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
The Vulnerable World Hypothesis
"This paper introduces the concept of a vulnerable world: roughly, one in which there is some level of technological development at which civilization almost certainly gets devastated by default, i.e. unless it has exited the ‘semi-anarchic default condition’. Several counterfactual historical and...
Source: doi.org
How machine learning might unlock earthquake prediction
Researchers are applying artificial intelligence and other techniques in the quest to forecast quakes in time to help people find safety.
Source: technologyreview.com
20 Years Later, the Y2K Bug Seems Like a Joke—Because Those Behind the Scenes Took It Seriously
Some of the fixes put in place in 1999 are still used today to keep the world’s computer systems running smoothly
Source: time.com
Development and validation of Simulation Scenario Quality Instrument (SSQI)
A validated scale for measuring quality of simulation scenarios in medical education. "Background Due to the unmet need for valid instruments that evaluate critical components of simulation scenarios, this research aimed to develop and validate an instrument that measures the quality of healthcare...
Source: biomedcentral.com
A guide to 9 global buzzwords for 2023, from 'polycrisis' to 'zero-dose children'
Are you having a polycrisis? Can the world reduce the number of zero-dose children? Experts shared their views about global buzzwords that will be big this year. Here's the list and the definitions.
Source: npr.org
Mountain gorillas: The ripple effect of conservation
Justin Rowlatt finds out what gorilla conservation can teach us about protecting other species. 'The secret of this success? Dr Gladys Kalema Zikusoka was the Uganda Wildlife Authority's first vet in 1995, then she set up the charity Conservation Through Public Health. Perhaps surprisingly, she says,...
Source: bbc.com
The mothers who helped uncover the biggest maternity scandal
Next month, a report will be published into one of the biggest scandals in the history of the NHS - why were so many failures allowed to happen?
Source: bbc.com
Early warnings and emerging accountability: Total's responses to global warming, 1971-2021 Global Environmental Change.
Building upon recent work on other major fossil fuel companies, we report new archival research and primary source interviews describing how Total responded to evolving climate science and policy in the last 50 years. We show that Total personnel received warnings of the potential for catastrophic global...
Source: sciencedirect.com
Overturning 'conventional wisdom' with 'natural experiments'
Via Reuters ... "Economists David Card, Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens won the 2021 Nobel economics prize on Monday for pioneering "natural experiments" to show real-world economic impacts in areas from minimum wage increases in the U.S. fast-food sector to migration from Castro-era Cuba." "One experiment...
Source: reuters.com
How Data Science Pinpointed the Creepiest Word in ‘Macbeth’
It’s not the word you’d expect - and it appears in this very sentence
Source: medium.com
Gilgamesh tablet: US authorities take ownership of artefact
The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet was imported illegally into the US before being bought by Hobby Lobby.
Source: bbc.com
Brexit shrank UK services exports by £110bn, academics find
Research shows that financial services exports were hardest hit over four-year period
Source: www.ft.com
No Evidence That Associations Between Adolescents' Digital Technology Engagement and Mental Health Problems Have Increased
Digital technology is ubiquitous in modern adolescence, and researchers are concerned that it has negative impacts on mental health that, furthermore, increase over time. To investigate whether technology is becoming more harmful, we examined changes in associations between technology engagement and...
Source: sagepub.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
'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
A comparison between the effectiveness of a gamified approach with the conventional approach in point-of-care ultrasonographic
A comparison between the effectiveness of a gamified approach with the conventional approach in point-of-care ultrasonographic training: Although gamification increases user engagement, its effectiveness in point-of-care ultrasonographic training has yet to be fully established. This study was conducted...
Source: biomedcentral.com
Amaran the robotic coconut tree climber
Amaran: An Unmanned Robotic Coconut Tree Climber and Harvester - IEEE Journals & Magazine
Source: ieee.org
'I just need food in my belly and a bed to lie on': Big Issue sellers see sales plummet as shoppers stay away from town
'I just need food in my belly and a bed to lie on': Big Issue sellers see sales plummet as shoppers stay away from town and city centres.
Source: bbc.co.uk
Covid-19 is becoming less deadly in Europe but we don't know why: It is becoming increasingly clear that people are less
Covid-19 is becoming less deadly in Europe but we don't know why: It is becoming increasingly clear that people are less likely to die if they get covid-19 now compared with earlier in the pandemic, at least in Europe, but the reasons why are still shrouded in uncertainty
Source: newscientist.com
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