All posts tagged: current

Biological computers could use far less energy than current technology – by working more slowly

Biological computers could use far less energy than current technology – by working more slowly

Published by skeptic

Modern computers are a triumph of technology. A single computer chip contains billions of nanometre-scaled transistors that operate extremely reliably and at a rate of millions of operations per second. However, this high speed and reliability comes at the cost of significant energy consumption: data centres and household IT appliances like computers and smartphones account for around 3% of global electricity demand, and the use of AI is likely to drive even more consumption. But what if we could redesign the way computers work so that they could perform computation tasks as quickly as today while using far less energy? Here, nature may offer us some potential solutions. The IBM scientist Rolf Landauer addressed the question of whether we need to spend so much energy on computing tasks in 1961. He came up with the Landauer limit, which states that a single computational task – for example setting a bit, the smallest unit of computer information, to have a value of zero or one – must expend about 10⁻²¹ joules (J) of energy. This is …

Accountability can’t rely on our current progress measures

Accountability can’t rely on our current progress measures

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles Last week’s EPI report about this year’s GCSE results revealed a deep and continuing disadvantage gaps, underscoring the importance of addressing inequalities in education. But are we really able to do so with our current blunt measures of school effectiveness? Published last week, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership’s Fairer Schools Index (FSI) raised questions about the usefulness and dangers of using school-level data, notably Progress 8 (P8). P8 compares a student’s progress across eight qualifications from the end of key stage 2 to the end of key stage 4 against other students with similar starting points. Since its introduction in 2016, various governments have considered this approach to be fair because it is believed to encourage all schools to achieve the highest outcomes. Unfortunately, as FSI makes clear, the P8 measure is flawed. Because it has no regard for contextual factors, it favours schools serving the least disadvantaged areas and disfavours those that are achieving notable improvements in student outcomes for the most disadvantaged communities. Some schools do achieve amazing …

Gary Lineker to leave BBC’s Match Of The Day at the end of the current football season | UK News

Gary Lineker to leave BBC’s Match Of The Day at the end of the current football season | UK News

Published by skeptic

Gary Lineker is to leave Match Of The Day after 25 years, Sky News understands. The former England striker will step down at the end of the current football season in May 2025. It is understood he will stay at the BBC until the end of the next World Cup which is being held in the US, Mexico and Canada in 2026. Image: Gary Lineker on Match of the Day in 2018. Pic: BBC/Pete Dadds His departure from the long-running show was earlier reported by The Sun. Lineker has hosted the Premier League highlights show since 1999, after his predecessor Des Lynam moved to ITV. Lineker was briefly removed from Match Of The Day in March 2023 following controversy over comments he made on social media criticising the then Conservative government’s asylum policies. The row prompted the BBC to launch an independent review of its social media guidelines and Lineker returned to screens soon after. But the 63-year-old may stay on at the BBC after 2026 working on podcasts – an area where Lineker has …

Philosophy and Current Affairs: The Russia-Ukraine War

Philosophy and Current Affairs: The Russia-Ukraine War

Published by skeptic

According to one founding myth, philosophy begins in ancient Greece with Socrates abstracting from concrete examples of just activity in order to determine the timeless and eternal essence of justice. To this day, few philosophy journals are dedicated to the analysis of historically contingent current affairs, let alone a specific event of historical significance, like Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. So, to explain why I edited a special issue of Studia Philosophica Estonica on the protracted conflict between Russia and Ukraine, I will briefly: detail my involvement in the current Russia-Ukraine war; describe the connection between my philosophical commitments and my recent activity in Kyiv; and elucidate the dialectical relation between academic and public philosophy, generally. Finally, I will offer a short summary of each essay in this special issue of SPE on the Russia-Ukraine war. 1. Current Affairs: Reporting on the Russia-Ukraine War Ukrainians have been fighting Russian or Russian-backed troops since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. However, the backstory for this special issue of Studia Philosophica Estonica begins with …

‘A lot of uncertainty’: Former, current employees on Citi layoffs in Singapore

‘A lot of uncertainty’: Former, current employees on Citi layoffs in Singapore

Published by Sam

CNA spoke to one ex-employee, Sarah, who has already found a job with a local bank. She recently resigned from her role in Citi’s wealth management division. Before the reorganisation, she was already concerned about career progression. The job cuts made her even less hopeful about finding other opportunities within the bank, and she was also disappointed by how the layoffs were handled. “Seeing some talented staff being laid off surely makes one feel sad,” said Sarah, who is in her 30s. It also seemed unfair that regional teams seemed less affected than country teams when some of them were merged. After March, she started actively looking for a new job. Other colleagues told her they were also open to leaving the bank, but she said many were taking a wait-and-see approach.  EMPLOYERS’ MARKET Hunting for a new job has been difficult for Mark, who said it’s an employer’s market in the banking industry now.  Most of the people he knows who got laid off in March have not found another job, while a few …

Data breach exposes details of 25,000 current and former BBC employees | BBC

Data breach exposes details of 25,000 current and former BBC employees | BBC

Published by skeptic

The BBC has launched an investigation after the details of more than 25,000 current and former employees were exposed in a data breach. The corporation’s pension scheme wrote to members on Wednesday to say their details had been stolen in a data security incident that it was taking “extremely seriously”. A spokesperson for the pension scheme said the details of about 25,290 people had been affected. The BBC said it had seen no evidence that the incident was a ransomware attack – a type of hack commonly used by organised cybercrime groups to steal large amounts of personal data. The BBC has one of the biggest occupational pension schemes in the UK, with more than 50,000 members. In its email to those affected, the pension scheme did not explain how the breach had happened, beyond saying that private records had been “copied from an online data storage service”. The data leaked includes the name, date of birth and sex of members, their home address, national insurance number and an indication that they are a member …

Arteta would have taken current Arsenal position at beginning of season

Arteta would have taken current Arsenal position at beginning of season

Published by Sam

LONDON : With two games remaining in their quest for a first Premier League title in 20 years, Arsenal are embroiled in a neck-and-neck battle with holders Manchester City – and it’s a position manager Mikel Arteta said he would gladly have taken when the season kicked off. “I would have taken the pen and I would have signed,” Arteta told reporters on Friday. Arteta’s men, who travel to play struggling Manchester United on Sunday, are a point ahead of City at the top of the table, but need some help from Fulham if they are to stay there. City have a game in hand and will climb past the Gunners with a win at Fulham on Saturday. Arsenal are heavy favourites to win at Old Trafford, although Arteta has injury doubts about winger Bukayo Saka and defender Takehiro Tomiyasu, saying they would be assessed during Saturday’s training session. “We will have to wait and see,” the manager said. Arsenal have struggled at Old Trafford, winning just one of their past 16 games there with …

8 Ways Your Current Song Lets You Explore Spotify’s Features

8 Ways Your Current Song Lets You Explore Spotify’s Features

Published by skeptic

Key Takeaways You can do a surprising number of things with the song you’re currently playing on Spotify. Options include repeating the song or adding it to your queue to listen again, adding the song to a playlist, and viewing the artist and album. You can also view the lyrics, enabling you to sing along, share the track with others, or even generate a radio station. While streaming music is mostly a passive activity, there are things you can do with a song while playing it, from those you may know (such as adding it to a playlist) to those you may not know (such as using it to generate a radio station). 1 Repeat the Song (to Listen Again) Are you enjoying the song you’re currently listening to so much that you want to play it again immediately? Then, you should know that you can repeat songs or playlists on Spotify. To do so, just tap the Repeat button to the right of the Play/Pause and Skip Forward buttons twice. If you tap it …

The Current State of the Science of Insect Sentience

The Current State of the Science of Insect Sentience

Published by skeptic

The more we study sentience among nonhuman animals (animals) the more species are added to the sentience arena—the biodiversity of sentience is forever growing—and ethical questions about pain and suffering in many different animals, including insects, come to the fore.1,2 For example, the emotional lives of insects are richer than many of us have ever imagined—not just in the ever-popular bees, but also in flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, and termites too. (Darwin himself thought this! In 1872, he wrote that insects “express anger, terror, jealousy and love.”) A recent and detailed review of the evidence by Matilda Gibbons and her colleagues titled “Can insects feel pain? A review of the neural and behavioural evidence” makes it plausible that various insects are indeed sentient and feel pain. Because science clearly shows that numerous animals other than ourselves are sentient beings, a shift in attitudes is in progress. Given what we know about animal sentience, it’s time for more action—to use what we know on behalf of other animals. Source: Egor Kamelev/Pexels. Given the attention being directed to …

Revolutionary study upends current knowledge of Alzheimer’s, memory and aging

Revolutionary study upends current knowledge of Alzheimer’s, memory and aging

Published by skeptic

The researchers challenge conventional wisdom, shedding light on the broader impact of Alzheimer’s on brain function. (CREDIT: Creative Commons) This research challenges conventional wisdom, shedding light on the broader impact of Alzheimer’s on brain function, extending beyond memory and attention deficits. Notably, the study’s findings also reveal changes in circuits related to sensory and motor processing, potentially opening new avenues for early detection and treatment of the disease. Dr. Gagan Wig, an associate professor of psychology in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at UT Dallas and the corresponding author of the study, emphasized the significance of these findings. Alzheimer’s disease and aging are associated with distinct patterns of brain network disruption. Alzheimer’s impacts brain connectivity, including both higher order cognitive networks and sensory and motor networks (left), while aging is limited to disruption of cognitive networks. (CREDIT: UT Dallas) He noted, “Some Alzheimer’s disease-accompanied brain dysfunction that goes beyond memory and attention might be detectable at very early stages, even during mild cognitive impairment before a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.” This revelation offers a …