Reimagining time will help employers better support workers with disabilities

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Reimagining time will help employers better support workers with disabilities     Despite the fact that people with disabilities are entitled to equality under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the provincial Human Rights Codes, they continue to face systemic barriers in accessing employment, education, transportation and housing. Individuals with disabilities are under-represented in the Canadian labour market. Only 60 per cent of people with disabilities are employed in Canada, compared to 80 per cent of those without disabilities. Continued here

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What the pope's visit to Mongolia says about his priorities and how he is changing the Catholic Church     Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Mongolia, which is home to fewer than 1,500 Catholics, has elicited curiosity among Catholics and non-Catholics alike. This will be the pope’s 43rd trip abroad since his election on March 13, 2013: He has visited 12 countries in the Americas, 11 in Asia and 10 in Africa. Continued here

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Faith Kipyegon: from walking to school in rural Kenya to setting world athletics alight     All eyes are on Faith Kipyegon at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. That’s because the Kenyan 1,500 metre and 5,000 metre star broke three world records in less than two months on her way to Hungary.As expected, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya are spearheading Africa’s hopes for medals, continuing their dominance in middle and distance running events. At the 2022 champs, Ethiopia finished second and Kenya fourth in the medal table. Between them they won 20 of the 28 medals lifted by African athletes. Continued here

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Ecological grief and uncontrollable reality in Wes Anderson's 'Asteroid City'     Much has been written on the grief in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, with the director himself being candid enough to describe the film not only in terms of grief, but as being centred chiefly around death. Anderson also notes, however, that the concept for the film was how we contend with things outside of our own control. Set in a fictional desert town in 1950s America, Asteroid City follows a father and his children to a Junior Stargazer convention, only to have the event “spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.” Continued here

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Ozempic, the 'miracle drug,' and the harmful ideaof a future without fat     We’ve encountered these headlines before. Time and again, dubious and ineffective solutions for obesity gain prominence. Pills, tonics, elixirs, Zumba, Noom and now Ozempic. The latest wonder drug is a semaglutide drug invented to help diabetics regulate blood glucose levels, but has the notable side-effect of severe weight loss. It has been heralded by many to culminate in the elimination of fat bodies. Continued here

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A billion people in Africa are at a climate risk blind spot     Disasters related to the weather or climate are becoming more common. Since 1970, there has been a five-fold increase in the number of weather-related disasters, causing economic damages that have surged a staggering 70 times over the same period. This worrying trend is expected to worsen as climate change causes floods, droughts and heatwaves to become more intense, frequent and longer-lasting. Continued here

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The idea that imprisonment 'corrects' prisoners stretches back to some of the earliest texts in history     Prisons are places of suffering. But in theory, they aim for something beyond punishment: reform.In the United States, the goal of prisoner rehabilitation can be traced back, in part, to the 1876 opening of the Elmira Reformatory in upstate New York. Purported to be an institution of “benevolent reform,” the reformatory aimed to transform prisoners, not just deprive them – though founder Zebulon Brockway, known as the “Father of American Corrections,” was notoriously harsh. Continued here

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Ballet flats are back. Here's what the research says about how they affect your feet     Ballet flat shoes – those thin-heeled lightweight slip-on shoes – are making a fashion comeback. And it’s not hard to see why: they’re versatile, easy to wear, soft, flexible and often worn by celebrities.We have often been warned of the dangers of high-heeled shoes, so you might think ballet flats are problem-free. Continued here

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Ticks are becoming a growing health risk in the UK - here's why     Earlier this year, the UK Health Security Agency confirmed a case of tick-borne encephalitis – a potentially deadly virus carried by ticks that causes brain inflammation. A British man is also said to have contracted alpha-gal syndrome after being bitten by a tick. This condition can trigger a fatal allergy to red meat.The ticks that carry these pathogens are already common in other parts of the world, including Europe and North America. But in light of these reports, many may be wondering whether ticks and tick-borne diseases are a growing risk in the UK. Continued here

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Typhoon shelter chicken wings     Summer in Hong Kong marks the beginning of typhoon season. Cue the dense air, heavy storms and rain that can force umbrellas to break under their weight. Despite the intense downpours that typhoons bring, without them, an iconic Hong Kong dish would have never been born.It's called typhoon shelter crab, and it was created in the 1960s on fishing boats housed in Hong Kong's many typhoon shelters. Continued here

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How to Make Great Decisions, Quickly     As a new leader, learning to make good decisions without hesitation and procrastination is a capability that can set you apart from your peers. While others vacillate on tricky choices, your team could be hitting deadlines and producing the type of results that deliver true value. That’s something that will get you — and them — noticed. Here are a few of a great decision: Continued here

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Caroline Herschel was the first female astronomer, but she still lacks name recognition two centuries later     Assistant professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Caroline Herschel, the first professional female astronomer, made contributions to astronomy that are still important to the field today. But even many astronomers may not recognize her name. Continued here

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Why are TikTok creators so good at making people buy things?     TikTok may not be the first place that comes to mind to find the best cleaning supplies. Yet #cleantok is alive and well – as is #dogtok, #beautytok and others. Increasingly, consumers are turning to social media to discover products, spending money based on the recommendations of both high-profile influencers and casual creators alike.On #booktok, for example, creators share their book reviews and recommendations. Data shows users who promote certain books with the hashtag have driven sales of the titles they feature. The popularity of #booktok has also inspired devoted displays at major multinational book retailers; changed the way cover designers and marketers are approaching new titles; and this summer, even spurred a new publishing imprint from TikTok parent company ByteDance. Continued here

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What makes a good life? Existentialists believed we should embrace freedom and authenticity     Aristotle first took on this question in his Nicomachean Ethics – arguably the first time anyone in Western intellectual history had focused on the subject as a standalone question. He formulated a teleological response to the question of how we ought to live. Aristotle proposed, in other words, an answer grounded in an investigation of our purpose or ends (telos) as a species. Continued here

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How to make the perfect omelette     Joining a French restaurant kitchen is a baptism by fire. An apprentice has mere moments to make an impression, and, according to Yves Camdeborde, owner of Paris' four Avant-Comptoir restaurants, is frequently given a task whose outward simplicity conceals true technicity. To succeed is to garner favour; to fail is to show one still has much to learn. Such is the role, from corner bistros to Michelin-starred dining rooms, of the omelette.A French omelette, Camdeborde explained, stands out from versions where fillings are mixed right in with the eggs. Continued here

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FIFA Women's World Cup successes reflect gender gap differences between countries     The recent FIFA Women’s World Cup was nothing short of exhilarating, with the final match between Spain’s victorious La Roja team versus England’s Lionesses leaving fans on the edge of their seats.A record-breaking two million fans attended the games in Australia and New Zealand, serving as a testament to the heights women can reach with the right opportunities and support. Continued here

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Why are 'photo dumps' so popular? A digital communications expert explains     It’s summer 2009. You’ve been to a “campout” with your school friends in someone’s back garden and taken a bunch of out-of-focus pictures on your digital camera. The next day, you dig out your trusty USB cable and upload the photos to your laptop, sharing every single one, without even vetting them, to a dedicated Facebook album. The likes and comments come rolling in – the campout is complete.It somehow feels too soon for a trend like this to come back around, but it has, and in a new form called the “photo dump”. A photo dump is the act of posting multiple pictures from either a specific time span (usually a month or season), or an event (like a holiday), to an image-based social media platform such as Instagram. Continued here

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AI and new standards promise to make scientific data more useful by making it reusable and accessible     Every time a scientist runs an experiment, or a social scientist does a survey, or a humanities scholar analyzes a text, they generate data. Science runs on data – without it, we wouldn’t have the James Webb Space Telescope’s stunning images, disease-preventing vaccines or an evolutionary tree that traces the lineages of all life.To improve and advance science, scientists need to be able to reproduce others’ data or combine data from multiple sources to learn something new. Continued here

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Israel's democracy protests: What happens next?     The massive pro-democracy protests that shook Israel since January 2023, when its right-wing government introduced so-called “judicial reforms,” have quieted down for a while. The country’s legislature is on a break. But the government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, the most conservative in Israel’s short history, plans to continue its quest to erode the independence and power of the country’s Supreme Court. That will likely ignite further protest when the lawmakers reconvene. The Conversation’s senior politics editor, Naomi Schalit, interviewed political scientist and Israel scholar Dov Waxman about what comes next for Israel, its Jewish and Arab citizens, the Palestinians in the occupied territories – and the future of democracy in the country. Continued here

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AI Can Help You Ask Better Questions -- and Solve Bigger Problems     Most companies still view AI rather narrowly, as a tool that alleviates the costs and inefficiencies of repetitive human labor and increasing organizations’ capacity to produce, process, and analyze piles and piles of data. But when paired with “soft” inquiry-related skills it can help people ask better questions and be more innovative. Continued here

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Chandrayaan-3: India hopes to land a rover on the Moon for the first time     As the name suggests, this is the third mission in a programme of Indian lunar exploration. Various problems affected the previous two Chandrayaan satellites, so officials at the Indian space agency will be hoping for a fully successful mission this time.So what will Chandrayaan-3 do? We already have some nice images of the lunar surface taken by the lander module camera, which shows the successful separation from its propulsion module – the part that stays in lunar orbit. But the main task for the lander and rover is to show that the ISRO can successfully perform a gentle landing on the Moon. Continued here

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Social media algorithms warp how people learn from each other, research shows     People’s daily interactions with online algorithms affect how they learn from others, with negative consequences including social misperceptions, conflict and the spread of misinformation, my colleagues and I have found.People are increasingly interacting with others in social media environments where algorithms control the flow of social information they see. Algorithms determine in part which messages, which people and which ideas social media users see. Continued here

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A retiring NZ MP has suggested joining Australia - we should at least think about it (before saying no)     Big policy ideas usually don’t come up in parliamentary valedictory speeches – they’re for saying goodbye and thank you. So departing Labour MP Jamie Strange was the exception last week when he made a case for New Zealand and Australia becoming one country.The main problem, he joked, would be integrating the Australian cricket team. But he talked up the potential economic benefits, and the option does remain open under sections 6 and 121 of the Australian Constitution. Continued here

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Using Federated Machine Learning to Overcome the AI Scale Disadvantage     Our summer special report helps leaders gain a comprehensive view of risks, learn how to overcome market disrupters, and manage the analytical tools that provide predictive insight for decision-making.Our summer special report helps leaders gain a comprehensive view of risks, learn how to overcome market disrupters, and manage the analytical tools that provide predictive insight for decision-making.Deep pockets, access to talent, and massive investments in computing infrastructure only partly explain why most major breakthroughs in artificial intelligence have come from a select group of Big Tech companies that includes Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. What sets the tech giants apart from the many other businesses seeking to gain an edge from AI are the vast amounts of data they collect as platform operators. Amazon alone processes millions of transactions each month on its platform. All of that big data is a rich strategic resource that can be used to develop and train complex machine learning algorithms — but it’s a resource that is out of reach for most enterprises. Continued here

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Presidential pauses? What those 'ums' and 'uhs' really tell us about candidates for the White House     Nine. That is the number of “uhs” that former President Barack Obama uttered in a period of two minutes during a 2012 presidential debate. Other Obama “uh” counters, such as University of Pennsylvania linguist Mark Liberman, clocked him as using “uhs” and “ums” – hesitation markers known as “filled pauses” in linguistspeak – roughly every 19 words during one interview. By comparison, former President Donald Trump rarely uses them at all – as infrequently as once every 117 words. Continued here

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To predict future sea level rise, we need accurate maps of the world's most remote fjords     Martin Jakobsson is Co-Head of Arctic and North Pacific Center at Seabed 2030, a project funded by the Nippon Foundation to map the entire global seabed.Understanding how glaciers interact with the ocean is akin to piecing together a colossal jigsaw puzzle. And on various icebreaker expeditions to some of the most remote fjords in northern Greenland, colleagues and I have showed that the shape of the seafloor is one of the key pieces of that puzzle. Continued here

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Sustainability is often an afterthought in space exploration - that needs to change as the industry grows     Aotearoa New Zealand is the latest country to enter the expanding and competitive international space market. The documents indicate the government’s general priorities in “protecting New Zealand’s national interests” and the “responsible use of space”. Continued here

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Ridley Scott's Napoleon: Was the French leader really a monster?     It was the opening of his campaign, and the British veteran unleashed a salvo of shots at the French lines. That is to say, director Ridley Scott was promoting his latest film, due to be released in November. Napoleon promises to be an epic account of the rise of the emperor, played by Joaquin Phoenix, focusing on his volatile relationship with his first wife Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby).  Continued here

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Africa is being courted by China, Russia and the US. Why the continent shouldn't pick sides     University of Johannesburg provides support as an endorsing partner of The Conversation AFRICA.Some three decades since the end of the Cold War, the world order is undergoing a structural transformation. At the heart of it is the challenge posed to the hegemony of the US. This is primarily being led by Russia and China which are discontented with Washington’s excesses across the global stage. The most recent example of this rebellion was the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Fiona Hill, a British-American foreign affairs specialist, observed that the war was a “proxy for a rebellion by Russia and the ‘Rest’ against the United States”. Continued here

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Shared parental leave has failed because it doesn't make financial or emotional sense     When shared parental leave was introduced in 2015 in the UK, the then Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government described it as a “radical” policy, suitable for modern lives and workplaces. By allowing parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave in the first year of their child’s life, it was vaunted as a way to encourage fathers to bond with their babies and enable mothers to return to work sooner, helping to close the gender pay gap. Continued here