scientist

10Oct

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, SCIENCE

An Atmospheric Scientist Explains The Weather Phenomenon Known As A Heat Dome Baking California And The West

A heat dome occurs when a persistent region of high pressure traps heat over an area. The heat dome can stretch over several states and linger for days to weeks, leaving the people, crops and animals below to suffer through stagnant, hot air that can feel like an oven. Typically, heat domes are tied to the behavior of the jet stream, a band of fast winds high in the atmosphere that generally runs west to east. Normally, the jet stream has a wavelike pattern, meandering north and then south and then north again. When these meanders in the jet stream become bigger, they move slower and can become stationary. That’s when heat domes can occur. Heat domes involve high-pressure areas that trap and heat up the air below. NOAA When the jet stream swings far to the north, air piles up and sinks. ...

What Is Proof-Of-Stake? A Computer Scientist Explains A New Way To Make Cryptocurrencies, NFTs And Metaverse Transactions

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

CRYPTOMARKET, TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

What Is Proof-Of-Stake? A Computer Scientist Explains A New Way To Make Cryptocurrencies, NFTs And Metaverse Transactions

Proof-of-stake is a mechanism for achieving consensus on a blockchain. Blockchain is a technology that records transactions that can’t be deleted or altered. It’s a decentralized database, or ledger, that is under no one person or organization’s control. Since no one controls the database, consensus mechanisms, such as proof-of-stake, are needed to coordinate the operation of blockchain-based systems. While Bitcoin popularized the technology, blockchain is now a part of many different systems, enabling interesting applications such as decentralized finance platforms and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. The first widely commercialized blockchain consensus mechanism was proof-of-work, which enables users to reach consensus by solving complex mathematical problems. For solving these problems...

A Computer Scientist Explains – Why ‘Bad’ Ads Appear On ‘Good’ Websites

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, Journalism

A Computer Scientist Explains – Why ‘Bad’ Ads Appear On ‘Good’ Websites

Sketchy ads, like those for miracle weight loss pills and suspicious-looking software, sometimes appear on legitimate, well-regarded websites. It turns out that most websites don’t actually decide who gets to show ads to their viewers. Instead, most sites outsource this task to a complex network of advertising tech companies that do the work of figuring out which ads are shown to each particular person. The online ad ecosystem is largely built around “programmatic advertising,” a system for placing advertisements from millions of advertisers on millions of websites. The system uses computers to automate bidding by advertisers on available ad spaces, often with transactions occurring faster than would be possible manually. Programmatic advertising is a powerful tool that allows advertiser...

A Complex Systems Scientist Explains: What Is Chaos?

11Oct

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

A Complex Systems Scientist Explains: What Is Chaos?

Mitchell Newberry, University of Michigan Chaos evokes images of the dinosaurs running wild in Jurassic Park, or my friend’s toddler ravaging the living room. In a chaotic world, you never know what to expect. Stuff is happening all the time, driven by any kind of random impulse. But chaos has a deeper meaning in connection to physics and climate science, related to how certain systems – like the weather or the behavior of a toddler – are fundamentally unpredictable. Scientists define chaos as the amplified effects of tiny changes in the present moment that lead to long-term unpredictability. Picture two almost identical storylines. In one version, two people bump into each other in a train station; but in the other, the train arrives 10 seconds earlier and the meeting never happens. F...

Scientist Are Tracking The Epic Journeys Of Migratory Birds In Northwest Mexico

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, VIDEO REELS

Scientist Are Tracking The Epic Journeys Of Migratory Birds In Northwest Mexico

One morning in January, I found myself 30 feet (9 meters) up a tall metal pole, carrying 66 pounds (35 kilograms) of aluminum antennas and thick weatherproofed cabling. From this vantage point, I could clearly see the entire Punta Banda Estuary in northwestern Mexico. As I looked through my binoculars, I observed the estuary’s sandy bar and extensive mudflats packed with thousands of migratory shorebirds frenetically pecking the mud for food. In winter, more than 1 million shorebirds that breed in the Arctic will visit and move throughout the coastline of northwest Mexico. It’s possible they are tracking rare superabundant seasonal resources like fish spawning events. Or maybe they are scouting for sites with better habitat to spend their nonbreeding season. The truth is, researchers don’...

A Computer Scientist Explains – What A Neural Network Is

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

A Computer Scientist Explains – What A Neural Network Is

One of the central technologies of artificial intelligence is neural networks. In this interview, Tam Nguyen, a professor of computer science at the University of Dayton, explains how neural networks, programs in which a series of algorithms try to simulate the human brain work. Tam Nguyen explains neural networks. What are some examples of neural networks that are familiar to most people? There are many applications of neural networks. One common example is your smartphone camera’s ability to recognize faces. Driverless cars are equipped with multiple cameras which try to recognize other vehicles, traffic signs and pedestrians by using neural networks, and turn or adjust their speed accordingly. Neural networks are also behind the text suggestions you see while writing texts or emails, ...

The mystery of the missing portrait of Robert Hooke, 17th-century scientist extraordinaire

27Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

The mystery of the missing portrait of Robert Hooke, 17th-century scientist extraordinaire

Groundbreaking discoveries in science often come with two iconic images, one representing the breakthrough and the other, the discoverer. Known as Mary Beale’s ‘Portrait of a Mathematician,’ could the circa 1680 painting depict Hooke? Mary Beale, CC BY For example, the page from Darwin’s notebook sketching the branching pattern of evolution often accompanies a portrait of Darwin in his early years when the notebook was written. Likewise the drawing of the orbits of the moons of Jupiter often accompanies a portrait of Galileo. Hooke’s famous etching of the tiny magnified cells he saw in a piece of cork. Robert Hooke, Micrographia, 1665/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY Another groundbreaking discovery in science was the discovery of the cell by Robert Hooke (1635-1703). The iconic image of the brea...

What is a derecho? An atmospheric scientist explains these rare but dangerous storm systems

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, VIDEO REELS

What is a derecho? An atmospheric scientist explains these rare but dangerous storm systems

Thunderstorms are common across North America, especially in warm weather months. About 10% of them become severe, meaning they produce hail 1 inch or greater in diameter, winds gusting in excess of 50 knots (57.5 miles per hour), or a tornado. The U.S. recently has experienced two rarer events: organized lines of thunderstorms with widespread damaging winds, known as derechos. Derechos occur fairly regularly over large parts of the U.S. each year, most commonly from April through August. Dennis Cain/NOAA Derechos occur mainly across the central and eastern U.S., where many locations are affected one to two times per year on average. They can produce significant damage to structures and sometimes cause “blowdowns” of millions of trees. Pennsylvania and New Jersey received the brunt of a d...