Popular Science articles about Mathematics & Economics

E-commerce's future is in creating 'swift guanxi,' or personal and social rapport

Despite the reputation of online marketplaces being distant and impersonal, through social technologies such as instant messaging, they can create the sense of personal and social relationships between buyers and sellers, termed "swift guanxi" in China, to facilitate loyalty, interactivity...

Tobacco laws for youth may reduce adult smoking

States that want to reduce rates of adult smoking may consider implementing stringent tobacco restrictions on teens, suggests a new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in...

When will my computer understand me?

It's not hard to tell the difference between the "charge" of a battery and criminal "charges." But for computers, distinguishing between the various meanings of a word is difficult.

Firefighting robot paints 3-D thermal imaging picture for rescuers

Engineers in the Coordinated Robotics Lab at the University of California, San Diego, have developed new image processing techniques for rapid exploration and characterization of structural fires by small Segway-like...

New technology modifies music hall acoustics

A new technology that relies on a system of inflatable sound absorbers may help make any performance hall instantly convertible into a venue for music ranging from classical to hard...

New speaker system for cars creates separate 'audio zones' for front and rear

Ever wish that your car’s interior cabin could have separate audio zones for the front and rear seats? It soon may.

Twitter may become less interactive and more an advertising broadcast medium like TV or radio

Popular social media site Twitter may eventually resemble a broadcast medium like television or radio, with users reading messages written by celebrities and corporations rather than writing their own "tweet"...

Driving and hands-free talking lead to spike in errors: UAlberta study

Talking on a hands-free device while behind the wheel can lead to a sharp increase in errors that could imperil other drivers on the road, according to new research from...

Encouraging signs for bee biodiversity

Declines in the biodiversity of pollinating insects and wild plants have slowed in recent years, according to a new study.

3-D modeling technology offers groundbreaking solution for engineers

Software developed at the University of Sheffield has the potential to enable engineers to make 'real world' safety assessments of structures and foundations with unprecedented ease.

New software spots, isolates cyber-attacks to protect networked control systems

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a software algorithm that detects and isolates cyber-attacks on networked control systems -- which are used to coordinate transportation, power and other...

Predicting collective online behavior

A new study shows that small websites, in terms of daily user flux based on number of clicks, have a disproportionally high impact when it comes to traffic generation and influence compared to larger websites. These findings, about to be...

Cloud computing user privacy in serious need of reform, scholars say

When Web surfers sign up for a new online service or download a Web application for their smartphone or tablet, the service typically requires them to click a seemingly innocuous...

Making sense of patterns in the Twitterverse

If you think keeping up with what's happening via Twitter, Facebook and other social media is like drinking from a fire hose, multiply that by 7 billion -- and you'll...

'Lending circles' help low-income communities join the financial mainstream

An innovative financial lending program is helping low-income individuals build credit, reduce debt and find their financial footing, according to a pair of studies released today from San Francisco State...

Studies link fatigue and sleep to MLB performance and career longevity

Two new studies show that fatigue may impair strike-zone judgment during the 162 game Major League Baseball season, and a MLB player's sleepiness can predict his longevity in the league.

When friends create enemies

The mutual-friends feature on social networks such as Facebook, which displays users' shared friendships, might not be so "friendly."

Beer-pouring robot programmed to anticipate human actions

A robot in Cornell's Personal Robotics Lab has learned to foresee human action in order to step in and offer a helping hand, or more accurately, roll in and offer...

Facial-recognition technology proves its mettle

In a study that evaluated some of the latest in automatic facial recognition technology, researchers at Michigan State University were able to quickly identify one of the Boston Marathon bombing...

Can math models of gaming strategies be used to detect terrorism networks?

The answer is yes, according to a paper in the SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics.

New report identifies strategies to achieve net-zero energy homes

Chances are you know how many miles your car logs for each gallon or tankful of gas, but you probably have only a foggy idea of how much energy your...

Advertising product results? Put images closer together

Consumers believe a product is more effective when images of the product and its desired outcome are placed closer together in advertisements, according to a new study in the Journal...