| NASA Tests Engine With an Uncertain Future NASA is revisiting the question of what rocket to build next and whether solid motors will be part of it. feeds.nytimes.com |
Big quake aftershocks plague New Zealand city By ROB GRIFFITH 2010-09-08T11:35:10ZCHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) -- A strong aftershock rocked terrified residents of New Zealand's earthquake-stricken city of Christchurch on Wednesday, as officials doubled their estimate for repairing the damage following nearly 300 temblors in five days.... hosted.ap.org |
Green Column: Asia Begins Embracing Solar Power Once various solar initiatives start operating in Asia, solar energy could contribute 3 percent to 5 percent of the region’s power. feeds.nytimes.com |
Russian spacecraft damaged during transportation By 2010-10-07T10:54:26ZBAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) -- Russia's space agency chief says that a spacecraft that is used to ferry crew to the international space station in December has been damaged during transportation by rail.... hosted.ap.org |
How juries are fooled by statistics Oxford mathematician Peter Donnelly reveals the common mistakes humans make in interpreting statistics -- and the devastating impact these errors can have on the outcome of criminal trials.My spouse, a biostatistician, reminded me that today is World Statistics Day (it's also National Hagfish Day in the US, for all those Americans who are mortified by mathematics). World Statistics Day is designed to highlight the role of official statistics and the many achievements of the national statistical system. Official statistics are released by government agencies and are used to do things like estimating unemployment rates -- something we all are no doubt anxiously awaiting in bad economic times like these. To this end, I am showing a video of Oxford mathematician Peter Donnelly. In this video, he reveals the common mistakes humans make in interpreting statistics -- and the devastating impact these errors can have on the outcome of criminal trials.The woman whom Dr Donnelly discusses, Sally Clark, eventually had her double murder convictions quashed, but a short time later, was found in her home, dead of acute alcohol poisoning, her life destroyed by a statistical fallacy perpetuated upon her by lawyers, the medical industry, the court system, and by society at large. (But read the Royal Statistical Society's comments and read Ben Goldacre's comments.) So in short, statistics might seem like "an annoying school course that has no relevance to real life," but in fact, whether we understand statistics or not, it touches all our lives and affects our decisions every day. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks.GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |