Why AI detectors think the US Constitution was written by AI
Can AI writing detectors be trusted? We dig into the theory behind them. Enlarge / An AI-generated image of James Madison writing the US Constitution using AI. (credit: Midjourney / Benj Edwards) If you feed America's mo.....»»
The New Silent Majority: People Who Don"t Tweet
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Axios, written by Erica Pandey and Mike Allen: The rising power and prominence of the nation's loudest, meanest voices obscures what most of us personally experience: Most people are sane and generous -- and t.....»»
Study identifies ways that lawyers could make their written documents easier for the average person to read
Legal documents, such as contracts or deeds, are notoriously difficult for nonlawyers to understand. A new study from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) cognitive scientists has determined just why these documents are often so impenetrable......»»
Did rapid spin delay 2017 collapse of neutron stars into black hole?
When two neutron stars spiral into one another and merge to form a black hole—an event recorded in 2017 by gravitational wave detectors and telescopes worldwide—does it immediately become a black hole? Or does it take a while to spin down before.....»»
Sci-fi author dethrones Pebble for title of most-funded Kickstarter campaign
Epic fantasy and sci-fi writer Brandon Sanderson launched a Kickstarter campaign for four new “secret novels” written over the past two years. Each book is about 400 pages long and is being offered in your choice of digital e-book, digital audiob.....»»
Researchers See "Future of an Entire Species" In Ultrasound Technique
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times, written by Wudan Yan: Kristin Aquilino, a scientist at the University of California, Davis, knows that expectations are just disappointments in disguise. Over the last decade, she has led t.....»»
Even In the Metaverse, You Can"t Escape the Taxman
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica, written by Kyle Orland: Second Life, the long-lived online metaverse that still attracts nearly a million monthly active users, has announced it will start charging US users local sales tax on ma.....»»
Russian Cybersecurity Giant Kaspersky Tries To Maintain Neutrality During Ukraine War
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard, written by Joseph Cox: Around the same time Russian forces launched a massive rocket into a square in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, killing and wounding an as of yet unknown number of pe.....»»
Study finds that pro-worker ideas in political platforms resonate with voters
A new paper co-written by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign expert who studies the intersection of labor unions and politics has found that political parties whose manifestos contained greater percentages of pro-worker ideas were more appeali.....»»
Linus Torvalds Prepares to Move the Linux Kernel to Modern C
"We all know Linux is written in C," writes ZDNet. "What you may not know is that it's written in a long-outdated C dialect: The 1989 version of the C language standard, C89." But that's about to change, explains long-time Slashdot reader Unknowin.....»»
Behind the Stalkerware Network Spilling the Private Phone Data of Thousands
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch, written by security editor Zack Whittaker: Consumer-grade spyware is often sold under the guise of child monitoring software, but also goes by the term "stalkerware" for its ability to track and mo.....»»
Paper shows regional public universities make local economies more resilient
Regional economies are routinely subject to the whims of the business cycle that can lead to job losses and lower incomes for residents when a recession hits or an industry declines. But new research co-written by a team of University of Illinois Urb.....»»
Is It More Energy-Efficient to Program in Rust?
A recent post on the AWS Open Source blog announced that AWS "is investing in the sustainability of Rust, a language we believe should be used to build sustainable and secure solutions." It was written by the chair of the Rust foundation (and leade.....»»
Time and beauty reveal the physics of human perceptions
Adrian Bejan, the J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University, has published a new book titled "Time and Beauty: Why Time Flies and Beauty Never Dies." This is Bejan's fourth book written for a general audience tha.....»»
Cyberpunk 2077 patch 1.5 adds next-gen console upgrades, apartment customization, and a free trial
The update brings many changes and improvements, some of which were shown off on the official CD Projekt Red Twitch channel. Though the livestream has already ended, you can watch the recorded VOD at this link. If a written breakdown is more your spe.....»»
"I Used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS Tracker To Watch My Husband"s Every Move"
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times, written by journalist Kashmir Hill: In mid-January, my husband and I were having an argument. Our 1-year-old had just tested positive for Covid-19 and was occasionally grunting between brea.....»»
Plant smoke detectors evolve as hormone sensors
Wildfires are devastating, but they can also bring new life by clearing existing vegetation and allowing new plants to spring up. Many plants in fire-prone areas actually require exposure to fire for seeds to germinate. In the past decade, scientists.....»»
Amateur sleuths help solve 160-year mystery by decoding Charles Dickens letter
Dickens Code project issued crowd-sourced call to crack author's idiosyncratic shorthand. Enlarge / Section of the so-called "Tavistock letter," written by Charles Dickens in his idiosyncratic shorthand. The crowd-sourced transcription.....»»
System76-Scheduler Is a New Pop!_OS Rust Effort To Improve Desktop Responsiveness
slack_justyb writes: "Quietly making its v1.0 debut yesterday was system76-scheduler as a Rust-written daemon aiming to improve Linux desktop responsiveness and catering to their Pop!_OS distribution," reports Phoronix. The daemon will work with th.....»»
"The Dark Side of Cobalt, the Digital Age"s Miracle Metal"
The Toronto Star just published a searing excerpt from the book Cobalt: Cradle of the Demon Metals, Birth of a Mining Superpower — written by a member of Canada's Parliament: It argues in part that "The social conflict that existed in the earl.....»»
As Chile Drafts New Constitution, "Citizen Proposals" Urge Free Software and User Freedom
The nation of Chile "is in the midst of governmental changes," writes the Free Software Foundation, "and with these changes comes the opportunity for the people of Chile to make their voices heard for long-term benefits to their digital rights and fr.....»»