ScienceDaily: Computers & Math News

Experts call for a rethink on guidelines about children's screen time Posted: 21 Jan 2015 06:05 PM PST The amount of time children spend using screens, such as televisions and computers, on a daily basis exceeds recommended guidelines, according to research. These guidelines were drawn up at a time when tablets, cell phones and other mobile devices were not as present in everyday life, which suggests they need to be redrafted, experts say.

Video-based therapy might benefit babies at risk of autism Posted: 21 Jan 2015 06:04 PM PST Video-based therapy for families with babies at risk of autism improves infants' engagement, attention and social behavior, and might reduce the likelihood of such children developing autism, according to new research.

Intrusive monitoring of internet use by parents actually leads adolescents to increase their risky online behavior Posted: 21 Jan 2015 06:35 AM PST The concern of many parents regarding their children's online habits tend to relate to hazardous behaviors, ranging from the disclosure of personal information on public forums and revealing feelings to strangers, to face-to-face meetings with strangers. Parents, naturally, want to prevent such precarious behaviors to the degree possible without infringing on their teens' feeling of independence.

How attached to our smart phones are we? Posted: 21 Jan 2015 05:36 AM PST Are we emotionally attached to our smart phones? That was the question scientists hoped to answer in a new article. understanding how users become reliant on their smart phone for particular tasks, how they invest time and money in these gadgets and perhaps even how their relationship with these all-in-one pocket computer-communicators is important to the manufacturers hoping to beat rivals to sell more of their brand, authors say.

Harnessing data from nature's great evolutionary experiment Posted: 20 Jan 2015 01:03 PM PST A new computational method has been developed to identify which letters in the human genome are functionally important . Their computer program, called fitCons, harnesses the power of evolution, comparing changes in DNA letters across not just related species, but also between multiple individuals in a single species. The results provide a surprising picture of just how little of our genome has been 'conserved' by nature.