Asking questions is a uniquely powerful tool for unlocking value in organizations: It spurs learning and the exchange of ideas, it fuels innovation and performance improvement, it builds rapport and trust among team members. And it can mitigate business risk by uncovering unforeseen pitfalls and hazards. But few executives think of questioning as a skill that can be honed—or consider how their own answers to questions could make conversations more productive.

Continued here

Excellent Advice for Living: Kevin Kelly's Life-Tested Wisdom He Wished He Knew Earlier

Each month, I spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars keeping The Marginalian going. For seventeen years, it has remained free and ad-free and alive thanks to patronage from readers. I have no staff, no interns, not even an assistant — a thoroughly one-woman labor of love that is also my life and my livelihood. If this labor has made your own life more livable in the past year (or the past decade), please consider aiding its sustenance with a one-time or loyal donation. Your support makes all the difference.“No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life,” Nietzsche wrote as he reckoned with what it takes to find yourself. And yet where would the world be if each generation didn’t plank its crossing with the life-tested wisdom of its elders? Often, that wisdom comes so simply worded as to appear trite — but it is the simplicity of a children’s book, or of a Zen parable: unvarnished elemental truth about what it means to be alive, hard-won and generously offered. That is precisely what Kevin Kelly gathers in Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier (public library) — an herbarium of learnings that began as a list he composed on his 68th birthday for his own young-adult children, a list to which he kept adding with each lived year.

Continued here

Protecting Society From AI Harms: Amnesty International's Matt Mahmoudi and Damini Satija (Part 1)

Our summer special report helps leaders gain a comprehensive view of risks, learn how to overcome market disrupters, and manage the analytical tools that provide predictive insight for decision-making.Our summer special report helps leaders gain a comprehensive view of risks, learn how to overcome market disrupters, and manage the analytical tools that provide predictive insight for decision-making.Amnesty International brings together more than 10 million staff members and volunteers worldwide to advocate for social justice. Damini Satija and Matt Mahmoudi work with Amnesty Tech, a division of the human rights organization that focuses on the role of government, Big Tech, and technologies like artificial intelligence in areas like surveillance, discrimination, and bias.

Continued here

Butter-poached scallops with coconut sauce

In Jamaica, "run down" – or rondón, run dun or rundung as it's also known – is a meltingly tender seafood stew or sauce made by cooking down coconut milk with spices and fish like salt cod or mackerel. It's traditionally served with Jamaican staples like yams, bananas and plantains. The dish is called run down because the fish is cooked down until it essentially falls apart. It's comfort food that chef Andrew Black grew up eating in his hometown of Barracks River, St Mary in Jamaica.Today, run down forms the foundation for a stunning dish of scallops in coconut sauce that is featured on the tasting menu at Black's Grey Sweater restaurant in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This is a city long overlooked as a dining destination, but this perception is changing thanks to chefs like Black, who was awarded Best Chef: Southwest from the James Beard Foundation this past June.

Continued here

India's beloved mosur dal

The everyday dish of simmered lentils known as dal is more than just food to most Indians; it is comfort, it is nourishment and very often, it is the taste of home."For me, dal is comfort food and I have it every day. When I am tired, or when I'm having a bad day, dal with rice uplifts my mood in a way that nothing else can, not even coffee or chocolate," said cookbook author Archana Pidathala.

Continued here

10 churches around the world given amazing new life

In a 19th-Century church built for the British Navy on an island in the Thames Estuary, one cantilevered staircase has been rebuilt, and the other has been conserved as a ruin. For the project's architect Hugh Broughton, this acts as a metaphor for his thinking behind a new use for this church.Completed in 1828, the grade II* listed Sheerness Dockyard Church had languished as a ruin since it was ravaged by fire in 2001. It now has a new lease of life as a workspace hub for young entrepreneurs on the Isle of Sheppey, one of the most deprived parts of Kent in the south of England.

Continued here

Climate change threatens the rights of children. The UN just outlined the obligations states have to protect them

Climate change is not just an environmental crisis, it’s a human rights crisis. And the humans to be most affected by climate catastrophe are the youngest ones: children.We have seen children directly impacted in the Northern Hemisphere’s unprecedented heatwaves this year. In Greece, 1,200 children were evacuated when a wildfire threatened their holiday camps.

Continued here

International ransomware gangs are evolving their techniques. The next generation of hackers will target weaknesses in cryptocurrencies

In May 2023, the Dallas City Government was hugely disrupted by a ransomware attack. Ransomware attacks are so-called because the hackers behind them encrypt vital data and demand a ransom in order to get the information decrypted. The attack in Dallas put a halt to hearings, trials and jury duty, and the eventual closure of the Dallas Municipal Court Building. It also had an indirect effect on wider police activities, with stretched resources affecting the ability to deliver, for example, summer youth programmes. The criminals threatened to publish sensitive data, including personal information, court cases, prisoner identities and government documents.

Continued here

Why do fingers get wrinkly after a long bath or swim? A biomedical engineer explains

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected] do fingers and toes get wrinkly and change color after a dip in a pool or a bath? – Raymond Y., age 12, Bothell, Washington

Continued here

Medication can help you make the most of therapy - a psychologist and neuroscientist explains how

There is mounting recognition in the scientific community that combining different treatment approaches for mental health conditions can create a benefit greater than the sum of its parts.Anxiety and depression are the most prevalent mental health conditions around the world. Globally, about 280 million people experience depression, and as many as 1 in 3 will meet the diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. There are numerous effective treatment options for both conditions, including medications, psychotherapy, lifestyle changes and neurostimulation.

Continued here

FDA's greenlighting of maternal RSV vaccine represents a major step forward in protecting young babies against the virus

With the Food and Drug Administration’s Aug. 21, 2023, approval of the first vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, for use during late pregnancy, the U.S. will soon have a major new tool at its disposal to protect infants against the highly contagious virus. RSV is the most common cause of lower respiratory infections in young children and can be especially severe for infants under 6 months of age. It is the leading cause of infant hospitalization in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each year, RSV is associated with half a million emergency room visits, nearly 100,000 hospitalizations and 300 deaths in young U.S. children.

Continued here

Short naps can improve memory, increase productivity, reduce stress and promote a healthier heart

While some people view napping as a luxurious indulgence, others see it as a way to maintain alertness and well-being. But napping can come with drawbacks as well as benefits. As an orofacial pain specialist, I have extensive education in sleep medicine and how sleep impacts wellness, due mostly to the relationship between sleep and painful conditions such as headaches and facial pain. My training involved all aspects of sleep, especially sleep breathing disorders, insomnia and sleep-related movement disorders.

Continued here

Judicial orders restricting Trump's speech seek to balance his own constitutional rights

In each of former President Donald Trump’s four indictments, he has been allowed to stay out of jail before his trial so long as he abides by certain conditions commonly applied to most people accused of crimes in the U.S.In the New York state case regarding alleged falsification of business records, Trump has been ordered “not [to] communicate about facts of the case with any individual known to be a witness, except with counsel or the presence of counsel.” In the federal case in Florida, about his handling of classified documents, he is under a similar order. In the federal case in Washington, D.C., he is under a protective order with the same types of restrictions, barring him from speaking to people involved in the case except through or with his lawyers.

Continued here

There's no age limit for politicians - as people live longer, should that change?

President Joe Biden was “fine,” according to White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt, after tripping over a sandbag at a U.S. Air Force graduation ceremony on June 1, 2023.But his fall was caught on live camera – and people on social media speculated about what was behind it.

Continued here

What social change movements can learn from fly fishing: The value of a care-focused message

Summer and fall are prime times for getting outdoors across the U.S. According to an annual survey produced by the outdoor industry, 55% of Americans age 6 and up participated in some kind of outdoor recreation in 2022, and that number is on the rise. However, the activities they choose are shifting. Over the past century, participation has declined in some activities, such as hunting, and increased in others, like bird-watching.

Continued here

Shutting off power to reduce wildfire risk on windy days isn't a simple decision - an energy expert explains the trade-offs electric utilities face

Executive Director of the Strategic Energy Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology Tim C. Lieuwen serves on the Advisory Council of EPRI, as well as governing or advisory boards of Oak Ridge National Lab, Pacific Northwest National Lab, and National Renewable Energy Lab

Continued here

The US and China may be ending an agreement on science and technology cooperation - a policy expert explains what this means for research

The possible lapse comes after U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., led a congressional group warning the U.S. State Department in July 2023 to beware of cooperation with China. This group recommended to let the agreement expire without renewal, claiming China has gained a military advantage through its scientific and technological ties with the U.S. The State Department has dragged its feet on renewing the agreement, only requesting an extension at the last moment to “amend and strengthen” the agreement.

Continued here

DRC: rising Twirwaneho rebel group highlights the unending volatility of the country's east

Christopher P. Davey is affiliated with Clark University and Education for Global Peace, and works for Binghamton University SUNY.The three-decade conflict in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has led to the proliferation of hundreds of armed groups. With the violence appearing to take an ethnic slant, several groups have emerged claiming to be protecting their communities from attacks. One such group is the Twirwaneho, which has become more active since 2019. Christopher P. Davey, who has extensively studied the drivers of conflict in eastern DRC, explains how the Twirwaneho’s claim of communal self-defence highlights the fractured nature of Congolese politics.

Continued here

Cannabis is illegal in Nigeria but provides a living for families - study calls for rethink of drug laws

Arriving at the tranquil village health facility in southwestern Nigeria, we were met by a small gathering of men – young and old – with thinly veiled excitement. Cannabis is a heavily criminalised plant in Nigeria. It can get its growers, traders and users long prison sentences. The National Drug Law Enforcement Act prescribes an imprisonment of not less than 15 years for possession and use of cannabis. Yet its very illegality ensures high prices and makes it lucrative to grow.

Continued here