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showing posts for 'year'

Python pioneer assesses the 30-year-old programming language

At age 30, the Python programming language has never been used by more developers across more use cases than it is today.
Source: venturebeat.com

Dreadful user experience can be expensive.

"Citibank just got a $500 million lesson in the importance of UI design: Citibank was trying to make $7.8M in interest payments. It sent $900M instead." The screenshot is from court records where the judge ruled against Citibank who had wanted to get their money back. The lesson is to always include...
Source: arstechnica.com

Feeding your cat a very meaty diet may mean it kills less wildlife

In a small trial in the UK, pet cats fed on an unusually meaty diet brought home 36 per cent fewer prey animals than cats given a typical diet. "Domestic cats seem to hunt less when their diets are richer in animal-sourced protein, suggesting that feeding cats more meat could help reduce their impact...
Source: newscientist.com

Nasa's Perseverance rover in 'great shape' after Mars landing

"Perseverance will now spend at least two years looking for evidence of past life on the Red Planet. The American space agency has successfully landed its Perseverance rover in a deep crater near the planet's equator called Jezero. "The good news is the spacecraft, I think, is in great shape," said Matt...
Source: bbc.com

Declining Life Expectancy in the United States

This Viewpoint reviews the social and economic drivers of declines in longevity in the US, especially among lower socioeconomic status groups, and proposes policy options for the Biden-Harris administration to mitigate the trend, including an increase in the federally mandated minimum wage. Atheendar...
Source: jamanetwork.com

No, frozen wind turbines aren't the main culprit for Texas' power outages

"Lost wind power makes up only a fraction of the reduction in power generating capacity that has brought outages to millions of Texans across the state during a major winter storm." Plenty of disinformation out there. There have been posts apparently showing a helicopter de-icing a wind turbine but it...
Source: texastribune.org

Abydos beer factory: Ancient large-scale brewery discovered in Egypt.

"The archaeological find in the Abydos burial ground is thought to date back about 5,000 years." They brewed beer in batch sizes of about 220 hectolitres and I bet they got away without paying much beer duty. Wonder if we can work out some of the recipes.
Source: bbc.com

'Concerning' rise in pre-teens self-injuring.

"The rate of hospital admissions for nine to 12-year-olds who self-injure has doubled in six years." "In 2019-20, before the coronavirus pandemic, there were 16 hospital admissions per 100,000 nine to 12-year-olds, up from eight in 2013-14. Self-injury admissions for girls in this age group were twice...
Source: bbc.com

Greeks domesticated grapes about 4000 years ago to improve wine-making

We know that the ancient Greeks made wine as early as 4300 BC, but a new analysis of preserved seeds suggests grapes were domesticated around 2000 BC
Source: newscientist.com

3D Scene Understanding with TensorFlow 3D

Posted by Alireza Fathi, Research Scientist and Rui Huang, AI Resident, Google Research "The growing ubiquity of 3D sensors (e.g., Lidar, depth sensing cameras and radar) over the last few years has created a need for scene understanding technology that can process the data these devices capture. Such...
Source: googleblog.com

Using Technology to Teach the Complex Science of Climate Change

"The world of education is no stranger to controversy. Every year, you'll find a splashy headline about how different school districts teach different versions of history from very different history textbooks. Or you'll encounter one special interest group or another objecting to teachers covering topics...
Source: emergingedtech.com

Asteroid sample arrives in Japan after six-year space odyssey: Samples of an asteroid 300 million km from Earth arrived

Asteroid sample arrives in Japan after six-year space odyssey: Samples of an asteroid 300 million km from Earth arrived in Japan on Tuesday to applause and smiles, the climax of a six-year odyssey by a space probe pursuing the origins of life.
Source: reuters.com

China's Kashgar detects 137 new asymptomatic COVID cases

"China's Kashgar detects 137 new asymptomatic COVID cases: China detected 137 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases on Sunday in Kashgar in the northwestern region of Xinjiang after one person was found to have the virus the previous day - the first local new cases for 10 days in mainland China." "All 137...
Source: reuters.com

The tyranny of merit.

The Insufferable Hubris of the Well-Credentialed: A four-year college degree has become necessary for dignified work. Michael Sandel says that’s a huge mistake. "The meritocratic hubris of elites is the conviction by those who land on top that their success is their own doing, that they have risen...
Source: chronicle.com

Adaptive tutorials versus web-based resources in radiology: a mixed methods analysis in junior doctors of efficacy and engagement:

Adaptive tutorials versus web-based resources in radiology: a mixed methods analysis in junior doctors of efficacy and engagement: Radiology education is limited in undergraduate Medicine programs. Junior doctors might not have the necessary background to effectively order and interpret diagnostic imaging...
Source: biomedcentral.com

Unmanned aircraft in freight trial for Isles of Scilly: The first test flight taking items like medical supplies to Scilly

Unmanned aircraft in freight trial for Isles of Scilly: The first test flight taking items like medical supplies to Scilly should happen later this year.
Source: bbc.co.uk

Performance of China

Performance of China’s new medical licensing examination for rural general practice: To evaluate the performance of China’s new medical licensing examination (MLE) for rural general practice, which determines the number of qualified doctors who can provide primary care for China’s rural residents,...
Source: biomedcentral.com

China Chopper still active 9 years later

China Chopper still active 9 years later: A blog from the world class Intelligence Group, Talos, Cisco's Intelligence Group
Source: talosintelligence.com

EU says one in eight deaths is linked to pollution: The bloc's environment agency says pollution contributes to hundreds

EU says one in eight deaths is linked to pollution: The bloc's environment agency says pollution contributes to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year.
Source: bbc.co.uk

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