February 5, 2016

Briefly

By

Returning-from-travel edition

  • Wordbank is an open database of information about children’s vocabulary growth. With pointy-clicky apps.
  • The Ethical Data Scientist. Cathy O’Neil, writing at Slate. “As long as our world is not perfect, and as long as data is being collected on that world, we will not be building models that are improvements on our past unless we specifically set out to do so.”
  • Billboards that use DNA on discarded cigarette butts or gum to recreate images of the litterer. “Obviously we have no photos of the original litterers to compare the sketches to, but according to Oglivy, the results are accurate.” [trust us, we’re an advertising agency]
  • Headline: Revealed: The drug that keeps you young. Story: “Experts say they had extended the lifespan of mice by 35 per cent” and “The one used on mice is not suitable for people”
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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 »