175691497
submission
schliz writes:
After a lifetime of Ozzy Osbourne, Guns n Roses, Metallica, Foo Fighters, Nirvana and the like, my 10 year old has released his first rock song⦠with his 11- and 12-year-old friends. And itâ(TM)s catchy AF
53960857
submission
schliz writes:
Stanford scientists say they could help boost people's motivation to overcome difficulties by electrically stimulating the anterior midcingulate cortex in the brain.
The study involved two patients, who described the "will to persevere" beautifully. One said it was like driving into a storm front and knowing that he had to get through. Check out the transcript in the story.
51416215
submission
schliz writes:
People aged over 65 make poorer financial decisions and inconsistent choices than younger individuals with the same IQ, an international research group has found.
The study had 135 healthy participants aged 12-90 make a series of decisions: for example, choosing between gaining $5 and the chance to win $20 in a lottery. On average, over-65s earned 26-39% less than all other age groups, including adolescents — a finding that could partially explain their susceptibility to problem gambling and scams.
51067365
submission
schliz writes:
A one percentage point increase in an inflation forecast brings about a 75% rise in laughter, according to an American University PhD student, who studied transcripts of the Federal Open Market Committee at the Federal Reserve. Laughter usually comes in response to witticisms during a meeting at the time of the inflation forecast, and has been shown to be a mechanism for coping with the stress of a perceived threat.
50727717
submission
schliz writes:
An Australian-German team of researchers has developed the most detailed map of gravitational variations ever, using satellite data, gravitational readings and small-scale topographical models. They say the data will help civil engineers and miners, and will be available for free online.
Gravity varies because the Earth isn't perfectly spherical. According to the new map, gravity is 0.7% greater near the North Pole (9.83ms-2) than at Peru’s Nevado Huascaran summit (9.76ms-2). The difference is 40% more than previously expected.
50417659
submission
schliz writes:
A team of scientists from Japan and New Zealand have helped baker’s yeast live 50% longer than usual by artificially stabilizing a genetic sequence called ribosomal DNA. The study’s authors say that rDNA is a “hot spot for production of the aging signal”. Because rDNA genes are very similar in yeast and humans, they say their experiment is a first step towards anti-aging drugs.
47174049
submission
schliz writes:
Australian startup Wine Cue is combining the chemical composition of wines with customer ratings for what it hopes to be a more objective wine recommendation engine than existing systems that are based on historical transactions. The technology is likely to reach the market as a smartphone app, and could be used to identify cheap alternatives to expensive bottles.
41887913
submission
schliz writes:
Australian researchers expect to use unmanned aircraft in bushfire surveillance and search and rescue scenarios within two years. The news comes as New South Wales faces "catastrophic" fire danger ratings and what firefighters say could be the worst conditions in the state's history.
39778685
submission
schliz writes:
Amazon Web Services will unveil its first Australian data centres on Tuesday, ending more than a year of speculation. The move is expected to address enterprises' data soverignty and latency concerns, although local cloud providers argue that data held by US company Amazon would still be subject to the Patriot Act.
39765133
submission
schliz writes:
Australia's UBank has put a billion real-world transaction records behind a website that allows users to compare their spending habits with others of the same gender, in the same age/income range, neighborhood and living situation. The 'PeopleLikeU' tool surfaces favorite shops and restaurants surprisingly accurately — because it's based on real customers' transactions, it lists places like good takeout joints that wouldn't normally come to mind when you think of a favorite place to eat. The bank says all data was 'deidentified' and it consulted with privacy authorities.
38975177
submission
schliz writes:
This week, Australia's Attorney-General released a discussion paper about introducing laws that would force companies to notify members of the public any time personal information about that customer falls into the wrong hands. California introduced similar mandatory data breach notification laws in 2003, but Australian privacy advocates are now opposing the move, saying it's a decade too late.
36673373
submission
schliz writes:
The Australian Taxation Office has called for phone-tapping powers while backing a controversial proposal to force telcos to store web traffic and subscriber data for up to two years. It said such data may be crucial to investigations, with the Commissioner of Taxation previously explaining that the connection between criminals and their finances made them "especially vulnerable to revenue collection agencies, because of the ability to identify the discrepancy between their wealthy lifestyle and modest tax declarations".
The Tax Office's statements come after this week's passage of new legislation that will allow law enforcement agencies to force internet service providers to store data on subscribers while an official warrant is sought.
36595609
submission
schliz writes:
Australian parliament has passed a bill that will allow law enforcement agencies to force internet service providers to store data on subscribers while an official warrant is sought.
The changes move Australia closer to its two-year-old proposal to accede to the 2004 Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, designed to assist with international cybercrime investigations through sharing of information on persons of interest, among other avenues.
35941347
submission
schliz writes:
iTnews in Australia has published an interview with CERN's deputy head of IT, David Foster, who explains what last month's discovery of a "particle consistent with the Higgs Boson" means for the organisation's IT department, why it needs a second "Tier Zero" data centre, and how it is using grid computing and the cloud.
35441281
submission
schliz writes:
A group of Australian network engineers is planning to launch a not-for-profit internet service provider that will provide access to the nation's high-speed NBN fibre network for like-minded people.
The cooperative, dubbed "No ISP", has no staff or add-on services to keep costs down. Members will be able to 'trade' excess download quota for a market-based price, depending on supply and demand.
