ROCKEFELLER

In spite of what many adults will want to assert, life can be very harsh for teenagers,as there are more responsibilities to face than one can imagine. To start with the basics, teens have to deal with the phase that transforms them to adulthood from childhood along with the constant strain of peer pressure among their friends. But according to a study conducted by the university of Arkhansas , teens who are addicted to video games have it worse because it is scientifically proven that they suffer from the lack of sleep.

The study which was presented at the American Psychiatric association showed that from a group survey of 16000 teens, the ones that played video games have shown to sleep only 5 hours per night which is below the required hours. Since video games are well known to purposely rig their games to keep their players addicted, this increased addiction stimulates the brain like caffeine and makes them more anxious to win or score high points, which in turn increases alertness thus making them feel less drowsy. Sleep as we know it is underrated as many people think that they can manage by not sleeping for a day or so, but they tend to forget that just as laptop or a mobile phone, need to be charged to keep their battery level up, human beings are no exception. Since being a teenager requires constant traveling to high school and soccer practice, teens need their sleep desperately, no matter how active they may be.

Despite popular opinion, the consequences of having little to no sleep is often much worse than just having dark circles under one’s eye as sever mental breakdown which will result in hallucination and suicidal tendencies and depending upon the number of days, certain death will be inevitable. This why it is important to do plenty of physical exercise as that not only keeps the body fit but it also balances the mind thus making it disciplined enough to follow a regular sleep pattern.

(rockefellernews/yk)

 

The internet can be considered as a place where people can openly exchange their sensitive political opinion with the option of remaining anonymous. That is why on many forum and message boards a normally shy and introverted person will be very loud and extroverted. But there are some countries who are so strict about their government policies that they heavily censor the internet by completely banning sensitive topics like religion or politics. Turkey for example, bans any topic that discusses the origin of Islam or Prophet Mohammed and the government has a perpetual surveillance system against the internet users. But on Sunday, Turkey announced a new internet law which provoked a lot of citizens to riot against it.

The law was passes by Turkey’s information and communication technology authority had will come to effect on August this year. According to the law, an internet users will be given a list of 4 internet filters where it will be mandatory for them to chose at least one of them.  Each of the four filters are meant for family,children,domestic and standard setting respectively and though it is unknown which websites will be blocked by each filter, many are speculating that popular websites like Wikileaks or Facebook.com can blocked in order to stop political anarky and to protect minors from cyberbullying.

But regardless of which website will be blocked, this new measure has raised an outcry among the people and thousands of them started rioting on the streets of Istanbul. The less aggressive types started making online petitions and started posting them on Avaaz.org which is a popular forum making website. This new law has also baffled foreign authorities as it not only violates the European convention of human rights but it also goes against the countries own laws on equality.

It may seem as though the information and communication technology authority is only looking out for the welfare of the country’s people and children, but the only reason why it was met with strong opposition was because they were taking it too far by even banning everyday words like girl,gender and partner etc.

(rockefellernews/yk)

Lime wire is an online music streaming service that makes all users and offer they cannot refuse, it lets them download and share music files and movies from the internet for free. In this world of great quality movies and singers, limewire.com is a dream come true to many people who would always wanted to listen to music or watch movies without paying a cent. But at the same time Limewire is a nightmarish curse to music publishers and artists who will miss out on royalty payments by forcefully getting their works published for free, so it is not surprising to hear famous musicians like Prince who publicly oppress free sharing of music on the internet. Prince and other celebrities are just runners up as the real detractors are powerful institution like the RIAA or Recording Industry Association of America who just filed a lawsuit on Limewire back in 2006 where limewire is now forced to cough up $105 million in settlement.

The 2006 lawsuit which was filed by the RIAA consisted of several counts of copyright infringement that represented several artists. The founder of Lime Wire Mark  Gorton, in spite of  losing $105 million dollars, is considering himself lucky that he has to pay an amount that is only a fraction of his possible billion dollars in net worth, which shows that pirated music is indeed in a huge demand. Even though RIAA wants to be seen as a hero in this battle, there are a lot of fans who are standing up for Limewire against the RIAA who is already disliked by many music lovers. But more than the RIAA, the artists are the most affected by this battle because it rumored that the artists will not get anything from the lime wire lawsuit settlement, so in short they are back to square one. Plus now that limewire has paid of the settlement, it may be back in business to wreck havoc in the lives of the artists.

Even though music piracy is wrong and the artists need what they deserve, for all those non artists, whose work is not ruined by limewire, this can mean good news as now Limewire will be as good as new. People who will try to stop internet piracy will have the same amount of luck as the people who try to stop the global drug trade so if you cant beat them then join them.

(rockefellernews/yk)

All of us who have grown up playing video games have faced strong opposition from people like our parents who say that video games are a waste of time and playing them will only ruin the minds of the player. While some of it may be true, the part about video games ruining the minds of the players cannot be more far away from the truth. Many video game addicts can finally feel victorious as there are many studies that correlate positive career performance with playing video games because the games of today require strategical thinking, which is the main ingredient for a career to take off. But video game freaks can rejoice some more because according to an updated study from the journal of Neuroenigeering and rehabilitation, playing lengthy computer games can actually improve the person overcome a mental or a neurological disability like a stroke.

 

When a victim has just suffered from a stroke, he is likely to have at least one limb that is immovable or immobile due to the side effects of the stroke. In order to deal with this paralysis, many Yoga teachers and doctors prescribe the patient to take up indoor exercises or mild aerobics where they can practice in making their hands more movable. These methods while effect to some extend do not help the patient in the long run because they can boring and continuous and will make the patient lose their interest sooner or later. Here is where video games come in the picture, where games like virtual reality not only improve the hand to eye co-ordination of the person but it also keeps the interest of the person up as the person will be very busy scoring for him to get tired or bored. According to eminent physician Dr Alma Merians, the ability to move paralyzed body parts had increased by 20% ,for those who played these video games,by just two or three weeks.

There were a lot of experiments done before this to prove the relationship between stroke and video game playing but this study provides an updated view of the fact. But nevertheless all the studies imply that all the talk and complaints about video games ruining the brain of the users is an old wives tale after all. But this study is not implying that a person has to neglect his day to day duties and only play video games as it is not good to overdo anything. Plus playing video games for too long can cause joint pains and headaches.

(rockefellernews/yk)

 

 

The development of social networking and web2.0 technologies has arguably made life easier for the internet users. Now with prominent social networking sites like twitter and Facebook, the world has indeed become a smaller place where the people can interact with each other while being millions of miles away. This has given rise to temporary and random crazes by people on a usually obscure topic or item which is now known as an internet fad. But if the incident that happened in Australia May 15th is any indication, it shows us that internet crazes can be deadly if pushed above the limits.

The incident was the tragic death of a man who lived in Brisbane, Queensland. His death was not a suicide or murder but an accident which was apparently caused by a latest online craze, among Australians, which involves sleeping face down for a long time without moving in potentially dangerous places after which their pictures are circulated and tagged via social networking sites like Facebook. This fad, which is called ‘planking,‘ has been the hottest topic for a few weeks to now. According to the police, the unnamed victim was trying to plank while lying on the edge of his seventh floor balconey when at some point, he lost his balance and fell down to his death.

The police have not yet suspected any foul play as this is clearly an accident, but they now fear that if this craze gets any more popular, there is a very good chance that someone else may face a similar fate or at the most injure themselves badly. The death of this person received mixed reaction from the public where some people supported him by posting R.I.P messages on an online forum while the others ridiculed this craze and claimed his death was his own fault.

For internet users, getting obsessed with a craze is understandable as this makes the internet fun and entertaining. But people should know when to quit and should not foolishly put their life at stake just because others are doing it. It is obvious that this man cannot be brought back to life, but further deaths or accidents can be avoided if other people take this as a learning lesson,

(rockefellernews/yk)

The ‘gift of gab’ is a term that is given to people who can persuade people into something by using their fluent way of talking. Many charismatic leaders in history like Julius Ceasar and Adolf Hitler were known to posses this skill, where they could convince and persuade people to do almost anything, using carefully worded speeches. In order to be a successful political diplomat, one must possess this talent. It is because of this why people keep thinking that why is the other person more persuasive when I am using the same words like him? the answer to that lies beyond body language and types of words used, according to a research conducted by the university of Michigan.

The research was publicly presented at the annual American Association of Public Opinion Research conference and was conducted by Joe Benki. Benki and his team of researchers started of by examining recoded interviews of 1380 people. They analyzed the frequency and amplitude from the Sound waves from the interview and realized that contrary to their belief , people who talk with a low pitch and a moderately fast voice sounded more charismatic and persuasive then those who speak with a high pitched and fast voice. Their assumption was the fact that words that are spoken quickly may get registered by the audience properly which may result in misinterpretation and as for the high pitched tone, people are known to prefer a low pitched voice over a high pitched.

This research implies that more than the quality of words used, the quantity is more important. Though it is well known that people who talk slowly and steady are known to be the worst in persuading because they sound boring, but it also widely believed that people who talk fast, like car salesmen, are the best in persuading but then again this is not true. So this means that people who talk in a moderate way or 6 words per second are the best talkers not only because they create enthusiasm between their audience but they also speak clearly. This may sound like a very obvious solution to speaking with the gift of gab but when the word ‘moderately’ is used it means a specific number of words per second. Since it is not possible to actually keep a tab on the number of words being per second, every time, it is safe to assume that some people are born with this gift. The number of pauses that is taken per minute also matters as the pauses taken by the ideal speaker will be 5 pauses per minute.

(rockefellernews/yk)

If there is one aspect of computing, that is the hottest topic on the internet and the news, it quantum computing. The idea of a quantum based computing originated somewhere in the early nineties, where the concerned scientists concocted an ideal computer where the computer is run and processed by quantum particles where owing to the quantum theory of superposition, which states that a particle can be at two different places at the same time, the particles can represent 1 and 0 simultaneously unlike the standard binary coding system. This feature allows it to compute numbers hundred times faster than normal computers. This sounds too good to be true but there is one Canadian company called D-wave which has not only claimed to make a real functional quantum computer in 2007 but on May 14th, they revealed to a Magazine that they have developed a method which is another step taken to make the pipedream of a fully functional quantum computer come true.

 

The chief strategy officer for the company said in an interview, that D-wave is using a technique called quantum annealing where they can get the energy levels of qubits( a portmanteau of bits and quantum part ) to the lowest state possible. In order to achieve this energy state the researchers took 8 qubit particles that are not affected by heat or electricity. They then arranged them together as a one dimensional figure and put two particles on the side with six of them remaining in the middle. The realized that when one particle moved in a certain direction, like a group of shoal fish, the other particles tended to do the same. The researchers simply made two particles in the different ends of the figure move in different directions. This sudden change and confusion between the remaining particles caused a strained ferromagnetic force which could cause the particles to return to their lowest of ground energy levels  once the opposite particles were made to move in the same direction again. The researchers used quantum tunneling method along with the thermal activation method achieve this.

The researchers explained that in order to speed up a quantum computer, they have to ensure that they speed up the spin of the quantum particles as well which will be a hard task considering the precision needed when experimenting with quantum particles. These experiments may sound very complicated to a layman but once they build the machine, it will be as easy to use as a normal computer. The famous Moore’s law that states that the number of transistors in a computer will double every 18 months, may be true after all,  as at this rate of development, we may have our first commercial quantum computer by early 2020.

(rockefellernews/yk)

If there is anything that is more dangerous than the real world, it is the cyberworld. Many people who are mostly troubled by real people or who are social outcastes feel  that the spending their time on the internet in cyberspace will help them escape the harsh realities of life. I do not want to break their spirit as the virtual internet world can be as torturing as the real world. Every now and then we hear infamous cases of cyber bullying like the case of the Irish high school student along with the StarWars kid case, along with possibly millions of cases where innocent people are bullied on the internet which ends up with victims being scarred for life. Besides individuals, many big corporations like Fox have fallen prey to the wrath of hackers or become a victim of DDOS which is an acronym for distributed denial of service attack. After reading this the US White house has decided to take some action for the safety of the consumers which will relatively be a unique action compared to the others.

The white house executives and authorities have decided that cyber security should not only be concerned by the US but by the whole world, which is why as a start they have formulated a policy document that is meant for the for the global authorities regarding internet safety. An official representative said in a statement that this document is a step that is taken toward the undertaking of mutual understanding between nations and also to increase the intimacy between nations, in terms of Cyber security.

The conference for discussion of this step was attended by prominent White house Security officials like John Brennon and Attorney on chief Eric Holder. This is indeed a new step that shows Obama’s attitude on the importance of cyber security and the impact of it on the businesses of the nation. Obama is named cyber security as the top priority for his economic administration along with health care. Though this is an ambitious proposal passing the document as a bill would not be easy as they would also need the green signal from the congress due to the high costs and expenses that are required to set this all up.

(rockefellernews/yk)

Though the origin of the human species is an often debated topic, there is no doubt that we humans are closely related to the primates. Our closest relative are the chimpanzees who not only have hands with use able thumbs like us but are said to be the second smartest of all primates, after us. For years on several news channels and websites, we have seen how a scientist will give puzzles to a chimp and how they solve it with intellectual reasoning and logic in order to get their prize. To take these tests to the next level, researchers from Kyoto, Japan and from the proceedings of the royal society B  have found out that Chimps seem to be getting more self ware and smarter than previously estimated, via a test taken early in May this year.

Chimpanzees, for one thing, are getting more and more advanced in recognizing themselves in the mirror, even more than dolphins who are also known to posses this ability, as indicated by a study conducted by the researchers. In this study, a red color dot was painted on the face of the chimpanzee and it was given a mirror. To the surprise of the people, the chimp identified the mark on its face and rubbed of with ease, looking into the mirror. This shows that chimps are now developing the ability to identify themselves in the mirror just like us.

Another experiment was performed by Takaaki and Masaki in Kyoto. Japan. In the experiment 3 female chimps were made to play a video game like computer program. In the program, where one female would place a hand on one cursor and the human would control the other cursor. The chimps had to point out on the LCD the cursor that was being controlled by them from the cursor that is controlled by the humans and they were very successful at it.

This is just one of the many experiments that have been performed on the chimpanzees by researchers all over the world. Though it is controversial and has been considered illegal by many animal rights organizations like PETA, this really does show that humans and chimpanzees are related via intelligence.

(rockefellernews/yk)

The internet, contrary to the belief of many misinformed people, is not a lawless barren wasteland where anyone can do or say anything and get away with it. Though it is true that internet offers more freedom of speech than the real world, a person is given certain limitations to even discuss topics regarding Porn, drugs and gambling. If we are prohibited from even discussing them, then advertising them will lead to even more severe consequences from major search engines that will barr the user from using the service all together. But many advertisers will ask that if they advertise for medical prescription drugs, will they get pulled up by the authorities?, to get their answer, they should ask Google.

 

According to a report commissioned by the US department of justice, Google has broken the internet laws regarding drug ads and has been advertising drug ads representing many drug makers. Though the drugs are legal, Google is under scrutiny because the drug makers who want to advertise the drugs have a questionable legal background and the department of justice wants to do anything they can to discourage the topic of drugs on the internet. Now Google being a mega corporation has set aside at least $500 million dollars as a possible settlement to the department of justice and will most likely be off the hook. But to save itself it will not only have to pay that much money but it will also have to cease doing any advertising business with those drug makers, which may cause a slight pinch to Google as it was turning out to be a pretty lucrative deal for Google. The official spokesperson for Google declined to comment.

This makes an example out of Google and states that no matter how big or powerful your company is, you will inevitably be pulled up by the authorities if you break their rules.

(rockefellernews/yk)

Since the world is becoming more and more competent, everyone has some form of ambition whether its is love, money, power or dates with love interests. In order to keep up with our dreams and ambitions, it is imperative that we will face some form of stress or frustration which can go out of control, depending upon the situation. This specially applies to children who have to face the pressure of school and sports from parents and teachers, not to mention the peer pressure they face from their friends and acquaintances. In adults and children alike, too much outburst of stress can cause them to have grave side effects like silent strokes which will eventually lead to full time strokes. Those who deem a silent stroke to be less dangerous than a normal stroke should think again because a study presented at international conference at the American stroke association shows that a silent stroke can cause fatal brain alterations specially in children who suffer from anemia or low red blood cell count.

A silent stroke, as the name suggests does not cause any immediate symptoms, but is more like a trojan computer virus which lays low for a long time and attacks silently when the time is right. Dr Michael Dowling, a PhD veteran examined the effects of silent stroke on pre adolescent children,up to 11 years old, who also have the sickle cell disease. He found out that though it may have looked like a normal stroke, the side effects on the brain was adverse as some 10 year old boys were shown to have the mental capacity of a 80 year old man. This study shows that silent strokes can severely impact the thinking ability of the child which can mess up the child’s school life and subsequently their career. But it only gets worse because the researchers feel that this whole process is a cycle, where High anemia causes increased susceptibility to silent strokes which in turn causes to person to be more prone to anemia, due to effects on the brain and blood vessels, and so on.

It is indeed depressing to see how innocent children, who are already unlucky because of anemia, are prone to more suffering due to their tendancy to get a silent stroke. Many people feel helpless in this situation but there is no point in blaming God or anyone for this, but instead people should be strong and fight it off  with a possible cure.

(rockefellernews/yk)