Researchers confirm the power of altruism in Wikipedia

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The beauty of open-source applications is that they are continually improved and updated by those who use them and care about them. Dartmouth researchers looked at the online encyclopedia Wikipedia to determine if the anonymous, infrequent contributors, the Good Samaritans, are as reliable as the people who update constantly and have a reputation to maintain.


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All News summaries from General Science news
All News summaries for October 17, 2007

Make your own microfluidic device with new kit from U-M

9 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
A type of device called a "lab-on-a-chip" could bring a new generation of instant home tests for illnesses, food contaminants and toxic gases. But today these portable, efficient tools are often stuck in the lab themselves. ...

Unknown insects found in 110-million-year-old amber in Spain

9 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
The remains of several unknown insect species which became extinct long before dinosaurs stopped roaming the earth have been discovered in pieces of 110-million-year-old amber found in Spain, researchers said ...

Economists' new research shows positive effects of minimum-wage increases

10 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- As various states consider minimum wage increases, and with Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama proposing that the minimum wage be increased and indexed to adjust for cost-of-living increases, researchers ...

Study: No gender differences in math performance

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
We've all heard it. Many of us in fact believe it. Girls just aren't as good at math as boys. But is it true? After sifting through mountains of data - including SAT results and math scores from 7 million students who were ...

Plant steroids offer new paradigm for how hormones work

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Steroids bulk up plants just as they do human athletes, but the playbook of molecular signals that tell the genes to boost growth and development in plant cells is far more complicated than in human and animal cells. A new ...