Listen to a Gadget That Translates Thoughts Into Speech
Big Talk Researchers from Columbia University have created a system that translates thoughts into recognizable speech — and its potential impact on people who’ve lost their ability to speak is extraordinary. “Our voices help connect us to our friends, family, and the world around us, which is why losing the power of one’s voice due to injury or disease is so devastating,” researcher Nima Mesgarani said in a blog post. “With today’s study, we have a potential way to restore that power. We’ve shown that, with the right technology, these people’s thoughts could be decoded and understood by any listener.”
'We have a duty to act': hundreds ready to go to jail over climate crisis
A new group of “concerned citizens” is planning a campaign of mass civil disobedience starting next month and promises it has hundreds of people – from teenagers to pensioners – ready to get arrested in an effort to draw attention to the unfolding climate emergency. The group, called Extinction Rebellion, is today backed by almost 100 senior academics from across the UK, including the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. In a letter published in the Guardian they say the failure of politicians to tackle climate breakdown and the growing extinction crisis means “the ‘social contract’ has been broken … [and] it is therefore not only our right, but our moral duty to bypass the government’s inaction and flagrant dereliction of duty, and to rebel to defend life itself.”
Latinos and the Consequences of Eugenics
By Natalie Lira In February 1930, Concepcion Ruiz, a 16-year-old Mexican-American, was arrested and tried in California Juvenile Court on charges of sexual delinquency. Legal officers brought the young woman before Superior Court Judge Robert H. Scott because she ran away with a boyfriend and was allegedly “subnormal.” In the eyes of California Probation Officers, Judges, and Medical Superintendents, Concepcion’s interest in boys, her decision to run away and her lower than average IQ score were enough evidence to declare her “mentally deficient.”
Bill Would Prohibit Waiting Lists For Community-Based Services
Community-based services are often much harder to obtain than access to institutional care, but there is a new push underway to change that. A bill introduced in Congress this month would ensure that people with disabilities who are eligible for institutional care would have the right to access those same services in their own homes, if they choose. The legislation known as the Disability Integration Act would prohibit states and insurers that cover long-term services and supports from imposing any policies, cost caps, waiting lists or other limitations to community-based offerings that are different from those in place for institutional care. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds
Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation. The new estimate of the massacre of wildlife is made in a major report produced by WWF and involving 59 scientists from across the globe. It finds that the vast and growing consumption of food and resources by the global population is destroying the web of life, billions of years in the making, upon which human society ultimately depends for clean air, water and everything else. “We are sleepwalking towards the edge of a cliff” said Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at WWF.
Brett Kavanaugh: Trump’s nominee threatens the Supreme Court itself
The Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination has become a crisis of conscience for America: a test of whether sexual assault allegations against a powerful man are taken seriously by the Senate, of just how real the broader post-#MeToo awakening is. But for the Supreme Court, it’s a sign of a different kind of crisis on the horizon: a crisis of legitimacy. The American public has long had a deep and abiding faith in the Supreme Court as the last say in our public legal disputes. This faith survived controversial cases, like Roe v. Wade and Bush v. Gore; it survived divisive nomination processes, like the Senate’s rejection of Robert Bork and Anita Hill’s harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas.
MMR vaccine does not cause autism, another study confirms
Researchers used a population registry to evaluate whether the MMR vaccine increased the risk of autism in children born in Denmark between 1999 and 2010. A total of 657,461 children were followed through August 2013, with the researchers documenting diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder as well as known risk factors including age of the parents, diagnosis of autism in a sibling, preterm birth and low weight at birth. Over 95% of the children received the MMR vaccine, and 6,517 were diagnosed with autism. The MMR vaccine did not increase the risk of autism in children who were not considered at risk for the disorder and did not trigger it in those who were, according to the study, published Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. "This idea that vaccines cause autism is still around and is still getting a lot of exposure in social media," noted Anders Hviid, lead study author and senior investigator at Statens Serum Institut in Denmark.
Arron Banks: Brexit Billionaire Under Criminal Investigation
The billionaire who donated over $10 million to a campaign urging the U.K. to vote to leave the European Union is now the subject of a criminal investigation into the “true source” of the funds, raising questions of whether foreign money could have swayed the Brexit referendum. On Thursday, Arron Banks was referred to Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA), the body that investigates serious and organized crime, by Britain’s Electoral Commission. Banks is the biggest donor in British political history and a co-founder of Leave.EU, a campaign group for Brexit that was fronted by Nigel Farage during the 2016 referendum campaign. (There is no suggestion that Farage is under investigation or suspected of any wrongdoing.)
Supreme Court to Hear Cases That Affect Older Workers
The U.S. Supreme Court started its 2018 term this week. The eight justices currently on the court will hear arguments in several cases that could affect the rights of older workers. Among the key issues in those suits are: Age discrimination in public jobs
Child's elevated mental ill-health risk if mother treated for infection during pregnancy - University of Gothenburg, Sweden
News: Mar 07, 2019 Risks for autism and depression are higher if one’s mother was in hospital with an infection during pregnancy. This is shown by a major Swedish observational study of nearly 1.8 million children. “The results indicate that safeguarding against and preventing infection during pregnancy as far as possible by, for instance, following flu vaccination recommendations, may be called for,” says Verena Sengpiel, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, and last author of the study, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. Maternal infection with certain infectious agents, such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) or the herpes virus, are already known to be capable of harming fetal brain development and boosting the risk of certain psychiatric disorders.
The Eugenics Crusade
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