Weekend Reads 3/19/16

A Plagiarism Scandal Is Unfolding In The Crossword World

The puzzles in question repeated themes, answers, grids and clues from Times puzzles published years earlier. Hundreds more of the puzzles edited by Parker are nearly verbatim copies of previous puzzles that Parker also edited. Most of those have been republished under fake author names.

Hackers in training

Organizers didn’t want to fill the event with the most skilled hackers, developers, and coders. The idea instead was to bring people from across the universities and expose them to what it’s like to be part of a cybersecurity team that tries to break into things with the ultimate goal of improving digital security.

Paper Claiming Human Hand Was "Designed by Creator" Sparks Concern

When contacted by Nature, Xiong said that he was discussing the issues raised with his co-authors and would respond as soon as possible. He added, "Indeed, we are not native speakers of English, and entirely lost the connotations of some words such as 'Creator'. I am so sorry for that."

Everything Is Crumbling

Comprising more than 2,000 subjects tested at two-dozen different labs on several continents, the study found exactly nothing. A zero-effect for ego depletion: No sign that the human will works as it’s been described, or that these hundreds of studies amount to very much at all.