Wednesday - August 9 2023, 18:15 UTC - 1 year ago

In the last five years, fewer than a third of charities in the U.S. engaged in advocacy. This has dropped from 74% in the year 2000. This is nearly due to a lack of understanding of the rules governing the activity. There are 1.5 million nonprofits that can legally advocate but hesitate due to confusion about the rules. Nonprofits can follow the 501(h) election in order to easily comply with the laws.

Wednesday - August 9 2023, 13:31 UTC - 1 year ago

Engineers at the University of Notre Dame created a robotic sea turtle possessing their unique gait characteristics. The robot contains an electronic control unit, a multi-sensor device, a battery and four individually radio-controlled flippers molded from silicone. The team employed 3D printing technique to produce body structure and flipper connectors. The robot could be used to protect baby sea turtles from predators, debris and waste, navigating the hatchlings to safety in the ocean.

Wednesday - August 9 2023, 08:43 UTC - 1 year ago

In the Netflix documentary "The Tinder Swindler", victims exposed notorious con artist Simon Leviev, who posed as a wealthy diamond mogul to deceive and scam numerous women out of millions of dollars. Online romance scams are carefully planned schemes that follow distinct stages, such as bait and groom, build trust and request money transfers. What can people do to protect themselves? It is important to understand potential red flags, never share sensitive information, use a virtual private network and report scams immediately to law enforcement and the FTC.

Wednesday - August 9 2023, 03:59 UTC - 1 year ago

Solar power production in southern Europe played a crucial role in mitigating the crisis caused by heatwaves. Spain and Greece are among the countries that have installed more solar panels and are also among the worst affected regions in Europe due to climate change. Solar energy output in Spain and Sicily surpassed any previous month on record and solar photovoltaics covered 3.5GW of the total 10.35 during peak demand on July 24 in Greece. The Greek government is reconstructing five eco-villages in the region of Western Macedonia with 4,000 solar panels, 1,000 lights, and installation of beekeeper facilities.

Tuesday - August 8 2023, 23:50 UTC - 1 year ago

Rockefeller researchers have revealed the mechanisms of how the transcription factor SOX9 can abnormally be expressed in epidermal stem cells, leading to the development of certain lethal cancers. These findings provide new insights into cancer, providing new SOX9-activated genes as potential therapeutic targets.

Tuesday - August 8 2023, 19:46 UTC - 1 year ago

The launch of ChatGPT, a generative AI platform capable of handling complex tasks, has caused anxiety among many professions who think their jobs can be replaced. This anxiety is shared by many people, including legal assistants, programmers, accountants and financial advisors. Goldman Sachs analysts expect generative AI to impact, if not eliminate, 300 million jobs. Therapists are trying to get people to embrace the possible use of AI and adjust to a new job or skill. Peter Vukovic believes only 1 percent of the population will benefit from living in an AI world. Most of the rest are fearful of the AI-fueled future.

Tuesday - August 8 2023, 15:22 UTC - 1 year ago

A new study has connected digital components with biological cells into a cyborg organoid that can regenerate and repair living hearts. This technology is made up of a mixture of human stem cells and electric-active silicon nanowires, which allows lab-made mini-hearts to better synchronize with the host heart.

Tuesday - August 8 2023, 11:17 UTC - 1 year ago

A new study from researchers at the University of Washington, Carnegie Mellon University, and Xi’an Jiaotong University examined the political biases in 14 language models, finding that OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT-4 models were the most left-leaning, while Meta’s LLaMA was the most right-leaning. As language models become integrated into products and services used by millions of people, understanding their underlying political assumptions and biases is crucial.

Tuesday - August 8 2023, 06:29 UTC - 1 year ago

A recent study published in Geology revealed evidence of increased sea surface temperature, continental ice decline, and oceanic environments flooding the land from a pivotal era 304 million years ago during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age. The findings suggest that microbial methane emissions during this era may have reached a staggering 2.1 gigatons, and were connected to the rise in atmospheric methane. The collective impact of alkaline lakes globally could have significantly influenced greenhouse gas levels, potentially equaling up to 7521 gigatons of carbon dioxide. These findings underscore the influential role of methane in shaping our climate.

Tuesday - August 8 2023, 01:42 UTC - 1 year ago

Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Research Science (CSRS) and the University of Toronto have discovered an innovative way to combat fungal infections. They identified a natural product, NPD6433, from the RIKEN natural product depository that works by inhibiting fatty acid synthase, preventing the synthesis of fatty acids within fungal cells. Experiments have found it effective against a wide range of fungi, including Candida, Cryptococcus, and Aspergillus species, as well as the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. The team recommends their discovery as part of an arsenal for anti-fungal drugs.

Monday - August 7 2023, 20:54 UTC - 1 year ago

Korean researchers have developed a new polymer binding material for the anode of batteries using silicon. This new material is more stable and reliable than previous materials and offers a greater energy capacity. Companies like Tesla and Amprius have already started using the new materials in their batteries with the potential of a 30% increase in energy density.

Monday - August 7 2023, 15:59 UTC - 1 year ago

The European Union is soon planning to implement a law that requires thousands of large companies in the region to actively look for and reduce human rights and environmental abuses in their supply chain. This would be the most stringent effort by any jurisdiction to legally mandate human rights due diligence yet, with significant implications for human rights and businesses across the world.

Monday - August 7 2023, 11:25 UTC - 1 year ago

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute discovered a mechanism where the insulin superfamily of hormones, specifically IGF1 and IGF2, are locally produced and released by neurons during synaptic plasticity, promoting memory formation and cognitive health. This breakthrough could potentially guide future research in combating cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.

Monday - August 7 2023, 06:25 UTC - 1 year ago

David Friedberg of the All-in-Podcast is hopeful that LK99 is real and can lead to industrial scale commercial room temperature superconductors with implications in fields like transportation, computing, and military applications. If proven correct, these materials could reduce global energy consumption by half. The road ahead will involve proving the exact composition of the material and mastering a process for the replacement of certain lead atoms with dopants.

Monday - August 7 2023, 02:08 UTC - 1 year ago

The U.S. has a car-centric culture that is perpetuated by parking minimums set by cities in the past. Despite being challenged, parking has remained the norm in many American cities, leading to excessive parking, urban heating, increased housing costs, and reliance on driving. Impactful reform is possible, as seen in Buffalo and Hartford, who have eliminated minimum parking requirements- inspiring the cities of Minneapolis, Raleigh, and San Jose to take similar steps. Dynamic pricing models and revenue management are other methods that urban leaders can use to reduce the dominance of parking.

Sunday - August 6 2023, 21:16 UTC - 1 year ago

Andrew McCalip and Varda have achieved a milestone in the research related to superconductors by replicating the Low-Kelvin 99 Material in the USA and they seem to have had some partial success. They think this has opened up is a new class of superconductors and a path to useful room temperature superconductors which could lead to commercial room temperature superconductors. Varda is also working on manufacturing in space.

Sunday - August 6 2023, 16:32 UTC - 1 year ago

The battle between The Walt Disney Co. and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over LGBTQ rights has sparked an alliance between progressives and the entertainment giant due to Disney's lawsuit against the governor. Disney's lawsuit is based on the Citizens United v. FEC ruling which established the right for corporations to influence politics, a move progressives oppose due to the amount of money it unleashes. Disney has expanded their mission to promote diversity and inclusion, and the statement released by them which caused the dispute showed their support for the LGBTQ movement.

Sunday - August 6 2023, 11:35 UTC - 1 year ago

As gene-editing technology continues to evolve, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have developed a new single-shot gene therapy treatment that directly reprograms faulty blood cells within the patient's bone marrow, potentially allowing patients with blood disorders access to similar life-changing care without the need for chemotherapy or radiation.

Sunday - August 6 2023, 07:30 UTC - 1 year ago

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute have created a new molecule structure that enhances the efficiency of blue OLEDs. This molecule structure contains two chemical parts which forms a kind of protective layer shielding the electrons from the intrusion of oxygen molecules, significantly simplifying the production of blue light-emitting diodes.