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Technology

If Biased Algorithms Are Everywhere, Does That Mean They Are Ineffective?

In 2018, you can guess the politics of many people by which newspapers they read, and you could also do that 100 years ago. Certainly some people, like me, read both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times but if someone defaults to MSNBC or Fox News, you can estimate their voting record with high levels of accuracy.read...

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Watt a Box: KFC Lunch Will Also Charge Your Phone

KFC is launching a 5-in-1 meal with a built in power bank so you can charge your phone while you eat lunch. Watt a Box is designed to offset the drop in discretionary spend brought on by the moribund economy. One way to gain a competitive advantage over other companies is to introduce a feature they don't have. And that feature is a phone that won't die during chicken.Sorry, US diners, right now...

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23andMe is Monetizing Your DNA The Way Facebook Monetizes “Likes”

If you paid 23andMe to take a look at your DNA, maybe you wanted to know more than why you like cilantro or are related to Genghis Khan, maybe you thought you were advancing science.Well, you are, in the same old way marketers have long advanced science - by selling information about customers. In this case, the DNA information of 1.2 million people, sold to more than 13 drug companies. Genentech...

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Journal Publishing Seralini Paper Claiming GMO Toxicity Disappears Faster Than His Career

How do you know the paper claiming GMO toxicity is in a journal that isn't very reputable? They don't have $9 to renew their domain. read...

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Frankenmilk: Activists Turn On Lactose-Free Dairy Process

Frankenmilk: Activists Turn On Lactose-Free Dairy Process

Twelve years ago, the inventors of the process that would lead to Fairlife milk engineered a process to "separate milk into its five key components – water, butterfat, protein, vitamins and minerals, and lactose."By then recombining the components, they not only removed the lactose, making it digestible with less drama for lactose-intolerant people, but also giving it 50 percent less sugar, 50...

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Editorial Independence Or Extortion? Frontiers Sacks 31 Editors

Like organic food, open access publishing has shrouded itself in a cultural halo, but it's still a business. No one is pumping out 40,000 articles per year, most of them with just a few check boxes called 'editorial review', because the 40,000 best articles happened to show up in their Inboxes, they do it to keep the lights on. read...

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