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Category Archives: Sci-Tech

CAR BUYERS AND USERS FOR SALE

IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG for the Internet to learn monetization. We are the product, not simply the users. And the automakers are now following suit. In *Privacy Not Included, September … Continue reading

September 14, 2023 · Leave a comment

MPC AIDING STEMMERS 

STEM STUDENTS (THOSE STRIVING FOR degrees in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics) have Calculus 1 as a first hurdle. And for many it’s a formidable one. According to AAAS Science, … Continue reading

September 13, 2023 · 2 Comments

CITATIONS RAINING CAT AND DOG

“ARE YOU THE ‘SIMANAITIS, D’ referenced in a recent article?” the email asks. Well, what with a few math papers, scads of R&T articles, and now thousands of SimanaitisSays items, … Continue reading

September 2, 2023 · 1 Comment

SNOW WHITE AND THE BARIUM SULFATE DWARFS

“SCIENTISTS AT PURDUE,” reports Cara Buckley in The New York Times, July 12, 2023, “have created a white paint that, when applied, can reduce the surface temperature on a roof … Continue reading

September 1, 2023 · 3 Comments

GROUND-SOURCE HEAT PUMPS

ISABELLA O’MALLEY’S ARTICLE describes “Little-known but efficient, a different way to heat and cool your house,” AP News, July 13, 2023. It’s about ground-source heat pumps, their function related to, … Continue reading

August 14, 2023 · 4 Comments

“FAIR USE” AND A.I. PART 2

COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL POPPING UP in generative A.I. is causing legal complications of the Fair Use Doctrine. Here in Part 2, more tidbits are gleaned from Paula Samuelson’s “Generative AI Meets … Continue reading

August 1, 2023 · Leave a comment

“FAIR USE” AND A.I. PART 1

THE USE OF LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS scooping up copyrighted material has become a complex legal issue. Paula Samuelson’s article “Generative AI Meets Copyright” addresses fascinating aspects of this in AAAS … Continue reading

July 31, 2023 · Leave a comment

IF A.I. IS SO DAMNED SMART, HOW COME IT CAN’T INCLUDE E.A.?

“EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM,” E.A., for short, is a term coined in 2011 by philosophers Peter Singer, Toby Ord, and William MacAskill. Lately, it has become a buzz word among developers and doomsayers (some, the … Continue reading

July 22, 2023 · 1 Comment

TANDEM SOLAR CELLS OPTIMIZE THE SUN’S PHOTONS

A NEW GENERATION OF SOLAR-CELL ELECTRICITY can profit from more of the sun’s energy spectrum, as described in “Tandems Have The Power,” by Stefaan Wolf and Erkan Aydin in AAAS … Continue reading

July 20, 2023 · 2 Comments

BABY TALK—DOLPHIN STYLE

WE’VE ALL HAD GENTLE LITTLE CONVERSATIONS with infants, this “baby talk” helping them to learn how to speak. What’s more, Beki Hooper Ph.D. reports in Psychology Today, July 3, 2023, … Continue reading

July 9, 2023 · 3 Comments