Capcom is using Stadia tech for a web-based ‘Resident Evil Village’ demo

Starting today, you can stream a free demo of Resident Evil Village from Capcom’s website, with no need for a fancy gaming PC, Xbox or PlayStation. The demo is similar to one that’s available on other platforms, which allows players to explore par…

Facebook’s algorithm change in 2018 benefitted Republican groups, researchers say

A 2018 change in Facebook’s algorithm resulted in significant boosts in engagement for local Republican groups even though their Democratic counterparts posted more often, according to newly published research. The findings, first reported byNBC News, line up with one of the major revelations of the Facebook Papers. Namely, that a change meant to emphasize content from family and friends wound up making News Feed more divisive by incentivizing negative posts.

The latest research, published in Research & Politics, used CrowdTangle data to measure engagement with posts from local Democratic and Republican groups on Facebook and Twitter between January 2016 and August 2021. The researchers found that by the fall of 2018, several months after Facebook announced its algorithm change, there was a significant uptick in engagement with Republican pages on Facebook that didn’t occur on Twitter.

“We conclude that it seems possible that changes in how Facebook rated content led to a doubling of the total shares of local Republican party posts compared to local Democratic party posts in the first half of 2019 even though Democratic parties posted more often during this period,” the paper’s authors write.

The researchers say it’s “difficult” to know for sure what caused the shift toward the end of 2018. But they note that their findings broadly align with what we know about Facebook’s algorithm change, and the reaction to it, thanks to the Facebook Papers. The company had announced a major change to News Feed’s ranking systems in January 2018, in order to emphasize “meaningful social interactions” or MSI. But documents disclosed by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen indicate that by early 2019 publishers and political parties were raising questions about whether MSI was incentivizing negativity.

“Of course without the actual algorithm we cannot say what caused the change in 2018,” Kevin Reuning, one of the paper’s authors wrote on Twitter. “We can say there was a change, specifically on Facebook, and that it impacted a large number of local Republican parties. We can also say the timing lines up with what others saw for FB’s changes”

In a statement to NBC News, Meta called the researchers’ findings “implausible,” saying differences in engagement could be attributed to other factors. “It doesn’t add up with what MSI actually did, which was reduce the amount of public content — like that of political parties — on the platform,” a company spokesperson said. “The trends here instead seem to coincide with a divisive election cycle, and since the differences between political parties in the U.S. have been growing for decades, the idea that a change to Facebook ranking would fundamentally shift how people choose to engage with political parties is implausible.”

Scientists 3D-print a functional piece of a heart

Researchers have 3D-printed hearts using silicone and even a patient’s own cells, but they haven’t matched the full functionality of the real thing and aren’t much good for repairing hearts. There’s some progress on that front, however, as a team at Harvard’s Wyss Institute has developed a technique for 3D-printing long cardiac macrofilaments that develop into muscle-like filaments which contract. The new method mimics the complex alignment of a heart’s contracting elements (a difficult feat so far) while producing tissue thick enough to use in regenerative heart treatments.

The system is a refinement of Wyss’ existing SWIFT (Sacrificial Writing in Functional Tissue) bioprinting technology. Their approach created a platform with 1,050 wells, each with two microscopic pillars. Scientists filled the wells with human-induced pluripotent stem cells (that is, young cells capable of developing into multiple forms) as well as a protein collagen and the cells used to form connective tissue. The combination forms a dense tissue that aligns along the axis linking the micropillars. The team then lifts the resulting organ building blocks off the pillars, uses that to create a bioprinting ink and uses the motion of the 3D printer head to further help with alignment.

This is just a small piece of the heart. While the technology produces a relatively high output, there’s much more work to be done before a fully functional, 3D-printed organic heart is available.

The research group believes their work could still be useful long before reaching the whole-heart milestone. The 3D-printed filaments could be used to replace scars following heart attacks, or to create improved disease models. They might even patch holes in newborns with congenital heart defects, and would grow with those child patients. Simply put, a damaged heart might not be the permanent problem it tends to be today.

Shields Health Care hack may have exposed data for 2 million people

Shields Health Care Group, a Massachusetts-based company involved with imaging and health management services, has announced a major hack that could have exposed sensitive information for up to two million people. The company learned of the attack on March 28th, and after an investigation it found that a malicious actor had access to some of its systems between March 7th and 20th. 

Crucially, the hack included sensitive information like social security numbers, medical record information, patient IDs and insurance details. The company claims there isn’t any evidence of identity theft from the incident, but there’s still a chance customers could be compromised down the line. 

“Upon discovery, we took steps to secure our systems, including rebuilding certain systems, and conducted a thorough investigation to confirm the nature and scope of the activity and to determine who may be affected,” the company said in a statement. “Additionally, while we have safeguards in place to protect data in our care, we continue to review and further enhance these protections as part of our ongoing commitment to data security.”

Shields says it has contacted the FBI, as well as local and state regulators, about the incident. According to the AP, the FBI isn’t commenting on the attack yet. Moving forward, Shields says it will contact customers once it learns who’s affected.

Twitter will reportedly give its full data stream to Elon Musk

Twitter could comply with Elon Musk’s demand for more data about its users as soon as this week. According to The Washington Post, the company plans to give the billionaire full access to its full “firehose,” an internal database that includes details …

Google developer Emma Haruka Iwao has calculated Pi to 100 trillion digits

Google Cloud developer advocate Emma Haruka Iwao and her colleagues once again claim to have calculated Pi to a new record number of digits. Iwao says that the team has calculated the mathematical constant to 100 trillion digital decimal places.

Iwao and her team previously set the record in 2019 when they carried out a calculation to an accuracy of 31.4 trillion digits. The benchmark has been broken a few times since then, including when researchers from a Swiss university calculated Pi to 82.8 trillion digits last year — twice as many as the Google team attained a few years back. Iwao and her team are working with Guinness World Records for official validation of their achievement as a world record.

In a blog post, Iwao wrote that finding as many digits of Pi as possible is a way to measure the progress of compute power. Her job involves showing off what Google Cloud is capable of, so it’s not too surprising that Iwao tapped into the power of the platform to perform the calculation. 

In 2019, the calculation (which figured out a third as many digits as the most recent attempt) took 121 days. This time around, the calculation ran for 157 days, 23 hours, 31 minutes and 7.651 seconds, meaning the computers were running more than twice as quickly despite Iwao using “the same tools and techniques.” Around 82,000 terabytes of data were processed overall. 

Iwao also notes that reading all 100 trillion digits out loud at a rate of one per second would take more than 3.1 million years. And in case you’re wondering, the 100-trillionth decimal place of Pi is 0.