Science and Technology

Friday, 19 February 2021 06:03

GPS only exists because of two people: Albert Einstein and Gladys West

Ethan Siegel Over the span of a single lifetime, the world has changed in ways that would have been virtually unimaginable in the first half of the 20th century. Two major breakthroughs that occurred in physics — relativity and quantum physics — suddenly made a number of previously unthinkable endeavors possible. From modern electronics to computers, smart phones, the internet, brain imaging and more, everyday life in 2021 is vastly different from what it was back when many of us were first born. One of those technologies that’s been revolutionary for our society is GPS: the Global Positioning System. From…

Friday, 19 February 2021 05:57

Tired of ‘Zoom University’? This is how remote learning at scale will happen

The rise of “Zoom University” was only possible because edtech wasn’t ready to address the biggest opportunity of the past year: remote learning at scale. Of course, the term encapsulates more than just Zoom, it’s a nod to how schools had to rapidly adopt enterprise video conferencing software to keep school in session in the wake of closures brought on by the virus’ rapid spread. Now, nearly a year since students were first sent home because of the coronavirus, a cohort of edtech companies is emerging, emboldened with millions in venture capital, ready to take back the market. The new…

Thursday, 11 February 2021 04:25

New studies show these two common drugs work against Covid-19

A commonly used asthma treatment appears to reduce the need for hospitalizations and recovery time for Covid-19 patients if given within seven days of symptoms appearing, researchers at the University of Oxford have found. The 28-day study of 146 patients found the inhaled steroid, budesonide, reduced the risk of urgent care, emergency room visits or hospitalization by 90% when compared with usual care. Patients treated at home with budesonide also had a quicker resolution of fever and fewer persistent symptoms. In a report posted on Monday on medRxiv ahead of peer review, the researchers said they undertook the trial because…

Tuesday, 09 February 2021 03:41

22-year-old man receives world's first successful transplant of face, hands

Joe DiMeo suffered severe burns to most of his body following a car wreck in 2018. DiMeo’s medical team began readying for the risky face and double hand transplant after it became clear traditional surgeries would not help him regain his vision or use of his hands. Six months after the complex surgery, medical experts say the surgery appears to be a success as DiMeo’s body has not shown any signs of rejecting his new hands or face. A 22-year-old New Jersey man who was badly burned in a fiery car wreck is the recipient of the first successful face…

Friday, 05 February 2021 04:20

5 apps you should delete right now

You probably have more than enough space on your phone to hold whatever you want. The bad news: Your phone is probably full of junk you never think to remove. Take your photo gallery. How many duplicates, screenshots, and memes are clogging things up? Cleaning it up isn’t so bad if you have the right tools. Then it’s time to tackle your apps. Don’t make the mistake of uninstalling apps without first deleting the associated account. When you’re ready to start deleting, tackle these apps first: 1. QR code scanners If you never heard of these codes before the COVID-19…

Thursday, 04 February 2021 04:05

What a picture of AOC in a bikini tells us about the disturbing future of AI

Arwa Mahdawi New research on image-generating algorithms has raised alarming evidence of bias. It’s time to tackle the problem of discrimination being baked into tech, before it is too late Want to see a half-naked woman? Well, you’re in luck! The internet is full of pictures of scantily clad women. There are so many of these pictures online, in fact, that artificial intelligence (AI) now seems to assume that women just don’t like wearing clothes. That is my stripped-down summary of the results of a new research study on image-generation algorithms anyway. Researchers fed these algorithms (which function like autocomplete,…

Sunday, 31 January 2021 05:57

Eyeglass wearers 5x less likely to get Covid - Study

Can your glasses prevent Covid? Your favorite spectacles could also be one of your new defenses against contracting the novel coronavirus, according to a recent study conducted by researchers in China. This investigation looked at the proportion of glasses wearers with Covid-19 versus the general population of glasses wearers in the area, and the findings may surprise you. The study, published in September 2020, consisted of all 276 inpatients with Covid-19 in Suizhou Zengdu Hospital, Suizhou, China, a designated hospital for Covid-19 treatment in the area, between January 27 and March 13, 2020. The median age of the study cohort…

Saturday, 30 January 2021 05:23

The biggest threat to Facebook isn’t Apple, it’s Mark Zuckerberg

The CEO told analysts that Apple is one of its biggest competitors. That misses the point. During Facebook's earnings call, the company's founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, made a point of talking about the risk Apple's upcoming iOS 14 changes pose to its business. Those changes will require apps to ask permission before they are able to track users across apps and the internet. For Facebook, a company whose entire business model is built on the ability to track users, collect their data, and then sell targeted ads based on all of that information, losing the ability to track users…

Thursday, 28 January 2021 05:01

Japanese company creates ‘smart glasses’ that can cure eye disease

Japan’s Kubota Pharmaceutical Holdings claims to have developed smart glasses that, if worn just an hour per day, can allegedly cure myopia. Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a common ophthalmological condition in which you can see objects near to you clearly, but objects farther away are blurry. To compensate for this blur, you have the option of wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses, or the more invasive refractive surgery. But a Japanese company claims to have come up with a new non-invasive way of dealing with myopia – a pair of “smart glasses” that project an image from the lens of the…

Thursday, 28 January 2021 04:59

Microsoft patented a chatbot that would let you talk to dead people

The internet is buzzing over a new technology created by Microsoftdevelopers that could make it possible to have a virtual conversation with a deceased loved one (well, kind of). A patent granted to Microsoft last month details a method for creating a conversational chatbot modeled after a specific person — a "past or present entity ... such as a friend, a relative, an acquaintance, a celebrity, a fictional character, a historical figure," according to the filing with the US Patent and Trademark Office. The technology is reminiscent of a fictional app in the dystopian TV series "Black Mirror" that allowed…

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Wednesday, 27 January 2021 05:14

Widespread internet outage hits parts of U.S.

Thousands of users across the U.S. East Coast faced widespread internet outage from providers including Verizon Communications Inc on Tuesday, disrupting services offered by Google, Amazon, Zoom, Slack and other tech firms. Verizon, a major broadband services provider in the United States, alerted users about a fiber cut in Brooklyn. Spokesman Rich Young said the company was “aware of an issue impacting the quality” of its broadband service “throughout the Northeast corridor.” He added Verizon has “already seen service levels start to restore.” Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is reviewing reports of the outage. Acting FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel…

Sunday, 17 January 2021 05:28

Egypt makes major discoveries at archaeological sites dating back more than 2,500 years

Egypt announced Saturday the discovery of a new trove of treasures at the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, including an ancient funerary temple. The tourism and antiquities ministry said the "major discoveries" made by a team of archaeologists headed by famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass also included more than 50 sarcophagi. The wooden sarcophagi, which date back to the New Kingdom, were found in 52 burial shafts at depths of 10 to 12 meters (40 feet), the ministry said in a statement. It quoted Hawass as saying that the "funerary temple of Queen Naert, the wife of King Teti" as well…

Saturday, 16 January 2021 05:13

WhatsApp's new privacy policy is exactly why no one trusts Facebook

Jason Aten Very little has changed, but everyone assumes the worst. That's on Facebook. Most people don't have time to be bothered by something as mundane as reading privacy policies. You know, those few thousand-word statements on how companies manage the information you give them. You should. If you did, you might be a bit concerned. To that point, a lot of people were concerned when WhatsApp updated its privacy policy last week. There's a good reason, considering it's owned by Facebook--a company not exactly known as a bastion of user privacy. Still, most of the uproar was a mix…

Thursday, 14 January 2021 05:10

Respect for users: The reason why many are switching from WhatsApp to Telegram

Given the changes in WhatsApp for 2021 , especially in its privacy policies, many users are moving to other messaging apps. The reason behind the change is not fortuitous and Pável Dúrov, co-founder of Telegram, explains why his application has become a favorite of those fleeing Mark Zuckerberg's platform. Last Friday, through a statement published on his official Telegram channel, Dúrovexplained that the great attraction of his app is precisely the weak point of WhatsApp. “I hear that Facebook has an entire department dedicated to finding out why Telegram is so popular. Imagine dozens of employees working on it full…

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