MOOC is massive open online course
Recently there have been many discussions over the topic of MOOCs. MOOC stands for a massive open online course. It is a tuition-free course taught over the Web to a large number of students.
Continue reading… “Will academia be destroyed by massive open online courses?”
Researchers at NYU worry the mice they use to study human disease may have perished in the flooding caused by Superstorm Sandy.
It has been reported that the New York University Hospital has lost thousands of laboratory mice to Hurricane Sandy This will setback research that could take years to correct, according to scientists.
Continue reading… “Hurricane Sandy deals blow to medical research, wiping out NYU lab mice”
Sustainable farming, which often ties into organic growing, has been reaping profits.
Last week, in an auditorium at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, startup companies sought out investors to help take their ideas to the next level. This wasn’t a tech conference. Venture capitalists were here to check out sustainable farming.
Continue reading… “If you are looking for a new startup idea, try farming”
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/51691017[/vimeo]
The Apple Store sells more smart devices for the home other that the Nest learning thermostats. The retail chain will soon begin selling Philips’ ‘Hue’ LED light bulb kits, which let you control the color of light in your rooms from your smart device.
Continue reading… “Apple stores start selling $199 Philips Hue custom LED light kits”
Moving paper death certificates to an online process should be easy.
The EDRS, or the Washington State Electronic Death Registry System is an online system that is moving paper death certificates to an online process. This system should make the process of completing death certificates faster and easier. But, the government designed the system.
Continue reading… “The unintended consequences of moving death certificates to the digital age”
Fewer flights and smaller aircraft leading to many more passengers per flight.
Airline travel today mostly stinks. It is thanks to higher costs, worse service, and truly uncomfortable in-flight conditions. But understanding why life in the air isn’t particularly good takes a little work. Actually, it takes a lot of work because the Department of Transportation’s new assessment of the airline industry runs a lugubrious 78 pages and is laden with enough charts, statistics, and graphs to make Battlefield Earth seem entertaining.
A large majority of patients who receive this news don’t fully comprehend it, or perhaps willfully choose to ignore it.
Often times doctors are called on to deliver bad news to patients. And when they deliver that news it doesn’t get much worse than hearing a diagnosis of an advanced-stage cancer for which there is no cure.
Continue reading… “Three out of four terminal cancer patients believe a cure is possible”
Everyone knows that software experts make big bucks.
Glassdoor published its most recent software engineering salary report last week. It found that it pays to code. Google and Facebook employees earn a base salary of ~$125K, not counting benefits, 401k matching, stock options/grants, etc., and even Yahoo! developers pull in six figures. Everyone knows that good engineers are awfully hard to find. Demand has skyrocketed, supply has stagnated, prices have risen. Basic economics.
Continue reading… “It pays to code, but how long will that last?”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy89vxX088Q&hd=1[/youtube]
An investigation a few years ago bu USA Today found that, of the 250,000 fatal cardiac arrests that occur outside of U.S. hospitals every year, up to 76,000 cases were treatable. That is, the patients would have survived if the ambulance had got there in time. A quick zap with a defibrillator was all that was needed, but many cities could not promise a response within six minutes–the standard survival window.
Continue reading… “Could the future of first responders be a network of drones?”
Scientists inserted a gene into odor sensing neurons in mice that could drastically increase their ability to smell TNT.
Mice have been genetically modified by scientists in hopes of increasing their ability to smell TNT with 500 times the sensitivity of normal mice. If successful, the mice could provide a cheap and effective way to sniff out landmines and other explosive devices that haunt nations all over the world.
Protected bike paths are safer.
Researchers have found that bike lanes separated by planters, posts or parked cars aren’t just more popular and less stressful than bike lanes or back-road bike routes, an important new study shows. They’re safer – far safer.
Continue reading… “Protected bike lanes are safer than just paint: Study”
The new technology is known as coded TCP.
Wireless bandwidth has been improved by academic researchers. They didn’t do this by adding base stations, tapping more spectrum, or cranking up transmitter wattage, but by using algebra to eliminate the network-clogging task of resending dropped packets of data.
Continue reading… “A little algebra promises to boost bandwidth on wireless networks tenfold”