Significant progress this week in resolving the Iberia airlines dispute after the compromise package put forward by government-appointed mediator Gregorio Tudela was accepted by Iberia’s parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG), and by most of the unions. Clearly, a solution is good news for travellers – Iberia’s troubles have had a knock-on effect with major airport disruptions and thousands of flights cancelled during stoppages in February and earlier this month; more strikes had been scheduled in the coming weeks in the absence of a settlement. It will also come as a relief to IAG, which claims to have been losing €3 million for each day of strike action, compounding … [Read more...] about Tales for Tapas: Compromise in the air
science
Sábato, Argentina’s contradictory literary giant
Ernesto Sábato, who died on April 30 at the age of 99, was, as Voltaire said of all great men and women, a mass of contradictions. And therein lies the strength of the Argentine’s writing: he always wrote what he understood to be true, according to his often contradictory experiences. He was chosen to head the committee (CONADEP) tasked with investigating the "disappearances" of thousands of people during Argentina’s dictatorship, yet had initially supported the military when it took over in 1976 at a time of mounting economic problems, social turmoil, and clashes with leftist guerrillas who carried out kidnappings and killings. He had joined other writers in a meeting with dictator … [Read more...] about Sábato, Argentina’s contradictory literary giant
A real feel for virtual reality
Computer graphics have come a long way since the painfully pixelated days of Pac-Man, yet few people would think virtual characters or objects are real. Place someone in a virtual reality environment, however, and they will almost certainly interact with their digital surroundings as if they were physically there. In trying to understand presence – defined, in this case, as the propensity of humans to respond to fake stimuli as if they are real – researchers are not just gaining insights into how the human brain functions. They are also learning how to create more intense and realistic virtual experiences, opening the door to myriad applications for healthcare, training, social research … [Read more...] about A real feel for virtual reality