Best Buy Opens Probe Into CEO’s Personal Conduct

The board of Best Buy is investigating allegations that CEO Corie Barry had an inappropriate romantic relationship with a fellow executive (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), who has since left the electronics retailer. The Wall Street Journal reports: The allegations were sent to the board in an anonymous letter dated Dec. 7. The letter claims Ms. Barry had a romantic relationship…

How Google Researchers Used Neural Networks To Make Weather Forecasts

A research team at Google has developed a deep neural network that can make fast, detailed rainfall forecasts. Google says that its forecasts are more accurate than conventional weather forecasts, at least for time periods under six hours. Ars Technica reports: The researchers say their results are a dramatic improvement over previous techniques in two key ways. One is speed. Google…

How to Motivate Yourself to Achieve Your Goals

Once you’ve set a goal or New Year’s Resolution, how do you find the motivation to achieve it? Dr. Richard Ryan, who co-developed the Self-Determination Theory, one of the leading theories of human motivation, shares research-backed tips to do just that. Dr. Ryan is also a Professor at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education […]
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‘Don’t Buy an 8K TV’

Anyone paying attention to the news coming out of CES this week has probably noticed that 8K TVs seem to be the next big thing. The science says your mortal eyes can barely tell the difference between 4K, however. From a report: Samsung announced one that’s almost bezel-less. LG boasted a total of eight new 8K TVs. Meanwhile, there are two…

Twenty years of discoveries changing story of human evolution

Archaeological discoveries are happening faster than ever before, helping refine the human story. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/archaeological-discoveries-changing-story-of-human-evolution…

Ferocious fires in Australia intensified this week

The outlook for the bushfire situation in Australia continues to be grim. This post is an update via NASA, containing NOAA-NASA satellite images of actively burning fires and the resultant billowing smoke. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/ferocious-fires-in-australia-intensified-this-week…

Study unveils the nature of young stars near the cometary globule CG 30

Using the High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES), astronomers from Georgia State University (GSU) in Atlanta have investigated the nature of young stars near the cometary globule CG 30. The new study, presented December 20 on arXiv.org, provides important information about the properties of 21 young stars in this area. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-01-unveils-nature-young-stars-cometary.html…

An ancient star burst in the Milky Way’s center

New observations reveal that – about a billion years ago – the center of our Milky Way galaxy underwent a period of intense star formation, resulting in over 100,000 supernovae. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/milky-way-center-star-formation-burst-100000-supernova…

Astronomers find ‘missing’ neutron star after 32 years

Thirty-two years ago, Supernova 1987A erupted in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud. Astronomers using the ALMA radio telescope now say they’ve found the small, compact neutron star created in this mighty star explosion. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/astronomers-find-missing-neutron-star-sn1987a…