Reviewing research about the evolution of complex cognition in birds
Reviewing research about the evolution of complex cognition in birds: So far, the majority of studies investigating brain functions and intelligence have been carried out either on humans or animals that are known to be most similar to humans, such as monkeys, apes, and other mammals. Nonetheless, some...
Source: phys.org
Robin Dunbar suggests negative impact of pandemic on friendships likely to be fleeting
Psychologist suggests negative impact of pandemic on friendships likely to be fleeting: Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar, a psychologist at the University of Oxford, has conducted a review of the literature and concluded that the impact of the pandemic on friendships is likely to be fleeting. He has published...
Source: phys.org
Lions are less likely to attack cattle with eyes painted on their backsides: Many carnivores are ambush predators. Being
Lions are less likely to attack cattle with eyes painted on their backsides: Many carnivores are ambush predators. Being seen by their prey can lead to them abandoning the hunt.
Source: theconversation.com
How novice and expert anaesthetists understand expertise in anaesthesia: a qualitative study: The development of expertise
How novice and expert anaesthetists understand expertise in anaesthesia: a qualitative study: The development of expertise in anaesthesia requires personal contact between a mentor and a learner. Because mentors often are experienced clinicians, they may find it difficult to understand the challenges...
Source: biomedcentral.com
A comparison between the effectiveness of a gamified approach with the conventional approach in point-of-care ultrasonographic
A comparison between the effectiveness of a gamified approach with the conventional approach in point-of-care ultrasonographic training: Although gamification increases user engagement, its effectiveness in point-of-care ultrasonographic training has yet to be fully established. This study was conducted...
Source: biomedcentral.com
APOD: 2020 August 11 - Churning Clouds on Jupiter
"Pictured by Juno, churning clouds on Jupiter show not only mesmerizing complexity but some high-level, light-colored pop-up clouds. Understanding atmospheric dynamics on Jupiter gives valuable perspective to similar atmospheric and lightning phenomena that occur on our home Earth."
Source: nasa.gov
New Steps to Combat Disinformation - Microsoft on the Issues: Today, Microsoft announces two new technologies to help battle
New Steps to Combat Disinformation - Microsoft on the Issues: Today, Microsoft announces two new technologies to help battle disinformation – Newsguard, which will allow users to check the accuracy of the content they are reading, and Video Authenticator, which can detect deepfakes and other synthetic...
Source: microsoft.com
3 cognitive biases perpetuating racism at work - and how to overcome them: Our brains take shortcuts when processing information
3 cognitive biases perpetuating racism at work - and how to overcome them: Our brains take shortcuts when processing information to make decisions, leading to unconscious bias and systemic racism at work. Here’s what you need to know.
Source: weforum.org
“Stonehenge Lego” scale model reveals the pagan monument’s unique soundscape: Stone configuration amplified speech
“Stonehenge Lego” scale model reveals the pagan monument’s unique soundscape: Stone configuration amplified speech and enhanced music, but only within the circle.
Source: arstechnica.com
Open source learning analytics
Stephen's Web ~ Learning Analytics beyond the LMS: Enabling Connected Learning via Open Source Analytics in ‘the wild’ ~ Stephen Downes "This excellent report (55 page PDF) will introduce you to the Connected Learning Analytics (CLA) toolkit." Overview of an approach to learning analytics.
Source: downes.ca
Amaran the robotic coconut tree climber
Amaran: An Unmanned Robotic Coconut Tree Climber and Harvester - IEEE Journals & Magazine
Source: ieee.org
Abandon lectures: increase attendance, attitudes and attainment
Abandon lectures: increase attendance, attitudes and attainment: In a recent debate with Stephen Downes, I spent some time going through dozens of papers and meta-studies showing that the lecture is a larg...
Source: blogspot.com
Police Across Canada Are Using Predictive Policing Algorithms
Police Across Canada Are Using Predictive Policing Algorithms, Report Finds: Police across Canada are increasingly adopting algorithmic technology to predict crime. The authors of a new report say human rights are threatened by the practice.
Source: vice.com
How I launched WHO's covid-19 response in the Central African Republic
How I launched WHO's covid-19 response in the Central African Republic: Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire of the WHO explains the challenges of responding to coronavirus in the Central African Republic in the face of limited resources.
Source: newscientist.com
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