Author: Loknath Das

It seems so simple, but the Internet is a complex web of connections. And that web looks a lot like a medusa jellyfish, according to new research by scientists in Israel. Within the Internet, they say, there is a dense core of connections surrounded by lots of tentacle-like links. Until now, scientists have had a hard time mapping the structure of the Internet. That’s because it formed almost by accident in the 1960s and 1970s, when universities, government agencies, and companies first decided to link their computer networks so that they could share information. The Internet grew as new groups…

Ten teachers in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, scrambled for $1 bills on hands and knees last week during a hockey game, spurring critics to call the event “dehumanizing” and “dystopian,” according to the Washington Post. The event was intended to help teachers pay for classroom supplies and other materials, according to the report. Schools had to apply to enter the competition, dubbed “Dash for Cash,” which featured $5,000 in $1 bills donated by a local mortgage company. The cash was dumped on a carpet on the ice rink and teachers raced to stuff bills into their pockets. “Teachers should never have…

A farmer using a mobile phone while resting in the back of a tractor trolley on a blocked highway during a protest against new farm laws, at Singhu Border (Delhi-Haryana) in New Delhi, India. Image by Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via Getty Images On January 26, Nidhi Suresh of Newslaundry travelled with farmers from the Singhu border to Red Fort but could not send any information back to her newsroom. The same day, Asmita Nandy of The Quint could not look up the speeches that protestors at the Singhu border kept referring to. On January 27, independent journalist Saahil Murli…

Video gamers are helping researchers discover methods to design RNA structures. The authors of a study published in PLOS Computational Biology on June 27 analyzed 1.8 million moves by players in a RNA design game. The players are given a target RNA structure and asked to change the RNA sequence to try to match the target. The developers of the game report that approaches based on those choices can be used to create algorithms for a computer to construct RNA. R.V. Koodli et al., “EternaBrain: Automated RNA design through move sets and strategies from an Internet-scale RNA videogame,” PLOS Comput Biol, doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007059, 2019.…

1. Newspaper article Carey, B. (2019, March 22). Can we get better at forgetting? Harlan, C. (2013, April 2). North Korea vows to restart shuttered nuclear reactor that can make bomb-grade plutonium. The Washington Post, A1, A4. Stobbe, M. (2020, January 8). Cancer death rate in U.S. sees largest one-year drop ever. Chicago Tribune. Parenthetical citations: (Carey, 2019; Harlan, 2013; Stobbe, 2020) Narrative citations: Carey (2019), Harlan (2013), and Stobbe (2020) In the source element of the reference, provide at minimum the title of the newspaper in italic title case. If the newspaper article is from an online newspaper that has a…

When Chandrabhan Kushwaha, who runs a small chocolate-biscuit shop in the Hatta tehsil headquarters of Damoh district in Madhya Pradesh, got infected with COVID-19 during the deadly second wave, little did he know that it would devastate his entire family. Chandrabhan succumbed to the virus within a few months, leaving his two kids orphaned. His wife, Rekha, had passed away a few years ago. Their father’s demise meant that Akruthi*, who is studying in class 12 and Santhosh*, studying in class 10th, not only had to halt their education but also find a means to provide for themselves. This harsh…

There are lots of celestial events to look out for this December, from Venus being at its brightest to the arrival of the Full Cold Moon on December 18. One phenomenon that has astronomers extra excited? Peaking on the night of December 13—on this coming Monday, until Tuesday at sunrise—one of the most active meteor showers of 2021 will take place in the form of the Geminids. Farmers’ Almanac reports that, with a clear sky, “free of moonlight, you can easily spot 50 or more meteors per hour. On an optimum night for the Geminids, it may even be possible…

Nicolai tangen brings an unusual set of skills to the task of leading the world’s largest sovereign-wealth fund. In addition to a career in finance, the head of Norges Bank Investment Management (nbim), which oversees Norway’s oil fund of $1.4trn, holds degrees in art history, economics and social psychology. Mr Tangen’s public profile and his musings on leadership, decision-making and cross-disciplinary learning have been admired by many Norwegians in his first year on the job. But the task of running Norway’s gargantuan piggy-bank is likely to become only more difficult in coming years. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android. A fraught appointment…

Amazon has announced AWS IoT FleetWise at its re:Invent conference, a service that aims to make fleet management simpler and more cost-effective. “Today’s connected cars are already data centres on wheels, each generating GBs of data per hour,” explains Mike Tzamaloukas, GM IoT Automotive, AWS. Automakers can use IoT FleetWise service to manage this vast amount of vehicle data in the cloud in near real-time. Intelligent filters can be applied to reduce network traffic and increase efficiency by selecting only relevant data to transfer based on parameters such as weather conditions, location, or vehicle type. Once the data is in the cloud, automakers can…

Many businesses effectively use social media to promote their products and connect with customers. However, social media can also pose a risk to companies. Not only can social media use interfere with productivity, but information shared on social networks can do real damage both to co-worker relationships as well as your brand. Time Management Most of your employees have social media accounts. Unfortunately, many have developed the habit of checking their accounts multiple times during the day, even when they are at work. Time spent on personal accounts is time that is not spent on work tasks. Even when an…