TOP FOUR – Page 6

Teaching Scientific Theories In US Schools Under Attack By Politicians

29Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION, TOP FOUR

Teaching Scientific Theories In US Schools Under Attack By Politicians

Politicians step up attacks on the teaching of scientific theories in US schools. Scientific theory has had a rough time in America’s public schools. Almost 100 years ago, science teacher John Scopes was convicted of violating a Tennessee law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. Although his conviction was overturned on a technicality in 1927, laws banning classes on Darwin’s theory stuck around for another 40 years. They were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1968. Over the past few decades, conservative or religious groups that object to including the theory of evolution in science classes have tried a different approach. Now, they argue, if the “scientific” theory of evolution is taught, other views, such as “intelligent design” – a stand-in for creat...

Home Among The Ghosts Of Shuttered Steel Mills

29Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, TOP FOUR

Home Among The Ghosts Of Shuttered Steel Mills

Why people stay after local economies collapse − a story of home among the ghosts of shuttered steel mills. It was midday on a Saturday, and Simonetta led me from the open front door of her home in southeast Chicago to her sitting room and settled next to her husband, Christopher, on the couch. In the 1980s, Christopher had worked a few blocks away at U.S. Steel South Works, earning three times the minimum wage with a high school diploma – more than enough to buy a house near Simonetta’s parents before their first baby arrived. Like their neighbors in southeast Chicago, Simonetta and Christopher’s expectations for work and home were set by the steel industry. Between 1875 and 1990, the employment offered here by eight steel mills created a dense network of working-class neighborhoods ...

New Research Shows Job Supervisors With Disabilities Can Boost Productivity

29Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TOP FOUR, WORK

New Research Shows Job Supervisors With Disabilities Can Boost Productivity

Job supervisors with disabilities can boost productivity, new research shows. Some large companies, such as Walgreens, Wells Fargo and Proctor & Gamble, are successfully integrating people with disabilities into their labor forces. But other employers are not doing as good a job. That means they’re losing out on what the roughly 6.5% of the U.S. workforce with some form of disability might have to offer amid a tight labor market. One potential solution is to employ more managers with disabilities. I’m a supply chain scholar who joined forces with two colleagues, Sriram Narayanan and Shawnee Vickery, for a research project on this issue. We found that when teams include people with disabilities alongside co-workers without disabilities, productivity can be higher – particularly wh...

23Aug

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Journalism, TOP FOUR

The Impact Of Progress 2025

Elections aren’t just about choosing representatives—they’re also about declaring collective priorities. Project 2025 explicitly intends to reshape the federal government in order to decimate civil and human rights, crush environmental protections, and gut employment and consumer protections in favor of expanded corporate influence and privatization. This moment calls for an equally bold response that centers human and planetary needs—and uplifts the solutions that make them possible. For nearly 30 years, YES! has been reporting on these exact solutions. That’s why we’ve launched Progress 2025, intended to be a hub for the big ideas—and grassroots methods—that offers a hopeful, collective vision that counters toxic individualism and authoritarianism. Project 2025 is a 922-page document ...

Will AI Bots Ever Replace Human Teachers? Unlikely

22Aug

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AI, EDUCATION, TOP FOUR

Will AI Bots Ever Replace Human Teachers? Unlikely

AI pioneers want bots to replace human teachers – here’s why that’s unlikely. OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy envisions a world in which artificial intelligence bots can be made into subject matter experts that are “deeply passionate, great at teaching, infinitely patient and fluent in all of the world’s languages.” Through this vision, the bots would be available to “personally tutor all 8 billion of us on demand.” The embodiment of that idea is his latest venture, Eureka Labs, which is merely the newest prominent example of how tech entrepreneurs are seeking to use AI to revolutionize education. Karpathy believes AI can solve a long-standing challenge: the scarcity of good teachers who are also subject experts. And he’s not alone. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Khan Academy CEO Sal Kha...

East Asian Buddhism Scholar Explains The Origin Of The ‘Laughing Buddha’

22Aug

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Religion, TOP FOUR

East Asian Buddhism Scholar Explains The Origin Of The ‘Laughing Buddha’

Who is the ‘Laughing Buddha’? A scholar of East Asian Buddhism explains. With his delighted expression, round belly, bald head and monastic robes, the “Laughing Buddha” is instantly identifiable. However, astute observers might wonder why this buddha does not look like the historical Buddha, who lived in India about 2,500 years ago. Images of the historical Buddha, known as Siddhartha Gautama or Shakyamuni, depict him with a neutral expression, slim build, tightly coiled hair and monastic robes. If the Laughing Buddha isn’t the historical Buddha, who is he, and how did he become so popular? As a scholar of East Asian Buddhism who studies how and why deities transform over time, I see the Laughing Buddha as a key figure that shows how people have adapted Buddhism to different cultura...

The Best Beauty Products Based On Your Zodiac Sign

22Aug

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FASHION, TOP FOUR

The Best Beauty Products Based On Your Zodiac Sign

Find Out the Best Beauty Products Based on Your Zodiac Sign. There are so many beauty products to choose from. And the average woman will use as many as possible in order to maximize her beauty which means she will keep a collection of foundation, lipstick, eye shadow, blush and so on. However, even with that said, there is always going to be a favorite beauty product that someone has that they will end up making the most of. This means that the best beauty product will be the one that truly maximizes the beauty based on the fact it is the best product for the individual that is using it. Let’s now find out what the best beauty products are based on your zodiac sign so you can make the absolute most of it as well. Aries – Effortless Eyebrow Products Aries is the first sign of the zodiac...

Despite The Small-Town Upbringing Rural Voters Don’t Necessarily Love Walz

22Aug

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POLITICS, TOP FOUR

Despite The Small-Town Upbringing Rural Voters Don’t Necessarily Love Walz

Rural voters don’t necessarily love Walz, despite the camo hat and small-town upbringing. The selection of Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’ running mate has sparked a wave of commentary suggesting that simply by elevating a former small-town football coach to the candidacy for vice president, Democrats will naturally secure the allegiance of rural voters nationwide. At first glance, such analysis – tinged with wishful thinking – seems self-evident. Walz, the governor of Minnesota, was raised in a small, rural town in Nebraska and runs a Midwestern state with a strong rural identity. And it is hard to deny that many rural advocates and writers genuinely feel seen and represented with the choice of Walz – a feeling not felt in quite some time. Indeed, you can now sport a Harris-Walz camo hat...

15Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS, TOP FOUR

How To Channel Your Election Anxiety

Dealing with election anxiety? A psychiatrist explains how to channel your fears and break out of tribal thinking. Instead of excitement about the upcoming election, many of my patients and friends – regardless of political affiliation – report they’re terrified at the thought of the “other side” winning. Democrats tell me they fear Donald Trump will end our democracy; Republicans are afraid Kamala Harris will turn the United States into a socialist society without family values. Watching the news leaves people from both parties exhausted, sad and scared about the future. Each half of the country is made to believe the other half is stupid, deeply misguided, immoral, dishonest or maliciously plotting to ruin the country they themselves love. I am a psychiatrist who specializes in tr...

Exploring The Significance Of Vance’s ‘No Pauper’

14Aug

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CULTURE, TOP FOUR

Exploring The Significance Of Vance’s ‘No Pauper’

JD Vance is no pauper − he’s a classic example of ‘poornography,’ in which the rich try to speak on behalf of the poor. JD Vance has climbed to his current position as former President Donald Trump’s running mate, in part, by selling himself as a hillbilly, calling on his Appalachian background to bolster his credentials to speak for the American working class. “I grew up as a poor kid,” Vance said on Fox News in August 2024. “I think that’s a story that a lot of normal Americans can empathize with.” Indeed, the book that brought him to public attention was his 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.” In that book, he claims his family carried an inheritance of “abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma.” “Poor people,” he proclaimed in a 2016 interview with The American Conservative, are “my ...