The COVID-19 pandemic quickened the pace of digital development around the world, as everything from meetings to movie premiers went online. That may sound like a silver lining. For tens of millions of workers, it’s not. They don’t have the skills to compete. They’re the bookkeepers, the data-entry clerks, the executive secretaries, looking for work...
Science & Technology
Book Traces Evolution of Computer from Unusual to Ubiquitous
Over the last 50 years, the computer has been transformed from a hulking scientific super-tool to a diverse family of devices that billions rely on to play games, shop, stream entertainment and communicate. “A New History of Modern Computing,” a new book by Thomas Haigh, (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) UWM professor of history, and Paul Ceruzzi,...
Groundbreaking Study Uncovers First Evidence of Long-Term Directionality in the Origination of Human Mutation, Fundamentally Challenging Neo-Darwinism
A new study by a team of researchers from Israel and Ghana has brought the first evidence of nonrandom mutation in human genes, challenging a core assumption at the heart of evolutionary theory by showing a long-term directional mutational response to environmental pressure. Using a novel method, researchers led by Professor Adi Livnat from the...
Over One-Third of Young Adult U.S. Men Involved in Technology-Related Abuse, Study Finds
In 2022, technology has the potential to both start relationships and keep them alive, even those crossing continents. Lifting a finger, literally, can land someone “face-to-face” with their partner or spouse. This increased accessibility – 81% of Americans own a smart phone and 75% own a computer – also allows for more unhealthy behaviors in relationships....
New Hair Dyes Avoid Allergic Reactions
A bad dye job is bad enough on its own, but an itchy and irritating allergic reaction to it is even worse. And people who become allergic to hair dye can develop reactions to many other common substances, transforming a simple cosmetic treatment into a big problem. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering have...
How 5G Puts Airplanes at Risk – an Electrical Engineer Explains
New high-speed cellphone services have raised concerns of interference with aircraft operations, particularly as aircraft are landing at airports. The Federal Aviation Administration has assured Americans that most commercial aircraft are safe, and AT&T and Verizon have agreed to hold off on installing their new cellphone antennas near airports for six months. But the problem...
Bringing the Arts to STEM Fields: Creative Exercise Helps First-Year College Students Explore Majors
As interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) continues to grow, a chapter in a new book presents information on how to bring the arts to STEM fields. The chapter outlines a creative exercise that used picture books to help first-year college students explore their ideas, beliefs, and humanistic impulses regarding...
How Cybercriminals Turn Paper Checks Stolen from Mailboxes into Bitcoin
While cybercrime gets a lot of attention from law enforcement and the media these days, I’ve been documenting a less high-tech threat emerging in recent months: a surge in stolen checks. Criminals are increasingly targeting U.S. Postal Service and personal mailboxes to pilfer filled-out checks and sell them over the internet using social media platforms....
Matter and Antimatter Seem to Respond Equally to Gravity
As part of an experiment to measure—to an extremely precise degree—the charge-to-mass ratios of protons and antiprotons, the RIKEN-led BASE collaboration at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, has found that, within the uncertainty of the experiment, matter and antimatter respond to gravity in the same way. Matter and antimatter create some of the most interesting problems in...
Systems Scientists Find Clues to Why False News Snowballs on Social Media
The spread of misinformation on social media is a pressing societal problem that tech companies and policymakers continue to grapple with, yet those who study this issue still don’t have a deep understanding of why and how false news spreads. To shed some light on this murky topic, researchers at MIT developed a theoretical model...