Archive for August, 2013
Increased TV Viewing by Children Associated with Subsequent Decreases in Vocabulary and Math Skills, Classroom Engagement
August 12th, 2013Via: Nature: Background: Using a large population-based sample, this study aims to verify whether televiewing at 29 mo, a common early childhood pastime, is prospectively associated with school readiness at 65 mo. Methods: Participants are a prospective longitudinal cohort of 991 girls and 1,006 boys from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development with parent-reported […]
World Changing Technology Enables Crops to Take Nitrogen from the Air
August 12th, 2013Via: University of Nottingham: A major new technology has been developed by The University of Nottingham, which enables all of the world’s crops to take nitrogen from the air rather than expensive and environmentally damaging fertilisers. Nitrogen fixation, the process by which nitrogen is converted to ammonia, is vital for plants to survive and grow. […]
New Company Allows Organizations To Hire Fake Protesters
August 11th, 2013Via: Ben Swann: So, no one supports your cause? No problem. You can hire supporters- even protesters. A company started last October by 22-year-old Adam Swart provides just this service. In a telephone interview I spoke with Swart about his new found success. “I came up with the idea on a visit to Estonia,” says […]
‘A Cookie for the Real World’: Devices Hidden in London’s Recycling Bins Track Smartphones
August 11th, 2013Via: Wired: The unique identifying numbers of over half a million smartphones have been recorded by a network of recycling bins in central London. Hundreds of thousands of pedestrians walking past 12 locations unknowingly had the unique MAC address of their smartphones recorded by Renew London. Data including the “movement, type, direction, and speed of […]
Connections Between Michael Hastings, Edward Snowden and Barrett Brown — The War With the Security State
August 10th, 2013Via: WhoWhatWhy: At the time of his death in a mysterious one-car crash and explosion, journalist Michael Hastings was researching a story that threatened to expose powerful entities and government-connected figures. That story intersected with the work of two controversial government critics—the hacker Barrett Brown and the on-the-run surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden. Any probe into […]
A Material That Could Make Solar Power ‘Dirt Cheap’
August 10th, 2013Via: MIT Technology Review: A new type of solar cell, made from a material that is dramatically cheaper to obtain and use than silicon, could generate as much power as today’s commodity solar cells. Although the potential of the material is just starting to be understood, it has caught the attention of the world’s leading […]
Eating Raw Garlic Twice a Week Nearly Halves Risk of Developing Lung Cancer
August 10th, 2013Via: CBC News: Eating raw garlic twice a week can cut the chances of lung cancer by almost half, new research suggests. The results, published online Wednesday in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, showed those who ate raw garlic at least twice a week cut the risk of lung cancer by 44 per cent, even […]
Japan’s Day Trading Elite
August 10th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: Murakami calls himself the smallest player in a group of seven day traders who chat with each other online, vacation together, and cumulatively buy and sell almost $100 million in stocks each day, using borrowed money to increase the size of their bets. … “These guys are pros,” says Jesper Koll, head of […]
Japan Gets to Know a Quadrillion as Debt Hits New High
August 10th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: The late Senator Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.) is famous for allegedly saying, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” It might be apocryphal—the Dirksen Congressional Center has found no evidence that the late Illinois Republican ever made the quip—but it certainly resonates as the political parties spar over […]
Americans Giving Up Citizenship Jump Sixfold
August 10th, 2013Update: Forgot to Mention I recently received an email from an American who is attempting to renounce his or her U.S. citizenship in New Zealand. I don’t want to get into any details, because NZ is like a small village full of people who take great pleasure talking about other people in the village. The […]
