Gizmorama - May 25, 2015

Good Morning,

Research at Microsoft has determined that the human attention span is shortening. Hey, I said that the human attention span is shortening. Hey, I'm over here! Did you get that? Hey!

Oh, just read the article.

Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- Ancient Antarctic ice shelf to disintegrate in next 10 years, NASA finds --*
WASHINGTON (UPI) - What's left of the Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica is likely to collapse completely before the end of the decade, NASA finds.

Since most of it collapsed in 2002, the shelf's disintegration continued at a surprising speed due to many warm summers. At its thickest, Larsen B is about 1,640 feet deep and spans 625 square miles, but NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., found that it is loosening faster and becoming increasingly unstable.

"These are warning signs that the remnant is disintegrating," study lead Ala Khazendar said. "Although it's fascinating scientifically to have a front-row seat to watch the ice shelf becoming unstable and breaking up, it's bad news for our planet. This ice shelf has existed for at least 10,000 years, and soon it will be gone."

Ice shelves are nature's way of keeping glaciers from entering the ocean too quickly, thus accelerating sea level rise. Without them, it is likely that ocean height may increase at a speed which many along the earth's coasts are simply not prepared for.

The study, which has been posted online in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, used data accumulated from aircraft participating in a multiyear survey campaign to document Antarctica's surface called Operation IceBridge, led by NASA.

A widening rift discovered in Larsen B will eventually crack its way across its entirety, Khazendar says. The free-floating remains will shatter into countless icebergs and glaciers will begin moving, unobstructed, out to sea. Unfortunately, the study also discovered that the two main tributary glaciers held by the Larsen B are moving faster.

"What is really surprising about Larsen B is how quickly the changes are taking place," Khazendar said. "Change has been relentless."


*-- Microsoft: Humans have shorter attention span than a goldfish --*
TORONTO (UPI) - A small study by researchers at Microsoft has found the human attention span is shortening. At just 8 seconds, they say it is now shorter than the attention span of the average goldfish.

The study, which featured a combination of surveys and mind games, was an apparently genuine attempt by scientists with the software company to better understand how mobile technology has affected attention span.

More than 100 volunteers in Canada responded to a questionnaire and played cognitive games designed to quantify attention spans. While answering questions and playing games, participants were monitored by electroencephalography (EEG), a non-invasive method for recording brain activity.

The results suggest the average attention of an adult in the Information Age is now eight seconds -- down from 12 seconds in 2000, the average the last time Microsoft conducted a similar study. This puts the human attention span at one second shorter than that of a goldfish.

"Canadians with more digital lifestyles (those who consume more media, are multi-screeners, social media enthusiasts, or earlier adopters of technology) struggle to focus in environments where prolonged attention is needed," researchers wrote in their published findings.

But the study also found that heavy technology users were better at multitasking. Researchers suggest a slightly shorter attention span may be the payoff for a brain better adapted to utilize multiple sources of information and entertainment.

But not everyone's convinced the data is proof that our brain has actually changed. Bruce Morton, a brain scientist at the University of Western Ontario's Brain & Mind Institute, says that the data only shows that humans' are using their brains differently.

"Just because we may be allocating our attention differently as a function of the technologies we may be using, it doesn't mean that the way our attention actually can function has changed."

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