March 12, 2015

Briefly

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  • There will be SCIENCE at the Auckland Festival on Saturday: Dr Michelle ‘Nanogirl’ Dickinson blowing things up, Dr Siouxsie Wiles (and artists, and you) lighting things up, and panel discussions.
  • ‘In the 17th century, another genre of paintings emerged, showing public administrators holding their books open for all to see. More than 100 of these paintings were produced between 1600 and 1800. Transparency became a cultural ideal worthy of art.’ Jacob Soll writing in the Boston Globe about the financial data revolution of the 16th century.
  • “The next big milestone for the project is to get a judge to rule in favor of a tenant based on Heat Seek data. That would set a precedent that the courts see these devices as reliable and unbiased evidence.” New York, like many US cities, has temperature standards for apartments where the landlord controls the heating system. Heat Seek wants to provide independent data using internet-connected thermometers.
  • Does the popularity of party leaders affect voting? In the UK it seems the answer is “sometimes, a bit”.  (via Alex Harrowell)
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Thomas Lumley (@tslumley) is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Auckland. His research interests include semiparametric models, survey sampling, statistical computing, foundations of statistics, and whatever methodological problems his medical collaborators come up with. He also blogs at Biased and Inefficient See all posts by Thomas Lumley »