It becomes annoyingly easy to knock over a shampoo bottle when it’s nearly empty. This is an easily observed and curiosity-provoking phenomenon that, according to Lehigh University physics professor Jerome Licini, yields insights into center-of-mass and impacts. “The physics of that is pretty interesting and easy to understand,” says Licini who, along with first-year physics major...
Have you ever followed a recipe to bake some bread? If you have, congratulations; you have executed an algorithm. The algorithms that follow us around the internet to suggest items we might like, and those that control what shows up in our Facebook feeds may seem mysterious and uncanny at times. Yet, an algorithm is...
When our sun belches out a hot stream of charged particles in Earth’s general direction, it doesn’t just mess up communications satellites. It might also be scrambling the navigational sense of California gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus), causing them to strand on land, according to a Duke University graduate student. Many animals can sense the Earth’s...
When you think of visual misinformation, maybe you think of deepfakes – videos that appear real but have actually been created using powerful video editing algorithms. The creators edit celebrities into pornographic movies, and they can put words into the mouths of people who never said them. But the majority of visual misinformation that people...
If we understood the humans behind hacking incidents – and their intent – could we stop them? Research from Michigan State University reveals the importance of factoring in a hacker’s motive for predicting, identifying and preventing cyberattacks. Most people tend to focus on how to minimize the risk of a hack, from antivirus software to...
A University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) researcher has discovered that, whether in a pair or in groups, success in primate social systems may also provide insight into organization of human social life. Assistant professor Luca Pozzi in UTSA’s Department of Anthropology in collaboration with Peter Kappeler, a colleague at the German Primate Center-Leibniz...
Micromobility vehicles, such as e-scooters, zip in and out of traffic. In San Antonio alone, over 12,000 scooters are on the road. For this reason, micromobility is seen as an alleviating trend to help tackle traffic congestion. However, new research out of UTSA finds e-scooters have risks beyond the perils of potential collisions. Computer science...
A model invented by researchers at MIT and Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) that uses satellite imagery to tag road features in digital maps could help improve GPS navigation. Showing drivers more details about their routes can often help them navigate in unfamiliar locations. Lane counts, for instance, can enable a GPS system to warn...
Does the common stereotype for “organized crime” hold up for organizations of hackers? Research from Michigan State University is one of the first to identify common attributes of cybercrime networks, revealing how these groups function and work together to cause an estimated $445-600 billion of harm globally per year. “It’s not the ‘Tony Soprano mob...
Researchers from Dartmouth and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed an original approach to flight scheduling that, if implemented, could result in a significant increase in profits for airlines and more flights that align with passengers’ preferences. The approach is presented in a paper, “Airline Timetable Development and Fleet Assignment Incorporating Passenger Choice,”...
