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SmartPlanet: 4% Completion Rate for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)

Only four percent complete massive open online courses: setback or growing pains? Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have relatively few active users, and  user engagement falls off dramatically, especially after the first one to two weeks weeks of a course. Ultimately, only a handful of users persist to the course end. That’s the gist of …

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SmartPlanet: Voiceprints to Fight Fraud? 97% Accuracy, 100 Identifiable Attributes

What businesses want with your voice You’d be forgiven for not wanting to give businesses a recording of your voice. They get your email address and your inbox is flooded; the same goes for physical address. But, if a business asks for voiceprint in the near future, it might actually be for your own benefit. …

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SmartPlanet: China in Africa, Chinese in UK…

China to invest $1 trillion in Africa through 2025 China’s massive African investment strategy won’t slow anytime soon. The 10 most important languages to learn Over the next two decades the United Kingdom will need to be more proficient in languages like Arabic and Mandarin or risk its competitiveness in the global economy.

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SmartPlanet: Staggering Costs of Fukushima Clean Up (Never Mind Toxicity Blowing East) + Fukushima RECAP

The staggering costs to clean up Fukushima More than two years since the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, the Fukushima power plant meltdown is still a major, global environmental problem. And the staggering price tag for cleaning it up continues to rise. The Japanese government just announced that it’s borrowing about $30 billion more to …

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SmartPlanet: Saltwater-Cooled Greenhouse Grows Crops in the Sahara

Saltwater-cooled greenhouse grows crops in the Sahara How do you grow vegetables in arid areas? Reverse the trend of desertification, the Sahara Forest Project proposes. The project combines existing technologies — such as the evaporation of saltwater to create fresh water along with solar thermal energy tech — to utilize what we have (saltwater, CO2) …

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