Scientists seeking to understand the origin of the human mind may want to look to honeybees — not ancestral apes — for at least some of the answers, according to a University of Colorado Boulder archaeologist.
CU-Boulder Research Associate John Hoffecker said there is abundant fossil and archaeological evidence for the evolution of the human mind, including its unique power to create a potentially infinite variety of thoughts expressed in the form of sentences, art and technologies. He attributes the evolving power of the mind to the formation of what he calls the “super-brain,” or collective mind, an event that took place in Africa no later than 75,000 years ago. (more…)
*Online Behaviour of Clickers Does Not Reflect Desired Audience for Most Advertisers*
Moscow, Russia, April 14, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced the release of a report entitled “ Natural Born Clickers in Russia – Understanding How Display Advertising Works,” which indicates that a very small group of Internet users who are not representative of the total Russian online population is accountable for the vast majority of display ad click-through behaviour. The report includes findings from several studies of the view-through effectiveness of online display advertising and highlights key implications for stakeholders in the Russian digital media ecosystem. (more…)
*U.K., France, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands Lead in Retail Site Visitation and Engagement*
LONDON, UK, March 21, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released results from a study of online shopping in Europe. In January 2011, 270.6 million unique visitors in Europe visited sites in the Retail category, representing a market penetration of 74.5 percent of Internet users, up 8.5 percentage points versus last year. Retail sites also showed high penetration in individual markets, reaching at least 75 percent of the total online audience in 7 out of 18 European markets. In 2010, approximately one out of every ten Internet sessions in Europe included a visit to a retail site.
Retail Penetration and Engagement Growth in Europe
In the United Kingdom, the Retail category reached 89.4 percent of the total online audience (up 6.3 points from last year), the highest penetration of any European market. France ranked second with a reach of 87 percent (up 10.5 points), followed by Germany at 82.1 percent (up 9.0 points). Ireland and the Netherlands round out the list of markets with highest penetration, with Retail reaching 80.7 percent in Ireland (up 15.8 percentage points) and 80.2 percent in the Netherlands (up 4.9 percentage points).(more…)
India became the world’s largest importer of arms during 2006-2010, a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said. The share of India’s world arms shipments made up nine percent. China’s share was evaluated at six percent. The list of other active arms importers includes South Korea (6%) and Pakistan (5%). The largest exporters of arms in the world are the USA, Russia and Germany.
According to SIPRI experts, Russia remains the primary supplier of arms and military hardware to India. Russia’s share in arms transfers to India during the recent five years was evaluated at 82 percent. (more…)
WASHINGTON — The deadly Russian heat wave of 2010 was due to a natural atmospheric phenomenon often associated with weather extremes, according to a new study. And while the scientists could not attribute the intensity of this particular heat wave to climate change, they found that extreme heat waves are likely to become increasingly frequent in the region in coming decades.
The research team drew from scientific observations and computer climate models to evaluate the possible roles of natural and human-caused climate influences on the severity of the heat wave. The study has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. (more…)
Investment firm General Atlantic is going to purchase 0.1 percent of world’s largest social network Facebook. The deal may push the price of the network up to $65 billion, but the transaction requires approval from Facebook at first. The company has been showing an impressive growth during the recent years. In the middle of 2009, the deals with its shares were concluded on the base of the company cost of $10 billion.
General Atlantic announced an intention to purchase the shares from several former Facebook employees. The deal has not been closed yet. According to CNBC, the deal boosted the cost of the social network 30 percent up. At the end of January of 2011, the company was valued at $50, when Goldman Sachs placed Facebook shares worth $1 billion among its clients, the Vedomosti wrote. (more…)
The popular world view of Brazil may be triggered by thoughts of spectacular Carnivals and skilled footballers, yet the country is also determined to be regarded as a major global power.
The most comprehensive historical review of Brazilian relations with superpower USA has been written by a University of Exeter historian and identifies how the relationship has developed over the last 200 years.(more…)
In 2010, China mined the record amount of gold in the world. The production volume of nonferrous metals in China amounted to 340.88 tons, which is 8.57% higher than a year earlier, and continues to grow. In recent years, China has consistently increased the amount of its gold reserves. Nevertheless, experts believe that China has a long way to go to reach the level of the world leading economies.
According to the China Gold Association, in 2007 China ranked first in terms of gold mining. It outran South Africa and is holding this position to this day. Starting 2004, the volume of production of the precious metal in China has been steadily growing. In 2009 it amounted to 313.98 tons. The volume of the gold imported by China within ten months of 2010 amounted to 209.72 tons, which is six times more than the year before, Rosbalt reported. (more…)
