Human Behavior – Page 14

Analysis, Children, communication, Human Behavior

Here is how much sexting among teens has increased

September 13, 2018

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.

Continue reading… “Here is how much sexting among teens has increased”

Analysis, Brain, Healthcare, Human Behavior

We’re starting to learn some incredible things about hypnosis

September 12, 2018

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?

Continue reading… “We’re starting to learn some incredible things about hypnosis”

Culture, Entertainment, Health & Fitness, Human Behavior

India’s bodybuilding boom reflects a nation coming of age

September 9, 2018

A group of twenty-something guys are crammed into a small room, flexing their muscles and applying thick layers of fake tan on dark brown skin. It’s approaching 40°C outside but, inside this windowless pen, it’s hard to breathe. Sweat is running freely and the air is thick with a tang of muscle spray as guys attempt to accentuate their bulges before stepping out on stage.

Bodybuilding is booming across India. Mr Universe-inspired competitions and gyms are popping up everywhere, from small towns in the middle of nowhere to megacities like Delhi and Mumbai.

In just over a decade, economic prosperity has transformed a struggling nation into a country developing at rapid speed, with smartphones becoming ubiquitous and tech hubs competing with the growth of Silicon Valley

Continue reading… “India’s bodybuilding boom reflects a nation coming of age”

facebook, Human Behavior, Latest Trend

More than 1 in 4 Americans have deleted the Facebook app in the past year, according to a new survey

September 7, 2018

Facebook has had a year full of controversies over misinformation and the way it provides access to user data.

A new study from Pew taken shortly after the Cambridge Analytica scandal found that 26% of Americans had deleted the Facebook app from their phone in the last year.

Continue reading… “More than 1 in 4 Americans have deleted the Facebook app in the past year, according to a new survey”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Business, Employment, Human Behavior, Science & Technology News

Over 9 out of 10 people are ready to take orders from robots

September 9, 2018

If you are unhappy taking orders from your human boss, you might be more inclined to take orders from robots, according to a new survey.

The AI, machine learning, and data science conundrum: Who will manage the algorithms?

There seems to be a large gap between the way people are using artificial intelligence (AI) at home and at work. Although almost three quarters of us use AI in our personal life, only six percent of HR professionals are deploying AI and only one in four (24 percent) of employees are currently using some form of AI at work.

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Artificial Intelligence, Big Problems, Films, Human Behavior, Science & Technology News

Carnegie Mellon researchers create the most convincing deepfakes yet

August 29, 2018

Ever heard of “deepfakes”? Videos generated with artificial intelligence (AI) that learn to superimpose the face of one person onto the body of another have been used to swap Harrison Ford for Nicolas Cage in countless movie clips, and for far more nefarious purposes, like fake celebrity porn and propaganda. Now, for better or worse, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new AI system that’s more powerful — and versatile — than previous attempts.

It’s called “Recycle-GAN,” and the team described it as an “unsupervised, data-driven approach” for transferring the content of one video or photo to another. “Such a content translation and style preservation task has numerous applications, including human motion and face translation from one person to other, teaching robots from human demonstration,” the researchers wrote, “or converting black-and-white videos to color.”

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Business, Human Behavior, Latest Trend

Companies are buying these portable soundproof rooms like crazy to fix the worst thing about their open floor offices

August 16, 2018

Room is a new company that’s created private, semi-soundproof phone booths for noisy, crowded offices.

Already, the company has snagged high profile clients like NASA, Salesforce, and Nike.

Room says they’re on track to sell $10 million worth of product in their first year of business.

If you work in an open office, it’s likely that you’ve ducked into a hallway, a closet, or even the bathroom to get a few moments of quiet to make a phone call.

With the move to the open office and the collective banishment of cubicles, finding a quiet, private place can sometimes be close to impossible.

Continue reading… “Companies are buying these portable soundproof rooms like crazy to fix the worst thing about their open floor offices”

App, Human Behavior, Latest Trend

Snapchat photo filters linked to rise in cosmetic surgery requests

August 13, 2018

The trend, labelled ‘Snapchat dysmorphia’, suggests some people are experiencing a worrying blur between reality and social media.

Plastic surgeons are reporting a rise in requests to look ‘filtered.’

Plastic surgeons are reporting that patients are coming to them with selfies of themselves edited using the filters on Snapchat or Instagram and asking to look more like the retouched photo.

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Analysis, Big Problems, Food, Human Behavior

It’s easy to become obese in America. These 7 charts explain why.

August 13, 2018

“In America, the unhealthiest foods are the tastiest foods, the cheapest foods, the largest-portion foods.”

It’s no secret that Americans have gotten much, much bigger over the past few decades. The signs are all around us, from XXXL clothing sizes to supersize movie seats and even larger coffins.

According to an analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average American man now stands at 5-feet-9 1/4 inches tall and weighs 196 pounds — up 15 pounds from 20 years ago. For women, the change has been even more striking: The average female today stands 5-feet-3 3/4 inches and weighs 169 pounds. In 1994, her scale read 152 pounds

Continue reading… “It’s easy to become obese in America. These 7 charts explain why.”

Animals, Biotech, DNA, Human Behavior, Science & Technology News

Inside the very big, very controversial business of dog cloning

August 12, 2018

Recently born clones share an incubator.

Barbra Streisand is not alone. At a South Korean laboratory, a once-disgraced doctor is replicating hundreds of deceased pets for the rich and famous. It’s made for more than a few questions of bioethics.

The surgeon is a showman. Scrubbed in and surrounded by his surgical team, a lavalier mike clipped to his mask, he gestures broadly as he describes the C-section he is about to perform to a handful of rapt students watching from behind a plexiglass wall. Still narrating, he steps over to a steel operating table where the expectant mother is stretched out, fully anesthetized. All but her lower stomach is discreetly covered by a crisp green cloth. The surgeon makes a quick incision in her belly. His assistants tug gingerly on clamps that pull back the flaps of tissue on either side of the cut. The surgeon slips two gloved fingers inside the widening hole, then his entire hand. An EKG monitor shows the mother’s heart beating in steady pulses.

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Blockchain, Crypto-Technology, Human Behavior, Science & Technology News

The rise of an “Assassination Marketplace” shows the dark side of decentralized networks

August 10, 2018

Right now, there’s an online bidding war over whether or not Donald Trump will die before the year is out. All a would-be assassin has to do is stake a whole bunch of money on “yes” and they’d make a fortune.

These not-quite death threats reportedly lodged against the president and other public figures, including Jeff Bezos, John McCain, and Betty White, can be found on Augur, a decentralized app recently launched by the nonprofit Forecast Foundation. Augur is a protocol through which people can create prediction markets, which are crowdsourced platforms where people stake cryptocurrency (in this case Ethereum and the Augur-specific token Reputation) on a prediction’s most likely outcome.

Continue reading… “The rise of an “Assassination Marketplace” shows the dark side of decentralized networks”

communication, Education, Human Behavior

Behemoth, bully, thief: how the English language is taking over the planet

July 30, 2018

No language in history has dominated the world quite like English does today. Is there any point in resisting? By Jacob Mikanowski

On 16 May, a lawyer named Aaron Schlossberg was in a New York cafe when he heard several members of staff speaking Spanish. He reacted with immediate fury, threatening to call US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and telling one employee: “Your staff is speaking Spanish to customers when they should be speaking English … This is America.” A video of the incident quickly went viral, drawing widespread scorn. The Yelp page for his law firm was flooded with one-star reviews, and Schlossberg was soon confronted with a “fiesta” protest in front of his Manhattan apartment building, which included a crowd-funded taco truck and mariachi band to serenade him on the way to work.

Continue reading… “Behemoth, bully, thief: how the English language is taking over the planet”