<b>A Steem essay reports that ADHD and ADD are evolving away, but slowly</b>; Canada's <i>Shopify</i> switches to "digital by default" for its employment model; <b>In southern Mexico, researchers discover the oldest and largest known Mayan construction</b>; A startup AI company is using machine learning to give remote workers a productivity score; and <b>researchers report that cancer uses a similar mechanism to bacteria for creating resistance to medical treatments</b>
<h1><center>Curating the Internet: Science and technology digest for <div class=phishy>June 5, 2020</div></center></h1>
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<h3>Administrivia</h3>
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<center><b><i>Fresh and Informative Content Daily: Welcome to my little corner of the blockchain</i></b></center>
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<tr><td><h5>Straight from <A HREF=https://theoldreader.com>my RSS feed</A></h5></td><td><h5>Whatever gets my attention</h5></td></tr>
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<h6>Links and micro-summaries from my 1000+ daily headlines. I filter them so you don't have to.</h6>
First posted on my Steem blog: <A HREF="https://steemit.com/@remlaps/popular-stem-curating-the-internet-science-and-technology-digest-for-june-5-2020">SteemIt</A>.
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<h6> pixabay license: <a href="https://pixabay.com/es/photos/adn-dna-estructura-239263/">source</a>.</h6>
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<li> <b><i>Steem</i></b> @kralizec:<A HREF="/@kralizec/adhd-and-add-prehistoric-relicts">ADHD and ADD – Prehistoric Relicts</A> - <b>Subtitle</b>: <i>Why doesn't erase ADHD and ADD from the human genome? Actually it seems that it is doing so. But it is slow as even not that long ago these disorders were useful.</i> - In recent work, scientists analyzed the DNA of 20,000 people who suffer from ADHD, compared it with the DNA of people who don't, and they found many genes that were associated with the distance. Some of these genes, it turns out, were also associated with other facets of health that would make it harmful to remove them. Therefore, it is suggested that the reason for ADHD persisting, despite being evolutionarily harmful, is that it is very difficult to remove it without also inducing other harmful DNA changes. This is described as <i>mismatch theory</i>, where DNA changes that were once beneficial are now harmful. This essay suggests that ADD/ADHD is slowly evolving away, but because of its association with other helpful traits, it will take a long time before it gets eliminated. (A 10% beneficiary setting has been applied to this post for @kralizec.) </li><br>
<li> <A HREF="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-shopify/shopify-to-let-employees-work-from-home-permanently-idUSKBN22X21M">Canada's Shopify CEO says era of 'office centricity is over; most staff to permanently work from home</A> - The Canadian firm, Shopify, is the latest to announce that most employees are now able to permanently work from home. The company also said that the offices will be remaining closed until 2021 as a result of the COVID pandemic. As of today, founder Tobi Lutke says, "<i>As of today, Shopify is a digital by default</i>". Around the world, the firm employs about 5,000 employees and contractors. Shopify recently became known to Steemizens because it is now possible to use STEEM, SBD, or TRX to make purchases from the shopify digital merchants. -h/t <A HREF="https://lemire.me/blog/2020/05/30/science-and-technology-links-may-30th-2020/">Daniel Lemire</A></li><br>
<li> <A HREF="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jun/03/maya-structure-discovered-mexico-lidar-aguada-fenix">Oldest and largest Maya structure discovered in southern Mexico</A> - Using an aerial sensing method, researchers have found a massive elevated rectangular platform in southern Mexico that was built about 3,000 years ago. Located in Mexico's state of Tabasco, the structure differs from later constructions because it is built from clay and earth, instead of stone. The researchers say that the site was probably used for mass rituals by the ancient Mayan civilization. The site of the find is located near the Guatemalan border and known as Aguada Fénix. The volume of the construction is larger than that of Egypt's <i>Gaza Pyramid</i>, and it measures a quarter mile in width by nine tenths of a mile in length. Because there were no signs of statues or sculptures depicting high-status individuals, researchers suggest that the society was communal and had not yet evolved an organized hierarchical structure. The aerial sensing technique that was used to find the structure made use of LIDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging). This find was reported in a June 3 publication of the journal, <A HREF="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2343-4">Nature</A>. -h/t <A HREF="https://www.archaeology.org/news/8738-200604-mexico-aguada-fenix">archaeology.org</A></li><br>
<li> <A HREF="https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/06/04/1002671/startup-ai-workers-productivity-score-bias-machine-learning-business-covid/">This startup is using AI to give workers a “productivity score”</A> - <b>Subtitle</b>: <i>Enaible is one of a number of new firms that are giving employers tools to help keep tabs on their employees—but critics fear this kind of surveillance undermines trust.</i> - With the rise of remote work during the COVID pandemic, employers are installing surveillance tools that do everything from keyboard logging to actually taking photographs every 10 minutes to ensure that a worker is at their keyboard. Now, <A HREF="https://www.enaible.io/">Enaible</A> is taking this productivity tracking to the next level by making use of machine learning to give each person a productivity score. The software is designed to measure how quickly employees complete tasks and to suggest ways to make it faster. Despite the growing popularity of these surveillance tools, some critics argue that it is harmful because it damages trust between employee and employer and because it is harmful to morale. In contrast, Enaible's CEO, <A HREF="http://www.tommyweir.com/">Tommy Weir</A>, however, argues that existing tools don't go far enough. Instead, he says, "<i>Imagine you’re managing somebody and you could stand and watch them all day long, and give them recommendations on how to do their job better. That's what we’re trying to do. That’s what we’ve built.</i>". </li><br>
<li> <A HREF="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/medicine/cancer-acts-like-bacteria-to-resist-drugs/">Cancer acts like bacteria to resist drugs</A> - <b>Subtitle</b>: <i>Study shows cells accumulate genetic variations.</i> - Cancer reproduces itself with two levels of quality. "High fidelity" replication contains few DNA errors. "Low fidelity" replication contains a higher percentage of errors. Under normal conditions, it replicates with high fidelity replication, but when it encounters a treatment that causes it to die off, cancer flips a switch into low fidelity replication. This, in turn, triggers a higher percentage of mutations until the tumor eventually finds a way to resist the treatment. Once this has been found, it switches back to high fidelity replication again. -h/t <A HREF="https://www.realclearscience.com/2020/06/05/cancer_acts_like_bacteria_to_resist_drugs_290925.html">RealClear Science</A></li><br>
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