Robots are everywhere - improving how they communicate with people could advance human-robot collaboration

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Robots are everywhere - improving how they communicate with people could advance human-robot collaboration   Robots are machines that can sense the environment and use that information to perform an action. You can find them nearly everywhere in industrialized societies today. There are household robots that vacuum floors and warehouse robots that pack and ship goods. Lab robots test hundreds of clinical samples a day. Education robots support teachers by acting as one-on-one tutors, assistants and discussion facilitators. And medical robotics composed of prosthetic limbs can enable someone to grasp and pick up objects with their thoughts. Figuring out how humans and robots can collaborate to effectively carry out tasks together is a rapidly growing area of interest to the scientists and engineers that design robots as well as the people who will use them. For successful collaboration between humans and robots, communication is key. Continued here

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Employee resilience isn't the magic bullet solution to adversity that organizations think it is   The combination of supply chain issues, rising inflation and labour challenges has had wide-ranging impacts on businesses. In order to deal with these obstacles, many organizations have turned to employee resilience to the weather the storm.Studies have found that managers respond to business turbulence by emphasizing employee resilience in the workplace. Employee resilience is an individual’s ability to adapt to and cope with stressors and challenges in the workplace. The better an individual is at bouncing back from adversity, the more resilient they are. Continued here

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How milk tamed the Third Pole: research reveals a 3,500-year history of dairy consumption on the Tibetan Plateau   It’s not called the Third Pole for nothing. The Tibetan Plateau forms the major portion of a vast upland area of ice and glaciers that covers some 100,000 square kilometres of Earth’s surface. It is a cold, arid and unforgiving landscape that couldn’t be more different from the warm plains and valleys that gave rise to our species. Continued here

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Creating and implanting synthetic monkey embryos could pave the way to stem-cell babies   In January 2017, I met Jiankui He, the now-infamous Chinese scientist who would go on to create the world’s first genome-edited babies. This was at a meeting in Berkeley, Calif., hosted by Jennifer Doudna who, along with Emmanuelle Charpentier, was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on CRISPR genome-editing technology.This month, a team of Chinese scientists created “synthetic monkey embryos” or, more precisely, synthetic monkey embryo-like structures from stem cells and used these for reproduction. Continued here

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The grieving mother of a murdered teen pleads for a stronger social safety net   Just days after 16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes was fatally attacked at a Toronto subway station, his mother had an urgent message to public officials on how to address the spate of violent crime on the Toronto Transit Commission over the past year. Andrea Magalhaes, a nurse, urged them to stop thinking the crisis can be solved by adding more police officers, locking more people up and solely blaming the individual. Continued here

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Can death on the screen feel the same as a 'real' one?   Death is a part of life, an adage usually reserved for those who physically exist in our lives – family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances. So what happens when a profound death experience happens on the screen? Is that still a legitimate experience of mourning?This week, the popular TV show Succession had a significant “on screen” death - where even the cast filming the scene spoke as if the response to the trauma had a very real feeling. Continued here

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Star Wars is on the Verge of Bringing Back its Most Underrated Anti-Hero   The Mandalorian co-showrunner is set to conclude the "Mando-verse" in a future movie. Could he wrap up some other loose ends along the way?Dave Filoni is the savior of so many Star Wars characters. Whether it's his own creations like Ahsoka or Bo-Katan Kryze or classic characters like Boba Fett and Darth Maul, his ability to extend and delve into characters’ motivations is unrivaled. Continued here

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Why using more fertiliser and feed does not necessarily raise dairy farm profits but increases climate harm   New Zealand is in an unusual position in the developed world when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. About half of all emissions come from agriculture, and almost a quarter can be attributed to biological emissions (nitrous oxide and methane) from the dairy sector.The latest synthesis report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in March highlights the challenges climate change presents for New Zealand. And it clearly illustrates the benefits of cutting emissions sooner rather than later. Continued here

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The disturbing trend of state media use of deepfakes   Social media has been awash with fake images of a stylish Pope Francis, Elon Musk protesting in New York and Donald Trump resisting arrest. Such AI-generated images and videos, or deepfakes, have become increasingly accessible due to advances in artificial intelligence. As more sophisticated fabricated images spread, it will become increasingly difficult for users to differentiate the real from the fake. Continued here

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Through role play and simulation, this course teaches strategic ways to strike business deals that do more than just make money   Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching. I designed this class to help undergraduate business students find the skills and confidence they need to develop solutions to better the world around them through business. Continued here

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The Missing Discipline Behind Failure to Scale   In 2018, Best Buy announced that it would enter the health market. It was an unexpected move for a consumer electronics retailer, but it was consistent with then-CEO Hubert Joly’s passionate advocacy for making Best Buy a company with a deep sense of purpose.1 Starting with a focus on helping the elderly to age safely at home, the company broadened the strategy to make Best Buy Health a provider that “enables care at home for everyone.”2 It was also a lucrative opportunity: Home health is forecast to be a $265 billion market by 2025.3 Over the next few years, Best Buy Health tested its key assumptions about the opportunity, seeking out the sweet spot that would allow it to build a new business to sit alongside the company’s existing retail franchise. By 2022, it was a $525 million business, projected to grow at a 35% to 45% compound annual growth rate through 2027. The initiative created a new growth vector for its parent company and gave it a measure of resilience in the turbulent consumer retail sector. Best Buy succeeded where many companies fail. It moved through the three innovation disciplines required to build new businesses: ideation, incubation, and scaling. It came up with a new idea for solving the customer problem of aging safely at home, incubated it by running in-market experiments to test value propositions, and then scaled it to a revenue-generating business unit. This is a relatively rare accomplishment. Our research finds that while 80% of companies claim to ideate and incubate new ventures, only 16% of companies successfully scale them.4 Continued here S30 What are passkeys? A cybersecurity researcher explains how you can use your phone to make passwords a thing of the past   Effective passwords are cumbersome, all the more so when reinforced by two-factor authentication. But the need for authentication and secure access to websites is as great as ever. Enter passkeys.Passkeys are digital credentials stored on your phone or computer. They are analogous to physical keys. You access your passkey by signing in to your device using a personal identification number (PIN), swipe pattern or biometrics like fingerprint or face recognition. You set your online accounts to trust your phone or computer. To break into your accounts, a hacker would need to physically possess your device and have the means to sign in to it. Continued here � S2 Ai Weiwei interview: Everyday objects that reveal the truth   Ai Weiwei is one of the best-known artists alive today. But asked recently when he first realised he wanted to be an artist, he responded: "Do I really want to be an artist? I'm still undecided." For anyone who has followed the Chinese contemporary artist-and-activist's 45-year-long career, such a response is unsurprising. While Ai has spent decades pushing the boundaries of art, questioning the practices of several institutions, and bringing social issues to the fore, he has always also offered a sense of provocation and humour.  Ai's oeuvre transcends mediums, having worked with sculpture, printmaking, photography, installation, writing, film-making and architecture. Ai Weiwei: Making Sense at London's Design Museum explores the 65-year-old artist's work through a design lens. "It will wrestle with what humans have made and continue to make; how they make; what they chose to keep and what to destroy," the museum's director Tim Marlow writes in the exhibition catalogue, noting that it will question "what all this reveals about our changing values socially, culturally, economically and, of course, politically."  Continued here S68 Meet the Jailbreakers Hypnotizing ChatGPT Into Bomb-Building   If there’s one rule about rules, it’s that they’re bound to be broken. That goes for life, law, and, on a much more specific note, ChatGPT.In fact, that rule may go doubly for ChatGPT. As the chatbot’s popularity has ballooned, so too has the uncontrollable urge to make OpenAI’s language model do things it shouldn’t — for example, telling you step-by-step how to build explosives. Continued here � S5 In the turbulent Drake Passage, scientists find a rare window where carbon sinks quickly into the deep ocean   Looking out across the Southern Ocean near Antarctica, I can see whales and seabirds diving in and out of the water as they feed on sea life in the lower levels of the food web. At the base of this food web are tiny phytoplankton – algae that grow at the ocean surface, taking up carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, just as plants on land do.Because of their small size, phytoplankton are at the mercy of the ocean’s swirling motions. They are also so abundant that the green swirls are often visible from space. Continued here S19 Finding Ukraine's stolen children and bringing perpetrators to justice: lessons from Argentina   The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on March 17. They were accused of the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia. As of April 5, according to the Ukrainian government website, 19,384 children have been deported to Russia since the start of the war in 2022. Continued here � S22 Seven tips for a healthier relationship with your phone   How long do you spend staring at a screen every day? According to one report, the average person spends about seven hours a day on screens connected to the internet. And that figure is going to be even higher if your job is mainly done in front of a computer. Most of us over-use digital devices, spending too long either working or enjoying being distracted on phones, tablets, laptops or even VR headsets. We are accused of being addicted to tech and warned of the dangers to our physical and mental health. Continued here S70 How Ben Schwartz Became the Best at Being the Wooorst   Ben Schwartz is used to being called “the worst.” Usually, it’s by total strangers, but it’s a fairly common occurrence — and not so surprising considering the undying GIF-ability of his fan-favorite Parks and Recreation character, Jean-Ralphio. He of the bird’s nest hair, the loose scarves, and the hysterical monologues became Schwartz’s breakout role and the one the actor is still most recognized for. But Schwartz doesn’t mind.“I love that role,” he tells Inverse. “That’s the one that still, to this day, if someone sees me on the street, they cup their hands near their mouth, and they try to sing at me.” Continued here S10 Livestock are threatened by predators - but old-fashioned shepherding may be an effective solution   Carnivores like leopards, lions and hyenas have been killing livestock for centuries, causing financial losses to farmers. In many parts of the world, farmers respond by killing these predators. This has greatly reduced the populations of some top predators like leopards and lions. Killing predators may decrease their numbers in the short term. But there is no evidence that it is an effective way to protect livestock in the long term. For example, in South Africa, populations of the medium-sized predators like caracals and jackals that also predate on livestock increased or migrated into the area in response to lethal control efforts. Continued here S8 State battles over abortion are leading to state constitutional amendments - an option in all states and available directly to citizens in 18 states   The battles over abortion – who can get one, when they can get one – largely shifted from a focus on the U.S. Supreme Court back to state lawmakers and judges in June 2022. That’s when the Supreme Court ruled that there was no federal constitutional guarantee of the right to get an abortion. States, they said, should be making the rules.That decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, has meant a lot of activity in the past year in both state legislatures and courts. Two contradictory rulings early in April 2023 about whether women should have access to mifepristone, one of the two kinds of prescription abortion pills typically taken together for abortion, make it clear that federal courts still play a role in abortion policymaking. But states remain an important battleground. Continued here S23 Scientists launch JUICE mission to explore Jupiter's icy moons   Sous-directrice adjointe des Projets en Sciences de l’Univers et Cheffe de Projet des contributions françaises à JUICE, Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES) Carole Larigauderie is a member of WIA (Women In Aerospace) and a sponsor within "Elles bougent". Continued here S14 The Super Mario Bros. Movie: don't watch it for the story but for how it successfully represents gameplay   The first videogame I ever played was the arcade game Donkey Kong. Released in 1981, it took us into a blocky-looking world where a carpenter in overalls raced along platforms and up ladders in a building site to rescue a lady kidnapped by a large ape. Its humble hero, Mario, went on to feature in scores of multi-million dollar grossing games, becoming an icon as popular as Mickey Mouse.Having grown up in the 1980s, the new Super Mario Bros. Movie meant more to me than the average fantasy animation film. Watching Mario and Donkey Kong have it out on a massive screen – at a resolution so high you can see a single hair or wrinkle on these crisp-looking, toy-like characters – was remarkable. Continued here S39 'Build back better' requires a framework that focuses on the full life of a house - from materials to its end of life   In the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, New Zealand is again talking about “building back better”. But how do we build back better when we don’t necessarily understand what “better” means? Or how to achieve this across a country with significantly different risk profiles?At its most basic level, build back better is an opportunity to rebuild homes and other buildings in a way that is responsive to future risks and sustainability needs. To achieve this, we need to address knowledge gaps around building within a circular economy. A circular economy is one that swaps the typical cycle of make, use, dispose in favour of re-using and recycling as much as possible. Continued here S17 What the WWE-UFC merger means for the future of wrestling and MMA   World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) “WrestleMania” is the biggest event in the professional wrestling calendar. Marketed for 2023 as the event where “WrestleMania Goes Hollywood”, the two nights of glitz, glamour and grunting pugilists turned out to be somewhat prophetic.On April 2, the second day of WrestleMania 39, CNBC broke the news that WWE is to be sold to Hollywood talent agency, Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. Continued here S24 Not doomed: How the right coping mechanisms can save trauma victims from PTSD   Those who have experienced the horrors of war see their lives clearly delineated between a “before” and an “after”. This singular ordeal does not, as is often believed, mean that it is impossible to live, but generally forces people to live in a very different way. The disruption of the life process that results from this situation causes upheavals that each individual faces by drawing onto their capacity to adapt. But not everyone reacts in the same way.To describe the mechanisms at work, health psychologists have coined the concept of “coping”, which is closely linked to that of adaptation. However, its outcome varies depending upon whether it is geared toward impacting upon the situation through action, or managing associated emotional states stemming from it. Continued here S15 How Elvis, Beethoven, Arthur Miller and Kafka narrated their own lives through art   Abigail Jareño Gómez is a member of the "Psychobiography Group of the Psychohistory Forum".Have you ever wondered what goes through the mind of an author, artist or composer when they create a certain work? Well, you’re not the only one. Continued here S9 Community health workers in Ethiopia set out to promote health - in the process they've empowered girls in other ways too   Ethiopia has made significant progress in supporting gender equality and girls’ empowerment. Rates of child marriage and teenage pregnancy have decreased substantially. Access to sexual and reproductive health services has increased. There has also been progress in the education sector. School attendance rates at all levels have risen, and the gender gap in enrolment is narrowing. Despite these positive trends, inequalities and entrenched patriarchal norms remain. Adolescent girls and young women in Ethiopia continue to face challenges, especially in rural areas. For example, the national rates of child marriage remain among the highest in Africa. Data from 2016 estimated that 58% of girls and 9% of boys were married before the age of 18. Improvements in education attainment for adolescent girls also remain sluggish. Only 15% of women have completed secondary or higher education. For men, the figure is 23%. Continued here S3 Obsession review: Netflix's erotic BDSM thriller is excruciating to watch   There is a dialogue-free scene in Obsession that is likely to excite some comment. Can you guess from its closed captions alone what is happening? "Groans softly." "Unsettling music playing." "Unsettling music intensifies." "Sniffing. Grunting." "Moans softly." "Gasps." "Exhales sharply." "Gasps." "Unsettling music continues." "Inhales deeply. Grunts." "Belt buckle clinking." "Sobbing." Continued here S33 Autism and ADHD assessment waits are up to 2 years' long. What can families do in the meantime?   Bennett Chair of Autism, Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia Reports have emerged from around Australia of waitlists of up to two years to receive a diagnostic assessment for neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Continued here S13 Ukraine war: the devastating effects of conflict on infant mortality rates - new research   The brutal war in Ukraine is now over a year old. While estimates of the numbers of civilians killed and injured vary, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has estimated that 8,317 civilians have been killed and a further 13,892 injured from the beginning of the war on February 24 2022 to March 20 2023, the most recent date for which figures are available. On March 16 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced it had recorded 859 attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine. Russian attacks on civilians and the most vulnerable targets, including maternity hospitals, have been a feature of the conflict from its beginning. On March 9 2022, the now-infamous Russian missile attack destroyed Maternity Hospital No.3 in the besieged city of Mariupol. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack constituted a war crime, adding: Continued here S29 Gender-blind policies ignore the disproportionate effects of water crisis on women   The demand for water resources is higher than ever before. The growing global population, expanding industrial development and the impacts of climate change are exacerbating the global water crisis. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report highlighted the rising threats to water security and irreversible losses in freshwater ecosystems as climate change worsens. The UN Water Conference 2023, which took place in New York last month, called attention to the slow progress on water-related sustainable development goals globally. Continued here S21 Seven ways to recycle heat and reduce carbon emissions   Heating of space and water in buildings accounts for about 44% of all energy consumed globally according to the International Energy Agency. This heat is still overwhelmingly generated by burning fossil fuels, making it an enormous source of the carbon emissions driving climate change. But you might be surprised to learn just how much heat is wasted each day. Finding ways to recover and recycle it could drastically reduce emissions.Consider a standard petrol or diesel car. The engine provides the momentum and produces excess heat that a radiator removes. This heat is largely wasted, except in winter when it warms the windscreen and passengers. Generators that supply electricity to the grid work in a similar way – their excess heat could be diverted to heat buildings instead. In the UK, there are many gas engines on standby to supply the power grid when needed. I was part of the team that linked the heat from a gas power generator to a building central heating system. Continued here S18 Why focusing on COVID deaths undercounts the health harms of the pandemic - new research   More than three years into the COVID pandemic, both the virus and the measures taken to control its spread have affected people’s lives across the globe. But how can we fully quantify these effects? In a new study we’ve attempted to quantify how the COVID pandemic has affected global health using an international survey of the general public. Continued here S48 With unemployment steady at 3.5%, inflation fears shouldn't stop Australia embracing a full employment target   Despite warnings of a global economic downturn, Australia has again defied the odds with its official unemployment rate remaining steady at 3.5% in March. Behind that number though, plenty happened. The total number of people in jobs grew by 53,000. The increase of 116,600 in employment in the past two months surpasses anything seen since the middle of 2022, when the unemployment rate first hit 3.5%. It seems there is still plenty of strength in labour demand. Continued here S34 'The wilderness of mirrors': 70 years since the first James Bond book, spy stories are still blurring fact and fiction   With these opening words, Ian Fleming (1908-64) introduced us to the gritty, glamorous world of James Bond. Fleming’s first novel, Casino Royale, was published 70 years ago on April 13 1953. It sold out within weeks. British readers, still living with rationing and shortages after the war, eagerly devoured the first James Bond story. It had expensive liquor and cars, exotic destinations, and high-stakes gambling – luxurious things beyond the reach of most people. Continued here S6 Is the US in a space race against China?   The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Defense, or of any organization the author is affiliated with, including the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Space ForceHeadlines proclaiming the rise of a new “space race” between the U.S. and China have become common in news coverage following many of the exciting launches in recent years. Experts have pointed to China’s rapid advancements in space as evidence of an emerging landscape where China is directly competing with the U.S. for supremacy. Continued here S11 Only 1 in 3 girls makes it to secondary school in Senegal: here's why and how to fix it   The reasons begin in primary school. In Senegal, the official primary school entrance age is six. Primary school lasts six years, lower secondary lasts four years and upper secondary lasts three years.Our findings were that in the last grade of primary school, the dropout rate was 26.7% for girls and 22.2% for boys. Continued here S58 What Really Happened at Waco   The federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound, thirty years ago, was flawed from the start. The Branch Davidians were a fringe offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and, in the early nineties, they were led by David Koresh, a charismatic long-haired man who believed that the end of days was imminent. The Davidians lived on a compound called Mount Carmel, twenty miles northeast of Waco, and were well known to local law enforcement, who considered them relatively benign.The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms suspected the Davidians of illegally converting semi-automatic rifles into fully automatic weapons. (The weapons allegations seemed to inspire more reason for action than reports that Koresh was sexually assaulting his followers’ underage daughters.) During the ensuing investigation, A.T.F. agents repeatedly overestimated their capacity for subterfuge. When a group of undercover agents posing as college students moved into a house across the street from the Branch Davidian compound, their rental cars gave them away. The agents hosted a party to deflect suspicion, but it had the opposite effect: “Some of the Branch Davidians showed up, mingled, and reported back to Koresh that these were federal agents for sure,” Jeff Guinn writes, in the recently published “Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage.” Another agent, Robert Rodriguez, posed as a potential follower to gain access to the group. Koresh quickly pegged him as a Fed but kept inviting him to Bible study anyway; after all, as he reminded his followers, Jesus had preached to a Roman centurion. Continued here S44 Binding Ties explores celebrated artist Catherine Opie's world of transitions   Oliver breastfeeding. Oliver at five dressed in a tutu. Oliver at ten with his pet mouse in his vest pocket, an exquisite re-staging of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Lady with an Ermine from 1489. These portraits of Oliver, the son of Catherine Opie, one of the world’s leading photographic artists, are among the highlights of Binding Ties, the first Australian survey exhibition of Opie’s work at the Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne. Continued here S27 NCAA basketball championship: Criticism of Angel Reese reveals the unfair standards imposed on Black women in sport   Louisiana State University’s women’s basketball team has been crowned 2023 NCAA champions. The championship game was the most watched in women’s NCAA basketball history with 9.9 million viewers tuning in. Toward the end of the game, Angel Reese from LSU celebrated by waving her hand in front of her face and pointing to her ring finger. Her gestures were largely directed towards the opposing team’s Caitlin Clark from the University of Iowa. Continued here S66 Project Necromancer? 'The Mandalorian' Episode 7's Opening Scene, Explained   The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 7 finally answered a question fans have been asking from the pilot: What is going on with the Empire? The answer came in the form of a meeting of the minds led by Moff Gideon, in his first appearance this season. After speaking with his woman on the inside, Elia Kane, he convenes a meeting of the “Shadow Council” — the remaining leaders of the Empire. But just who are these people, and what’s their plan? Let’s break down some of the biggest players and reveals from the opening scene of The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 7. Warning: Major spoilers ahead! Continued here S32 Fear and Wonder podcast: how scientists attribute extreme weather events to climate change   Last month the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Synthesis Report of the Sixth Assessment Report.It showed global temperatures are now 1.1℃ above pre-industrial levels. This warming has driven widespread and rapid global changes, including more frequent and intense weather extremes that are now impacting people and ecosystems all over the world. Continued here S46 From radical to reactionary: the achievements and legacy of the influential artist John Olsen   Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne After media outlets breathlessly described the late John Olsen as a “genius”, I found myself humming The Chasers’ Eulogy Song. Continued here S49 Labor two seats short of a majority in final NSW lower house results, plus a polling critique   Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne At the March 25 New South Wales state election, Labor won 45 of the 93 lower house seats (up nine since the 2019 election), the Coalition 36 (down 12), the Greens three (steady), independents nine (up six) and the Shooters zero (down three). Continued here S20 How racism and inequality affect even 'desirable' EU migrants in the UK   Everyone knows Italy, as soon as you come here they’ll be like, “Oh Italian, cool! I’ve been there,” so it’s a way of chatting, breaking ice […] but I don‘t know if it’s the same for other foreigners. Like my friend from Bulgaria, if she says, “I’m from Bulgaria,” people are like, “[silence] I’ve never been there.”The referendum had a profound emotional effect on EU migrants in the UK who had built families and long-term relationships. To them, the UK’s decision to leave the EU felt like a shock and betrayal. Continued here S64 Disney May Be On the Verge of Fixing Star Wars' Biggest Problem   Thanks to this year’s Star Wars Celebration event in London, fans have gotten everything from new looks at upcoming shows like Ahsoka to game-changing casting announcements. In case that wasn’t enough, Lucasfilm also used the event to share several updates that have drastically redefined the big-screen future of the Star Wars franchise. Of those updates, the most exciting was Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy’s announcement that the Disney-owned studio has three new Star Wars films in development.One of the movies will take place in the New Republic era of The Mandalorian and will be directed by Mandalorian director and Ahsoka creator Dave Filoni, while another will take place after the events of Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker and will follow Daisy Ridley’s Rey as she attempts to build a new Jedi Order. The latter film will be directed by Ms. Marvel and Saving Face director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Meanwhile, the third of the three live-action films will be directed by Logan filmmaker James Mangold and will take viewers back to the dawn of the Jedi. Continued here S47 The much-anticipated JUICE mission to Jupiter launches today. Here's what it might discover   The European Space Agency’s JUICE mission (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) is launching today at 10:15pm AEST from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana.JUICE will be targeting three water-rich worlds – Jupiter’s moons Ganymede, Europa and Callisto – to check out potential habitats and evidence of past alien life, both on and below the surface. There’s an excellent reason why these worlds in particular are the mission target – they might be habitable for life as we know it. Continued here S31 Farewell Liddell: what to expect when Australia's oldest coal plant closes   After more than five decades, the last operating units of the Liddell coal-fired power station will close this month. The station’s owner, AGL, is Australia’s largest carbon polluter. Liddell’s closure will reduce the company’s emissions by 17%.Liddell, in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, is Australia’s oldest coal station. It started operations in the early 1970s – about the same time the Datsun 180B was released, and before the Sydney Opera House officially opened! Continued here S65 'The Last of Us Part I' on PC Is a Major Missed Opportunity   I’ve never played Part I or II, and my first true experience with the series was watching the HBO show. Even with the award-winning accessibility features found within Part II, I was unable to play alongside my disabled peers due to the lack of accessible hardware for PlayStation systems. Now that Part I is finally on a system with mouse and keyboard functionality, I find myself quite frankly disappointed at the lack of care with certain options.Iron Galaxy and Naughty Dog have finally brought the acclaimed PlayStation console exclusive to the PC, but fail to fully implement key accessibility features for people with motor disabilities. Traversing America while fighting infected and humans is emotionally and physically draining. Unfortunately, the limited motor accessibility features in this port do little to make that daunting task easier. Continued here S55 A New Phase in the Rollback of Abortion Access   This past Friday, the national debate around reproductive rights entered a new phase, with the filing of competing rulings on the fate of mifepristone, the first pill in a two-drug regimen used in more than half of abortions around the country. In Amarillo, Texas, a federal judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, invalidated the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion medication, which had been in wide use for more than two decades, arguing that the federal agency had based its decision on “plainly unsound reasoning.” Kacsmaryk was nominated by Donald Trump, in 2017, and it wasn’t a coincidence that the case landed in his court: last year, the lead plaintiff, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a coalition of anti-abortion groups, incorporated in Amarillo just a few weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.Less than an hour after Kacsmaryk’s opinion became public, Judge Thomas Rice of Washington State’s Eastern Federal District Court ordered the F.D.A. to preserve the status quo. “The public interest favors a preliminary injunction,” Rice wrote in his decision, which stemmed from a suit brought by a group of Democratic attorneys general from seventeen states and Washington, D.C., seeking to broaden access to mifepristone. The Justice Department, which is representing the F.D.A., also filed a notice of appeal, and some legal analysts have predicted that the issue could soon wind up before the Supreme Court. “This is not the end of the fight,” Jamila Perritt, an obstetrician-gynecologist and the head of Physicians for Reproductive Health, said. “We are deeply in the middle of it.” Continued here S61 This Bird's Ingenious Survival Skill Could Inspire Revolutionary Technology   Water is one of the scarcest — yet most crucial — resources for desert-dwelling organisms. So these creatures have devised some creative ways to get enough of it. Some munch on water-rich cacti and succulents; others collect fog as it condenses on their backs. Camels were once believed to store water in their humps (though we now know that these are actually energy-dense layers of fat).But one type of desert bird lives up to these camel dreams — it can haul around water in its feathers. Now, scientists know precisely how the Namaqua sandgrouse does it, according to new research published in the journal The Royal Society Interface. This remarkable feather physics could be used to design better water bottles, nasal swabs, or even techniques to harvest drinking water from the air. Continued here S63 You Need to Watch Nic Cage's Trippiest Crime Thriller for Free Online ASAP   It’s a missed opportunity that Nicolas Cage’s first role as one of Universal’s Classic Monsters isn’t Frankenstein, as his performance in Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans provides robust scaffolding for a turn as The Monster. He’d make a respectable Victor Frankenstein or Igor too, so let’s hope for a gutsy auteur to triple-cast him in a high-concept outré take on Mary Shelley’s classic novel. For now, we have Cage’s blueprint of what could be, packaged in a post-Katrina black comic crime masterpiece.Bad Lieutenant is dominated by Cage’s frame. Most people won’t reach for “tall” as their first descriptor of Cage; “crazy,” of course, is a popular one, or “zany,” or perhaps “unhinged.” But Cage stands at a sturdy six feet, and Peter Zeitlinger, Herzog’s cinematographer, takes every opportunity to emphasize his height, the way he stands out in the frame not simply because of his raw nerve but because he’s big. His character, corrupt and coked-out New Orleans Police Sergeant Terence McDonagh, cuts a commanding figure. He’s imposing, physically and figuratively. McDonagh looms over just about everyone he encounters, but he’s a larger-than-life spirit, too, one whose shadow is cast over all wherever he goes. Continued here S56 The Folly of Censoring “Joyland,” a Sublime Film About Family   Last year, a film called "The Legend of Maula Jatt," based on a 1979 cult classic, became the most successful Pakistani film in history. The opening scene depicts the grisly murder of the Jatt family; young Maula survives, and vows to exact revenge against the perpetrators, namely Noori Natt. The two men spend the rest of the movie hacking up each other's associates. When the film first came out in the U.K., some of the gore had to be edited out; the British Board of Film Classification warned potential viewers of "frequent scenes of strong bloody violence," noting that, in one, "a woman decapitates a man and holds up his bloody severed head. . . . In another scene a man buries a baby alive." Nonetheless, the uncut film cleared censorship boards in Pakistan. It attracted hordes of moviegoers, some of whom presumably couldn't even understand the Punjabi dialogue. Everyone who spoke to me about the film deemed it too much fun to resist.Also last year, an indie film about a middle-class Punjabi family sent Pakistan into a moral panic. "Joyland," a film directed by Saim Sadiq that won awards at Cannes and the Film Independent Spirit Awards, and which Pakistan submitted to the 2023 Oscars, had to be cleared by the country's three censor boards in order to be screened in Pakistan. After a series of edits, the censor boards certified the film. Then, just before its release, it was banned. After lobbying by supporters of the film, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif assembled a review committee, which recommended more changes. The carefully edited film was screened in the province of Sindh, but remained banned in Punjab, Pakistan's most populated province and the film's primary setting. Continued here S16 Risk of heart disease lower when obesity is due to genetics rather than lifestyle - new research   PhD candidate, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet It’s well known that a high body mass index (BMI) has negative effects on our health, increasing the risk of several diseases. This is concerning since nearly one-third of the world’s population is now classified as overweight or obese. Continued here S12 South Africans have starkly unequal access to a healthy diet - the solution requires tackling deep-seated historical injustice   South Africa has a food crisis. The food system - made up of all of the activities and actors involved in the production, processing, transportation, selling, consumption and disposal of food - produces starkly unequal access to nutritious foods.As a result, many households in the country cannot afford a healthy diet, 27% of children under five are stunted, and the prevalence of diet-related diseases is rising rapidly. Continued here S67 You Need to Play 2022's Most Underrated Thriller on Xbox Game Pass ASAP   One of the most essential pieces of any horror game is its atmosphere, and a fittingly creepy vibe can help elevate even a mediocre experience. Tango Gameworks, the developer behind The Evil Within and Hi-Fi Rush, has proven time and again that it's a master of atmosphere, and never has that been more true than with 2022’s most underrated horror game, Ghostwire: Tokyo. It’s an unforgettable virtual trip through a painstakingly detailed supernatural version of Tokyo, but it’s not just the horror element that stands out, as Ghostwire’s combat and surprisingly poignant story turn it into something truly special. Continued here S62 What Lies Beneath the Ice of Jupiter's Moons? Two Missions Will Investigate   Jupiter's icy moons may soon reveal some of their secrets to Europe's JUICE and NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft.Jupiter is like an ogre, with one arm made of gravity, and the other made of radiation. These metaphorical arms stretch, squeeze, and bathe the menagerie of objects orbiting the giant planet. A pair of missions will soon go towards this planet to study ice-encrusted moons within its grasp that may harbor oceans where life might be huddled away — but will each use different strategies to avoid the ogre arms. Continued here S43 Anatomy of monster storm: how Cyclone Ilsa is shaping up to devastate the WA coast   Residents along Western Australia’s northwest coast are bracing for Tropical Cyclone Ilsa, which is expected to be one of the most destructive storms to strike the region in more than a decade.The Bureau of Meteorology says Cyclone Ilsa will intensify into a category-five storm when it hits the WA coast between Port Hedland and Bidyadanga Thursday night or Friday morning. Continued here S54 Increasingly Unhinged Jim Jordan Subpoenas Himself   WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—House Republicans expressed alarm after an increasingly unhinged Rep. Jim Jordan subpoenaed himself to testify before Congress.In a blistering statement, the House Judiciary Committee chairman demanded that he comply with his subpoena and called himself a “toadying Soros-backed flunky.” Continued here S41 Running gels and protein powders can be convenient boosts for athletes - but be sure to read the label   Personal bests, competition wins, new challenges – athletes, and particularly endurance athletes, tend to want to push themselves hard to perform. So it makes sense that there is a big interest in sports supplements, like running gels and protein powders. We all need macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins and fats that give us energy and build structures like muscles and other cells in our bodies. Continued here S45 Explainer: High Court ruling in immigration case could impact hundreds of visa decisions since 2016   This week, the High Court of Australia handed down a significant ruling in an immigration case that could affect hundreds of similar visa cases handled by the Department of Home Affairs. Specifically, the ruling may call into question the legality of decisions the department has made since 2016 when it has rejected appeals for ministerial intervention in specific visa cases. Continued here S57 Some Reasons That You Might Own a Collection of Fancy Third Reich Table Linens   After ProPublica revealed that billionaire and GOP megadonor HarlanCrow spent decades lavishing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomaswith pricey gifts and globetrotting trips, follow up stories notedCrow is an ardent collector of Nazi memorabilia. . . . What’s ondisplay at his Dallas mansion includes two Hitler paintings, a signedcopy of Mein Kampf, and swastika embossed linens. —Mother JonesThe fancy Third Reich table linens were a steal compared with the fancy Confederate table linens. Continued here S60 How Waco Became a Right-Wing Rallying Cry   Donald Trump recently staged the first major rally of his 2024 Presidential campaign in Waco, Texas. Thirty years ago, a botched federal raid on the compound of the Branch Davidians—a heavily armed splinter group of the Seventh-day Adventist Church dominated by the charismatic David Koresh—led to a harrowing fifty-one-day siege. Just twenty miles from Waco, this standoff ended with federal tanks, tear gas, a fire, and more than seventy dead. Trump’s people claim the rally’s timing is coincidental, the location chosen for its convenient travel from four major Texas metropolitan areas. But in the past thirty years the siege of Waco has become a rallying cry for right-wing extremists, including Timothy McVeigh and Alex Jones. Rachel Monroe is a contributing writer at The New Yorker, where she covers Texas and the Southwest. She joins Tyler Foggatt to talk about what happened in 1993, and how its mythology remains a galvanizing political force thirty years later.© 2023 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices Continued here S40 A 'hybrid' solar eclipse is about to be visible in Australia. Here's when and where you can see it   Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria and Honorary Fellow at University of Melbourne, Museums Victoria On Thursday 20 April, the Ningaloo region of Western Australia will experience a total solar eclipse. Eclipse chasers from around the world are converging on the town of Exmouth in hopes of experiencing the profound awe of standing in the Moon’s shadow as it quickly races by. Continued here S50 Super tax concessions don't cost $45 billion a year and won't cost more than the pension   You may have read this week that Australia’s super tax breaks are excessively generous (“well beyond any plausible purpose”) and that their costs unsustainable.The figures quoted – A$45 billion a year or 2% of GDP “and set to exceed the cost of the age pension” – are derived from Treasury’s Tax Expenditures Statement and the government’s 2021 Retirement Income Review. Continued here S42 People in the Kimberley have spent decades asking for basics like water and homes. Will the Voice make their calls more compelling?   The intent of the proposed First Nations Voice to Parliament is to elevate and amplify our input across the nation into laws, policies and programs that will impact on Indigenous Australians. One crucial question is how exactly the Voice process will collect the input of local and regional Voices and transfer them all the way to federal parliament. Continued here S59 What We Still Don't Know About Periods   In 2013, the researchers Christine Metz and Peter K. Gregersen proposed what is now considered to be one of the most important investigations in the study of endometriosis. The substance they wanted to analyze was abundant and easy to collect: menstrual blood, or "effluent," as it's better described, since much of this substance is not only blood but endometrial cells, hormones, and vaginal secretions. Their idea was simple. Participants would collect their menstrual flows using cups or specialized sponges, and mail the samples to their research center. There, the material would be studied for potential markers for endometriosis, a lifelong, incurable condition in which tissue similar to that which lines the uterus grows outside the womb. Endometriosis is notoriously painful and affects at least ten per cent of people with uteruses. Diagnosing the condition takes, on average, a decade, and often requires a laparoscopic procedure in which a viewing instrument is inserted, through an incision, into the abdomen and tissue is retrieved and biopsied. By testing menstrual blood, they were hoping to make endometriosis diagnoses faster, less invasive, and more accessible.Some of their colleagues responded to their study with disgust and unease. "When we started promoting our study and trying to recruit women to the study," Metz tells the midwife and podcaster Leah Hazard, "we found that most physicians were not going to help us. They were very reluctant to talk about the study with their patients. They said, 'Oh, my patients aren't going to give you menstrual effluent. No way. They wouldn't like to do that.' " Medical professionals, as Hazard writes in her new book, "Womb," are not immune to shame around periods—the embarrassment that induces menstruating people to hide tampons up their sleeves when walking to the bathroom, or experience a sense of deep mortification over a bloodstain. What she calls the "yuck factor" associated with periods leads many doctors and scientists to avoid the subject. In a review of scientific papers, Hazard finds that there are about four hundred studies on menstrual effluent compared with more than fifteen thousand for semen or sperm. Continued here S51 Weeds: the good, the bad, and the sometimes beautiful   Investigadora posdoctoral Beatriu de Pinos en Malherbologia, Universitat de Lleida Spring is here and many fields of crops are dotted with red poppies. Farmers know that this is not a good sign, even if hundreds of people show up, mobile phones in hand, in search of the best photograph. Continued here S53 Elliott from “E.T.” 's College Essay   When I was ten years old, suburban and average, something happened that changed the course of my life. We were the first house on our street to experience the phenomenon, though to me it felt like we were the first on the planet. That year, my family received a surprise visitor—divorce.I wish that I had something uniquely harrowing to share—something to demonstrate my will and my ability to face adversity. Unfortunately, I've lived a largely uneventful adolescence. I even took comfort in my family's averageness. When my parents first separated, I didn't tell anyone at school. Dad moving out was my little secret, something I kept tucked away, metaphorically hidden among my stuffed animals. I didn't want my peers to see me differently, but I had never felt so isolated. With the exception of my alien friend, whom I nicknamed E.T., I felt alone in the world. Continued here S52 Traditional masculinity is a vague, unhelpful term we should abandon - here's why   Most of us think we know what we mean when we talk about “traditional masculinity”. A term commonly used to describe a broad range of men’s traits and behaviour, it includes things like violence and aggression, emotional restraint, and hunger for power and dominance, to more positive characteristics such as reliability, stability, physical strength, independence and integrity. Men’s homophobia and misogyny can be framed as traditional masculinity, yet when men sacrifice their comforts and health to provide for family, or give their lives to defend their country, this is regarded as traditional masculinity too. The term has many meanings, yet these are rarely explained. Continued here Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Followers Blog Archive ►  2024 (51) ►  December (1) ►  October (2) ►  August (2) ►  July (4) ►  June (3) ►  May (5) ►  April (4) ►  March (2) ►  February (10) ►  January (18) ▼  2023 (834) ►  December (20) ►  November (54) ►  October (44) ►  September (108) ►  August (91) ►  July (29) ►  June (68) ►  May (104) ▼  April (33) Why Kurt Vonnegut's advice to college graduates st... Why Kurt Vonnegut's advice to college graduates st... April 28, 2023 - Russia kills at least nine in new... As Elon Musk's monetization strategy takes effect,... The 14 Best ChatGPT Prompts on GitHub Research: When A/B Testing Doesn't Tell You the Wh... 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