Tag: turning

Could This Be A Turning Point For The Industry? States Have Never Had This Much Money For Child Care
IN OTHER NEWS

Could This Be A Turning Point For The Industry? States Have Never Had This Much Money For Child Care

Biden’s American Rescue Plan allocated $39 billion for child care — a historic infusion. But states are relying on small staffs, old systems and a short timeline to get the money out equitably. Chabeli Carrazana Originally published by The 19th This story was supported by the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.  When it was passed in March, President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan included the single largest allocation for child care in the nation’s history: $39 billion. That’s more money than the United States has spent on child care in the past five years combined. The aid was disbursed to states and tribes in mid-April, and earlier this month, the administration released its guid...
Turning Low-Value Plastic Materials Into High-Value Molecules
ENVIRONMENT

Turning Low-Value Plastic Materials Into High-Value Molecules

If you thought those flimsy disposable plastic grocery bags represented most of our plastic waste problem, think again. The volume of plastic the world throws away every year could rebuild the Ming Dynasty’s Great Wall of China – about 3,700 miles long. In the six decades that plastic has been manufactured for commercial uses, more than 8.3 billion metric tons have been produced. Plastics are light, versatile, cheap and nearly indestructible (as long as they don’t get too hot). These properties make them incredibly useful in an enormous range of applications that includes sterile food packaging, energy-efficient transportation, textiles and medical protective gear. But their indestructible nature comes at a cost. Most of them decompose extremely slowly in the environment – on the order of...
Workplaces are turning to devices to monitor social distancing, but does the tech respect privacy?
TECHNOLOGY

Workplaces are turning to devices to monitor social distancing, but does the tech respect privacy?

As we emerge from the coronavirus lockdown, those of us who still have a workplace may not recognize it. Businesses, eager to limit liability for employees and customers, are considering a variety of emerging technologies for limiting pandemic spread. These technologies can be loosely divided into two types: one based on cellphone technologies and the other using wearable devices like electronic bracelets and watches. Both approaches focus on maintaining social distancing, nominally six feet between any two workers based on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and supported by some modeling. Most workers will have little choice whether to participate in their employer’s risk mitigation. As a networking and security researcher, I believe that it is essential that...