Corrections
In the course of daily events, we sometimes slip up. Here is where we set the record straight.
(Note: All corrections are also made and noted in the stories themselves.)
The original version of our Jan. 18 story “Repetez, en anglais, s’il vous plait” stated that the Linguistic Data Consortium was launched in 2005. In fact, the consortium was launched in 1992, and its Global Autonomous Language Exploitation project was launched in 2005. – Eds.
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In the original version of our Jan. 18 story “Repetez, en anglais, s’il vous plait,” we cited the following translation of the Someya Apple Farm website: “The apple orchard with big trees over 50 years old. The natural environment around Numata, with the huge temperture difference between day and night, creates uniquly delitious apple.” In fact, this was an excerpt from Google’s translation of the apple farm’s own English version of its website, not from Google’s translation of the original Japanese page. Therefore it was not a valid example of the poor quality of some machine translation algorithms. In the story we have substituted Google’s translation of the original Japanese-language site. Thanks to our readers for pointing out the error.
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In our Dec. 29 story “Can EPA Regulate Nano?” we stated that the National Nanotechnology Initiative allocates the billion dollars or so for federal nanotech research, when it is Congress that does the actual allocating.
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In our Nov. 29 story “It’s a Mod, Mod World,” Matt Thompson was incorrectly identified as a professor of business at the University of Central Florida. He is a professor of communications.
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In the original version of our Nov. 21 story “Exercising the Brain,” the word “mnemonics” was misspelled “pneumonics.” We have corrected the error.
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In our Nov. 21 story “More Powerful Batteries,” the original version of the opening paragraph said: “Lithium ion batteries have been powering cell phones and laptops for years. But they’ve never been used for more power-hungry machines like power tools and hybrid vehicles, mainly because of their high cost, their inability to provide adequate current, and safety questions.” We changed the phrase “they’ve never been used” to “they were not used,” because E-One Moli Energy Ltd., Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada, has produced a version of a lithium ion battery that was introduced for use in power tools at the beginning of this year.
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In our Nov. 8 story “Smart Fibers,” we wrote, “Now MIT researcher Yoel Fink, associate professor of materials science, has devised optical fibers that are wired with their own heat-sensitive electronics, which can be used to monitor developing defects while the laser is in use – in time to shut it down before a failure.”
The work, done in Yoel Fink’s lab, was conceived and initiated by MIT research scientist Mehmet Bayindir.
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In our Nov. 7 story “A New Map for Health,” we wrote, “The fact that the HapMap data was derived from the DNA of people in Nigeria, China, Japan, and the United States brings an added hazard: that associations between gene variations and particular traits might (falsely) appear stronger in some populations than in others.”
This may have given the incorrect impression that associations between particular genes and traits never vary among populations. While most genetic variation is shared among all populations, there are occasional differences. As a result, both true and false associations may be made with gene variants that appear at different frequencies in different populations. In either case, the association could be used in a way prejudiced against the group carrying the variant at a higher (or lower) rate.
