Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Biotech

NIH Studies Universal Genome Sequencing At Birth 128

Posted by samzenpus from the giant-book-that's-hidden-inside-you dept.
sciencehabit writes "In a few years, all new parents may go home from the hospital with not just a bundle of joy, but with something else—the complete sequence of their baby's DNA. A new research program funded at $25 million over 5 years by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will explore the promise—and ethical challenges—of sequencing every newborn's genome."

Submission + - Why your users hate Agile (itworld.com)

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: What developers see as iterative and flexible, users see as disorganized and never-ending. Why your users hate Agile development (and what you can do about it) shares how some experienced developers have changed that perception.

...She's been frustrated by her Agile experiences — and so have her clients. "There is no process. Things fly all directions, and despite SVN [version control] developers overwrite each other and then have to have meetings to discuss why things were changed. Too many people are involved, and, again, I repeat, there is no process."

The premise here is not that Agile sucks — quite to the contrary — but that developers have to understand how Agile processes can make users anxious, and learn to respond to those fears. Not all those answers are foolproof. For example:

Detailed designs and planning done prior to a project seems to provide a "safety net" to business sponsors, says Semeniuk. "By providing a Big Design Up Front you are pacifying this request by giving them a best guess based on what you know at that time — which is at best partial or incorrect in the first place." The danger, he cautions, is when Big Design becomes Big Commitment — as sometimes business sponsors see this plan as something that needs to be tracked against. "The big concern with doing a Big Design up front is when it sets a rigid expectation that must be met, regardless of the changes and knowledge discovered along the way," says Semeniuk.

How do you respond to user anxiety from Agile processes?
Medicine

WHO: Intellectual Property Claims Hindering Research On Deadly Novel Coronavirus 121

Posted by Soulskill from the soon-your-vaccines-will-have-protective-DRM dept.
New submitter kwyjibo87 writes "The World Health Organization (WHO) publicly expressed dismay yesterday concerning news that intellectual property claims were hindering research on a deadly new emerging virus. Novel coronavirus (nCoV), a member of the same viral genus as the causative agent of SARS, has claimed the lives of 22 people (out of 44 reported infected) and left both researchers and health officials scrambling to develop effective diagnostic tests in addition to possible medications and vaccines against nCoV. Now, however, claims of intellectual property on the new virus are hindering research on nCoV according to the WHO, delaying advancements on tools to prevent further spread of the infection. Stories of intellectual property rights in science hindering advancements in research, particularly in clinical applications, are nothing new; the U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments on the validity of patents on the BRCA1/2 genes and has yet to issue a decision. The issue of sharing scientific information in order to promote faster research on emerging pathogens is not limited to intellectual property — a recent article in the journal Nature highlighted a case where Chinese researchers risked having their research scooped after uploading viral sequences to a public database designed aid global scientific collaboration."

Comment Re:While I hate someone advertising "Unlimited" (Score 1) 573

by youn (#43812981) Attached to: FiOS User Finds Limit of 'Unlimited' Data Plan: 77 TB/Month

I agree, I personally don't like "unlimited" advertisings for many products when they have limits but in this case I would have to side with the FIOS guy... 77 tb of data is huge. Whether he charges for it or not is irrelevant, the guy's service is no different than a business. They asked him to switch to business... it seems reasonable to me as well. I actually find they were rather flexible if they let it reach 77tb

The interesting data here is he is consuming 30,000 more than the average user. which would mean the average user uses between 2-3 gigabytes of data.

Slashdot Top Deals

Arithmetic is being able to count up to twenty without taking off your shoes. -- Mickey Mouse

Close