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Do you know what the padlock symbol in your internet browser’s address bar means? If not‚ you’re not alone. New research by my colleagues and I shows that only 5 percent of UK adults understand the padlock’s significance. This is a threat to our online safety.The padlock symbol on a web browser simply means that the data being sent between the web server and the user’s computer is encrypted and cannot be read by others. But when we asked people what they thought it meant‚ we received an array of incorrect answers.In our study‚ we asked a cross section of 528 web users‚ aged between 18 and 86 years of age‚ a number of questions about the internet. Some 53 percent of them held a bachelor’s degree or above and 22 percent had a college certificate‚ while the remainder had no further education.One of our questions was: “On the Google Chrome browser bar‚ do you know what the padlock icon represents/means?”Of the 463 who responded‚ 63 percent stated they knew‚ or thought they knew‚ what the padlock symbol on their web browser meant‚ but only 7 percent gave the correct meaning. Respondents gave us a range of incorrect interpretations‚ believing among other things that the padlock signified a secure web page or that the website is safe and doesn’t contain any viruses or suspicious links. Others believed the symbol means a website is “trustworthy”‚ is not harmful‚ or is a “genuine” website.Google’s new "tune icon" which replaces the padlock icon in Chrome’s address bar.Image credit: Google Chromium‚ CC BY 4.0Not understanding symbols like the padlock icon can pose problems to internet users. These include increased security risks and simply hindering effective use of the technology.Our findings corroborate research by Google itself‚ who in September‚ replaced the padlock icon with a neutral symbol described as a “tune icon”. In doing so‚ Google hopes to eradicate the misunderstandings that the padlock icon has afforded.However‚ Google’s update now raises the question as to whether other web browser companies will join forces to ensure their designs are uniform and intuitive across all platforms.Web browser evolutionWithout a doubt‚ the browser‚ which is our point of entry to the world wide web‚ comes with a lot of responsibility on the part of web companies. It’s how we now visit web pages‚ so the browser has become an integral part of our daily lives.It’s intriguing to look back and trace the evolution of the web’s design from the early 1990s to where we are today. Creating software that people wanted to use and found effective was at the heart of this evolution. The creation of functioning‚ satisfying‚ and most importantly‚ consistently designed user interfaces was an important goal in the 1990s. In fact‚ there was a drive in those early days to create web interface designs that were so consistent and intuitive that users would not need to think too much about how they work.Nowadays‚ it’s a different story because the challenge is centred on helping people to think before they interact online. In light of this‚ it seems bizarre that the design of the web browser in 2023 still affords uncertainty through its design. Worse still‚ that it is inconsistently presented across its different providers.It could be argued that this stems from the browser wars of the mid-1990s. That’s when the likes of Microsoft and former software company‚ Netscape‚ tried to outdo each other with faster‚ better and more unique products. The race to be distinct meant there was inconsistency between products. The rise and fall of Netscape and the browser wars of the 1990s.Internet safetyHowever‚ introducing distinct browser designs can lead to user confusion‚ misunderstanding and a false sense of security‚ especially when it is now widely known that such inconsistency can breed confusion‚ and from that‚ frustration and lack of use.As an expert in human-computer interaction‚ it is alarming to me that some browser companies continue to disregard established guidelines for usability. In a world where web browsers open the doors to potentially greater societal risks than the offline world‚ it is crucial to establish a consistent approach for addressing these dangers.As a minimum‚ we need web browser companies to join forces in a concerted effort to shield users‚ or at the very least‚ heighten their awareness regarding potential online risks. This should include formulating one unified design across the board that affords an enriched and safe user experience.Fiona Carroll‚ Reader in Human Computer Interaction‚ Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Found in the rivers and coasts of South and Southeast Asia‚ the undeniably adorable Irrawaddy dolphin is a unique sight for those lucky enough to see it. Its rarity doesn’t come from shyness alone‚ however – years of human activity have seen the population dwindle‚ to the point that the species is now classed as endangered. But with a helping hand‚ can the tide turn for the Irrawaddy dolphin?Baby beluga lookalikeWith a grey upper side and light underside‚ Irrawaddy dolphins aren’t unusually colored compared to other dolphin species. However‚ unlike their bottle-nosed relatives‚ these dolphins have no distinct beak and a pronounced rounded head; they often get compared to dorsal-finned baby beluga whales. They’re also unusual amongst dolphins in the sense that they have flexible necks‚ which can sometimes leave them with creases – it’s a bit reminiscent of the rolls on a baby’s arm. Whilst on the smaller side in terms of length – they’re about 2.8 meters (9 feet) as adults – they do have a general chonkiness about them. Combine this with their characteristically smiley expression and you get a pretty adorable-looking creature.A day in the lifeIrrawaddy dolphins can be found throughout South and Southeast Asia‚ native to a whole host of countries including Cambodia‚ Bangladesh‚ and Myanmar. They’re well-known for living in rivers in these regions – there are distinct river-dwelling subpopulations – but can also be found in shallow coastal areas where there’s some kind of freshwater input‚ such as river deltas.     They aren’t particularly fussy when it comes to food either‚ known to eat a variety of fish. The dolphins are also quite adaptable in getting their (metaphorical) hands on their dinner; they’ve been known to bottom-feed‚ sneak in close to fishing vessels to nab from nets or fish thrown overboard‚ and even spit water to try and confuse fish.Despite their water-spitting antics‚ Irrawaddy dolphins are possibly the least showy of the dolphins (we’re looking at you‚ bottlenoses). They rarely surface and even when they do‚ they don’t put much of their bodies out of the water – tourist excursions to see them are very much a “blink and you’ll miss it” affair.Brought back from the brinkGiven that they’re notoriously difficult to spot‚ it’s not been easy to come up with an estimate for the total population of the Irrawaddy dolphin across their entire habitat. However‚ where some river subpopulations exist‚ the numbers are concerning enough – in the low 10s to 100s – that they’re classed as endangered on the IUCN Red List.One subpopulation has even been listed as critically endangered; on a 118-mile stretch of the Mekong River through northern Cambodia into Laos‚ only 92 Irrawaddy dolphins are estimated to remain. Even that’s an improvement on previous numbers – the species was nearly driven to extinction in the late 20th century after being hunted for food during wartime.However‚ the 21st century has seen conservation efforts made to bring the Mekong River population back from the brink. The Cambodian government has worked with groups such as the World Wildlife Fund on a campaign to bring awareness to the species and put laws in place to prevent human-related threats. The stretch of river where the dolphins live has been made a protected zone‚ there’s been a crackdown on harmful fishing practices‚ and the appointment of river guards to make sure the rules are being kept.      These efforts seem to have paid off – in 2019‚ estimates took the population number from 80 up to 92. Although this is a good sign‚ experts have cautioned that the work is far from over. “As threats to their survival persist‚ we need to redouble our efforts to protect the dolphins both for their future and that of the river and communities that live alongside it‚” said Teak Seng‚ director of the WWF in Cambodia‚ speaking to National Geographic.Hope‚ however‚ persists in the face of potential threats. As Seng explained‚ “Their recovery is a hopeful sign for the river and the millions of people who depend on it. After years of hard work‚ we finally have reason to believe that these iconic dolphins can be protected against extinction.”

If you cruise high above the US and peer down‚ you might catch a glimpse of giant barcode-like symbols embossed into a panel of tarmac. Rest assured‚ these are not QR codes for aliens to keep tabs on Earth‚ nor the long-lost relics of an ancient civilization.The strange symbols were used in the 20th century to calibrate the lenses of aerial and satellite cameras. Most were made in the 1950s and '60s when the Cold War was heating up and the US was bolstering its aerial reconnaissance technology.Up close at ground level‚ you can see the symbols are generally made using thick black or white paint on a flat pad of concrete or asphalt. They’re typically smaller than a basketball court and often feature numerous bar-shaped lines in an organized fashion‚ which can be used by planes and satellites to calibrate the optical resolution of their imaging equipment.“The targets function like an eye chart at the optometrist‚ where the smallest group of bars that can be resolved marks the limit of the resolution for the optical instrument that is being used‚" according to the Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI). "For aerial photography‚ it provides a platform to test‚ calibrate‚ and focus aerial cameras traveling at different speeds and altitudes. The targets can also be used in the same way by satellites.” A target‚ which appears to be in the process of expansion‚ seen in California's Edwards Air Force Base‚Image credit: GoogleEarthThe CLUI goes on to explain that the targets were likely used during the testing of some of the most formidable aircraft developed by the US in the Cold War era‚ including the SR-71 Blackbird and the U-2. Today’s technology doesn’t require any such calibration targets‚ effectively rendering these massive barcodes redundant. Nevertheless‚ there are still dozens of them scattered across the US‚ most of which are located near airforce bases. Examples of these mammoth features can purportedly be located near Eglin Air Force Base in Florida‚ the Nevada Test Site‚ Fort Huachuca in Arizona‚ Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio‚ Travis Air Force Base in California‚ Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina‚ and Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina.A variation of the class Optical Calibration Target at Fort Huachuca‚ Arizona.Image credit: GoogleEarthSimilar features can be found elsewhere in the world. In 2011‚ internet sleuths were trawling through Google Maps and noticed several strange structures in the middle of the Chinese desert. Some were square in shape‚ while others featured huge zig-zags. One even consists of giant characters of the Chinese alphabet printed onto a hillside. There was much discussion about the nature of the structures‚ but it was widely agreed that it most likely had something to do with China’s reconnaissance satellites.

Imagine the future. Where is it for you? Do you see yourself striding towards it? Perhaps it’s behind you. Maybe it’s even above you.And what about the past? Do you imagine looking over your shoulder to see it?How you answer these questions will depend on who you are and where you come from. The way we picture the future is influenced by the culture we grow up in and the languages we are exposed to.For many people who grew up in the UK‚ the US and much of Europe‚ the future is in front of them‚ and the past is behind them. People in these cultures typically perceive time as linear. They see themselves as continually moving towards the future because they cannot go back to the past.In some other cultures‚ however‚ the location of the past and the future are inverted. The Aymara‚ a South American Indigenous group of people living in the Andes‚ conceptualise the future as behind them and the past in front of them.Scientists discovered this by studying the gestures of the Aymara people during discussions of topics such as ancestors and traditions. The researchers noticed that when Aymara spoke about their ancestors‚ they were likely to gesture in front of themselves‚ indicating that the past was in front. However‚ when they were asked about a future event‚ their gesture seemed to indicate that the future was perceived as behind.Look to the futureAnalysis of how people write‚ speak and gesture about time suggests that the Aymara are not alone. Speakers of Darij‚ an Arabic dialect spoken in Morocco‚ also appear to imagine the past as in front and the future behind. As do some Vietnamese speakers.The future doesn’t always have to be behind or in front of us. There is evidence that some Mandarin speakers represent the future as down and the past as up. These differences suggest that there is no universal location for the past‚ present and future. Instead‚ people construct these representations based on their upbringing and surroundings.Culture doesn’t just influence where we see the position of the future. It also influences how we see ourselves getting there.In the UK and US‚ people typically see themselves as walking with their faces pointing forward towards the future. For the M&;amacr;ori of New Zealand‚ however‚ the focus of attention when moving through time is not the future‚ but the past. The M&;amacr;ori proverb Kia whakatmuri te haere whakamua‚ translates as “I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past”.For the M&;amacr;ori‚ what is in front of us is determined by what can or has been seen. The M&;amacr;ori consider the past and present as known and seen concepts because they have already happened. The past is conceptualised as in front of a person‚ where their eyes can see them.The future‚ however‚ is considered unknown because it has not happened yet. It is thought of as behind you because it is still unseen. M&;amacr;ori perceive themselves as walking backwards rather than forwards into the future because their actions in the future are guided by lessons from the past. By facing the past‚ they can carry those lessons forwards in time.Different approachesScientists are not sure why different people represent the past‚ present and future differently. One idea is that our perspectives are influenced by the direction that we read and write in. Research shows that people who read and write from left to right draw timelines in which the past is on the left and the future is on the right‚ reflecting their reading and writing patterns.However‚ people who read from right to left‚ such as Arabic speakers‚ often draw timelines with events from the past on the right and the future on the left. However‚ reading direction cannot explain why some left-right reading people think of the future as “behind”.Another theory is that cultural values may influence our orientation to the future. Cultures vary in the extent to which they value tradition. Researchers believe your spatial concept of the future may be determined by whether your culture emphasises traditions of the past or focuses on the future.In cultures that stress the importance of progress‚ change and modernisation‚ the future is normally in front – for example‚ the UK and the US. However‚ in cultures that place a high value on tradition and ancestral history‚ such as in Morocco and Indigenous groups such as the M&;amacr;ori‚ the past is the focus and is therefore usually in front.These differences may also have implications for initiatives to tackle global challenges. If the future is not always in front‚ then Western campaign mantras about “moving forward”‚ “moving on” and “leaving the past behind” may lack resonance for many people.Perhaps‚ however‚ if we can learn from other cultures’ representations of time‚ we may be able to reframe our understanding of some of the world’s most pressing problems. Approaching the future with regular looks over the shoulder to the past could lead to a fairer future for everyone.Ruth Ogden‚ Professor of the Psychology of Time‚ Liverpool John Moores UniversityThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

If you thought a tree-dwelling‚ coconut-cracking giant rat was the stuff of fiction‚ you’re about to be proven wrong – researchers have captured the first-ever images of the rare‚ but particularly sizeable‚ Vangunu giant rat.The photos of this rodent of unusual size were captured using a set of nine camera traps‚ placed strategically in the forested Zaira Conservation Resource Management Area in the south of the island of Vangunu‚ with help from the local community. Over the course of a year‚ traps successfully snapped 95 images of four individual giant rats‚ known scientifically as Uromys vika.Although it’s not quite at the level of the swamp-dwellers in The Princess Bride‚ the Vangunu giant rat is still a hefty creature – they can weigh more than 2 pounds (just under a kilogram) and can reach up to 46 centimeters (18 inches) in length.The giant rodent has long been known by Vangunu’s people‚ with stories of its ability to climb trees and chomp into coconuts‚ but it remained elusive to science. “For decades anthropologists and mammalogists alike were aware of this knowledge‚ but periodic efforts to scientifically identify and document this species were fruitless‚” explained Tyrone Lavery‚ lead author of a study detailing the images‚ in a statement.Camera trap images featured both male and female members of the species.Image credit: Lavery et al.‚ Ecology and Evolution 2023 (CC BY 4.0 DEED)That is‚ until 2017‚ when the felling of a large tree in the south of the island also brought one of the giant rats down with it. Unfortunately‚ the rat was fatally injured by the incident‚ but researchers still took the opportunity to describe it. These new images help to create an even fuller picture of the species – but also confirm that it could be under threat.“The images show the Vangunu giant rat lives in Zaira’s primary forests‚ and these lands (particularly the Dokoso tribal area) represent the last remaining habitat for the species‚” said Lavery. “Logging consent has been granted at Zaira‚ and if it proceeds it will undoubtably lead to extinction of the Vangunu giant rat.”Though its population size is unknown‚ the species is classed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. Now holding the proof that the Vangunu giant rat does in fact exist‚ it’s hoped that conservation can be ramped up‚ continuing the efforts from the local community.“We thank the community of Zaira for unwavering commitment to conserve their forests and reefs in the face of continuous attempts to undermine this commitment‚ and for their support of this research‚” said Lavery.“We hope that these images of U. vika will support efforts to prevent the extinction of this threatened species‚ and help improve its conservation status.”The study is published in Ecology and Evolution.

The temperature of the universe is surprisingly varied‚ with some places far from any star being a lot hotter than you might expect‚ but what about the other end of the scale? Absolute zero (0 K‚ -273.16°C‚ or -459.68°F) represents a theoretical limit on how cold things can get‚ but what is the practical limit? How cold‚ then‚ is the coldest place in the universe?If you want to be really pedantic there's a very high chance that the true coldest place in the universe is inside of some alien species' research lab‚ assuming someone in the universe has exceeded our technology for creating the very cold. Finding that‚ however‚ will presumably have to wait for a fair while after we make contact‚ since “What are the coldest conditions you have produced?” is probably not the optimum opening topic of conversation.In terms of places humanity is aware of‚ we certainly haven't seen anything natural that is as cold as what we have produced ourselves. Laser cooling followed by expansion has been used to remove so much heat from clusters of atoms that they are 0.000000000038 above absolute zero. Someone will probably continue to put more zeros between the decimal point and the first numeral‚ because there is a lot of important research that requires colder and colder temperatures. Still‚ it's hard for most people to get to excited about dropping another trillionth of a degree.Moreover‚ for most people a cloud of a few hundred exotic atoms doesn't really count as a place. If you're looking for something a little roomier‚ however‚ humans still probably have nature beat. If you want to study the behavior of substances such as liquid helium in substantial quantities you need to cool not just them‚ but their surrounding environment to temperatures a few degrees above absolute zero‚ and for some studies it helps to keep pushing things lower.Ok‚ but say you consider that cheating. You want to know the coldest natural location. The aftermath of the Big Bang saw a superheated universe‚ but as it expanded it cooled‚ like a gas in a refrigeration cycle. The energy left over from the original explosion provides the cosmic background radiation‚ which‚ generally speaking puts a 2.7 K (-455°F) floor under temperatures everywhere. As the universe ages‚ this temperature will fall further‚ but it does so very‚ very slowly.       So is that the answer? Anywhere without another heat source sits at 2.7 K‚ making the coldest place in the universe a draw between an infinite number of places? Not that long ago we thought so‚ but in 1995 astronomers found something unexpected deep in the southern skies.The Boomerang Nebula (named before we had a good image of its ghost-like shape) has a temperature of just 1 K (-458°F)‚ causing it to absorb energy from the cosmic background around it‚ rather than emit it as a star's neighborhood normally would.This temperature has been confirmed in multiple studies‚ but it took 20 years to find an explanation. After all‚ the Boomerang is a planetary nebula‚ or on the way to becoming one. The name is misleading‚ planetary nebulae are formed when red giant stars not massive enough to explode as a supernova turn into white dwarfs instead.The Boomerang is thought to be so cold because it is expanding ridiculously fast‚ but whatever is driving that expansion is not supplying much heat. A 2017 paper found evidence for the presence of an interloper star besides the one that produced the nebula in the first place. The gravitational interaction between the two is thought to be supercharging the expansion of the nebula's gases. There may be some extra complexity to the story‚ but so far no one seems to have refuted the central idea.In the right part of the spectrum‚ it's not hard to see why some people think the Boomerang Nebula should be called the Ghost Nebula.Image credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF/NASA/STScI/JPL-CaltechPresumably the Boomerang‚ a relatively modest 5‚000 light-years from Earth‚ is not the only planetary nebula where such events are taking place. In such a large universe‚ there's probably a nebula driven by the same processes that is even colder. However‚ the Boomerang is only a few thousand years old and is already starting to warm up‚ so such anomalies don't last long in cosmic terms.There's also another twist to the tale. If temperature is defined as the random movement of the particles that make something up‚ negative temperatures should be impossible. Yet‚ in 1949‚ the existence of temperatures below absolute zero was predicted.Physicists define temperature in more than one way‚ including that temperature is a measure of the order within a system‚ with more order equating to lower temperatures. By this definition negative temperatures do exist‚ potentially including within the atmospheres of gas giant planets.Certainly‚ if we accept these definitions‚ anywhere with negative temperatures outranks somewhere a degree above absolute zero. However‚ it's doubtful many people would think this counts‚ so it looks like the Boomerang Nebula it is.