What Makes Algorithms Go Awry?
Every time you "Like" a Facebook post, among other things, you help provide data to an algorithm. But algorithms, like the humans who design them, aren't foolproof — and can reflect bias.
Science
Like Us, Chimps Go Bananas For Booze
Scientists have spotted chimpanzees routinely sipping palm wine from trees in Guinea. The study supports a theory that our common relatives evolved the ability to digest alcohol millions of years ago.
Tea Tuesdays: The Chemis-Tea Of Pouring The Perfect English-Style Cuppa
The British are very specific about how they take their tea: black, with milk and sugar. But steeping the optimal cup requires a surprising amount of chemistry. Here's a guide to the science.
Smoking Pot Interferes With Math Skills, Study Finds
Researchers studying the effects of marijuana faced an obstacle: they couldn't create an exact control group. But a change in drug laws in the Netherlands offered a perfect laboratory.
Retailers Use Time To Their Advantage; More Impulse Products Sold
Retailers have learned that the more time consumers spend in a store, the more likely they'll make impulse purchases. Stores are adapting the "shopping experience" accordingly.
Do Creativity And Schizophrenia Share A Small Genetic Link? Maybe
The notion goes back to the ancients — that minds given to flights of fancy are on the healthy side of a spectrum that includes what we today call psychosis. An Icelandic gene study offers new clues.
Monsanto, Angling For Global Pesticide Dominance, Woos Syngenta
The world's biggest seed company wants to buy the world's biggest pesticide company. Syngenta is playing hard to get, but a veteran industry executive says the deal may happen.
To Beat Insomnia, Try Therapy For The Underlying Cause Instead Of Pills
A review of the medical evidence finds that therapy can break the cycle of chronic sleeplessness by addressing the anxieties that cause many people to stay awake.
NASA's 'Flying Saucer' Test For Advanced Parachute Appears To Fail
A giant balloon carried the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator to an altitude of 120,000 feet to test the device, which could be used on Mars missions. It seemed to deploy correctly, then tear apart.
Viral Superspreader? How One Man Triggered A Deadly MERS Outbreak
In the past week, cases of the Middle East respiratory syndrome have more than tripled in South Korea. Researchers now have a clue to why the outbreak has grown so large, so quickly.