SCIENCE – Page 2

New Research Shows That Virtual Reality Has Negative Side Effects And Can Be A Problem In The Workplace

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, IN OTHER NEWS, SCIENCE

New Research Shows That Virtual Reality Has Negative Side Effects And Can Be A Problem In The Workplace

Virtual reality has negative side effects – new research shows that can be a problem in the workplace. Some employers are excited about swapping out computer monitors for virtual reality headsets, but the side effects of using VR are not completely understood. In a recent study, my colleagues and I propose 90 factors that could influence VR side effects in the workplace. In another study, we suggest guidelines to reduce these negative symptoms. Our analysis considers over 350 studies to identify a range of VR side effects. Some negative symptoms of VR use – like headaches, tiredness, eyestrain and neck and shoulder pain –are familiar to those workers who sit at a computer all day. But the nature of VR introduces new avenues for discomfort, such as disorientation, dizziness, nausea and in...

28Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

Congress Digs For The Truth About UFOs

Whistleblower calls for government transparency as Congress digs for the truth about UFOs. A congressional subcommittee met on June 26, 2023, to hear testimony from several military officers who allege the government is concealing evidence of UFOs. By holding a hearing on UFOs – now called “unidentified anomalous phenomena” by government agencies – the subcommittee sought to understand whether these UAPs pose a threat to national security. I’m an astronomer who studies and has written about cosmology, black holes, exoplanets and life in the universe. I’m also on the advisory council for an international group that strategizes how to communicate with an extraterrestrial civilization should the need ever arise. While the hearings brought attention to UAPs and could lead to more reporting f...

UFOs — Why People Tend To Believe In Extraterrestrial

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

UFOs — Why People Tend To Believe In Extraterrestrial

Why people tend to believe UFOs are extraterrestrial! Most of us still call them UFOs – unidentified flying objects. NASA recently adopted the term “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAP. Either way, every few years popular claims resurface that these things are not of our world, or that the U.S. government has some stored away. I’m a sociologist who focuses on the interplay between individuals and groups, especially concerning shared beliefs and misconceptions. As for why UFOs and their alleged occupants enthrall the public, I’ve found that normal human perceptual and social processes explain UFO buzz as much as anything up in the sky. Historical context Like political scandals and high-waisted jeans, UFOs trend in and out of collective awareness but never fully disappear. Thirty y...

Not The Way You Think But AI Is An Existential Threat

8Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

Not The Way You Think But AI Is An Existential Threat

AI is an existential threat – just not the way you think. The rise of ChatGPT and similar artificial intelligence systems has been accompanied by a sharp increase in anxiety about AI. For the past few months, executives and AI safety researchers have been offering predictions, dubbed “P(doom),” about the probability that AI will bring about a large-scale catastrophe. Worries peaked in May 2023 when the nonprofit research and advocacy organization Center for AI Safety released a one-sentence statement: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from A.I. should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war.” The statement was signed by many key players in the field, including the leaders of OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, as well as two of the so-called...

Leaving Many Valuable Ecosystems At Risk, The Supreme Court Just Shriveled Federal Protection For Wetlands

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, VIDEO REELS

Leaving Many Valuable Ecosystems At Risk, The Supreme Court Just Shriveled Federal Protection For Wetlands

The Supreme Court just shriveled federal protection for wetlands, leaving many of these valuable ecosystems at risk. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in Sackett v. EPA that federal protection of wetlands encompasses only those wetlands that directly adjoin rivers, lakes and other bodies of water. This is an extremely narrow interpretation of the Clean Water Act that could expose many wetlands across the U.S. to filling and development. Under this keystone environmental law, federal agencies take the lead in regulating water pollution, while state and local governments regulate land use. Wetlands are areas where land is wet for all or part of the year, so they straddle this division of authority. Swamps, bogs, marshes and other wetlands provide valuable ecological services, such as filter...

17Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

Advancing Human-Robot Collaboration

Robots are everywhere – improving how they communicate with people could advance human-robot collaboration. Robots are machines that can sense the environment and use that information to perform an action. You can find them nearly everywhere in industrialized societies today. There are household robots that vacuum floors and warehouse robots that pack and ship goods. Lab robots test hundreds of clinical samples a day. Education robots support teachers by acting as one-on-one tutors, assistants and discussion facilitators. And medical robotics composed of prosthetic limbs can enable someone to grasp and pick up objects with their thoughts. Figuring out how humans and robots can collaborate to effectively carry out tasks together is a rapidly growing area of interest to the scientists and e...

Forecasting Bird Migration And Identifying Birds In Flight By Their Calls Using Machine Learning

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, SCIENCE, VIDEO REELS

Forecasting Bird Migration And Identifying Birds In Flight By Their Calls Using Machine Learning

Scientists are using machine learning to forecast bird migration and identify birds in flight by their calls. With chatbots like ChatGPT making a splash, machine learning is playing an increasingly prominent role in our lives. For many of us, it’s been a mixed bag. We rejoice when our Spotify For You playlist finds us a new jam, but groan as we scroll through a slew of targeted ads on our Instagram feeds. Sandhill cranes flying above the Platte River in Nebraska. shannonpatrick17/Flickr, CC BY Machine learning is also changing many fields that may seem surprising. One example is my discipline, ornithology – the study of birds. It isn’t just solving some of the biggest challenges associated with studying bird migration; more broadly, machine learning is expanding the ways in which people en...

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, SCIENCE, VIDEO REELS

Did You Know Geckos Walk On Water

Geckos walk on water – we filmed them to find out how. Anyone who’s seen a gecko will likely know they can climb walls. But these common lizards can also run across water nearly as fast as they can move on solid ground. Yet while we know how geckos scale smooth vertical surfaces using countless tiny hairs on their feet called setae, how they manage to avoid sinking into the water has been something of a mystery – until now. My colleagues and I recently completed research that explains how geckos use a combination of techniques to perform this amazing feat. The ability to walk on water has been recorded in smaller animals such as the water strider, which are light enough to be held up by the water’s surface tension, the force between the water molecules at the surface. Meanwhile, larger an...

Monitor Natural Disasters And Environmental Changes Using Free Satellite Data

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, SCIENCE, VIDEO REELS

Monitor Natural Disasters And Environmental Changes Using Free Satellite Data

How to use free satellite data to monitor natural disasters and environmental changes. If you want to track changes in the Amazon rainforest, see the full expanse of a hurricane or figure out where people need help after a disaster, it’s much easier to do with the view from a satellite orbiting a few hundred miles above Earth. Traditionally, access to satellite data has been limited to researchers and professionals with expertise in remote sensing and image processing. However, the increasing availability of open-access data from government satellites such as Landsat and Sentinel, and free cloud-computing resources such as Amazon Web Services, Google Earth Engine and Microsoft Planetary Computer, have made it possible for just about anyone to gain insight into environmental changes underw...

Rain On Snow In The California Mountains Worries Scientists — Here’s Why

18Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

Rain On Snow In The California Mountains Worries Scientists — Here’s Why

Why rain on snow in the California mountains worries scientists. Another round of powerful atmospheric rivers is hitting California, following storms in January and February 2023 that dumped record amounts of snow. This time, the storms are warmer, and they are triggering flood warnings as they bring rain higher into the mountains – on top of the snowpack. Professor Keith Musselman, who studies water and climate change at the University of Colorado’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, explained the complex risks rain on snow creates and how they might change in a warming climate. What happens when rain falls on snowpack? For much of the United States, storms with heavy rainfall can coincide with seasonal snow cover. When that happens, the resulting runoff of water can be much greate...