Category: technology

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10 Interesting Facts for You to Think About

Let’s get down to business with another fact set. We consistently bring you the facts that you make you think about our world and ponder our past, present, and future.

Are you ready to put on your thinking cap?

Let’s go!

1. Get down to business!

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2. You have two minutes!

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3. Consider me the hardest worker of all time.

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4. How many do you have?

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5. I want to ride my bicycle.

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6. I’m with Mr. Jefferson on this one

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7. What a story!

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8. No proof…yet.

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9. I’m in luck!

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10. Brilliant until the end.

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Some quality facts, right there!

Be sure to explore our other fact sets as well.

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The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle Has Been Solved

The mystery of why things – ships, people, maybe even entire civilizations – seem to disappear over one particular barren section of ocean has captured the minds of the public and conspiracy theorists alike. We’re talking about the Bermuda Triangle, obviously.

The truth is that while ships and planes go missing fairly regularly in the BT, they do not do so more often in the triangle of sea between Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and Florida than they do anywhere else.

Like, we don’t really know why the myth got so out of control, but there is not and never has been any statistical significance to the area at all.

Despite scientists knowing the truth of this fact, when things do happen to go missing in the area, reports often don’t neglect to take facts into consideration. Maybe to make a buck on the sensational aspect?

After a recent event, however, many are hopeful that it’s finally time to dismiss the harebrained theory once and for all.

During an on-air interview with news.com.au, well known Australian scientist Karl Kruszelnicki said in no uncertain terms that the number of boats and other vessels that disappear in the triangle “is the same as anywhere else in the world on a percentage basis.”

“It is close to the equator, near a wealthy part of the world, America, therefore you have a lot of traffic.”

According to Kruszelnicki, the myth can be traced back to a number of disappearances in the area between WWI and WWII. People started to get weirded out about the incidents even though the weather was often terrible and the craft weren’t reliable. In addition, pilots at the time weren’t as efficient or well-trained, and therefore were more likely to make catastrophic mistakes (like being drunk while they flew).

The fact that wreckage and remains were rarely found makes sense, too, given that it’s a large area and the water is quite deep in most places.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also maintains there’s nothing to see there – not even the Triangle itself, if you want to get technical. They agree that environmental conditions could explain many, if not all of, the disappearances, but they also reiterate that the “US Board of Geographic Names does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle as an official name and does not maintain an official file on the area.”

Lol.

So, it’s time we put the whole theory to rest once and for all and stop blaming perfectly normal, but tragic events on the supernatural or whatever.

“There is no evidence…that mysterious disappearances occur with any greater frequency in the Bermuda Triangle than in any other larges, well-traveled area of the ocean,” NOAA states.

Make no bones about it, there’s nothing to see here.

The post The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle Has Been Solved appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle Has Been Solved

The mystery of why things – ships, people, maybe even entire civilizations – seem to disappear over one particular barren section of ocean has captured the minds of the public and conspiracy theorists alike. We’re talking about the Bermuda Triangle, obviously.

The truth is that while ships and planes go missing fairly regularly in the BT, they do not do so more often in the triangle of sea between Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and Florida than they do anywhere else.

Like, we don’t really know why the myth got so out of control, but there is not and never has been any statistical significance to the area at all.

Despite scientists knowing the truth of this fact, when things do happen to go missing in the area, reports often don’t neglect to take facts into consideration. Maybe to make a buck on the sensational aspect?

After a recent event, however, many are hopeful that it’s finally time to dismiss the harebrained theory once and for all.

During an on-air interview with news.com.au, well known Australian scientist Karl Kruszelnicki said in no uncertain terms that the number of boats and other vessels that disappear in the triangle “is the same as anywhere else in the world on a percentage basis.”

“It is close to the equator, near a wealthy part of the world, America, therefore you have a lot of traffic.”

According to Kruszelnicki, the myth can be traced back to a number of disappearances in the area between WWI and WWII. People started to get weirded out about the incidents even though the weather was often terrible and the craft weren’t reliable. In addition, pilots at the time weren’t as efficient or well-trained, and therefore were more likely to make catastrophic mistakes (like being drunk while they flew).

The fact that wreckage and remains were rarely found makes sense, too, given that it’s a large area and the water is quite deep in most places.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also maintains there’s nothing to see there – not even the Triangle itself, if you want to get technical. They agree that environmental conditions could explain many, if not all of, the disappearances, but they also reiterate that the “US Board of Geographic Names does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle as an official name and does not maintain an official file on the area.”

Lol.

So, it’s time we put the whole theory to rest once and for all and stop blaming perfectly normal, but tragic events on the supernatural or whatever.

“There is no evidence…that mysterious disappearances occur with any greater frequency in the Bermuda Triangle than in any other larges, well-traveled area of the ocean,” NOAA states.

Make no bones about it, there’s nothing to see here.

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This Is How Google Flights Can Help You Travel Cheaper

Traveling can be very expensive, so looking for cheap flights is crucial if you want to save a little money. Unfortunately, some websites make it hard to find a good deal.

Google Flights just introduced an update meant to help you find the best price for a flight. If you’ve used it recently, you may have seen alerts that pop up and let you know about any nearby airports. These pop-ups were created to help you find cheaper flight options at airports other than the one you initially were looking at.

Photo Credit: Screenshot, Google Flights

Sites such as The Points Guy and Thrifty Traveler first made mention of the new feature, and those guys definitely know what they’re talking about. So, worth checking out.

Pop-ups appear after you click “Nearby Airports” and usually look like this:

Photo Credit: Google Flights

Often times another airport may get you a better price, even if it winds up being slightly less convenient. And with this new update, Google Flights will also advise you on the best itinerary if you do decide to switch to another airport.

In the past, Google Flights allowed you to search for deals by clicking on more than one airport, but this new update makes it easier to play around with options until you find the best one.

In the end, people in larger metropolitan areas will benefit the most because Google Flights will alert them to better deals nearby. It is what it is, big cities just have more airport options.

Additional updates to Google Flights will also give you a glimpse of other types of deals, especially if you have flexible plans.

If you’ve already checked out Google Flights, let us know if it lives up to the hype. We’d love to hear more about whether or not these updates were useful!

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Shocker: Hitting the “Close Door” Button on an Elevator Does Nothing at All

You’ve been here: you decided to wait on the elevator even though you’re running late, but it took forever to show up, and now you’re standing there waiting for the stupid doors to close, wishing the whole time that you’d taken the stairs.

You jab the “close door” icon repeatedly, and a rush of satisfaction rolls through you when, after a pause, the doors follow your internally screamed command.

Except…the button didn’t actually do anything. Just fyi.

The executive director of the National Elevator Industry trade group admitted recently that the close door button has been disabled on all U.S. elevators for a very long time, thanks for the Americans with Disabilities Act. Passed in 1990, the law requires elevators doors remain open long enough to anyone who needs assistance or using a mobility device to get safely in or out.

Since the majority of elevators out there are under 25 years old, the chances of snagging one with working close door buttons is just about nil.

Which should also make you feel good because your elevator is less than 25 years old.

But why bother to put them in new elevators if they’re not going to work?

Well, according to Drexel University professor John Kounios, it’s because the “white lie” of being able to hit the button is actually helpful.

“A perceived lack of control is associated with depression, so perhaps this is mildly therapeutic.”

Or at least, it was before you clicked on this article.

There’s good news, though – if you think you’ve been a generous, thoughtful person in holding the elevator doors open for people, you totally are.

Because those buttons are still functioning just fine.

The post Shocker: Hitting the “Close Door” Button on an Elevator Does Nothing at All appeared first on UberFacts.

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A Study Found That Your Smartphone Is Making You Dumber, Even When It’s Turned off

You should turn off your phone once in a while. Better yet, throw it away! According to one 2017 study, you basically get stupider just by sharing the room with a smartphone, even if it’s not turned on.

The idea that smartphones dull your intelligence is not a new one. Many people are cautious about the over-use of screens and what it’s doing to our attention spans, especially for young kids. But one would think that smartphones can only take a cognitive toll when you’re actually using them.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin found that that’s not the case.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

In the 2017 study, researchers asked over 400 undergrads to complete several tests of their cognitive capacity. In one test, participants had to complete a pattern. In another, they had to do math problems while keeping a regularly updated sequence of letters straight.

Some of the participants kept their phones on them, in their pocket or face down on the desk, like one naturally would. Others kept their phones in a separate room. The researchers found that the further away the phone was, the better the participants’ brains functioned.

In a second test, some of the participants kept their phones turned off, while others didn’t. Again, some kept their phones on them and some put them in another room. In this case, whether or not the phone was on made absolutely no difference in their test-taking performance – if it was present, it was apparently enough of a distraction to have an effect.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

So, if you’re looking to reduce your smartphone’s impact on your brain, turning it off ain’t enough. You don’t have to really throw it away, but if you’re going into distraction-free mode, leave it in a different room and turn off your notification sounds.

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A 13-Year-Old Developed a Better Hyperloop for Moving Trains

Caroline Crouchley, a 13-year-old student of Garden City Middle School, is proposing a better, safer hyperloop train, building on an idea pushed by Elon Musk in 2012.

Currently, tech companies are working to get a hyperloop functioning in India, hoping to transport people between Mumbai and Pune in only half an hour. A trip like this would normally take many hours by car.

Companies developing hyperloop transportation are using designs that put people into pods that move inside low-pressure tubes. The hope is that with resistance removed, pods will be able to go very, very fast. In fact, they’re being tested running 700 miles per hour.

Crouchley’s design would not move that fast, but her system is still twice as fast as trains in use now.

Her solution involves pneumatic tubes constructed to run alongside train tracks – and according to the young inventor, it should be less expensive to build and operate than the conventional hyperloop technology. It’ll also be safer, which is a major selling point for a mass transit technology.

She told CNN, “My design can rely on 100% renewable energy, so it eliminates the need for a diesel engine or an electric motor, which makes the train lighter, so it can move faster.”

Crouchley’s innovative idea made her a finalist in the 2019 3M Young Scientist Challenge.

The major challenge with hyperloops, which put pods inside a partial vacuum tube, is the potential for collapse – if the tube breaks, the pods aren’t going to survive. But with Crouchley’s design, the train is operating outside of the tube, eliminating that danger and also making use of existing infrastructure and equipment.

It’ll work like this: a magnetic shuttle system will operate inside the pneumatic tubes. More magnets will attach the train to the shuttle, allowing the shuttle to act like the train’s engine.

How does she envision her idea moving forward? She told Fast Company, “My plans are to open-source my project to teams of engineers, scientists, and universities such as MIT and Harvard to solve the complex mathematical equations and physics required to make the idea a reality.”

Hyperloop has many critics who say it will never be practical to use, but Crouchley sees her solution as an intermediary design that has viability in the near future.

At any rate, technology usually starts with the big picture question. It’s the little steps that make the answer reality.

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This “Revolutionary” New Air Filtering Device Might Be a Big Deal in the Fight Against Climate Change

Are you listening? Good.

A carbon dioxide filtering device that can capture carbon dioxide from the air at just 400 parts per million has been hailed as a “revolutionary” instrument for tackling our climate crisis.

Sahag Voskian and T. Alan Hatton, chemical engineers at MIT, developed the method, which captures CO2 by passing air through special charged plates.

Carbon dioxide from the gas intake reacts with the electrodes in the device. Each electrode is coated with a carbon nanotubes and a polyanthraquinone compound. The device acts sort of like a battery, and as it charges, it absorbs carbon dioxide passing over the electrodes. As it discharges, it releases the greenhouse gas it has collected.

The carbon dioxide it releases during the discharge can be recycled to feed greenhouse plants, or even used in carbonated beverages.

Dr. Voskian said, “All of this is at ambient conditions — there’s no need for thermal, pressure, or chemical input. It’s just these very thin sheets, with both surfaces active, that can be stacked in a box and connected to a source of electricity.”

The biggest advantage to this way of filtering is the low energy cost: one gigajoule of energy for every ton of carbon dioxide captured. Compare that to the 1-10 gigajoules (depending on the concentration of CO2 taken in) used by alternative methods. Plus, if to expand the systems capacity, they only need to add more electrodes!

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

The study describing the new system was published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science.

The scientists have even created a company called Verdox that plans to build a plant to scale the process up for commercial use.

Cleaner air with lower energy. There’s a real future for that.

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A Woman Is Teaching Her Dog to Speak…And It Looks like It’s Working

When I was a young boy, I dreamed about my dog Quincy being able to talk. I’d think about the conversations we’d have and all the great adventures we’d go on together. He was my best pal, and his being able to talk would just be the icing on the cake…

As you’ve probably figured out by now, Quincy never learned how to talk and my childhood was ruined. But this story gives me hope for the future!

Christina Hunger is a speech-language pathologist who is working on teaching her 18-month old dog Stella to speak…seriously. Hunger (what a name) says that Stella already knows 29 words…which is 29 more than Quincy ever knew…

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Hello there everyone!! ? Welcome to the Hunger for Words community! I’m THRILLED you’re here! I feel completely honored by this outpouring of enthusiasm and inspiration ✨✨ Here is a fun Stella series to kick off this new chapter! • Jake and I were discussing taking Stella to Petco. She was certainly listening…! • Video 1: Stella said “Goodbye outside.” This is the third time in the past few weeks that Stella has combined “good” and “bye” to say “Goodbye” instead of just “bye”! • Video 2: Jake said he wanted to hang our spice racks first, started the project, and Stella told him, “Later Jake” ?? (Translation: Do that later, I want to go!) • Video 3: Stella came full circle with her message and told us she was REALLY ready to leave by saying, “Bye bye bye good bye!” (Looks like we have ourselves a little @nsync fan ?) • I hope you all have a great day!

A post shared by Christina Hunger, MA, CCC-SLP (@hunger4words) on

So how is she doing this? Well, Hunger is training Stella to use an adaptive device usually used by young children.

Hunger also says that, in addition to the 29 words, Stella can form five-word phrases and sentences.

View this post on Instagram

Stella uses language differently when she’s in a heightened state versus when she’s calm! • Today when she heard some noises outside and wanted to go investigate, I told her we were staying inside. • Stella responded by saying, “Look” 9 TIMES IN A ROW, then “Come outside.” She was clearly in a more frantic state, and her language use matched that. We all sound differently than normal when we’re in distress, Stella included! • I’m impressed that Stella is communicating with language during her more heightened states, not just when she’s calm and in a quiet space. This shows me that words are becoming more automatic for her to use. It’s similar to when a toddler starts using language to express himself during times of frustration instead of only crying. That happens when it’s easy for the toddler to say words, not when he’s still learning and it takes a lot of focus to talk ?? • • • • • #hunger4words #stellathetalkingdog #slpsofinstagram #speechtherapy #AAC #ashaigers #slp #corewords #SLPeeps #slp2be #earlyintervention #languagedevelopment #dogsofinstagram #dogmom #doglife #dogs #guarddog #animalpsychology #doglover #dogvideos #sandiegodog #catahoula #blueheeler #smartdog #dogcommunication #mydogtalks #animalcommunication #interspeciescommunication #loveanimals

A post shared by Christina Hunger, MA, CCC-SLP (@hunger4words) on

Stella is using a system that has a number of buttons, each of which plays a particular word out loud when it is touched. Hunger started teaching Stella how to use the device when the pup was only eight weeks old, and Stella can now let her owner know when she needs help, when she wants to take a walk or go play, if and when she misses a certain family member, and if she’s feeling distressed.

Hunger said, “The way she uses words to communicate and the words she’s combining is really similar to a two-year-old child.”

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I AM MIND BLOWN ? Last night after coming inside, Stella said “Come eat come play.” I was pretty sure she meant that she wanted to eat dinner then play, but I asked, “Do you want to eat or play?” to clarify. • Stella licked her lips, paused, and responded, “Want come eat.” After Stella ate, she immediately dove at her toy and started playing. • AHHH! This is amazing for so many reasons! Stella told me a sequence of two things she wanted to do. Then, I asked her a question containing two options, and she answered with a short phrase confirming her original message! Stella even expanded her own phrase from “Come eat ” to “Want come eat.” The speech therapist side of me is completely amazed, and the dog mom side of me is incredibly proud. Yay, Stella!! • • • • • #hunger4words #stellathetalkingdog #proud #slpsofinstagram #speechtherapy #AAC #ashaigers #slp #corewords #SLPeeps #slp2be #aacawarenessmonth #earlyintervention #languagedevelopment #dogsofinstagram #dogmom #doglife #dogs #animalpsychology #doglover #dogvideos #sandiegodog #catahoula #blueheeler #smartdog #dogcommunication #mydogtalks #animalcommunication #interspeciescommunication #loveanimals

A post shared by Christina Hunger, MA, CCC-SLP (@hunger4words) on

Hunger is basing the training off of Augmentative and Alternative Communication, known as AAC. Hunger has learned that even though dogs can’t speak like humans do, they can express themselves in other ways, such as barking and jumping. Hunger also said that she wants to eventually teach other dogs to “speak” as well.

You have to admit that this is a pretty incredible story and the progress that Hunger has made is very impressive. Follow her Instagram page to follow this excellent journey. Go Stella!

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Microsoft Japan Adopted a 4-Day Work Week and It Boosted Productivity by 40 Percent

Might this be a sign of things to come on this side of the Pacific Ocean? Let’s hope so.

Microsoft Japan recently trialed a 4-day work week and announced the results from the experiment.

Two big takeaways: the employees enjoyed the four-day week very much and productivity increased by 40%. Shorter, more efficient meetings were noted as one factor for the boost in productivity (DUH).

Microsoft called the experiment the “Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019,” and it lasted for five weeks for the company’s 2,300 employees in Japan. Microsoft Japan president and CEO Takuya Hirano said, “Work a short time, rest well and learn a lot. It’s necessary to have an environment that allows you to feel your purpose in life and make a greater impact at work. I want employees to think about and experience how they can achieve the same results with 20 percent less working time.”

The employees of the company had to be more efficient with their time, which meant shorter meetings or remote meetings. That in turn led to more productivity. In addition to that good news, electricity use by the company dropped 23.1%, and employees printed 58.7% fewer pages of paper.

A whopping 92% of Microsoft Japan’s employees said that they enjoyed the shorter work week (surprise surprise). The company said it plans on repeating the 4-day work week trial next summer and might expand the experiment to other times as well.

I, for one, think this is a great idea if you work in an office or another job where people have to be present in order for things to be accomplished. I know that I would’ve preferred working four 10-hour days in my old office jobs as opposed to five 8-hour days.

What do you think? Share your ideas about this topic in the comments.

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