Unpacking Elon Musk's convoluted U.S.-Mexico border visit

In late September, Elon Musk, the tech billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX, set the internet ablaze with his visit to the Texas-Mexico border to provide what he called an “unfiltered” perspective on the border crisis as thousands of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, crossed the Rio Grande River.In a video at Eagle Pass, Texas, Musk calls for a “greatly expanded legal immigration system” that would welcome “hard-working and honest” people and “not let anyone in the country who is breaking the law.”

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The Lost Drop: An Illustrated Celebration of the Wonder of the Water Cycle and the Interconnected Ongoingness of Life

I remember when I first learned about the water cycle, about how it makes of our planet a living world and binds the fate of every molecule to that of every other. I remember feeling in my child-bo…

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What Great Data Analysts Do -- and Why Every Organization Needs Them

“Full-stack” data scientist means mastery of machine learning, statistics, and analytics. Today’s fashion in data science favors flashy sophistication with a dash of sci-fi, making AI and machine learning the darlings of the job market. Alternative challengers for the alpha spot come from statistics, thanks to a century-long reputation for rigor and mathematical superiority. What about analysts?Whereas excellence in statistics is about rigor and excellence in machine learning is about performance, excellence in analytics is all about speed. Analysts are your best bet for coming up with those hypotheses in the first place. As analysts mature, they’ll begin to get the hang of judging what’s important in addition to what’s interesting, allowing decision-makers to step away from the middleman role. Of the three breeds, analysts are the most likely heirs to the decision throne.

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Governance for Smarter KPIs

Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.This article series presents findings from the seventh annual global research study on artificial intelligence and business strategy by MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group. In spring 2023, we fielded a global survey and subsequently analyzed records from 3,043 respondents representing more than 25 industries and 100 countries. We also interviewed 17 executives leading AI initiatives in a broad range of companies and industries, including financial services, media and entertainment, retail, travel and transportation, and life sciences.

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Why some streaming companies are leaning into adverts and raising prices

When streaming services initially hit the market, part of their allure was eliminating the advert experience. Many consumers ditched linear television so they could watch programmes uninterrupted, subscribing to services including Netflix. It revolutionised the media business landscape – and gave consumers a totally new, on-demand experience. Now, however, eager to boost revenue, streaming companies are pumping adverts into their products. In late September, for example, Amazon announced it'd be integrating ads into its Prime Video service in at least 10 global markets come 2024, joining many other streamers who've already made the move.

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Britney Spears's The Woman in Me: The celebrity memoirs that reveal the truth

As news spread of actor Matthew Perry's death on Saturday, tributes from colleagues and fans flooded social media. Many made reference to his iconic role as Chandler Bing on the sitcom Friends; those who knew him personally recounted the qualities that made him a friend. And some used Perry's own words to memorialise him, quoting from his bestselling 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, in which he discussed, with raw candour, his years-long battle with alcohol and opiate addiction. More like this:- Is it time to reconsider Britney's legacy?- The Friends episode that showed Matthew Perry's genius- 25 of the best books so far this year

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Birds of east Africa: new book reveals their extraordinary diversity and changing behaviour

Like millions of people around the world, I love watching birds. They’re so accessible, and their busy lives brighten up pretty much anywhere from a city centre to remote wilderness landscapes. And the more I watch them, the more curious I get about their lives and the adaptations that help them survive. It is easy to see this as pure indulgence, the study of ornithology as a pastime of the rich in a time when most of the world still struggles with basic needs. But I see birds and birdwatching as a gateway drug to ecology, and ecology is the science that can help us tackle the biodiversity crisis that threatens life on Earth today.

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Cobalt nanoparticles could become a significant player in the pursuit of clean energy

To help address climate change, we urgently need to transition to clean energy. The energy sector is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which are the primary drivers of global warming. These devices offer a promising pathway to clean energy by efficiently converting chemical energy into electricity with only water and heat as byproducts. This makes them an environmentally friendly choice for electricity generation.

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Hockey's wake-up call: Neck guards should be mandatory following Adam Johnson's death

The death of professional ice hockey player Adam Johnson from a freak injury has renewed debates about protective hockey equipment.On Oct. 28, the 29-year-old died after being cut in the neck by a skate blade during an English league hockey game.In the days since Johnson’s death, hockey players and organizations have called for neck guard mandates. Neck guards are designed to prevent a cut to the neck, rather than spinal cord or throat injuries from a puck or stick. They are available as stand-alone protective gear or embedded into a turtleneck long sleeve.

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Grain as a weapon: Russia-Ukraine war reveals how capitalism fuels global hunger

International fears about the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on an existing global food crisis appear to have faded in the seven months since Russia pulled out of a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain to world markets.Such complacency is misplaced and dangerous. The risk of worsening food insecurity through the weaponization of grain continues. It’s troubling that such a risk exists at all, given how blocking access to a basic food staple can devastate innocent people and those with no connection to the conflict.

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As a death doula and professor who teaches about dying, I see a need for more conversations about death

A growing number of folks may have heard of the death-positive movement, death cafés or death-friendly communities — each of which are animated by the understanding that welcoming our own mortality could improve the quality of our lives.There is truth to these claims. Both as a person who has taught courses on death, dying, and spirituality for more than 20 years, and as a death doula, thinking about dying and working closely with the dying has fostered in me a deep appreciation for what it means to live well and meaningfully.

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Two faces of dignity: a Kantian perspective on Uber drivers' fight for decent working conditions

Legal and political philosopher, Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (FMSH) Corinna Mieth a reçu des financements de Fondation Maison de science de l'homme (FMSH) et du Kant-Zentrum NRW.

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Roald Dahl, time-bending crime, and queer pirate comedy: the best of streaming this November

Before the madness hits, however, there’s still time to get some serious streaming study under your belt, so you’ll be completely up to date if anyone at an end-of-year party asks if you’ve watched anything good lately. Read more: Wartime hijinks, wilderness survivors and contemporary dance: what we're streaming this October

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Someone has told you they're self-harming. Now what?

For many people, self-harm can be a difficult behaviour to understand. It also comes with a lot of stigma. This can make talking about it difficult as people who self-harm often anticipate negative responses and judgement.

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Gonski for universities: what if we funded higher education like schools?

Its proposals promise to have a huge impact on how Australia’s higher education system will function in years to come.Education Minister Jason Clare has made equity a top priority for the accord. This means increasing opportunities for disadvantaged groups to attend university and finish their degrees.

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Do you trust AI to write the news? It already is - and not without issues

Businesses are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate media content, including news, to engage their customers. Now, we’re even seeing AI used for the “gamification” of news – that is, to create interactivity associated with news content. For better or worse, AI is changing the nature of news media. And we’ll have to wise up if we want to protect the integrity of this institution.

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Homeowners often feel better about life than renters, but not always - whether you are mortgaged matters

Homeownership has long been thought of as the great Australian dream. For individuals, it’s seen as the path to adulthood and prosperity. For the nation, it’s seen as a cornerstone of economic and social policy.Implicit in this is the assumption that owning a home rather than renting one makes people better off.

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How are global powers engaging with the Pacific? And who is most effective? These 5 maps provide a glimpse

Director, Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies, Georgetown University After years of neglect, there’s a reason why Pacific leaders now describe the Pacific Islands’ geopolitical landscape as “crowded and complex”. Many democratic powers have recently refocused their attention on the region, including Australia, the United States, New Zealand, France, the United Kingdom and Japan.

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Winston Peters back in the driver's seat for coalition negotiations

Here go again. The final results of this year’s election have delivered two more seats to te Pati Māori, thereby increasing the size of New Zealand’s 54th Parliament to 123 seats (once the Port Waikato by-election has taken place). The double effect of this “overhang” is to erase the narrow election night majority held by National (who have lost seats via special votes for the seventh election on the trot) and ACT, and to hand the balance of power to NZ First.

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A cosmic ocean of shame: Jesmyn Ward's Let Us Descend confronts a history beyond the ken of storytelling

It is worth asking whether there are topics beyond the capacity of the novel. Are there subjects so immense in historical scope and in depths of human suffering that a form engineered to tackle but a bare handful of lives in sufficient detail cannot possibly accommodate them? Warfare, with its punctual campaigns and political manoeuvrings, may indeed prove the limit beyond which the novel capitulates and the older form of the epic resurfaces.

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A new Silicon Valley manifesto reveals the bleak, dangerous philosophy driving the tech industry

In 1993, Marc Andreessen was an undergraduate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he also worked at the US-government funded National Center for Supercomputing Applications. With a colleague, the young software engineer authored the Mosaic web browser, which set the standard for cruising the information superhighway in the 1990s. Andreessen went on to cofound Netscape Communications, making a fortune in 1999 when the company was acquired by AOL for US$4.3 billion.

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Our minds handle risk strangely - and that's partly why we delayed climate action so long

We now have a very narrow window to significantly and rapidly slash greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the most disastrous effects of climate change, with just an estimated six years left before we blow our carbon budget to stay below 1.5°C of warming. We’ve known how gases like carbon dioxide trap heat for over 100 years and alarm bells have been ringing loudly for over 35 years, when climate scientist James Hansen testified that global warming had begun.

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Albanese and Labor slump to worst position in Newspoll since 2022 election

Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Newspoll, conducted October 30 to November 3 from a sample of 1,220 people, gave Labor a 52–48% lead over the Coalition, a two-point gain for the Coalition since the final Newspoll before the October 14 Voice referendum. This is Labor’s narrowest lead in Newspoll since the 2022 federal election.

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How much protein do I need as I get older? And do I need supplements to get enough?

Program Director of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Accredited Practising Dietitian, University of South Australia If you are a woman around 50, you might have seen advice on social media or from influencers telling you protein requirements increase dramatically in midlife. Such recommendations suggest a 70 kilogram woman needs around 150 grams of protein each day. That’s the equivalent of 25 boiled eggs at 6 grams of protein each.

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