Opening Access to the Fast Track for Career Equity

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Opening Access to the Fast Track for Career Equity     Business leaders tend to focus their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts on addressing bias and discrimination because these practices are pervasive and discrimination is illegal. But in the process, they overlook situational factors that play a leading role — and are easier to address — in determining whether women and people of color get promoted and are among the higher paid.Career and pay equity are inextricably linked. Women and people of color continue to be underrepresented among managers and executives, and often among senior professionals as well.1 While pay equity is improving for these demographic groups, the raw pay gaps (average and median differences between women and men, and between people of color and White employees) remain high in many companies. These pay gaps will persist until women and people of color occupy the career levels and roles that command the highest pay at a rate that reasonably reflects their representation in the workforce.Inequity not only hurts individual employees; it also deprives businesses of the talent that is overlooked. If leaders understand how situational factors affect their employees’ prospects for advancement, they can apply proactive career management (PCM) — identifying and removing barriers to employee success — to make their workplaces more equitable and more productive. Continued here

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Don't Let Distractions Derail Your Company's Strategy     An openness to experimenting, learning, and adapting is an essential characteristic of an effective strategy process. However, it’s easy to get distracted by both external and internal developments and opportunities. Leaders should avoid the temptation to micromanage and assert control to mitigate this risk. Instead, they should strengthen their strategic intent, improve individuals’ connections with the strategy, and encourage better discipline, channeling energies into more productive innovation activities. Continued here

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Are You Failing to Prepare the Next Generation of C-Suite Leaders? - SPONSOR CONTENT FROM DAGGERWING     For many people leaders, that’s been the mantra for the past three years. “Let’s just get through this moment in time, focus on the short-term solutions for our immediate needs, and when things go back to normal, we’ll deal with all the issues we’ve been putting on the backburner.” Continued here

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Oklahoma OKs the nation's first religious charter school - but litigation is likely to follow     Under the proposed charter, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School plans to open in the fall of 2024 with up to 500 K-12 students from across the state. The school would be run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, but, like all charter schools, would be paid for with taxpayer dollars.School choice advocates have won key cases at the Supreme Court in recent years, opening up more ways for public dollars to support faith-based education. A charter school – privately operated, but publicly funded – would be the most dramatic of these challenges to how the separation of church and state applies to education. Continued here

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Why the Spider-Verse films are the greatest comic book movies ever made     The new film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse emerges in a rather different cinematic landscape than the one its predecessor, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, did five years ago. For the uninitiated, the animated Spider-Man series imagines that its central web-slinging hero, Miles Morales, exists within a vibrant "multiverse" of worlds where different incarnations of Spider-Man rule the roost. While the multiverse was novel back in 2018, it's a concept that has subsequently become a little played out within comic book films, in particular the movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But they learned the wrong lesson from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – seeking out the multiverse's opportunities for a free-for-all of franchise possibilities, with different characters and different incarnations of characters able to be paired together at will, while passing over Into the Spider-Verse's real draw, which was its embrace of the visual idiosyncrasies of superhero comic books and using those in service of a fresh visual language. In Spider-Verse, a “multiverse” means, above all, a chance to break some rules rather than conform to formula.More like this: – 11 of the best films to watch in June– Is the superhero film dead? – Why Sam Raimi's Spider-Man was one of a kind The first film stood out for the way in which directors Peter Ramsay, Rodney Rothman and Bob Persichetti got their team to paint Miles' world, a fresh style borne from an incorporation of traditional animation techniques and comic book art into new technologies. Its often nostalgic evocation of these elements made Miles Morales, a relatively new character in the Marvel comic books, feel like he has always been around, every part as iconic as Peter Parker. Continued here

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Paramilitaries in the Russia-Ukraine war could escalate and expand the conflict     The war in Ukraine continues more than a year after Russia’s invasion and shows no signs of abating. An attack on a Ukrainian dam is just the latest development in a long and drawn-out conflict.In the coming months, Ukrainian forces hope to make impressive inroads into Russian-occupied territory. Continued here

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How the legal tools to prevent forced marriage can lead to further abuse     Forced marriage – marriage that lacks the consent of one or both parties – is a serious issue which affects 22 million people around the world – predominantly women and girls. In England and Wales, it is a crime that is legally recognised as a form of domestic violence. In a new report, we paint a full picture of the problem, detailing the experiences of survivors and the challenges in supporting victims of forced marriage. Continued here

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Current emissions targets could keep the planet below a 2     Dirk-Jan van de Ven acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation (Grant No. CEX2021-001201-M), the Horizon Europe European Commission Project IAM COMPACT, Grant No. 101056306, and via Horizon 2020 European Commission Project PARIS REINFORCE, Grant No. 820846.In the landmark Paris Agreement, adopted at the 2015 United Nations climate change conference (COP21), 196 countries decided that the world must limit global temperature increases to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels – and to 1.5°C above current levels if possible. Continued here

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Brain tumors are cognitive parasites -     Postdoctoral Fellow in Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco Researchers have long known that brain tumors, specifically a type of tumor called a glioma, can affect a person’s cognitive and physical function. Patients with glioblastoma, the most fatal type of brain tumor in adults, experience an especially drastic decline in quality of life. Glioblastomas are thought to impair normal brain functions by compressing and causing healthy tissue to swell, or competing with them for blood supply. Continued here

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Foetal alcohol syndrome: facial modelling study explores technology to aid diagnosis     Foetal alcohol syndrome is a lifelong condition caused by exposing an unborn baby to alcohol. It’s a pattern of mental, physical and behavioural symptoms seen in some people whose mothers consumed alcohol during pregnancy. Not all prenatal alcohol exposure results in the syndrome; it is the most severe form of a range of effects called foetal alcohol spectrum disorders. South Africa has the highest reported rates of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders in the world: 111.1 per 1,000 population. The disorders may affect seven million people in the country. The number could be higher because of under-diagnosis. Continued here

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How cashless societies can boost financial inclusion -- with the right safeguards     Cashless societies, where transactions are entirely digital, are gaining traction in many parts of the world, particularly after a pandemic-era boom in demand for online banking. Improvements in digital payment infrastructure such as mobile payments, digital currencies and online banking, make it more convenient for people and businesses to buy and sell things without using cash. Even the Bank of England is looking into how a digital pound might work, showing the potential for a significant shift from physical cash to digital payments in the UK. Continued here

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Forts Cavazos, Barfoot and Liberty -- new names for army bases honor new heroes and lasting values, instead of Confederates who lost a war     One by one, the names of Confederate generals are being removed from U.S. military bases. On April 27, 2023, Fort Lee, a military base in Virginia named for a Confederate general, was renamed for two African American officers: Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg, the U.S. Army’s first Black three-star general, and Lt. Col. Charity Adams, who oversaw mail delivery to soldiers in Europe during World War II. Continued here

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Mike Pence is jockeying against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination - joining the ranks of just one vice president who, in 1800, also ran against a former boss     Former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork to declare his candidacy for president on June 5, 2023 – placing him in unusual ranks. While 18 of the 49 former vice presidents have gone on to run for president, it’s rare for vice presidents to run against their former bosses. Six of these former vice presidents, including President Joe Biden, were ultimately elected president. Continued here

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Algorithms can be useful in detecting fake news, stopping its spread and countering misinformation     For written articles in particular, there are several ways of generating fake news. A fake news article could be produced by selectively editing facts, including people’s names, dates or statistics. An article could also be completely fabricated with made-up events or people.Fake news articles can also be machine-generated as advances in artificial intelligence make it particularly easy to generate misinformation. Continued here

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How Russia is shifting to a war economy in the face of international sanctions     As Russia’s progress in Ukraine has stalled, with enormous losses in material and people, the frustrated head of the Wagner mercenary force Yevgeny Prigozhin has called for Russia to shift to a total war economy:The Kremlin must declare a new wave of mobilisation to call up more fighters and declare martial law and force ‘everyone possible’ into the country’s ammunition production efforts. We must stop building new roads and infrastructure facilities and work only for the war. Continued here

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COVID has highlighted the connection between spirituality and vaccine scepticism     In the two and a half years since the first COVID vaccines were administered, anti-vaccination sentiment has grown exponentially. Scepticism about vaccines has been voiced, in particular, in religious communities across the world, from South Korea and New Zealand to South Africa, the UK and prominently among white evangelicals, in the US. In my own church, people have expressed disbelief and denial. Some have claimed the pandemic is a lie and that the solutions proffered are proof of governmental population control and the formation of a “new world order”. Continued here

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Why we're searching for the evolutionary origins of masturbation - and the results so far     “Spanking the monkey”, “petting the poodle” and “pulling the python”: all fitting euphemisms for masturbation, and closer to the truth than you might imagine. Self-pleasure is common across the animal kingdom: from dogs humping unwitting teddy bears to dolphins thrusting their penises into decapitated fish (yes, really), animal masturbation is a raucous affair.In my team’s new paper, my colleagues and I tested the hypotheses that primate masturbation could increase reproductive success and help avoid sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Continued here

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ESG investing has made little impact on the green energy transition so far. Why is that?     As the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ramps up its dire warnings about climate change and its subsequent impact on biodiversity, environment, food and health-care systems, the same reports also point out that we have solutions available in the form of clean, renewable energy.There are a number of challenges in making the transition. One is carbon lock-in, which refers to the amount of money we have already spent on fossil fuel infrastructure compared to the cost of building new systems, like electric vehicle charging stations. Continued here

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Keir Starmer hasn't really called time on North Sea oil and gas - here's why     Keir Starmer recently announced that the UK will grant no new licenses for oil and gas firms to drill in the North Sea if Labour wins the next election. It’s a decision that would terminate the UK’s 60-year policy of offering up new areas of the North Sea for fossil fuel extraction. The Labour party has promised to clarify its energy policy later this month. Continued here

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Kakhovka dam breach raises risk for Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - receding waters narrow options for cooling     A blast on June 6, 2023, destroyed the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River in eastern Ukraine. The rupture lowered water levels in a reservoir upriver at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Enerhodar. The reservoir supplies water necessary for cooling the plant’s shutdown reactors and spent fuel, which is uranium that has been largely but not completely depleted by the fission reaction that drives nuclear power plants.The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has inspectors on-site to monitor effects of the war at the plant, issued a statement saying that there was no imminent danger. Nevertheless, the destruction of the dam increases the risk of a disaster at the plant, a risk already heightened by ongoing combat in the area. Continued here

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The legal aid sector is collapsing and millions more may soon be without access to justice - new data     The UK government has announced changes to legal aid access in England and Wales, updating means test thresholds to account for inflation. These thresholds are the maximum amount of capital or income that a person can have to be eligible for legal assistance at public expense. Under these changes, the government estimates that over 2 million more people will be eligible for civil legal aid each year. Eligibility, though, is not the same as access. The reality is that fewer and fewer people have access to civil legal aid advice and representation, because provision is collapsing. Continued here

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Business is trying to scare us about 'same job, same pay'. But the proposal isn't scary     Senior Project Officer, Australian Industrial Transformation Institute, Flinders University On Monday, eight of Australia’s largest employer groups launched a campaign against the government’s Same Job, Same Pay Bill, saying it was “unfair”. Continued here

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Ama Ata Aidoo: the pioneering writer from Ghana left behind a string of feminist classics     Prolific author and former Ghanaian education minister Ama Ata Aidoo passed away on 31 May 2023 at the age of 81. News of her death reverberated around the world, proof of her towering influence in literary, feminist and political spaces. Aidoo was Ghana’s foremost woman writer and her distinguished career spanned several decades. Her literary contribution places her among the first generation of African women writers of the post-independence era. After independence in Ghana in 1957 she became a leading feminist voice within postcolonial writing. Continued here

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The vast majority of Melburnians want more nature in their city, despite a puzzling north-south divide     When we were asked to survey people in Melbourne about their relationship with nature, little did we know our findings would reinforce a well-known cultural divide between those living north and south of the Yarra River. Residents of neighbourhoods to the south were overall less connected to nature. But perhaps a more important finding was that people in Melbourne overwhelmingly supported the creation of more space for nature in the city. Continued here

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Messi is heading to the US as Saudi Arabia kicks off bidding war with MLS for aging soccer stars     The announcements on consecutive days that the storied Real Madrid and France soccer star Karim Benzema is joining the Saudi Pro League and that Lionel Messi, thought by many to be soccer’s GOAT, intends to play in the United States’ Major League Soccer may mark the beginning of a new international bidding war for superannuated soccer stars.MLS has for many years been recruiting aging talent from big European clubs, but the Saudi interest is new. Benzema’s move to Al-Ittihad – costing more than US$200 million – follows the acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo by fellow Saudi club Al Nassr in 2022 for $100 million. Continued here

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How universities could help whole communities tackle climate change     Arinola Adefila has received from the British Council, AdvanceHE and the Office for Students to examine learning environments, learning resources and learning content. She works at the Staffordshire Centre for Learning and Pedagogic Practice where she works on projects interrogating disparities in educational attainment, lifelong learning and innovative relational pedagogies.As centres of learning, universities have the potential to help whole communities learn about and address climate change. Education can lead us to change our attitudes and behaviour. It can also help us deal with the anxiety or fear of doom that can stun us into inaction. Continued here

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Q&A with Ludovic Slimak, the archeologist who wants to rewrite the history of early humans in Europe     Archéologue, penseur et chercheur au CNRS, Université de Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier Ludovic Slimak: The paper of 3 May explains that what we thought to be the first wave of colonisation of Sapiens from the Neart East to Europe was in fact the last of three waves. In the process, Homo sapiens interacted intermittently with the Neanderthals over thousands of years. It’s a large view of continental Europe till the Eastern Mediterranean coast, which claims that we have missed something huge and what we saw in the Rhône Valley is only the visible tip of misunderstandings on the early Sapiens’ presence in the continent. Continued here

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Flavanols are linked to better memory and heart health - here's what foods you can eat to get these benefits     There are plenty of good reasons to make sure you’re eating enough fruit and vegetables each day. Not only do fruit and vegetables contain many of the important vitamins and minerals our body needs to function at its best, they also keep our gut healthy and may even help maintain a healthy weight.But some plant foods may be more beneficial for health than others, thanks to a group of compounds called flavanols. Continued here

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We've created a new lens that could take thermal cameras out of spy films and put them into your back pocket     Like something out of a spy movie, thermal cameras make it possible to “see” heat by converting infrared radiation into an image. They can detect infrared light given off by animals, vehicles, electrical equipment and even people – leading to specialised applications in a number of industries.Despite these applications, thermal imaging technology remains too expensive to be used in many consumer products such as self-driving cars or smartphones. Continued here

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The invisible effects of human activity on nature     Doctorant en sciences de l'environnement, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) Discussions at the recent COP15 biodiversity conference in Montréal highlighted once again the impact of human activities on wildlife. Many species are forced to migrate, are seeing their populations declining, or worse, are finding themselves on the brink of extinction. For example, the populations of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are declining as a result of the damage of logging on their habitat. Continued here