The tyranny of merit.
The Insufferable Hubris of the Well-Credentialed: A four-year college degree has become necessary for dignified work. Michael Sandel says that’s a huge mistake. "The meritocratic hubris of elites is the conviction by those who land on top that their success is their own doing, that they have risen...
Source: chronicle.com
Study: Neanderthal genes are a liability for COVID patients: Scientists say genes that some people have inherited from their
Study: Neanderthal genes are a liability for COVID patients: Scientists say genes that some people have inherited from their Neanderthal ancestors may increase their likelihood of suffering severe forms of COVID-19.
Source: medicalxpress.com
The truth about the Second Wave
The truth about the Second Wave - uncancelled: We need to move away from binary certainties – the battle of the Professors of Hope vs the Doom mongers is not a helpful one. The truth is somewhere in between. It’s nuanced. Dr Matt Morgan, ICU Consultant in Cardiff, argues that we need to say "I don't...
Source: uncancelled.co.uk
EU says one in eight deaths is linked to pollution: The bloc's environment agency says pollution contributes to hundreds
EU says one in eight deaths is linked to pollution: The bloc's environment agency says pollution contributes to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year.
Source: bbc.co.uk
Oppose the educational technology algorithims and technosolutions?
Essay by Audrey Watters on schools and the technology industry ... basically f**k the algorithm. "Robot Teachers, Racist Algorithms, and Disaster Pedagogy: I have volunteered to be a guest speaker in classes this Fall. It's really the least I can do to help teachers and students through another tough...
Source: hackeducation.com
A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged "According to the team’s analysis,
A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged "According to the team’s analysis, when the virus tweaks the RAS, it causes the body’s mechanisms for regulating bradykinin to go haywire. Bradykinin receptors are resensitized, and the body also stops effectively...
Source: medium.com
Police Across Canada Are Using Predictive Policing Algorithms
Police Across Canada Are Using Predictive Policing Algorithms, Report Finds: Police across Canada are increasingly adopting algorithmic technology to predict crime. The authors of a new report say human rights are threatened by the practice.
Source: vice.com
Letter to Cardiff University School of Medicine urging a review of 2020 student admissions
Just sent this to the undergraduate admissions team and the head of school at my old college. "To the admissions team Cardiff University School of Medicine. I write as an ex student of Cardiff School of Medicine having graduated in 1990. If you haven't already could I urge you to review all...
'Tombstoning' a tradition, say Moray locals | Press and Journal: Residents in a Moray village have defended the daredevil
'Tombstoning' a tradition, say Moray locals | Press and Journal: Residents in a Moray village have defended the daredevil practice of "tombstoning" by saying it's a local tradition that dates back generations.
Source: pressandjournal.co.uk
How the adults in the room handled the economic impact of COVID-19 in March - not the politicians and not their advisers.
"The adults in the room: On Sunday 15 March, the morning before he became the 121st governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey absorbed the news from around the world. In the past 12 hours, the White House had banned all visitors from the UK, Spain had introduced a national lockdown, France had closed...
Source: newstatesman.com
Road plans will scupper CO2 targets, report says
Road plans will scupper CO2 targets, report says: The majority of emissions cuts from electric cars will be wiped out by new road-building.
Source: bbc.com
Gene sleuths are tracking the coronavirus outbreak as it happens.
“Gene sleuths are tracking the coronavirus outbreak as it happens.” “By tracking mutations to the virus as it spreads, scientists are creating a family tree in nearly real time, which they say can help pinpoint how the infection is hopping between countries.” This demonstrates how the use of...
Source: technologyreview.com
Climate campaigners win Heathrow expansion case: Campaigners say plans for a third runway should be cancelled, but the airport
Climate campaigners win Heathrow expansion case: Campaigners say plans for a third runway should be cancelled, but the airport says it will appeal.
Source: bbc.com
YouTube
YouTube’s algorithm is pushing climate misinformation videos, and their creators are profiting from it: One-fifth of the ads on climate misinformation videos were from Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, or other green/environmental groups. "Avaaz cites YouTube’s much-debated algorithms as the main...
Source: niemanlab.org
Harvard professor says surveillance capitalism is undermining democracy: In her new book, “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,”
Harvard professor says surveillance capitalism is undermining democracy: In her new book, “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,” HBS Professor emerita Shoshana Zuboff outlines her belief that surveillance capitalism is undermining personal autonomy and eroding democracy — and the ways she says society...
Source: harvard.edu
Diagnostic Tests for Syphilis Continue to Perplex Even the Experts
Diagnostic Tests for Syphilis Continue to Perplex Even the Experts: An Unanswerable Question in Infectious Diseases - HIV and ID Observations: Here’s a tricky clinical scenario: An elderly person with cognitive decline or some other non-specific neurologic symptom sees a clinician. Clinician sends...
Source: jwatch.org
In search of the secret handshakes of ID
"Many of my sponsoring stakeholders - that is, the people
with the power to buy instructional design services - wouldn’t have
known a learning solution if it bit them on the toe. Frankly, they
really didn’t care about learning. They really didn’t want me to
tell them...
Source: wixstatic.com
Dominic Cummings wants 'weirdos' to help run the UK. Will it work?: A senior adviser to the UK's prime minister suggests
Dominic Cummings wants 'weirdos' to help run the UK. Will it work?: A senior adviser to the UK's prime minister suggests policy-making can be improved by training AI on government data, but the researchers he cites say they aren't so sure
Source: newscientist.com
Yes you can learn surgery via YouTube
"Doctors are turning to YouTube to learn how to do surgical procedures, but there's no quality control: Tens of thousands of videos on YouTube show surgeries ranging from face-lifts to knee replacements. But the content isn't vetted or curated, and some doctors say it should be." The platform dominance...
Source: cnbc.com
A Promising Solar Energy Breakthrough Just Achieved 1,000-Degree Heat From Sunlight: A new startup backed by Bill Gates
A Promising Solar Energy Breakthrough Just Achieved 1,000-Degree Heat From Sunlight: A new startup backed by Bill Gates says it has managed to harness solar energy to greater effect than ever before, generating enough heat from a field of mirrored panels to drive the production of cement, steel and glass...
Source: sciencealert.com
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