The Daily Populous

Thursday December 28th, 2017 day edition

image for Bone conduction: Get used to the voices in your head

Bone conduction has rapidly become a critical asset for treatment of hearing loss.

This process extends the miracle of restored hearing to victims of such conditions as microtia or atresia, where the ear or canal is closed or deformed.

"It's the natural spectrum of sound compared with traditional hearing", says Brian Walshe, spokesperson of hearing treatment company Cochlear.

The company recently launched a wireless Baha set, an indication of the technology's progress and growing popularity.

Implants have become smaller and less invasive, while cosmetics have improved so that the system can be worn without advertising it.

Ludwig Van Beethoven overcame deafness by biting a metal rod attached to his piano to hear his work.

Google Glass are using bone conduction rather than ear buds for their speaker system, although there have been teething problems. »

In wake of net neutrality decision, should cities build internet networks?

Authored by curbed.com

But some see the policy shift as a potential boost to the movement for more municipal broadband networks.

More than 185 communities nationwide offer some form of publicly controlled broadband service, including many that have laid their own fiber networks.

Even more promising for advocates is data showing the public would like to see these networks created as a check on telecoms providing poor service. »

Mapping the anti-vaccination movement on Facebook

Authored by tandfonline.com

In this paper, we examine the characteristics of and the discourses present within six popular anti-vaccination Facebook pages.

Furthermore, anti-vaccination pages on Facebook reflect a highly ‘feminised’ movement ‒ the vast majority of participants are women.

Although anti-vaccination networks on Facebook are large and global in scope, the comment activity sub-networks appear to be ‘small world’. »

Russia warns US against 'meddling' in presidential election

Authored by dw.com

In the wake of US President Donald Trump's surprise electoral victory last year, the US intelligence community said Russia interfered in the election to back its preferred candidate.

The parliamentary election victory for Putin's United Russia was marred by instances of ballot stuffing, reported by demonstrators on social media.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the US of "direct interference" in the 2018 presidential election. »