The amount of time you use on the Web may not only be affecting your sleep and how you communicate，it could also be influencing who you find attractive. Researchers have found that women who spend lots of time online prefer more masculine men，while men prefer more feminine，thinner women. The findings suggest that the Internet — most likely media portrayals（描绘）of certain“types” — is associated with what people think is attractive.

Psychologist Carlota Batres of the University of St Andrews，who led the study，said，“One possibility for the difference is the level of media exposure. People with Internet access are more exposed to the media，adverts or websites，which promotes the beauty ideals of masculine men and thin，feminine women.”

The researchers cited the Hollywood blockbuster movie，Noah，in which the male lead is played by the masculine actor Russell Crowe，and the female lead is played by the feminine，thin Jennifer Connelly.

The research was carried out in El Salvador，where the majority of people don't have access to the Internet.

The study asked participants to choose between pictures of people higher or lower in weight，or higher or lower in masculinity（男子气）and femininity（女子气质）. Researchers found there was no difference in the preferences of those with access to the Internet. They almost preferred the faces that the Internet might suggest are more“attractive”. However，non-Internet users found feminine men and masculine，heavier women more attractive. The study，published in the journal PLOS ONE，found people with Internet access were more likely to have a television in their home，which exposed them even further to the media through commercials，television shows，and movies.

Researchers attributed these findings to several explanations，including economic circumstances influencing perceived attractiveness.

Professor David Perrett, of the Perception Lab at University of St Andrews, said,“One possibility is that the toughness of the environment may influence face preferences. People without Internet in the El Salvador study had fewer resources — such as no running water — and such roughness may be responsible for what they find attractive. When income and access to food is uncertain, heavier women may be better equipped to survive and reproduce, and therefore preferences for heavier women could be adaptive. Our findings are consistent with previous literature that has found that heavier figures are considered more attractive in poorer and rural areas.”

Professor Batres added,“Our findings suggest that existing online studies may provide a distorted perspective of the populations in developing countries. Our data provide evidence that, even within a small country, sub-sectors of the population have different preferences. Future research should take this into account when studies are made in countries where a large portion of the population does not have Internet access.”

A new study has found that a child’s reading speed can be improved by simply increasing the space between letters within a piece of text. The research, led by Dr Steven Stagg of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), examined the benefits of letter spacing and coloured overlays (颜色标注) among children.

Two groups of children, dyslexic (有阅读障碍的) and non-dyslexic children, were asked to read four texts with either standard or extra-large letter spacing, both with and without a coloured overlay. They were instructed to read the text out loud while being recorded. The recording was used to measure the number of errors they made — specifically missed words, added words, wrong words, and pronunciation — as well as the participants’ reading time.

The study discovered that text with increased space between letters provided a benefit for both groups. On average, the dyslexia group showed a 13% increase in reading speed, while the group of non-dyslexic children showed a 5% increase. In addition to improving reading speed, it also resulted in a significant decline in the number of words missed by the children with dyslexia. However, the study found that coloured overlays had no significant impact on reading speed or the reduction of errors for either group.

Dr Stagg, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at ARU, said, “We believe extra-large letter spacing works by reducing what is known as the ‘crowding effect’, which can hamper the recognition of letters and reduce reading speed.”

“Our findings strongly suggest that teachers can be confident that all children would be helped by increased letter spacing in reading materials.” Dr Stagg added. While we found that coloured overlays provided little benefit, we suggest children should be encouraged to use overlays if they find these help their reading. Coloured overlays may not increase reading speeds, but they may extend reading stamina (持久力). Previous research suggests their benefits may not become apparent if reading time is less than 10 minutes and the short reading duration of the tests in our study may have put coloured overlays at a disadvantage.

At the end of the spring semester in May,students taking Georgia Tech’s online Knowledge-Based Artificial Intelligence course received some surprising news.Jill Watson,one of the nine teaching assistants (TAs) that had helped them finish the challenging course for the past five months was not a “she” but an “it”—an intelligent robot!

Watson is the brainchild of Ashok Goel,who teaches the popular online course.The Professor of Computer and Cognitive Science in the School of Interactive Computing came up with the idea as a way to deal with the number of questions posed by students in the online forums(论坛).According to Goel,every time the course is offered,the 300 or so students that enroll post over 10,000 questions.The questions are often repetitive.This led Goel to wonder if a smart robot would handle the questions which require standard responses—things like dates when assignments are due.

Having worked with IBM’s Watson technology platform in the past,the professor knew it would be ideal for his artificial TA:Jill Watson.The artificial intelligence system that uses natural language processing and machine learning to analyze large amounts of data has even been cleverer than human competitors on the television show.It would therefore easily be able to handle routine questions that required little “thinking”.

The professor and his team of graduate students began by populating Jill’s memory with 40,000 questions and answers from past terms.Then came the testing stage.At first,Jill was not very good and often gave strange answers.It often got stuck on certain keywords.By the end of the semester,Jill had attained enough knowledge and skills to participate in forums without any management from Goel,or the other assistants.