Sunday, December 22

VIDEO REELS

Draining School Budgets — Cities And States Give Billions In Property Tax Breaks To Businesses — Hurting The Poorest Students
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EDUCATION, VIDEO REELS

Draining School Budgets — Cities And States Give Billions In Property Tax Breaks To Businesses — Hurting The Poorest Students

Students lose out as cities and states give billions in property tax breaks to businesses − draining school budgets and especially hurting the poorest students. Built in 1910, James Elementary is a three-story brick school in Kansas City, Missouri’s historic Northeast neighborhood, with a bright blue front door framed by a sand-colored stone arch adorned with a gargoyle. As bustling students and teachers negotiate a maze of gray stairs with worn wooden handrails, Marjorie Mayes, the school’s principal, escorts a visitor across uneven blue tile floors on the ground floor to a classroom with exposed brick walls and pipes. Bubbling paint mars some walls, evidence of the water leaks spreading inside the aging building. “It’s living history,” said Mayes during a mid-September tour of the build...
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What Are The Implications Of The Big Tent Philosophy Of Free Speech?
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LGBTQ, LIFESTYLE, TOP FOUR, VIDEO REELS

What Are The Implications Of The Big Tent Philosophy Of Free Speech?

In the ‘big tent’ of free speech, can you be too open-minded? People often extol the virtue of open-mindedness, but can there be too much of a good thing? As a college dean, I regularly observe campus controversies about the Israel-Hamas war, race relations and other hot-button issues. Many of these concern free speech – what students, faculty and invited speakers should and shouldn’t be allowed to say. But free speech disputes aren’t merely about permission to speak. They are about who belongs at the table – and whether there are limits to the viewpoints we should listen to, argue with or allow to change our minds. As a philosopher who works on “culture war” issues, I’m particularly interested in what free-speech disputes teach about the value of open-mindedness. Talking together in the...
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Addicted To Social Media — Cut The Craving
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SOCIAL MEDIA, VIDEO REELS

Addicted To Social Media — Cut The Craving

‘It is hijacking my brain’ – a team of experts found ways to help young people addicted to social media to cut the craving. Many people have compared the addictive nature of social media to cigarettes. Checking your likes, they say, is the new smoke break. Others say the unease over social media is just the next round of moral panic about new technologies. We are a pair of researchers who investigate how social media affects the mental health of young people. More than 75% of teens check their phone hourly, and half say they feel like they’re addicted to their devices. Here are some of the things they’ve told us: “TikTok has me in a chokehold.” “I would 1,000% say I am addicted.” “I feel completely aware that it is hijacking my brain, but I can’t put it down. This leaves me feeling as...
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Autonomous “Driverless” Auto Racing — Wait What?
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AI, TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

Autonomous “Driverless” Auto Racing — Wait What?

Bringing AI up to speed – autonomous auto racing promises safer driverless cars on the road. The excitement of auto racing comes from split-second decisions and daring passes by fearless drivers. Imagine that scene, but without the driver – the car alone, guided by the invisible hand of artificial intelligence. Can the rush of racing unfold without a driver steering the course? It turns out that it can. An autonomous race car built by the Technical University of Munich prepares to pass the University of Virginia’s entrant. Cavalier Autonomous Racing, University of Virginia, CC BY-ND Enter autonomous racing, a field that’s not just about high-speed competition but also pushing the boundaries of what autonomous vehicles can achieve and improving their safety. Over a century ago, at the dawn...
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Wormlike Limbless Robots That Could One Day Be Used For Search And Rescue
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SCIENCE, VIDEO REELS

Wormlike Limbless Robots That Could One Day Be Used For Search And Rescue

We designed wormlike, limbless robots that navigate obstacle courses − they could be used for search and rescue one day. Scientists have been trying to build snakelike, limbless robots for decades. These robots could come in handy in search-and-rescue situations, where they could navigate collapsed buildings to find and assist survivors. With slender, flexible bodies, limbless robots could readily move through confined and cluttered spaces such as debris fields, where walking or wheeled robots and human rescuers tend to fail. However, even the most advanced limbless robots have not come close to moving with the agility and versatility of worms and snakes in difficult terrain. Even the tiny nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, which has a relatively simple nervous systems, can navigate t...
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A Black History Month Tribute: Paul Robeson – American Singer, Actor And Civil Rights Activist Became A Hero In China
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VIDEO REELS

A Black History Month Tribute: Paul Robeson – American Singer, Actor And Civil Rights Activist Became A Hero In China

Chinese broadcasters have aired shows featuring Paul Robeson (1898-1976), one of the most popular African American singers and actors of his era and a well-known civil rights activist, several times in recent years. China National Radio and various channels of the widely influential China Central TV showcased Robeson on programs in 2021, 2012 and 2009 narrating China’s resistence to foreign military aggressions. This could seem like unusually frequent coverage related to an American who passed away decades ago. My book, Arise, Africa! Roar, China! Black and Chinese Citizens of the World in the Twentieth Century, unpacks the little-known yet important relationship between Paul Robeson and China, which continues to resonate powerfully today. New York City meeting Robeson is long remember...
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The Danger Of Political Violence Orchestrated Over Social Media
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POLITICS, TOP FOUR, VIDEO REELS

The Danger Of Political Violence Orchestrated Over Social Media

Jan. 6 was an example of networked incitement − a media and disinformation expert explains the danger of political violence orchestrated over social media. The shocking events of Jan. 6, 2021, signaled a major break from the nonviolent rallies that categorized most major protests over the past few decades. What set Jan. 6 apart was the president of the United States using his cellphone to direct an attack on the Capitol, and those who stormed the Capitol being wired and ready for insurrection. My co-authors and I, a media and disinformation scholar, call this networked incitement: influential figures inciting large-scale political violence via social media. Networked incitement involves insurgents communicating across multiple platforms to command and coordinate mobilized social movements ...
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What Food Choices Will Help You Get More Restful Sleep
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HEALTH & WELLNESS, SELF, TOP FOUR, VIDEO REELS

What Food Choices Will Help You Get More Restful Sleep

What’s the best diet for healthy sleep? A nutritional epidemiologist explains what food choices will help you get more restful z’s. You probably already know that how you eat before bed affects your sleep. Maybe you’ve found yourself still lying awake at 2 a.m. after enjoying a cup of coffee with dessert. But did you know that your eating choices throughout the day may also affect your sleep at night? In fact, more and more evidence shows that overall dietary patterns can affect sleep quality and contribute to insomnia. I am a nutritional epidemiologist, and I’m trained to look at diets at the population level and how they affect health. In the U.S., a large percentage of the population suffers from poor sleep quality and sleep disorders like insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea, a conditi...
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AI Could Help Teens On Social Media That Need Both Protection And Privacy
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AI, POLITICS, VIDEO REELS

AI Could Help Teens On Social Media That Need Both Protection And Privacy

Teens on social media need both protection and privacy – AI could help get the balance right. Meta announced on Jan. 9, 2024, that it will protect teen users by blocking them from viewing content on Instagram and Facebook that the company deems to be harmful, including content related to suicide and eating disorders. The move comes as federal and state governments have increased pressure on social media companies to provide safety measures for teens. At the same time, teens turn to their peers on social media for support that they can’t get elsewhere. Efforts to protect teens could inadvertently make it harder for them to also get help. Congress has held numerous hearings in recent years about social media and the risks to young people. The CEOs of Meta, X – formerly known as Twitter – T...
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Social Media Companies Rely On Young Users — But Do They Fail To Protect Them?
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POLITICS, VIDEO REELS

Social Media Companies Rely On Young Users — But Do They Fail To Protect Them?

Are social media apps ‘dangerous products’? 2 scholars explain how the companies rely on young users but fail to protect them. “You have blood on your hands.” “I’m sorry for everything you have all been through.” These quotes, the first from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaking to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and the second from Zuckerberg to families of victims of online child abuse in the audience, are highlights from an extraordinary day of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee about protecting children online. But perhaps the most telling quote from the Jan. 31, 2024, hearing came not from the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X, Discord or Snap but from Sen. Graham in his opening statement: Social media platforms “as they are currently designed and operate are dangerous products.” We ...
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