At least that is how the system is supposed to work. But lately social scientists have come up against an exception that is, true to its name, huge. It is “big data,” the vast sets of information gathered by researchers at companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft from patterns of cellphone calls, text messages and Internet clicks by millions of users around the world. Companies often refuse to make such information public, sometimes for competitive reasons and sometimes to protect customers’ privacy. But to many scientists, the practice is an invitation to bad science, secrecy and even potential fraud. The issue came to a boil last month at a scientific conference in Lyon, France, when three scientists from Google and the University of Cambridge declined ... Continue reading →
BORIS MINKEVICH / FREE PRESS ARCHIVES Enlarge Image Vince Li says he believed Tim McLean was an alien when he killed him on a Greyhound bus near Portage la Prairie in 2008. Vince Li understands why people are still afraid of him. He remembers what happened on a Greyhound bus bound for Winnipeg during that midsummer's nightmare in 2008. What is Schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is a neurobiological illness, in the same medical cluster as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, and Huntington’s. Schizophrenia is characterized by a group of symptoms including hallucinations, delusions, disturbances of thinking, emotion and behavior, and a deterioration of social functioning. Cognitive function is often severely affected. It makes it difficult for a person to decide what is real and what is not ... Continue reading →
Unemployed workers on EI will be required to accept reasonable job offers that are within an hour’s drive of their home under the Conservative government’s new Employment Insurance rules, according to a federal minister from New Brunswick.That detail was confirmed by fisheries minister Keith Ashfield, who said many Canadians are accustomed to that kind of a commute. More related to this story “People that can find employment within an hour’s drive of their home, that would be reasonable in our opinion. And hopefully people will be able to fill some of the positions that [are] appropriate to their skill level to find meaningful employment,” Mr. Ashfield said in a CBC Radio interview.Setting a clear geographical rule of a one hour’s drive would bring clarity to ... Continue reading →
Men should not be routinely screened for prostate cancer using a PSA test because doing so does more harm than good, a blue-ribbon panel has concluded.Widespread testing of men, regardless of age, saves few lives and leads to a lot of unnecessary treatment with significant side effects, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, said in a report released Monday evening. More related to this story Results of the task force, an independent group of experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine, reflect current practice in several Canadian provinces.The reaction to come is easy to predict: It will be denounced and largely ignored, an echo of what occurred when similar recommendations were made about breast-cancer screening.There is a powerful narrative among support groups and cancer survivors: Screening ... Continue reading →
