András Lörincz and István Szita at Eötvös University in Budapest, Hungary have developed a computer program that outplays the average human at the classic arcade game, Ms. Pac-Man [1]. Starting off with scenarios (“ghost nearby”) and possible actions (“move away”), the program “learned” to perform better. Should we feel inadequate Read more…
Ivan Oransky of TheScientist.com blog made an interesting point this week. Reporting from the North Carolina Science Blogging Conference about a gender/race in blogging panel, Ivan tells us that about 22% of the blogs on scienceblogs.com are women. This sounds eerily similar to the relatively low representation of women in science and engineering Read more…
We are remarkably good at making quick judgments of people. In an analysis of choices made during speed dating, the authors comment, “HurryDate participants are given three minutes in which to make their judgments, but they mostly could be made in three seconds.” Not too surprisingly, these quick choices are Read more…
When those of us old enough to remember the 70s think of a television show about psychotherapy, the Bob Newhart Show is typically the one that comes to mind first. The sitcom featured a basic “how NOT to” lesson about group therapy, although Bob’s therapist character (Dr. Hartley) always seemed sincere Read more…
My family has really enjoyed the “Stumble” website, and my only hesitation about looking at it as frequently as they suggest is that I wouldn’t get anything else done. One interesting website leads to another. If you have about 40 minutes of time, I think you would enjoy a video Read more…