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Study: AI models fail to reproduce human judgements about rule violations

Researchers found that machine-learning models trained with descriptive data label rule violations more harshly than humans, leading to potential serious implications in the real world. This study highlights the need for careful consideration of data labeling and training methods to ensure fairness and accuracy in AI decision-making.

What makes someone likely to be a first-gen college grad? Money

A new study reveals that first-generation college graduates often originate from more affluent families with greater resources. This challenges the notion of a meritocracy, where success is solely based on individual effort. The research highlights the significant advantage these students have due to their family's socioeconomic status.

Anker Laptop Power Bank 25,000mAh (Triple 100W USB-C)

Anker Laptop Power Bank 25,000mAh (Triple 100W USB-C) keeps Macs, tablets, and meters powered during extended observing runs and remote surveys.

Strengthening ecology and conservation in the Global South

An international research team from the Global South emphasizes the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in tropical ecology and conservation. They suggest ten actions for researchers living in the Global South to improve their inclusivity and participation in international research collaborations.

A new approach to sharing the burden of carbon dioxide removal

A new study analyzes carbon dioxide removal quotas for developing countries, considering issues of equity and fairness. The allocation methods were based on extended equity principles and assessed the implications for these seven tropical developing countries.

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4 Pro)

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4 Pro) powers local ML workloads, large datasets, and multi-display analysis for field and lab teams.

Finding equity in climate mitigation finance

A new IIASA-led study estimates that global climate goals can be met in a cost-effective manner with fair financial flows, but current pledged funding is insufficient. The researchers recommend increasing financing from rich countries to poorer regions to meet the Paris Agreement targets under most equity considerations.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro

Apple iPhone 17 Pro delivers top performance and advanced cameras for field documentation, data collection, and secure research communications.

Horrible bosses cause ‘race to the bottom’ - study

A new study by Anglia Ruskin University found that hostile behavior from leaders can lead to co-workers adopting similar behavior, creating a toxic workplace environment. The research also discovered an association between experiencing hostile behavior and emotional exhaustion, job insecurity, and abusive peer behavior.

Do humans think computers make fair decisions?

A study published in Cell Press found that when humans are involved, computer decisions are perceived as fairer. Participants deemed decisions related to positive outcomes fairer than negative ones and had concerns over fairness in systems with higher stakes. The results suggest that automated decision-making systems need careful desig...

New project to use AI to improve educational outcomes

A new University of Illinois project aims to improve undergraduate students' ability to estimate their knowledge using artificial intelligence methods. The researchers will utilize machine learning to anticipate student performance and provide personalized feedback to enhance studying strategies.

Creality K1 Max 3D Printer

Creality K1 Max 3D Printer rapidly prototypes brackets, adapters, and fixtures for instruments and classroom demonstrations at large build volume.

Do winners cheat more? New research refutes previous high-profile study

A large-scale study led by the University of Leicester found that people with a strong sense of fairness cheat less, regardless of winning or losing. The researchers examined the behavior of over 500 participants in lab-based games and discovered that only those with low 'inequality aversion' were more likely to cheat.

In bias we trust?

Researchers at MIT found that explanation methods used to aid human decision-makers in high-stakes situations often have lower accuracy for minoritized subgroups. The fidelity of these explanations varies dramatically between subgroups, with the quality often significantly lower for women and Black people.

SAMSUNG T9 Portable SSD 2TB

SAMSUNG T9 Portable SSD 2TB transfers large imagery and model outputs quickly between field laptops, lab workstations, and secure archives.

Aranet4 Home CO2 Monitor

Aranet4 Home CO2 Monitor tracks ventilation quality in labs, classrooms, and conference rooms with long battery life and clear e-ink readouts.

NSF CAREER Award to study long-term fairness in sequential decision making

A University of Arkansas professor is developing learning algorithms for building fair decision models in both offline and online learning settings. He will utilize Pearl's Structural Causal Model to analyze causal effects from observational data and propose universal formulations for measuring long-term fairness.

Clinicians grapple with decisions in crisis-care simulation

A simulated crisis-care event revealed the moral distress experienced by triage team members who had to prioritize patients for scarce resources. The study aimed to operationalize a process for making life-and-death patient decisions, but triage-team members struggled with balancing individual patient needs with fair resource allocation.

Fighting discrimination in mortgage lending

Researchers at MIT created a process called DualFair that can remove bias from data used to train machine-learning models. The method tackles both label bias and selection bias, significantly reducing discrimination in loan predictions while maintaining high accuracy.

Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro Equatorial Mount

Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro Equatorial Mount provides precise tracking capacity for deep-sky imaging rigs during long astrophotography sessions.

Incarceration associated with increased mortality rates among Black individuals

A new study led by Boston Medical Center researchers shows that Black individuals who were incarcerated have a statistically significant 65% increase in mortality rates compared to non-Hispanic non-Black individuals. This finding highlights the long-term impacts of incarceration on health, particularly among marginalized communities.

New vaccine allocation model focuses on fairness and diversity

Researchers developed a fair-diverse allocation optimization framework to optimize the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and testing supplies. The model aims to get limited resources to the most vulnerable subgroups while ensuring fairness and diversity, independent of demographic background.

Judging the gymnastics judges

Researchers developed a new statistical engine to evaluate gymnastics judges' accuracy and fairness. The study found that some judges are significantly better than others at judging, with the best-trained judges being only two to three times more accurate than their peers.

DJI Air 3 (RC-N2)

DJI Air 3 (RC-N2) captures 4K mapping passes and environmental surveys with dual cameras, long flight time, and omnidirectional obstacle sensing.

Machine learning can be fair and accurate

A recent study published in Nature Machine Intelligence challenges the long-held assumption that accuracy and fairness are mutually exclusive in machine learning. Researchers found that optimizing models for accuracy does not necessarily compromise fairness, particularly when adjustments are made to data, labels, and scoring systems.

The growing threat of wildfires in America

A study by Matthew Auer highlights the need for community-led wildfire protection plans to address growing threats, particularly among low-income households. These plans can provide educational resources, fire-resistant home construction, and access to funding.

More 'fairness' needed in conservation

Researchers found that local stakeholders consider fairness in distribution of money from marine protected areas according to who holds rights over the area, rather than equality or costs incurred. This challenges common assumptions in conservation literature and practice, emphasizing the importance of explicit identification of local ...

Rigol DP832 Triple-Output Bench Power Supply

Rigol DP832 Triple-Output Bench Power Supply powers sensors, microcontrollers, and test circuits with programmable rails and stable outputs.

Immigration enforcement policies and migrant attitudes

A randomized survey experiment found heightened awareness of immigration detention fosters beliefs that the US immigration system lacks procedural and outcome fairness. Individuals' intentions to migrate were not influenced by heightened awareness of immigration detention or nonjudicial removals.

Fairness 'important - but not enough'

Researchers discovered that fair treatment alone is insufficient to foster a sense of value in groups; instead, recognizing individual talents and qualities provides a sense of inclusion while promoting mental health. This approach complements the idea of 'fitting in' by allowing individuals to stand out and feel valuable.

Supervisors focused on others' needs get 'benefit of the doubt' from employees

Employees perceive prosocially motivated supervisors as fairer and are more likely to give them the benefit of the doubt, even when they make mistakes. Research from the University of Notre Dame found that supervisor motives impact fairness judgments and that focusing on prosocial motives can buffer the negative effects of low justice ...

Improving equity in the physics of medical devices

Achuta Kadambi's article in Science explores how medical device physics can perpetuate bias across racial and gender lines. He suggests quantifying sample fairness and recalibrating performance metrics to address these issues.

GoPro HERO13 Black

GoPro HERO13 Black records stabilized 5.3K video for instrument deployments, field notes, and outreach, even in harsh weather and underwater conditions.

Teaching AI what's fair

A team led by Michigan State University's Pang-Ning Tan is working to make artificial intelligence algorithms more fair and aware of their potential biases. They're developing a definition of fairness that considers perspectives from groups of people, rather than just individual outcomes.

Someone to watch over AI and keep it honest - and it's not the public!

Experts argue that a 'regulatory ecosystem' is necessary for trustworthy AI, rather than relying on public education or increased transparency. Drs Knowles and Richards propose the use of AI documentation, such as IBM's AI Factsheets, to empower specialists in assessing trustworthiness.

Sony Alpha a7 IV (Body Only)

Sony Alpha a7 IV (Body Only) delivers reliable low-light performance and rugged build for astrophotography, lab documentation, and field expeditions.

'Fairmandering' data tool makes redistricting more representative

A new method developed by Cornell University researchers can inject fairness into political redistricting. The 'Fairmandering' data tool creates billions of potential electoral maps for each state and then algorithmically identifies possibilities meeting desired criteria for fairness.

Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (M4)

Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (M4) runs demanding GIS, imaging, and annotation workflows on the go for surveys, briefings, and lab notebooks.

The unintended consequence of becoming empathetic

Researchers from Michigan State University found that people who want to improve their empathy tend to shift towards more liberal ideologies, prioritizing care and fairness. This study is the first to explore shifts in personalities and morals due to volitional change.

New tool improves fairness of online search rankings

A new tool, FairCo, was developed to improve the fairness of online rankings by giving equally relevant choices roughly equal exposure and avoiding preferential treatment for high-ranked items. This can correct unfairness in existing algorithms and curtail personal choice.

Restaurant customers frown on automatic gratuities, particularly after good service

Customers with excellent dining experiences express the most dissatisfaction with automatic gratuities. Research found that high-quality service does not compensate for negative customer responses to non-voluntary tipping systems. Restaurants can explore ways to give customers a sense of control, such as providing feedback or adding se...

New algorithms train AI to avoid specific bad behaviors

Researchers at Stanford and UMass Amherst develop a new technique to create machine-learning algorithms that can learn to avoid undesirable outcomes such as gender bias and excessive risk. Their approach, called the Seldonian algorithm, enables users to specify what behaviors they want an AI system to avoid with high probability.

CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock

CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock simplifies serious desks with 18 ports for high-speed storage, monitors, and instruments across Mac and PC setups.

Are hiring algorithms fair? They're too opaque to tell, study finds

Researchers found that hiring algorithms are often opaque and biased, with few vendors disclosing concrete information on validation and mitigation. The study encourages transparency and conversation around ethical decision-making in pre-employment assessments using machine learning.

Meta Quest 3 512GB

Meta Quest 3 512GB enables immersive mission planning, terrain rehearsal, and interactive STEM demos with high-resolution mixed-reality experiences.

Developmental psychology -- One good turn deserves another

Children between 3-4 years old value generosity and benevolence as a general norm, while older children (5-6) develop a more complex concept of fairness that includes reciprocity. The study suggests that reciprocity norms are not fully developed until around age 5.

Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 46mm)

Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 46mm) tracks health metrics and safety alerts during long observing sessions, fieldwork, and remote expeditions.

How do we make moral decisions?

A recent study published in Nature Communications challenges prior research on moral decision-making by showing that people's moral behavior can shift depending on the context. The researchers identified four moral strategies: inequity aversion, guilt aversion, greed, and moral opportunism, which involves switching between these strate...

Women who wear Muslim garments in court are viewed as more credible witnesses

A study by Lancaster University and Memorial University found that women who wear the hijab or niqab while testifying in court are perceived as more credible than uncovered women. The researchers suggest several possible explanations for this bias, including the idea that religious garments signal honesty and dispel common rape myths.

Fluke 87V Industrial Digital Multimeter

Fluke 87V Industrial Digital Multimeter is a trusted meter for precise measurements during instrument integration, repairs, and field diagnostics.

Supportive colleagues could be the key to health and fairness at work

A new study published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology found a clear link between a person's health and their perceptions of fairness at work over time. Colleague support was identified as the most significant factor in this link, suggesting that organisations should foster a supportive culture among colleagues to ensur...