This video, merging more than 2 decades of footage from SOHO cameras, captures thousands of sunspots, flares, and coronal mass ejections breaking out from the sun. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/sun-25-years-video-solar-flare-cme-sunspot…
Tag: individual
Unique review: A fascinating look at the science of individuality
Understanding how individual we all are means grappling with genetics and neuroscience. Unique: The new science of human individuality by David Linden is a great place to start Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24833124-200-unique-review-a-fascinating-look-at-the-science-of-individuality/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
The Best Way To Win a Horse Race? Mathematicians May Have the Answer
sciencehabit summarizes a new article from Science magazine: Attention racehorse jockeys: Start fast, but save enough energy for a final kick. That’s the ideal strategy to win short-distance horse races, according to the first mathematical model to calculate how horses use up energy in races. The researchers say the approach could be used to identify customized pacing plans that, in theory,…
What are ‘open’ star clusters?
Open clusters are young, loosely bound gatherings of stars that may still be surrounded by the nebula – or space cloud – in which they were born. The Pleiades, Hyades, and Beehive are well-known examples of open star clusters. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/definition-examples-what-are-open-star-clusters…
Microsoft Will Remove User Names from ‘Productivity Score’ Feature After Privacy Backlash
Microsoft says it will make changes in its new Productivity Score feature, including removing the ability for companies to see data about individual users, to address concerns from privacy experts that the tech giant had effectively rolled out a new tool for snooping on workers. From a report: “Going forward, the communications, meetings, content collaboration, teamwork, and mobility measures in Productivity…
Bloomberg Columnist: Bitcoin is Part of a Real Monetary Revolution
In an eloquent essay, Scottish-American historian Niall Ferguson argues that “We are living through a monetary revolution so multifaceted that few of us comprehend its full extent.” The technological transformation of the internet is driving this revolution. The pandemic of 2020 has accelerated it… Covid-19 has been good for Bitcoin and for cryptocurrency generally. First, the pandemic accelerated our advance into…
Microsoft Also Patented Tech to Score Meetings Using Filmed Body Language, Facial Expressions
Remember when Microsoft was criticized for enabling “workplace surveillance” over “productivity scores” in its Microsoft 365 office software which gave managers highly detailed profiles of each individual employee’s activity. Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes:
The Microsoft 365 Productivity Score apparently has roots in another Microsoft patent application for Systems, Methods, and Software for Implementing a Behavior Change Management Program, which also lays…
Microsoft Productivity Score Feature Criticised as Workplace Surveillance
Microsoft has been criticised for enabling “workplace surveillance” after privacy campaigners warned that the company’s “productivity score” feature allows managers to use Microsoft 365 to track their employees’ activity at an individual level. From a report: The tools, first released in 2019, are designed to “provide you visibility into how your organisation works,” according to a Microsoft blogpost, and aggregate information…
1% of Farms Operate 70% of World’s Farmland
One percent of the world’s farms operate 70% of crop fields, ranches and orchards, according to a report that highlights the impact of land inequality on the climate and nature crises. The Guardian reports: Since the 1980s, researchers found control over the land has become far more concentrated both directly through ownership and indirectly through contract farming, which results in more…
GM To Leverage Customer Data In New Insurance Business
General Motors has launched a new insurance service that will leverage the data captured through its OnStar connected car service, ultimately helping drivers cash in on lower insurance rates based on safe driving habits. From a report: OnStar Insurance Services has been created to achieve a better understanding of the vehicles GM produces, in order to offer a personalized digital insurance…