Kenya's push to make 'boda-boda' motorbike taxis go electric
"The government wants Kenya's three million motorbike taxi riders to go green but only a few have done so." I last went to Kenya over 10 years ago and I got around Kitale on the back of push bikes by local riders. Motorised bikes 'boda-boda' were only just being introduced at the time. Apparently there...
Source: bbc.com
How the Post Office's Horizon system failed: a technical breakdown
"From bugs to unqualified staff, the Post Office's point-of-sale system was inadequate on many levels." The code was poor from the start and the small team of developers were not up to the job. However, the problems were apparent in 1999 before it was launched. Includes a discussion of the Dalmellington...
Source: theguardian.com
Landmark EU General Court Google Android decision signals tougher antitrust enforcement
Google's biggest legal loss to date with a fine of € 4.125 billion - for how it exclusively bundled Google Search and other advertising into Android phones. Encouraging competition and innovation in markets requires determined work by regulators. "On 14 September, the General Court of the European...
Source: hausfeld.com
Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million
We conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment (EA) in a sample of ~3 million individuals and identify 3,952 approximately uncorrelated genome-wide-significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A genome-wide polygenic predictor, or polygenic index (PGI), explains 12–16%...
Source: nature.com
Pegasus: Spyware sold to governments 'targets activists'
Israeli tech firm NSO denies media reports that its software has been sold to authoritarian regimes. The Android and iOS spyware can apparently see photographs and contacts, log everything that is typed, and turn on the camera and microphone.
Source: bbc.com
Cornish couple feel 'discriminated against' over wedding language
"Steph Norman and Aaron Willoughby cannot have their ceremony entirely in Cornish." Apparently they could conduct it English obviously but also in Welsh (which is close to Cornish) but it highlights the lack of legal formality to the Cornish language.
Source: bbc.com
Eeek! or E484K mutation and the coronavirus pandemic
Rupert Beale · Eeek! · LRB 19 February 2021: "Uncontrolled spread – as we knew it would – led to an even greater wave of infections, hospitalisations and deaths than last spring. Children were sent to school for one day before the necessary ‘lockdown’ was reimposed. The impulse to keep schools...
Source: lrb.co.uk
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
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
Publication bias is a challenge in science and a criticism of the influence of industry.
Publication bias is a challenge in science and a criticism of the influence of industry. In the domain of biosciences and drug development more accountability (e.g. the FDAAA 2007), editorial and peer-review training (as suggested by the Cochrane Collaboration), and statistical techniques (as championed...
Google Parent Alphabet Reportedly in Talks to Acquire Fitbit
Google Parent Alphabet Reportedly in Talks to Acquire Fitbit - ExtremeTech: “The wearable business is apparently a tough nut to crack for any company not called Apple. Rumors began percolating several weeks back that Fitbit was putting itself up for sale, and now we know who its suitor might be.“...
Source: extremetech.com
The AI That Could Help Curb Youth Suicide: For many reasons, parents and teachers may fail to intervene when they spot signs
The AI That Could Help Curb Youth Suicide: For many reasons, parents and teachers may fail to intervene when they spot signs of trouble in LGBT teens. Can Google help?
Source: theatlantic.com
How do you define a scenario? Researchers in Futures & Foresight Science suggest an approach based on published literature.
How do you define a scenario? Researchers in Futures & Foresight Science suggest an approach based on published literature. The approach suggests a series of questions (see diagram) to challenge a particular phenomenon to check if it is a scenario that can be used in future planning - or if it is...
Source: wiley.com
Four principles to make evidence synthesis more useful for policy : Reward the creation of analyses for policymakers that
Four principles to make evidence synthesis more useful for policy : Reward the creation of analyses for policymakers that are inclusive, rigorous, transparent and accessible, urge Christl A. Donnelly and colleagues. Reward the creation of analyses for policymakers that are inclusive, rigorous, transparent...
Source: nature.com
Charlie Gard judge said case highlights "pitfalls" of social media: Mr Justice Francis said the case had escalated to an
Charlie Gard judge said case highlights "pitfalls" of social media: Mr Justice Francis said the case had escalated to an 'international scale' and had even involved President Trump, the Vatican and Theresa May and allowed ill-informed statements to dominate the public debate. In applying existing and...
Source: mirror.co.uk
That feeling when you see your code (or at least an interpretation of it) in the innards of some project. I've been asked
That feeling when you see your code (or at least an interpretation of it) in the innards of some project. I've been asked to help look around the innards of onexamination again to make it even slicker and better. Found a lovely Chebyshev rational function staring out at us from the code. "After all...
Source: linkedin.com
I specialise in the psychology of torture, so I know the truth behind Trump's waterboarding claims: In a recent television
I specialise in the psychology of torture, so I know the truth behind Trump's waterboarding claims: In a recent television interview, President Trump stated that in order to “keep our country safe”, he intends to “fight fire with fire”, and if that includes using waterboarding and other forms...
Source: independent.co.uk
Increase in US Suicide Rates and the Critical Decline in Psychiatric Beds: This Viewpoint discusses the apparent association
Increase in US Suicide Rates and the Critical Decline in Psychiatric Beds: This Viewpoint discusses the apparent association between a reduction of psychiatric beds and increasing suicide rates in the United States, and proposes an expansion of inpatient psychiatric treatment facilities as a component...
Source: jamanetwork.com
The Great A.I. Awakening. Excellent (and lengthy) article in the NY Times on Google's recent work on AI. "Apparently Google
The Great A.I. Awakening. Excellent (and lengthy) article in the NY Times on Google's recent work on AI. "Apparently Google Translate, the company’s popular machine-translation service, had suddenly and almost immeasurably improved."
Source: nytimes.com
Nicola Sturgeon to provide free 'baby box' to new parents: First minister’s proposal will offer clothes, nappies and toys
Nicola Sturgeon to provide free 'baby box' to new parents: First minister’s proposal will offer clothes, nappies and toys in bid to tackle infant poverty rates in Scotland
Source: theguardian.com
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