Saturday, May 4

Tag: could

A Material (Nickel Oxide) Can ‘Learn’ Like Animals And Could Help Further Artificial Intelligence Research
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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

A Material (Nickel Oxide) Can ‘Learn’ Like Animals And Could Help Further Artificial Intelligence Research

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea A unique material, nickel oxide demonstrates the ability to learn things about its environment in a way that emulates the most basic learning abilities of animals, as my colleagues and I describe in a new paper. For over half a century, neuroscientists have studied sea slugs to understand basic animal learning. Two fundamental concepts of learning are habituation and sensitization. Habituation occurs when an organism’s response to a repeated stimulus continuously decreases. When researchers first touch a sea slug, its gills retract. But the more they touch the slug, the less it retracts its gills. Sensitization is an organism’s extreme reaction to a harmful or unexpected stimulus. If researchers then shock a ...
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Build Back Better Could Help End Subminimum Wages For People With Disabilities
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WORK

Build Back Better Could Help End Subminimum Wages For People With Disabilities

Many people with disabilities are paid just pennies. Build Back Better could help end that. For almost a century, it has been completely legal for companies to pay workers with disabilities mere cents on the hour. Employees have reported receiving pennies in their paychecks, with no limit on how little they can be paid. This practice of paying “subminimum wage,” which the U.S. Department of Labor allows under the auspices of maintaining employment opportunities for people with disabilities, has also led to some workers being sequestered in workshops away from the regular workforce, where they have little opportunity to advance into other jobs. About 1,500 of those workshops remain nationwide, employing more than an estimated 100,000 people with disabilities at companies including Goodwil...
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Out-Of-Sync Brainwaves Could Be Another Reason Videoconferencing Is Such A Drag
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TECHNOLOGY

Out-Of-Sync Brainwaves Could Be Another Reason Videoconferencing Is Such A Drag

During the pandemic, video calls became a way for me to connect with my aunt in a nursing home and with my extended family during holidays. Zoom was how I enjoyed trivia nights, happy hours and live performances. As a university professor, Zoom was also the way I conducted all of my work meetings, mentoring and teaching. But I often felt drained after Zoom sessions, even some of those that I had scheduled for fun. Several well-known factors – intense eye contact, slightly misaligned eye contact, being on camera, limited body movement, lack of nonverbal communication – contribute to Zoom fatigue. But I was curious about why conversation felt more laborious and awkward over Zoom and other video-conferencing software, compared with in-person interactions. As a researcher who studies psychol...
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Even As It Appears To Be In Dire Straits The NRA Could Be Winning Its Long Game
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POLITICS

Even As It Appears To Be In Dire Straits The NRA Could Be Winning Its Long Game

Robert Spitzer, State University of New York College at Cortland No observer of contemporary gun politics could fail to notice a jarring disconnect between the two very different trajectories of the gun rights movement today. On the one hand, more states are allowing Americans to carry weapons in public without permits, and the gun-rights movement could be on the verge of a major Supreme Court victory. On the other, the National Rifle Association, which advocates on behalf of gun owners, faces an existential crisis that’s mostly due to the NRA’s own missteps. As a political scientist who has studied gun politics and policy for over 30 years, I’m confident that there is no precedent for this contradictory situation. Moreover, there’s no reason to believe that the NRA’s problems will inf...
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Facebook Could Be Held Accountable For Its Actions By Congress In 3 Ways
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TECHNOLOGY

Facebook Could Be Held Accountable For Its Actions By Congress In 3 Ways

Anjana Susarla, Michigan State University; Bhaskar Chakravorti, Tufts University, and Ryan Calo, University of Washington Facebook may have changed its corporate name to Meta Platforms, but that won’t end its troubles - nor efforts to rein in the social media company’s business practices. Lawmakers are pondering new ways to regulate Facebook, whose CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, wrote in 2019 that he welcomed new “rules governing the internet.” With that in mind, we asked three experts on social media, technology policy and global business to offer one specific action the government could take about Meta’s Facebook service. Let users control more of their data Anjana Susarla, Professor of Information Systems, Michigan State University Social media sites like Facebook are designed for constant ...
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There Are Laws, Incentives And Mindset Changes In Place That Could Reduce The Medical Errors That Keep Killing Patients
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HEALTH & WELLNESS

There Are Laws, Incentives And Mindset Changes In Place That Could Reduce The Medical Errors That Keep Killing Patients

Michael J. Saks, Arizona State University Dr. Christopher Duntsch was a spine surgeon so reckless, incompetent or impaired that he’s now in a Texas prison. Better known as “Dr. Death,” Duntsch severed nerves, vocal cords and arteries that should not have been touched. He left patient after patient maimed, paralyzed or dead. Moreover, his story exposes the inability or reluctance of the medical community to stop him. Eventually, the Texas Medical Board did revoke his license. But three fellow surgeons, certain that Duntsch would simply move to another state and resume his career of carnage, implored the Dallas County district attorney to prosecute him. In 2017, a jury took just four hours to convict. Although sentenced to life in prison, Duntsch is up for parole in 2045, when he will be 7...
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Infrastructure Spending Into Trillions Of Dollars Could Mean Hundreds Of Billions In Fraud
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IN OTHER NEWS

Infrastructure Spending Into Trillions Of Dollars Could Mean Hundreds Of Billions In Fraud

Jetson Leder-Luis, Boston University The U.S. government may be on the verge of spending as much as US$4.5 trillion in what could be one of the biggest investments in infrastructure and the social safety net in decades. The House plans to vote on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill on Sept. 30, 2021 – which was already approved by the Senate – and may soon follow that with up to $3.5 trillion in other investments. The measures’ passage – and the total to be spent – are still up in the air. But if either or both bills do become law, they would not only reflect massive new government spending that lawmakers see as investment, but also a serious target for fraud. Most government spending does reach the intended targets – like mass transit, clean energy and broadband internet – but...
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Sen. Joe Manchin’s Support For Natural Gas Could Derail Biden’s US Climate Plan
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BUSINESS, VIDEO REELS

Sen. Joe Manchin’s Support For Natural Gas Could Derail Biden’s US Climate Plan

Michael Oppenheimer, Princeton University President Joe Biden has a goal for all U.S. electricity to come from zero-carbon sources by 2035. To get there, he’s counting on Congress to approve an ambitious package of incentives and penalties designed to encourage utilities to clean up their power sources. That plan, part of the Democrats’ proposed budget package, may be in trouble. Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who has close ties to the coal, oil and gas industries and concerns about the speed of Biden’s planned emissions cuts, will oversee that part of the budget as chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Manchin has emphasized using “all energy sources” as “cleanly as possible” and described the idea of eliminating fossil fuels as “very, very disturbing.”...
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America’s Eviction Crisis – How Lawyers Could Prevent It From Getting A Whole Lot Worse
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Journalism

America’s Eviction Crisis – How Lawyers Could Prevent It From Getting A Whole Lot Worse

Jennifer Prusak, Vanderbilt University Lawyers may be the only thing standing in the way of eviction for millions of renters. With the end of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium on Aug. 26, 2021, most landlords can now ask courts to evict tenants who haven’t been paying their rent. As a result, new eviction filings are already spiking across the country. Data shows that once an eviction court begins a case, it’s very likely the tenant will quickly be out on the street – unless they have legal representation. As the director of the Housing Law Clinic at Vanderbilt University Law School, I’ve seen firsthand the impact that legal representation can have on a renter navigating the eviction process. That is why I believe providing more tenants with ac...
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The Purdue Opioid Settlement – How It Could Help The Public Understand The Roots Of The Drug Crisis
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HEALTH & WELLNESS

The Purdue Opioid Settlement – How It Could Help The Public Understand The Roots Of The Drug Crisis

HEALTH Antoine Lentacker, University of California, Riverside There’s a long history of U.S. courts being called upon to fix large-scale public health crises. Lawyers and judges, for instance, were key in settling claims related to asbestos, lead paint, Agent Orange and tobacco. More recently, they have dealt with the fallout of the U.S. opioid epidemic, which is linked to the deaths of some 500,000 Americans over the past two decades. This litigation can serve several important goals. It can identify wrongdoers and hold them accountable. It can repair damage by compensating the victims. And it can protect the public by producing evidence regarding dangerous products and practices. When cases are settled, however, the litigation rarely accomplishes all three goals together. Settlement...
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