Month: March 2021

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In the US, a 2016 Gallup poll found that the majority of schools want to start teaching code, with 66 percent of K-12 school principals thinking that computer science learning should be incorporated into other subjects. Most countries in Europe have added coding classes and computer science to their school curricula, with France and Spain introducing theirs in 2015. This new generation of coders is expected to boost the worldwide developer population from 23.9 million in 2019 to 28.7 million in 2024.

Despite all this effort, there’s still some confusion on how to teach coding. Is it more like a language, or more like math? Some new research may have settled this question by watching the brain’s activity while subjects read Python code.

Two schools on schooling

Right now, there are two schools of thought. The prevailing one is that coding is a type of language, with its own grammar rules and syntax that must be followed. After all, they’re called coding languages for a reason, right? This idea even has its own snazzy acronym: Coding as Another Language, or CAL.

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  Apple's HomePod. [credit: Jeff Dunn ]

Apple has discontinued production of the pricey HomePod smart speaker that it began shipping in 2018.

The speaker will still be sold until supplies run out, but the space gray version is already gone from Apple's online store. Only the white version remains, though you might be able to find the space gray one at a third-party retailer.

Regardless of the production change, HomePod owners will continue to get software updates and support from Apple for an unspecified amount of time.

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US District Judge Lucy Koh has ruled that a class-action lawsuit against Google's Incognito tracking policies can go forward, Bloomberg reports. The lawsuit contends that Chrome's private browsing "Incognito" mode should also stop Google's server-side tracking and that Google's failure to cease such tracking violates federal wiretap laws. The lawsuit seeks at least $5 billion, or $5,000 per violation for "likely" millions of users.

Google attempted to get the lawsuit thrown out on the basis of Chrome's Incognito explainer, a message that shows every time you start up Incognito mode and explains that "your activity might still be visible to websites you visit."

That was not enough for the judge, however. "The court concludes that Google did not notify users that Google engages in the alleged data collection while the user is in private browsing mode,” Judge Koh wrote.

Popocatépetl, a volcano near Mexico City, steams away in this false-color satellite image (making vegetation appear red). (credit: NASA EO)

Just as we can often spot the beginnings of an illness from a number of signs, there are symptoms of volcanic activity that can indicate a growing likelihood of eruption. Monitoring them can involve detecting surface changes and small earthquakes caused by the movement of magma inside a volcano, or measuring changes in gases emitted from vents. Signs like these are used to raise alerts and trigger evacuations, and they have saved lives. But they aren’t always perfect.

Japan’s Mount Ontake erupted in 2014 without warning, for example, killing more than 60 people. So additional methods for detecting volcanic activity are always welcome, especially if they involve subtler signs that could be overlooked. A new study from a Jet Propulsion Laboratory group led by Társilo Girona highlights the possibility that presently available satellite data could provide an entirely new way to warn of eruptions.

Heat is obviously a relevant parameter for volcanic activity, but it can be quite variable at the individual spots where you might set up a thermometer. If we could instead measure all the heat coming out of a volcano, it would be quite meaningful, since the majority of volcanic energy gets released as heat.