challenge

31Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Even At Personal Risk, Some People Are Willing To Challenge Bullying, Corruption And Bad Behavior

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a longtime Republican, has spent the last two months standing up to intense and highly public pressure from members of Congress, who urged him to throw out legally cast ballots, and from President Donald Trump, who asked him to “find 11,780 votes” to change the outcome of the election. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois became the first Republican member of Congress to call for Trump’s immediate removal from office by the 25th Amendment, following the mob riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Ben Danielson, a well-regarded medical director of a Seattle medical clinic, resigned in November to protest ongoing racism in the hospital, noting concerns about his “own complicity as a representative of a hospital that does not treat people of color as it...

It’s Hard Work But Compassionate Courage Moves Beyond ‘Cancel Culture’ To Challenge Systemic Racism

14Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

It’s Hard Work But Compassionate Courage Moves Beyond ‘Cancel Culture’ To Challenge Systemic Racism

It is common to read news of someone getting fired for speaking or acting in ways that harmed members of another race. Our current call-out culture often advocates publicly shaming and humiliating wrongdoers, destroying their reputations and making them lose their jobs. Further, this culture prioritizes the impact of people’s words or actions over their intent. In higher education alone, there have been many cases of such call-outs. Greg Patton, a professor at University of Southern California, had to step away from teaching in the MBA program for using a Chinese word that sounded like a racial slur during a Zoom lecture. At Smith College, staff members who were falsely called out for being racist suffered health issues and left the job. UCLA accounting lecturer Gordon Klein was suspend...

Safety Is Still Nuclear Power’s Greatest Challenge, 10 Years After Fukushima

26May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

Safety Is Still Nuclear Power’s Greatest Challenge, 10 Years After Fukushima

Ten years ago, on March 11, 2011, the biggest recorded earthquake in Japanese history hit the country’s northeast coast. It was followed by a tsunami that traveled up to 6 miles (10 kilometers) inland, reaching heights of over 140 feet (43.3 meters) in some areas and sweeping entire towns away in seconds. An International Atomic Energy Agency investigator examines Reactor Unit 3 at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant, May 27, 2011. Greg Webb, IAEA/Flickr, CC BY-SA This disaster left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing. It also destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and released radioactive materials over a large area. The accident triggered widespread evacuations, large economic losses and the eventual shutdown of all nuclear power plants in Japan. A decade later, the nucl...

The tech field failed a 25-year challenge to achieve gender equality by 2020 – culture change is key to getting on track

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

The tech field failed a 25-year challenge to achieve gender equality by 2020 – culture change is key to getting on track

In 1995, pioneering computer scientist Anita Borg challenged the tech community to a moonshot: equal representation of women in tech by 2020. Twenty-five years later, we’re still far from that goal. In 2018, fewer than 30% of the employees in tech’s biggest companies and 20% of faculty in university computer science departments were women. On Women’s Equality Day in 2020, it’s appropriate to revisit Borg’s moonshot challenge. Today, awareness of the gender diversity problem in tech has increased, and professional development programs have improved women’s skills and opportunities. But special programs and “fixing women” by improving their skills have not been enough. By and large, the tech field doesn’t need to fix women, it needs to fix itself. As former head of a national supercomputer...

Challenge trials for a coronavirus vaccine are unethical – except for in one unlikely scenario

24Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

Challenge trials for a coronavirus vaccine are unethical – except for in one unlikely scenario

The world urgently needs a vaccine for COVID-19. Only when a vaccine is approved and people are safe can countries fully end their lockdowns and resume normal life. The trouble is that such vaccines usually take years to develop and test for efficacy and safety. Recently, some bioethicists have proposed a way of speeding up this testing process by several months. Researchers would put volunteers in quarantine with access to the best medical care, give these volunteers one of the trial vaccines and then directly expose them to the coronavirus. This type of intentional exposure is called a challenge trial, and since researchers would not have to wait for subjects to encounter the virus in the normal course of their daily lives, it could result in a vaccine much faster than a normal trial. R...

Feeling overwhelmed? Approach coronavirus as a challenge to be met, not a threat to be feared

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

Feeling overwhelmed? Approach coronavirus as a challenge to be met, not a threat to be feared

You have a choice to make when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic. Do you treat this time as an insurmountable threat that pits you against everyone else? This option entails making decisions based solely on protecting yourself and your loved ones: stockpiling supplies regardless of what that leaves for others; continuing to host small gatherings because you’re personally at lower risk; or taking no precautions because the effort seems futile. Or do you treat the coronavirus as a collective challenge that will require shared sacrifices to achieve a difficult but not impossible goal? That option would mean taking recommended precautions: practicing social distancing, hand-washing and restricting travel. These actions might not be your most desired or convenient path as an individual, bu...

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

5 game-changing Supreme Court cases to watch that could challenge Black people’s rights for years to come

This week the Supreme Court went back into session, kicking off what’s expected to be one of the most divisive and controversial terms in recent history. Everything from guns to abortion rights is on the docket, and America will get to see the impact of the addition of Trump-appointee Brett Kavanaugh. Although judges are expected to be politically impartial, Kavanaugh’s contentious confirmation hearing after being accused of sexual assault, left him charging Democrats with unfairly going after his character. Now, some experts are bracing for a possible “conservative revolution,” after the court overturned two precedents (a highly unusual move) last term, and President Donald Trump has successfully appointed 150 judges to lifetime seats on the bench (whoever told said your vote didn’t mat...

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

VIDEO REELS

Will Congressional Black Caucus challenge the establishment?

The Congressional Black Caucus is holding its annual conference in Washington, DC, as it faces questions about its role from grassroots candidates who claim it supports the status quo. In Washington, the Congressional Black Caucus is holding its annual conference. The coalition of African American legislators is facing criticism for appearing to want to join the political establishment rather than challenge it. Polls indicate that fear of US President Donald Trump is not sufficient to get voters to the polls and grassroots campaigns have argued that the CBC is failing to support candidates who offer real alternatives that appeal to voters and of supporting legislation that harms minority communities. As the US midterm elections approach, can the ...