80433441
submission
iONiUM writes:
From the article: "The global catch of fish and seafood is falling at three times the rate reported by the United Nations and urgently needs to be slowed to avoid a crash, reports Christopher Pala. The finding comes in a new study for Nature which quantifies the huge illegal industrial fish pillaging taking place around the world, together with artisanal catches, which in 2010 added over 50% to UN estimates."
The article goes on to say: "If the current rate of fishing continues, warns the study's leader, Professor Daniel Pauly of the University of British Columbia, consumers in rich countries will soon face fewer choices of wild fish and coastal residents of poor countries will see their supply of affordable animal protein dwindle."
80003873
submission
iONiUM writes:
As per the article: "Authorities in Brazil have recently issued an unusual and unprecedented announcement to women: don’t get pregnant, at least not just yet. Amidst an intractable outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, public health authorities in Brazil are highly suspicious of an unusual surge of cases of microcephaly among newborn children." There was over 3000 cases in 2015.
It's believed this virus is linked to shrinking newborns brain, and is spreading. The CDC has published an article, and travel warnings are now being issued for pregnant women.
79510905
submission
iONiUM writes:
As per Extra Credits YouTube video, China has teamed up with a game company to assign a score to citizens based on how well they follow party doctrine via "Sesame Credit." This score has consequences and benefits. From the YouTube video summary: "The game links to your social network and gives you a score for doing things that the government approves of, but it also reduces that score for doing things the government disapproves of. Even your friends' scores affect your own, and being friends with people who have a low score will drag your score down as well. This insidious system applies social pressure on people to ostracize their friends with lower scores, either forcing those friends to change their ways or effectively quarantining their rebellious ideas."
79476325
submission
iONiUM writes:
As per this tweet which is from the Senate amendment H.R. 2029, NASA will get $19.285B in the FY16 budget, which is nearly $750M above the amount requested. This includes "$1.2438B for Commercial Crew (moved from Exploration), the exact amount requested."
75700391
submission
iONiUM writes:
A study (abstract) investigates the ability of Google to influence an election and the results are surprising. From the article: "Google’s search algorithm can easily shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20 percent or more—up to 80 percent in some demographic groups—with virtually no one knowing they are being manipulated..." This research was conducted during the last, and very heated, Indian election which concluded "Given how powerful this effect is, it’s possible that Google decided the winner of the Indian election." What's even more surprising is that the small number of people who did know they were being fed bias results ended up shifting even more than those who didn't. Considering there's currently no insight into Google's search algorithm, and considering Google's donation history to political parties, there is some cause for concern.
75680201
submission
iONiUM writes:
From the article: "For the first time, aggressive breast, lung and bladder cancer cells have been turned back into harmless benign cells by restoring the function which prevents them from multiplying excessively and forming dangerous growths." Specifically, this is done by triggering production of the protein PLEKHA7 which in turn levels off the microRNA levels in the cells. So far this has only been done in human cells in a lab.
75680121
submission
iONiUM writes:
A new study (abstract) investigates the ability of Google to influence an election and the results are rather astounding. From the article: "Google’s search algorithm can easily shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20 percent or more—up to 80 percent in some demographic groups—with virtually no one knowing they are being manipulated..." This research was conducted during the last, and very heated, Indian election which concluded "Given how powerful this effect is, it’s possible that Google decided the winner of the Indian election." Considering there's currently no insight into Google's search algorithm, and considering Google's donation history to political parties, there is some cause for concern.
75467761
submission
iONiUM writes:
From the article: "The world is expected to add another billion people within the next 15 years, bringing the total global population from 7.3 billion in mid-2015 to 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion by 2100, according to new estimates from the UN."
Some interesting points include: Africa's population expected to grow from 16.2% of the world's population to 39.2% with Nigeria expected to overtake the US' population by 2050. India expected to overtake China by 2030.
The estimates don't appear to take into consideration war, famine, and food shortages that may hamper such extreme growth in third world countries, not to mention the mass-immigration and cultural shifts that would occur due to this scenario in places like Europe and North America.
75441119
submission
iONiUM writes:
From the economist: "Pollution is sky-high everywhere in China. Some 83% of Chinese are exposed to air that, in America, would be deemed by the Environmental Protection Agency either to be unhealthy or unhealthy for sensitive groups. Almost half the population of China experiences levels of PM2.5 that are above America’s highest threshold. That is even worse than the satellite data had suggested."
They go on to say "Berkeley Earth’s scientific director, Richard Muller, says breathing Beijing’s air is the equivalent of smoking almost 40 cigarettes a day and calculates that air pollution causes 1.6m deaths a year in China, or 17% of the total. A previous estimate, based on a study of pollution in the Huai river basin (which lies between the Yellow and Yangzi rivers), put the toll at 1.2m deaths a year—still high."
74705733
submission
iONiUM writes:
An article today claims that there is no longer any Honeybee crises, and that the deaths of the Honeybees previously was a one-off, or possibly non-cyclical occurance (caused by neonics or nature — the debate is still out). The data used is that from Stats Canada which claims "the number of honeybee colonies is at a record high [in Canada]." Globally, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization says that "worldwide bee populations have rebounded to a record high." However, many corporations and pro-environment groups have much to gain by creating a panic about Honeybee deaths, and as such continue to publish stories claiming the situation is dire.
73405825
submission
iONiUM writes:
Today the Bell Media president claimed that Canadians are 'stealing' US Netflix, saying the practice is “stealing just like stealing anything else.” She went on to say that it is socially unacceptable behaviour, and “It has to become socially unacceptable to admit to another human being that you are VPNing into U.S. Netflix. Like throwing garbage out of your car window, you just don’t do it. We have to get engaged and tell people they’re stealing." Of course, I'm sure the fact that Bell Media profits from Canadian content has nothing to do with these remarks...
73150661
submission
iONiUM writes:
After the recent article on Slashdot talking about Adblock Plus's new fork of Firefox for mobile, you would think some non-tech media outlets would also pick up this story. However, as is often the case with news which makes media uncomfortable, so far only 2 state-run news agencies have picked it up: the CBC, and the BBC.
It amazes me that news agencies are able to show such a strong bias with their news selection, and yet nobody appears to say anything or care. Where are the articles on CNN, Fox, Reuters, or even TechCrunch, Engadget or WIRED?
69606573
submission
iONiUM writes:
From the article: "Oceans are warming at an accelerated pace — forcing scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to re-scale its heat chart to account for the warming that occurred in 2014."
It goes on to say: "Dr Abraham says this is the “clearest nail in the coffin” that there has been no let up in global warming."
68571225
submission
iONiUM writes:
As reported by many news sources, yet another plane has lost contact during a trip.
This comes on the heels of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 which is still missing, and Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 which was shot down.
The question has to be asked: is airline travel still safe, especially within Asia? And, why has the news completely forgot about flight 370?
66146517
submission
iONiUM writes:
From the article: 'Hans Fredrik Lennart Neij, known to hackers as TiAMO, was detained in the north-eastern Thai town of Nong Khai. He was subject to an international warrant after he was convicted in 2009 of aiding copyright infringement.' He has fled Sweden while on bail after a sentence of a one-year sentence and being ordered to pay $3.6m in damages.
The article goes on to say: 'Neij had been living in Laos since 2012 and travelled nearly 30 times to Thailand, where he has a house on the resort island of Phukat, Maj Gen Eimsaeng added.'
