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☆ A FIRE couple who retired early at 29 and visited every national park and state share their favorites — and the ones to skip
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-11 | by ( Noah Sheidlower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Read previewSteven and Lauren Keys, now 33 and 34, retired at 29 and have visited every state and national park — managing to grow their wealth while doing so. They've explored much of the country, deciding their favorite national parks are in California and Alaska — while their least favorite are in the Midwest. "We've been to Yosemite a couple of times, and there are areas where you're sitting in traffic literally in a national park for an extra 45 minutes." About 41% of the total cost of attending all national parks came from traveling to Alaska, Hawaii, and other American territories. Their least favorite national park was Hot Springs in Arkansas, which was the first national park they visited.

Persons: —, Steven, Lauren Keys, They've, Lauren, It's, We've, Hawaii's Haleakalā, St . Louis, St, Rushmore Organizations: Service, Business, University of Florida, Facebook, Yosemite, Hawai'i Volcanoes, Springs, Voyageurs, Kansas City Locations: California, Alaska, Tampa, Florida, New York, Hawaii, Gainesville —, Australia, Canada, Yosemite, Eureka Valley, Badwater, Hawai'i, Maui, Yellowstone, American Samoa, Carlsbad, Arkansas, St ., Minnesota, Guadalupe, Texas, Utah, Southern California, Oahu, Kansas , Missouri, South Carolina, New Jersey, Kansas, Louis, North Dakota, South Dakota , Idaho, Montana

☆ AI has racist tendencies. Scientists and founders are trying to fix it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Monica Melton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The police had used a facial-recognition AI program that identified her as the suspect based on an old mugshot. AdvertisementThe Detroit Police Department said that it restricts the use of the facial-recognition AI program to violent crimes and that matches it makes are just investigation leads. AdvertisementThe study also found that in a hypothetical murder trial, the AI models were more likely to propose the death penalty for an AAE speaker. A novel proposalOne reason for these failings is that the people and companies building AI aren't representative of the world that AI models are supposed to encapsulate. Bardlavens leads a team that aims to ensure equity is considered and baked into Adobe AI tools.

Persons: —, Woodruff, who's, Ivan Land, Joy Buolamwini, Timnit Gebru, Valentin Hofmann, OpenAI's, AAE, Geoffrey Hinton, Christopher Lafayette, Udezue, OpenAI, Google's, John Pasmore, Latimer, Buolamwini, Timothy Bardlavens, Microsoft Bing, Microsoft Bardlavens, Bardlavens, Esther Dyson, Dyson, Arturo Villanueva, I'd, Villanueva, Alza, We're, Andrew Mahon, Alza's Organizations: Service, Detroit, Business, Court of Michigan, Detroit Police Department, Microsoft, IBM, Allen Institute, AI, Dartmouth College, Center for Education Statistics, Big Tech, Udezue, Meta, Google, Tech, Companies, Adobe Locations: That's, American, Africa, Southeast Asia, North America, Europe, Spanish

☆ Here’s why YouTube is shelling out to get creators to make short videos
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN —YouTube says hundreds of thousands of creators are now earning a paycheck from posting short-form videos on the platform, as it ramps up its race to compete with rivals like TikTok and Instagram. It hasn’t been cheap: the Google-owned platform is shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to some of its top Shorts creators — like beauty influencer Sydney Morgan — every month. YouTube says the fresh data to its ability to incentivize existing creators to try out a new format — and to attract new users. “I make more from just YouTube Shorts (revenue) sharing in a month than I can make on other comparable platforms in a year,” she said. YouTube declined to share data around the total amounts it’s paid to creators for Shorts in the year since it added the feature to the YouTube Partner Program.

Persons: Sydney Morgan —, ” Amjad Hanif, Tara Walpert Levy, Meta, ” Hanif, “ You’re, “ It’s, ”, “ We’ve, ” Walpert Levy, “, ‘, Morgan, YouTubers, ” Morgan, Reddit, aren’t, Destin Sandlin, CNN he’s, ” Sandlin, Sandlin, Hanif, he’s, you’ve Organizations: New, New York CNN, YouTube, Google, Shorts, CNN, Facebook, Kodak, NASA Locations: New York, Instagram, United States

☆ Asian elephants bury their dead, study suggests
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Researchers in India have for the first time documented how Asian elephants bury dead calves. While African elephants are known to bury dead calves, this is the first time that the behavior has been documented in Asian elephants, study author Akashdeep Roy, a researcher at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), told CNN on Wednesday. A dead calf being dragged by an adult. This is the first time that calf burials by Asian elephants have been documented. Roy contests this theory, explaining that contusions on the backs of the dead calves show that they were dragged to their resting place by other members of the herd.

Persons: Akashdeep Roy, Roy, “, ”, Parveen Kaswan, Joshua Plotnik, ” Plotnik, couldn’t, Plotnik Organizations: CNN —, Indian Institute of Science Education, Research, CNN, Indian Forest Service, Hunter College Locations: India, Bengal, Assam, New York

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Teachers and science advocates are voicing skepticism about a Maine proposal to update standards to incorporate teaching about genocide, eugenics and the Holocaust into middle school science education. The Maine Science Teachers Association testified before the state that adding the proposed content to education standards without providing professional training for teachers could jeopardize science education. The recommended updates that are up for adoption were made by teachers, and the education department opened up the revision process to any science teachers who wanted to be involved, Mrowka said. A group of two dozen Maine science educators met several times over the summer to lead the review of the science standards, Mrowka said. The state sought public comments about the current science standards earlier in the year and received numerous comments from educators about the importance of challenging students.

Persons: —, ”, Tonya Prentice, ” Prentice, “, Joseph Graves Jr, ” Graves, Marcus Mrowka, Mrowka, ” Mrowka, Robert Ripley, ” Ripley, Alison Miller, ” Miller Organizations: —, Maine Science Teachers Association, National Center for Science Education, Maine Department of Education, Maine Legislature, The Maine Department of Education, Legislature's, Cultural Affairs Committee, Schools, Legislature, Oxford Hills School District, Bowdoin College Locations: AUGUSTA, Maine, Africa, Europe

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — How science textbooks in Texas address climate change is at the center of a key vote expected Friday after some Republican education officials criticized books for being too negative toward fossil fuels in America's biggest oil and gas state. Science standards adopted by the board's conservative majority in 2021 do not mention creationism as an alternative to evolution. But some Republicans on the 15-member board this week waved off current textbook options as too negative toward fossil fuels and for failing to include alternatives to evolution. Scientists overwhelmingly agree that heat-trapping gases released from the combustion of fossil fuels are pushing up global temperatures, upending weather patterns and endangering animal species. She said their organization had identified only two textbooks that would not meet the standards set in 2021.

Persons: Republican Wayne Christian, ”, Glenn Branch, Branch, Aaron Kinsey, ” Kinsey, Aicha Davis, “, Emily Witt Organizations: Texas State, of Education, Republican, National Center, Science Education, Hearst Newspapers, Science Teaching Association, Texas Freedom Network Locations: AUSTIN, Texas, ” Texas, West Texas, U.S

☆ Opinion | A Debate Over the Value of the Humanities
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “College Budgets Question Value of Humanities” (front page, Nov. 5):The debate about the value of a liberal arts education is hardly over, despite attempts to be definitive via cuts in funding for the humanities. A liberal arts and science education is an education for life. The liberal arts and sciences, including those embraced at Reed and at colleges around the country, encourage students to break traditional boundaries and creatively shape their futures. We nurture biologists who are also watercolor artists; dancers who study computer science; psychology majors who are creative writers. The ability to draw insight and inspiration from across disciplines leads to innovation and the betterment of society.

Organizations: “, Reed

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded Monday to two scientists whose work led to the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. As countries prepared to roll out those shots, The Associated Press took a look at how the vaccines were developed so quickly. ___How could scientists race out COVID-19 vaccines so fast without cutting corners? A head start helped -- over a decade of behind-the-scenes research that had new vaccine technology poised for a challenge just as the coronavirus erupted. Both shots — one made by Pfizer and BioNTech, the other by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health — are so-called messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines, a brand-new technology.

Persons: Dr, Anthony Fauci, Buddy Creech, ” Creech, Tal Zaks, ”, Drew Weissman, Weissman, Katalin, Philip Dormitzer, Barney Graham’s, ” Fauci, Graham, Jason McLellan, hadn't, “, ” Graham, Germany’s, Pfizer’s Dormitzer, Ugur Sahin Organizations: Medicine, COVID, Associated Press, Vanderbilt University, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, National Institutes of Health, NIH, University of Pennsylvania, Penn, NIH’s Vaccine Research Center, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education, AP Locations: U.S, Massachusetts, BioNTech, New York, China

Two days later, the man was cracking jokes and able to sit in a chair, Maryland doctors said Friday. “You know, I just keep shaking my head – how am I talking to someone who has a pig heart?” Dr. Bartley Griffith, who performed the transplant, told The Associated Press. “It’s just an amazing feeling to see this pig heart work in a human,” said Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, the Maryland team’s xenotransplantation expert. That FDA allowed this second case “suggests that the agency is not ready to permit a pig heart clinical trial to start,” Mashke added. The pig heart, provided by Blacksburg, Virginia-based Revivicor, has 10 genetic modifications – knocking out some pig genes and adding some human ones to make it more acceptable to the human immune system.

Persons: –, “, ” Lawrence Faucette, Dr, Bartley Griffith, David Bennett, Ann Faucette, ”, Faucette, “ It’s, Muhammad Mohiuddin, Karen Maschke, ” Mashke Organizations: WASHINGTON, — Surgeons, Navy, University of Maryland Medicine, Associated Press, Maryland, Food and Drug Administration, FDA, National Institutes of Health, Maryland team’s, Hastings Center, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education, AP Locations: Maryland, Frederick , Maryland, U.S, Blacksburg , Virginia

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio now holds the record for the longest U.S. spaceflight. Rubio surpassed the U.S. space endurance record of 355 days on Monday at the International Space Station. But their stay was doubled after their Soyuz capsule developed a coolant leak while parked at the space station. By then, Rubio will have spent 371 days in space, more than two weeks longer than Mark Vande Hei, the previous U.S. record holder for a single spaceflight, Russia holds the world record of 437 days, set in the mid-1990s. “Your dedication is truly out of this world, Frank!” NASA chief Bill Nelson said via X, formerly known as Twitter.

Persons: Frank Rubio, Rubio, Mark Vande Hei, Frank !, Bill Nelson Organizations: NASA, Space, Twitter, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education, AP Locations: Russia, Kazakhstan

☆ Opinion: The Deep Space Network is in trouble
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Opinion Don Lincoln | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The Deep Space Network, or DSN, is an interconnected set of three radio telescope facilities spread across the globe. Indeed, without the DSN, NASA’s robotic exploration of deep space would simply not be possible. On the contrary, if humanity is going to once again venture into deep space, it will be crucial to be able to maintain a radio link with those intrepid explorers. Both of those missions, indeed all deep space programs, depend on reliable communication, or they will fail. The Deep Space Network is NASA’s link to the planets, and it needs additional support if we ever hope to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Persons: Don Lincoln, James Webb, NASA Artemis, Artemis Organizations: Fermi, Accelerator Laboratory, Facebook, CNN, Space, NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Telescope, Orion, Twitter, James Webb Space Telescope Locations: California, Spain, Australia

☆ Humans have pumped so much groundwater from the Earth that it's actually caused the planet's axis to shift, a new study found
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Carla Delgado | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The reason is that we're moving all that water mass from under the continents to the oceans. How groundwater depletion affects Earth's rotational poleThe Earth's rotational pole normally changes and wanders by about several meters each year. To put it simply, groundwater depletion contributes to sea level rise because water is being transferred from the continents to the oceans. The recent study found that groundwater depletion caused a 6.24-millimeter rise in global sea level from 1993 to 2010. This is significant because each millimeter rise in sea level is said to make the shoreline retreat an average of 1.5 meters.

Persons: Weon Seo Organizations: Service, Northern, Research, Department of Earth Science, Seoul National University Locations: Northern Hemisphere

☆ Humans pump so much groundwater that Earth’s axis has shifted, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Mindy Weisberger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Humans’ unquenchable thirst for groundwater has sucked so much liquid from subsurface reserves that it’s affecting Earth’s tilt, according to a new study. That shift is even observable on Earth’s surface, as it contributes to global sea level rise, researchers reported in the study published June 15 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Seo and his colleagues had questions about long-term changes to the axis — specifically, how groundwater contributed to that phenomenon. Revealing groundwater extraction’s impactShifts in Earth’s axis are measured indirectly through radio telescope observations of immobile objects in space — quasars — using them as fixed points of reference. The redistribution of groundwater tilted Earth’s rotational axis east by more than 31 inches (78.7 centimeters) in just under two decades, according to the models.

Persons: ”, Ki, Weon Seo, Surendra Adhikari, Adhikari, Seo, ” Adhikari, “, ” Seo Organizations: CNN, Research, Seoul National University, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Locations: South Korea, North America, India

CNN —Like many adults, a lot of teenagers don’t know what they want to do when they grow up. Even when they think they do, they may not have a realistic grasp of whether a given occupation or job is likely to be economically viable for them over time. After assessing all those elements, the role is assigned a CFI score — the higher the number, the more economically viable a job is. The gap between popular occupations and viable onesThe Gallup-Amazon report identifies, among other things, how wide the gap is between a given career’s economic viability score and how popular its ranking is among 15-year-olds. For instance, among jobs that largely employ people without a bachelor’s degree, 27 careers score at or above the average score for positions typically filled by college graduates.

Persons: don’t, “, ”, Jonathan Rockwell Organizations: CNN, Gallup, Amazon, CFI, ” Gallup

☆ Fact Check-Video shows astronaut conducting an experiment in front of a grid background
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The grid is used similarly to graph paper to conduct experiments in space, according to the National Space Centre. The first few seconds of the video shows European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake on the middle screen in the background, in front of a grid background. It shows Peake conducting an experiment with a green ball. “It’s not a chroma key background,” Paul Millington, a representative for the National Space Centre, said in an email to Reuters. The video does not show an astronaut in front of a chroma key background with the purpose of falsifying space travel.

☆ Opinion: Nuclear power is a vital part of climate change solution
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Opinion Don Lincoln | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Last week, Germany closed its last three nuclear power plants, becoming nuclear free for the first time in 62 years. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, many countries began phasing out nuclear power plants, citing issues of nuclear safety and long-term storage of nuclear waste. Would not generating that power from carbon-free nuclear power plants be preferable? In the US, the regulatory process involved in building a nuclear power plant is slow and obstructive. In addition, modern nuclear power plant designs generate less waste than earlier designs and further improvements should be pursued.

☆ Amazon is pausing construction on its second headquarters in Virginia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Amazon is pausing construction on its second headquarters in northern Virginia, the company confirmed in a statement to CNN on Friday. John Schoettler, Amazon’s real estate chief, said the company is pushing back the groundbreaking of the second phase of the sprawling new headquarters. The first phase is still under construction and expected to open in June. “We’ve decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace (the second phase of HQ2) out a bit,” Schoettler said in a statement. Amazon’s search for a second headquarters kicked off in 2017, spurring a major competition as local officials across the country competed for the e-commerce giant to bring jobs and other benefits to their communities.

☆ OpenAI makes a ChatGPT-like tool called Codex that can write software. Here's why Codex won't replace developers and will instead create more demand for their skills.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The same company is also behind Codex, a tool that automates the writing of software code. Codex is similar, except that instead of writing English sentences, it writes software code. Tell Codex what type of software problem you're trying to solve, and Codex will suggest a solution with a string of code. Similarly, Codex further simplifies certain software engineering tasks. "Then we'll have more engineers, and more software engineering.

☆ Fact Check-Eight cooler years cannot be extrapolated to draw conclusions on long-term global warming
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

SHORT TERM FLUCTUATIONSGlobal surface temperatures are heavily influenced by annual Pacific Ocean patterns known as El Nino and La Nina, and collectively as ENSO (El Niño–Southern Oscillation). A large El Nino event followed by a La Nina can “lead to a temporary ‘pause’ in global temperatures over timescales of a decade or so”, Hausfather said. This is “what we are now seeing after the 2015/2016 super El Nino event”. Whenever there is a trend with variability like global temperatures, “you can isolate cherry-picked intervals and claim that something has paused or accelerated, but this is not appropriate”, Colose said. Temperature data for the past eight years do not reflect long-term trends, experts say, and longer-term data clearly show a continuing rise in overall global temperatures.

☆ UV light from gel manicures can cause cancer-causing mutations, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

In fact, the results reaffirm the reason why some dermatologists have changed the way they get their gel manicures or have stopped getting them altogether. “Tanning beds are listed as carcinogenic and UV nail lamps are mini tanning beds for your nails in order to cure the gel nail,” Curtis said. “I would recommend alternatives to gel nails, such as the new wraps that are available online.” (Gel nail wraps or strips are stick-on gel nail products that don’t always require being set by UV nail dryers.) Some salons use LED lights, which “are thought to emit either no UV light or much, much lower amounts,” Lipner said. Russak doesn’t get gel manicures very often but uses sunscreen and gloves when she does, she said.

Persons: ”, Julia Curtis, wasn’t, ” Curtis, Ludmil Alexandrov, ” Alexandrov, Julie Russak, Russak wasn’t, there’s, ” Russak, Shari Lipner, Lipner wasn’t, Curtis, “, ” Lipner, Lipner, —, Russak, Joshua Zeichner Organizations: CNN, Nature Communications, University of Utah, UCAR Center for Science Education, University of California, Dermatology, Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, Mount Sinai Locations: San Diego, New York City, corneocytes, Mount

☆ Cancer death rates fall steadily in the US, with more survivors than ever
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Carma Hassan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —More people are surviving cancer than ever before in the United States, according to a new report from the American Association for Cancer Research. The report notes that there were only 3 million US cancer survivors in 1971. Declines in smoking and improvements in catching and treating cancer early are driving the change, according to the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2022, released Wednesday. The reversal of Roe v. Wade is also expected to affect cancer care by limiting health care options for pregnant women with cancer, the report said. The Covid-19 pandemic had an effect on cancer in the US, with nearly 10 million breast, colorectal and prostate cancer screenings missed in 2020.

☆ Dozens of TikTokers are quietly discussing forming a creator union, but legal experts say it would be difficult
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Tanya Chen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

TikTok creators are discussing forming a union to try and create more protection for their jobs. The National Labor Relations Act, for example, could not force a company like TikTok to negotiate a creator union. Sunderji said that even without a union, TikTokers coming together as a collective or an association could affect change. In 2019, a group of YouTubers formed FairTube, an unofficial YouTube "union," to ask for similar demands, like more transparency around its pay and penalties. "TikTok is a great place to be discovered, but a terrible place to be a professional creator," Valkai said.

☆ 72 TikTokers are using a private Discord to talk about forming a creator union, but it's an uphill legal battle
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Tanya Chen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

TikTok creators are discussing forming a union to try and create more protection for their jobs. The National Labor Relations Act, for example, could not force a company like TikTok to negotiate a creator union. Sunderji said that even without a union, TikTokers coming together as a collective or an association could affect change. Multiple TikTokers in the Discord pointed to YouTube as an example of the kinds of changes that could be made. "TikTok is a great place to be discovered, but a terrible place to be a professional creator," Valkai said.

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