Category: Analysis

Impact Lab > Analysis
Analysis, Employment, Latest Trend

Report: Millennials, Boomers prefer flexible work schedules

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BOULDER – A new report from FlexJobs shows Millennials, Baby Boomers and other workers place a high value on job flexibility.

Based on responses from more than 3,000 workers in an August survey, the report revealed that work flexibility was very important to all groups.

“Although the generations are interested in work flexibility for different reasons, one thing is clear: they all place a high value on work flexibility, with particular emphasis on telecommuting options,” said Sara Sutton, founder and CEO of FlexJobs.

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AI, Analysis, Artificial Intelligence, Human Behavior

Artificial intelligence hates the poor and disenfranchised

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The biggest actual threat faced by humans, when it comes to AI, has nothing to do with robots. It’s biased algorithms. And, like almost everything bad, it disproportionately affects the poor and marginalized.

Machine learning algorithms, whether in the form of “AI” or simple shortcuts for sifting through data, are incapable of making rational decisions because they don’t rationalize — they find patterns. That government agencies across the US put them in charge of decisions that profoundly impact the lives of humans, seems incomprehensibly unethical.

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Analysis, Crazy Stuff, Medicine, Science & Technology News

Scientists gave MDMA to octopuses- and what happened was profound

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When humans take the drug MDMA, versions of which are known as molly or ecstasy, they commonly feel very happy, extraverted, and particularly interested in physical touch. A group of scientists recently wondered whether this drug might have a similar effect on other species—specifically, octopuses, which are seemingly as different from humans as an animal can be. The results of their experiment, in which seven octopuses took MDMA, were “unbelievable.”

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Analysis, Banking, Business, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Ten years after Lehman’s collapse, these ten risks could cause the next crisis

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On Sept. 15, 2008, a credit crunch turned into a full-blown crisis when New York-based investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed. The global recession that followed is still too fresh in many people’s memories to be considered history. But 10 years on, the state of the financial system suggests that the crisis has been relegated to the history books for many in the industry.

In 2018, Wall Street is enjoying another heyday. Bonuses for bankers have returned to pre-crisis levels, profits for commercial banks are at a record high, the stock market is in its longest bull run in history, the US economy is humming, and deregulation and tax cuts rule the day in Donald Trump’s administration.

Continue reading… “Ten years after Lehman’s collapse, these ten risks could cause the next crisis”

Analysis, City Planning, Energy, New Viewpoints

Study: Decentralized microgrids can provide 90% or a neighborhood’s energy needs

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“The new approach could even pave the way for 100 percent self-sufficiency in power, heat, and water.”

A new report funded by the Dutch government finds that microgrid technologies could make a local “techno-economy” 90 percent self-sufficient, through the decentralized sharing of energy at the local level between multiple households.

This report adds fuel to efforts by the Siemens Corporation to design better microgrids and promote their efficiencies.

The new approach could even pave the way for “100 percent self-sufficiency in power, heat, and water, and 50 percent self-sufficiency in food production”, according to the report’s author, energy systems engineer Florijn de Graaf.

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Analysis, Business, Employment, Higher Education, Money Talk

Survey: These college majors were just named most and least valuable

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New Bankrate research shows that Actuarial Science is “the most valuable” major you can study in college out of 162 total, with a whopping average income of $108,658 to go along with an unemployment rate of only 2.3%.

Wondering how the site arrived at these results? The methodology was multi-layered, but the company evaluated the latest information featured in the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, among other points. The majors had “labor forces of at least 15,000 people,” and the number of grads with “a higher degree” was also considered.

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking

Researchers discover a pattern to the seemingly random distribution of prime numbers

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The pattern has a surprising similarity to the one seen in atom distribution in crystals.

Often known as “the building blocks of mathematics,” prime numbers have fascinated mathematicians for centuries due to their highly unpredictable and seemingly random nature. However, a team of researchers at Princeton University have recently discovered a strange pattern in the primes’ chaos. Their novel modelling techniques revealed a surprising similarity between primes and certain naturally occurring crystalline materials, a similarity that may carry significant implications for physics and materials science.

 

Analysis, Children, communication, Human Behavior

Here is how much sexting among teens has increased

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Guess what, people are more likely to sext or receive sexts if they have smartphones. Yes, somehow sexts aren’t quite the same with a rotary phone or semaphore flags. A study published in JAMA Pediatrics revealed that sexting (which is the electronic sharing of sexually explicit images, videos, or messages) has increased among teenagers since 2009. Oh, and the number of teenagers with smartphones has also increased since 2009. Coincidence?

The study found that about 1 in 7 (or 14.8%) of those between the ages of 12 and 17 had sent sexts and approximately 1 in 4 (27.4%) have received them. Hmm, sounds like not all sexting is being reciprocated. More on this later. These numbers are significantly higher than those from a 2009 Pew Research Center study that revealed that 4% and 15% of 12 to 17 year olds had sent and received sexts, respectively.

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AI, Analysis, Business, Robots

How AI is reshaping marketing

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Machine learning software and artificial intelligence have come a long way since their inception – and is only continuing to intensify. Taking over many industries, AI is swiftly changing the way professionals go about their business. So, what does this mean for marketing?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has come a long way since its inception. The rise in AI-powered marketing is taking the load off many marketers, and delegating to machines, allowing marketers to refocus their efforts onto marketing that matters and giving marketers more time to address any challenges that come their way.

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Analysis, Brain, Healthcare, Human Behavior

We’re starting to learn some incredible things about hypnosis

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About 15% of the population is way more hypnotisable than everybody else.

There is increasing scientific evidence to say that hypnosis is an important psychological tool with some exciting applications, from curing anxiety to reducing pain, and potentially fighting addiction.

So why do we still tend to think of hypnosis as a sideshow performance?

And what’s the science behind it?

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Analysis, DNA, Food, Science & Technology News

Nestlé is using DNA to create personalized diets in Japan

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The world’s largest food company is experimenting with people’s DNA to build and sell personalized nutrition plans that, it says, will extend lifespans and keep people healthy.

Nestlé is rolling out these new products in Japan first. Some 100,000 people are taking part in a company program there that gives consumers a kit to collect their DNA at home. The program also encourages them to use an app to post pictures of what they’re eating. Nestlé then recommends dietary changes and supplies specialized supplements that can be sprinkled on or mixed into a variety of food products, including teas, according to Bloomberg.

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