Free Republic

Researchers at University of Toronto plan to introduce a software tool on Friday that aims to help people in countries that censor the World Wide Web. Psiphon (pronounced sigh-fawn), a web-based utility, lets individuals in a country that censors the internet sign on to a server that gives them secure access to web pages anywhere, bypassing government restrictions. Its creators plan to launch the software at the Protect The Net conference at the university's Munk Centre for International Studies, where psiphon emerged as a project of Citizenlab. Researchers at the facility examine the relationship between digital media and politics around...

Jordan Peterson has a stunningly high “h-index,” a metric for measuring the quality of scientists beyond their publishing count. He taught at Harvard six years. When he received his last five-year grant for work previously approved by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, a government agency, it was “the largest amount ever awarded to a psychologist,” the National Post reports. But the veteran University of Toronto professor, who became a pariah last year for refusing to use gender-neutral pronouns such as “ze,” just coincidentally got his first rejection ever for a federal research grant:“I think that it’s...

SNIPPET: "Total bail was set at $200,000, and as a condition of release, Mr. Hersi must be in the company of one of his sureties at all times, except during private consultations with his lawyer. He has also been banned from applying for a passport, possessing firearms and accessing the Internet."

A new discovery is casting doubt on the idea that a type of star explosion shines with equal brightness wherever it occurs in the universe. The finding could have implications for estimates of the size of the cosmos. Type-1a supernovae are typically used as standard indicators of distance in the vast expanse of the universe. But the discovery of a Type-1a supernova more massive than was thought possible could force astronomers to rethink their ideas about the luminous objects, scientists reported today. ... It was thought that all Type-1a supernovae emit equal amounts of light at their peak and fade...