The average number of links from one arbitrarily selected person to another was 4.74.
Scientists at Facebook and the University of Milan are adding a new chapter to the research that cemented the phrase “six degrees of separation” into the language. They have reported that the average number of acquaintances separating any two people in the world was not six but 4.74.
Continue reading… “4.74 degrees of separation – the world is smaller than you thought”
35.6% of all internet users will use a tablet by 2014.
Tablet devices have only been available for a couple of years, but the iPad has propelled them to rapid increases in ownership and usage. By the end of 2011 it is estimated that 33.7 million Americans will use a tablet device at least monthly—a rise of 158.6% over last year, the year the iPad was released.
Continue reading… “90 million Americans will use a tablet by 2014”
What new information will this lead to?
A nest containing the fossilized remains of 15 juvenile Protoceratops andrewsi dinosaurs from Mongolia has been described by a University of Rhode Island paleontologist, revealing new information about postnatal development and parental care. It is the first nest of this genus ever found and the first indication that Protoceratops juveniles remained in the nest for an extended period…
Continue reading… “Large nest of juvenile dinosaurs found”
Money, money, who got the money.
Nicko from the Sunlight Foundation sez, “Before Americans open their wallets for Black Friday (and Cyber Monday), the Sunlight Foundation encourages consumers to first explore the connection between their spending and politics in Washington. Checking Influence, a secure bookmarklet that analyzes financial statements with one click, exposes the lobbying activities and campaign contributions of companies you frequent. ”
Continue reading… “Bookmarklet lets you know how the companies you buy from lobbied Congress”
24 percent said they had ever been “harassed” by texting. That was up from about 14 percent in a survey of the same kids the year before.
More and more kids in the U.S. say they have been picked on via text messaging, while there has been little change in online harassment, researchers reported Monday.
Continue reading… “Bullying by text message becoming more common”
Peggy Noonan isn’t usually thought of as a mangement thinker. But in her Wall Street Journal column last week she has an insightful paragraph on management:
There is an arresting moment in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs in which Jobs speaks at length about his philosophy of business. He’s at the end of his life and is summing things up. His mission, he says, was plain: to “build an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products.” Then he turned to the rise and fall of various businesses. He has a theory about “why decline happens” at great companies: “The company does a great job, innovates and becomes a monopoly or close to it in some field, and then the quality of the product becomes less important. The company starts valuing the great salesman, because they’re the ones who can move the needle on revenues.” So salesmen are put in charge, and product engineers and designers feel demoted: Their efforts are no longer at the white-hot center of the company’s daily life. They “turn off.” IBM [IBM] and Xerox [XRX], Jobs said, faltered in precisely this way. The salesmen who led the companies were smart and eloquent, but “they didn’t know anything about the product.” In the end this can doom a great company, because what consumers want is good products.
CERN produces a breakthrough.
In September, physicists were scratching their heads at CERN when neutrinos were recorded as traveling faster than the speed of light. That shouldn’t happen unless Einstein turns out to be wrong.
The experiment is part of the Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus (OPERA) project, and saw neutrinos fired 732km from CERN to the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy. The issue was, some of those neutrinos arrived early by billionths of a second, and therefore faster than light speed. This obviously caused some concern that either something new had been discovered, or more likely, an error had been made with the measurements…
Continue reading… “Faster than light neutrinos recorded again in latest CERN experiment”
A model of an electromagnetic engine.
Inventors today have got it easy. If they want to patent something, all they have to do is file some paperwork. Before 1880, however, if you wanted to patent a better mousetrap, you actually had to build it – or at least a miniature version to help patent inspectors understand why you actually deserve the patent…
Continue reading… “Gorgeous 19th century patent models”
Gotham bee, is one of 11 newly identified bee species.
Eleven new species of sweat bees has been identified by one researcher, including a bug named in honor of Gotham City – but in a sense, these bees aren’t new at all. They’ve probably been right under our noses all this time.
Continue reading… “11 new species of bees discovered”
Tiny parcels of light, or photons, are produced out of empty space.
Scientists prove space is not empty after they claim they have produced particles of light out of a vacuum.
Continue reading… “Scientists prove empty space is a myth”
Futurist Thomas Frey: Warren Buffet owns many things, but so far owning his own country is not one of them.
Continue reading… “Could Warren Buffet Buy Italy?”
The Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Plant in Þingvellir, Iceland.
In absolute terms, lithium is not particularly rare on Earth. It’s the 25th most abundant element, close to nickel and lead. Bolivia alone is estimated to have enough lithium to make batteries for 4.8 billion electric cars, and since lithium is not destroyed in use – unlike fossil fuels – old batteries can be recycled into new ones, or used to smooth out the output of wind farms.
So the question isn’t: Will we have enough lithium? Rather, it’s more like: As demand for it explodes, can we ramp up production rapidly enough, at a low enough cost, and while keeping it as environmentally-friendly as possible. It’s still probably going to be much better to make a battery once and then use it for years with progressively cleaner electricity (as the grid incorporates more and more renewable energy) rather than fill up a gas tank with non-renewable fossil fuels from halfway around the world every week, but even in that scenario, it’s going to be better if we can get the lithium cleanly and close to where we’ll use it. That’s where geothermal power plants enter the picture…
Continue reading… “Geothermal power plants could be a massive source of Lithium for batteries”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.