Human Behavior

Tampa poet Yuki Jackson reflects on the revolutionary and complicated concept of sharing and respecting space – Creative Loafing Tampa

yukijacksonpoet/Instagram

It is a revolutionary idea to share a space, which first requires asking permission. I notice how much of human behavior is to not respect the space of who you want to engage with or rather, take from. We take on this invasive tendency also in the form of encroaching and taking advantage of cultures, commodifying their lives, products and resources, with this whole sense of ownership, which seems to be the crux of white supremacy as well as general masculine energy.

Historically, the space we inhabit is of a woman. It starts from when we are in the womb, quite literally the first space we occupy. Is it any wonder that the deep disregard and violence towards women occurs as a perpetual expression of this first impulse we all possess as humans to occupy a woman then rip her apart.

Like rapper Chael Blinyas BLK Hole lyric, cause off rip, she got ripped off, the idea of a supreme male God who single-handedly created everything is a direct act of erasure on the role of the feminine side of life and is the root of disrespect towards women. In plain sight humanity has failed to cite its source.

I have been hosting a virtual poetry workshop series over the past couple months, the most recent installment themed Making Sense of Space. Together we explored space in different aspectsouter space, as in black holes and NASA, which seems to come foremost in our minds when we consider space, as well as space in terms of where we occupy and the space created when we experience loss in our lives.

This idea of the infinite void can feel at once hopeless and hopeful. While black holes could delete the universe, they also store information like the ultimate hard drive, they are like holograms in that everything inside is projected on its event horizon (Why Black Holes Could Delete the UniverseThe Information Paradox) We are projections directed towards an endless wall, a moving picture whirring constant, so we turn as much as we can, spinning the wheel, wondering how did we get here. And like the drive-in movie experience, we may discover that arriving in a space, the act of coming, is best when involving both of us.

Projection No.2 - First Showing

I got in trouble for letting the visitors write on my walls

we lived in Ichi-ban Tower which means first if it's all in order

the aftermath of when my mother invited people over to discuss world peace I should have watched the other kids closer

my room, my responsibility

a mistake I would be blamed and punished with a ruler measured in whats used to count distance everywhere but where I live

Ive been told Im in my own little world

an attempt to exhibit our first graffiti,watch how we leave our marks without apology

it's possible I may have even encouraged it

if we reflect the universe, it is her space and you enter

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Tampa poet Yuki Jackson reflects on the revolutionary and complicated concept of sharing and respecting space - Creative Loafing Tampa

Human Behavior

2021 Reed Awards honor writing about the Southeast’s fragile coast – Southern Environmental Law Center

Two writers who have delved into the past and present challenges facing treasured places on the Southeast coast will receive SELCs 2021 Phillip D. Reed Environmental Writing Awards, presented March 25 during this years Virginia Festival of the Book.

The Reed Awards honor the late Phillip D. Reed, a distinguished attorney, committed environmental activist, and a founding trustee of SELC, by celebrating some of the best environmental writing on the South.

In the book category, former Georgia state legislator Paul Bolster will receive the Reed Award for Saving the Georgia Coast: A Political History of the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act. In the journalism category, Tony Bartelme of The Post and Courier in Charleston will receive the Reed Award for his in-depth reporting on South Carolinas coastal environment, including communities where the damaging impacts of climate change are happening now.

The featured speaker for the Reed Award presentation will be Lulu Miller, co-host of WNYC Studios Radiolab and author of the widely acclaimed Why Fish Dont Exist, a nonfiction scientific thriller and memoir. The free, online event will be at 2pm Eastern Time.

To register, visit http://www.southernenvironment.org/reedaward.

In Saving the Georgia Coast, published by the University of Georgia Press, Paul Bolster brings to life the unlikely coalition of local residents, wealthy landowners, hunters and anglers, garden club members, courageous politicians and others who came together more than 50 years ago to defend Georgias unspoiled coastal marshlands. At the same time, he traces the intricate legislative maneuvers that resulted in passage of the 1970 Coastal Marshlands Protection Act, a law that remains the most comprehensive protection of marshlands along the Atlantic seaboard.

Bolster, who served a diverse Atlanta district in the Georgia House of Representatives for 12 years, does more than look back at this landmark legislative achievement. He also examines the policy challenges facing the Georgia coast today, among them how to address unrelenting development pressures and how to deal with rising sea levels and other impacts of a warming planet. He continues to follow environmental legislation in the state capitol and feels that lawmakers could look to the lessons from 50 years ago as a guide to protecting Georgias fragile coast today.

A freelance writer and historian, Bolster holds a Ph.D. degree in history from the University of Georgia and a law degree from Georgia State University School of Law. He taught American history at Clark Atlanta University for 14 years and has worked as a lobbyist for the Georgia Hospital Association and the American Hospital Association. A tireless advocate for affordable housing, he ran a Health Care for the Homeless program in Atlanta and served for three years on Governor Nathan Deals Council on Criminal Justice Reform.

Tony Bartelme, a special projects reporter for The Post and Courier, is being recognized in part for his stories from the Rising Waters Project, a series documenting how the accelerating forces of climate change are affecting Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry. Bartelme explains not only the science behind wetter hurricanes, intense rain bomb events and flooding high tides, but also the policy issues they raise and how they are making life harder for many South Carolinians. In other pieces recognized by this years award, Bartelme displays a gift for linking science with sense of place. These include a story tracing the human and natural history of South Carolinas Santee Delta, and another on the quest by researchers to learn more about an elusive and rapidly disappearing marshland bird, the eastern black rail.

A graduate of Northwestern Universitys Medill School of Journalism, Bartelme is a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and has won some of the highest honors in journalism. He was awarded a prestigious Harvard University Nieman Fellowship in 2010. His investigative reporting has exposed government corruption and has explored subjects ranging from changes in ocean plankton to the global shortage of doctors. His latest book, A Surgeon in the Village: An American Doctor Teaches Brain Surgery in Africa, was published by Beacon Press.

Lulu Miller is a Peabody Award-winning science journalist who fell hard for radio when she joined the staff of WNYC Studios Radiolab, initially as a volunteer. She returned to the show as co-host this past year. She is also co-founder ofNPRsInvisibilia, a show about the invisible forces that shape human behavior. Her book Why Fish Dont Exist has been hailed as a wondrous debut and was listed among the best books of 2020 by The Washington Post, NPR, Chicago Tribune and Smithsonian. It follows the life of taxonomist David Starr Jordanthe first president of Stanford University and a proponent of the eugenics movementand reveals both the triumphs and the dark side of his relentless search for order in a chaotic world. Her book is also a deeply personal story about how to go on when everything seems lost. Miller is a graduate of Swarthmore College and earned an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Virginia.

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2021 Reed Awards honor writing about the Southeast's fragile coast - Southern Environmental Law Center

Human Behavior

Bill Gates Has Always Sought Out New Reading Recommendations – The New York Times

Which subjects do you wish more authors would write about?

Im surprised more books havent been written about how the insights were gaining from big data could be used for good. I read Everybody Lies, by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, last summer, which is all about what internet data and especially search engines reveal about human behavior. (Did you know that people who have pancreatic cancer often Google both back pain and yellowing skin before being diagnosed?) It was super interesting, but he didnt get into what we could do with these learnings. Id love to read a thoughtful book about how this information could make life better.

Which genres do you especially enjoy reading? And which do you avoid?

I think books are one of the best ways to learn about the world, so I love reading things that teach me something new. My reading list always includes a bunch of history and science books. Over a decade ago, I started reviewing books on my blog, but its only a small look at what I read every year, and it doesnt include things like the academic textbooks or research reports that I find really useful. I gravitate more toward nonfiction, although I wouldnt say I avoid fiction. I only read a couple novels each year. I usually end up loving them, though, so maybe I should try to read more.

What kind of reader were you as a child? Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?

Ive always liked getting recommendations from other people, even when I was a little kid. I used to ask my teachers what their favorite books were and make my way through the lists they gave me. Our school librarian used to suggest things for me to read, too. Shed often give me books that were supposed to be for kids older than I was, which was very exciting for me. The book I probably read the most growing up was The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, a great science fiction book by Robert Heinlein.

How have your reading tastes changed over time?

I used to read a lot of science fiction when I was a kid, but not so much as an adult (although I rediscovered my love for the genre through Neal Stephensons incredible Seveneves a few years ago). These days, I reach for books about a much broader range of topics than I used to. I read Andy Puddicombes The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness a couple years ago I dont think my 20-year-old self wouldve ever picked that one. As my kids have grown older, theyve introduced me to a lot of great books and authors that I wouldnt necessarily have come across by myself, like John Green. Thats been a lot of fun. And Melinda is always helping me expand my horizons she suggested I read Edith Eva Egers book The Choice last year, and I loved it.

What book would you recommend for Americas current political moment?

These Truths, by Jill Lepore. If youre going to solve a problem, you need to understand the context behind how it came to be. Lepore has written the most honest accounting of our countrys history that Ive ever read. The book is long, but it makes it clear how a lot of what we learned in school is simplified and ignores the less savory parts of American history.

What do you plan to read next?

I cant wait to read Walter Isaacsons new book, The Code Breaker, when it comes out in a couple weeks. Its about Jennifer Doudna, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry last year for her work on the CRISPR gene-editing platform.

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Bill Gates Has Always Sought Out New Reading Recommendations - The New York Times

Human Behavior

Relax, feeding the birds is fun – Valley Breeze

2/10/2021

One more Thing

By LAURENCE J. SASSO, JR.

Dont worry! Be happy!

You probably associate those reassuring words with a song by Bobby McFerrin. It was very popular in 1988. However, the phrase could also be the advice Kim Calcagno gives when it comes to feeding birds in your backyard.

Calcagno, who celebrated 16 years working for the Rhode Island Audubon Society last week, is the refuge manager for two of the organizations sites, including the headquarters in Smithfield.

She reassures bird lovers that it is OK to just enjoy their hobby. It isnt necessary to grow anxious about the dietary impact or lack thereof on the feathered consumers they attract.

For example, she points out that the notion you must continue putting out bird food for the entire winter once you begin supplying it to the winged visitors is something of a myth.

Birds dont depend on it. They have been feeding themselves for eons. They retain their instinct. They will find food. You can feed them regularly, but you dont have to. Birds will find things to eat. Running a bird restaurant with a never-ending source of food is not necessary. No matter what you do, birds only get about one quarter of their diet from feeders, so its OK to relax.

A sigh of relief is perfectly all right here, readers. Calcagno, 49, knows what she is talking about.

Her interest in birds and wildlife management began early in life. What spurred me on as a kid was volunteering at the Massachusetts Audubon Societys Blue Hills nature center. In fact, it led to her choice of career.

At Tufts University, she earned her bachelors degree in biology and environmental science and followed that with a masters in environmental studies and environmental education at Antioch University. Prior to her post at Rhode Island Audubon, she worked six years for the Massachusetts Audubon Society.

Asked exactly what her duties entail here in Rhode Island, she replies, a lot of different things, and she runs through a list that includes field work, wildlife management, teaching, lecturing, facility maintenance, speaking before community groups, keeping the trails open, etc.

In addition, she oversees the educational raptors that the society uses to teach the public about their behaviors. Currently, she reports, her latest charge is a peregrine falcon.

Returning to her observations about what homeowners and hobbyists new to bird feeding might expect to encounter, she says, a question we get fairly often is where did all the birds go.

She explains that people will call in bewilderment and ask if maybe they did something wrong or if there is a sickness depleting the flocks.

Usually, its just that the birds find some other source of food. They are always looking for new supplies, she notes, adding natural berries are attractive where options exist. Seeds that humans provide might be their second choice. So they go with the berries for a while.

She points out that sometimes there could be a temporary displacement caused by a predator such as a neighborhood cat or a Coopers hawk that is stalking the feeding area. Ultimately, though, the disappearance of the bird visitors is almost never a result of anything the host is doing.

However, Calcagno hastens to add that there are serious concerns about the larger environmental context that cannot be ignored.

Some statistics are pretty terrifying, she declares. In the last 60 to 70 years, she explains that the songbird population has dropped alarmingly.

According to Scientific American, there are some 3 billion fewer songbirds across North America than there were in 1970, a decrease of 29 percent.

Calcagno explains that the decimation is attributable to a number of factors, many of them due to human behavior such as the use of pesticides, the loss of habitat caused by agricultural and land development practices, and climate change.

The Audubon Society has been in the forefront of efforts to protect migratory birds. She notes that the organization helped to pass legislation establishing laws that regulate the treatment of affected species, although some of the restrictions were rolled back by the last administration.

Calcagno mentions that the work the Audubon Society does is supported by its members and donors. The three major functions of the organization are conservation, education, and advocacy.

One of the myths is that the society is a government agency. It is not, she says, adding we do need support.

Sometimes it comes in the form of material donations as well as monetary contributions and fees.

We have someone that I call the Tool Fairy. If a power drill is needed, it just shows up. There is this person who somehow finds out, and lo and behold there it is.

The cost of a family membership is $50. It helps fund activities and programs. Members get first dibs on offerings and discounts. Volunteers are also welcome.

During this time of COVID-19 access to the building is controlled, but there are outdoor activities, in which, says Calcagno, there is continuing participation.

The Wednesday morning bird walks are as popular as ever, and the Owl Prowls and hikes attract smaller numbers, but they are holding up.

After 16 years, her appetite for the job seems undiminished. She swells with enthusiasm in describing what motivates her.

When I teach folks and I see a transformative moment its stop and smell the roses for me. I say to myself this is why I do what I do. I have to have a job where I feel Im doing something important.

(Contact me at smithpublarry@gmail.com)

Bottom Lines

What Rhode Island institution of higher education kept its mascot at a Smithfield farm once owned by the family which donated the nearby land for the Audubon Societys headquarters and Powder Mill Ledges Wildlife Refuge in Smithfield? What was the animal? The first reader to respond gets a shout out here.

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Relax, feeding the birds is fun - Valley Breeze

Human Behavior

How Congress might upend Section 230, the law big tech is built on – Livemint

More than 20 proposals to update Section 230 have surfaced on the Hill, originating from both sides of the aisle. Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and John Thune (R-S.D.), plan to reintroduce one of them, the PACT Act, in the coming weeks, says Sen. Thune. A competing bill was recently proposed by a trio of Democratic U.S. senators on Feb. 5. Its intention, as its backers wrote, is to make social-media companies accountable for enabling cyberstalking, targeted harassment and discrimination."

There is broad agreement among experts and politicians that Section 230 wont be eliminated, but thats where accord ends. While many believe an update of the law is necessary and imminent, many others think most attempts to alter it are dangerous. And despite a flurry of ideas for modernizing the law, its not clear where it falls in Congresss priorities in light of all the other challenges facing the country.

The heads of some Big Tech companies, notably Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg (in October) and Microsofts Satya Nadella (on Wednesday) have said they welcome more clarity on what sort of speech should be allowed under Section 230. Meanwhile, Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey on Tuesday proposed a more market-driven" approach to addressing the desire to update Section 230. Even if legislation is passed, its not clear exactly what sort of cases will be brought to test the updated law, or what precedents those decisions will establish. And hashing it out in the courts could take years.

Section 230 touches on everything from election integrity to online social-media bias," says Klon Kitchen, who was until recently director of the Center for Technology Policy at the politically conservative Heritage Foundation. If we try to solve all the problems of the internet by making changes to this one law, he adds, well be overwhelmed by their unintended consequences.

Passed in 1996, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was explicitly intended to protect and promote Americas then-nascent internet industry. It is the foundational covenant between the state and internet platforms. It goes, roughly, like this: As long as sites arent knowingly helping their users commit crimes, what users share on these sites is the users own responsibility. Section 230 makes the business models of giants including Facebook and Google possible. Its the reason upstarts and competitors to these giants, from TikTok and MeWe to Parler and Gab, can exist. And it enables countless other businesses, too, such as Airbnb.

Much has changed since 1996. Then, there were 36 million people on the internet, most of them in the U.S. Now there are 4.8 billion, including 90% of Americans. And according to a survey by Pew published in July, 72% of U.S. adults say social-media companies have too much power and influence in politics.

Given the tech industrys power to determine what information we consumeand the apparent protection from scrutiny or recourse that Section 230 providesits no wonder a long and bipartisan list of politicians, appointed officials and career bureaucrats are concerned about the law.

Many Democrats are worried that platforms have used the protections of Section 230 as an excuse to let some kinds of speech run rampant; many Republicans believe theyve used it to police speech too much. Some want to add clarifying language to Section 230, while others want carve-outs," which make it explicit that companies only receive liability protections if they play by certain rules. A few, including Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), want Section 230gutted.

One of the reasons that hasnt happened is when legislators look at the implications of that, that juice isnt worth the squeeze," says Mr. Kitchen. The potential negative ramifications of wiping out Section 230 without having an adequate replacement would be considerable, and could seriously damage the U.S. economy, he adds.

Reverting to their pre-1996 legal status would mean websites and apps that act to moderate content in any way would be responsible for everything they host and disseminate. Services like Facebook and YouTube would either have to stop moderating and open the floodgates to spam, hate speech and other harmful content, or moderate and be potentially crushed by individual and class-action lawsuits for harms arising from what their users post. Most likely, theyd have to drastically narrow the scope and volume of whats permitted on their platforms.

For users on Twitter or Instagram, this could mean hitting share" and then hoping your post makes it past an army of automated filters and human reviewers that would put existing hurdles to shame. Meanwhile, someone would have to vet and vouch for every Google search result and Airbnb listing ahead of time. If this poses a crushing burden for Americas trillion-dollar tech behemoths, it would be infinitely worse for startups entering the industry.

Given that, most proposals focus on upgrading and expanding Section 230, not blowing it out an airlock.

Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) proposed the SAFE TECH Act earlier this month. It does not appear to be the sort of bill that any Republicans will be eager to cosign. A grab bag of a half dozen proposals, it makes platforms liable for both ads they run and harassment they enable, and would allow (for example) Rohingya survivors to sue Facebook in U.S. court for what the United Nations has alleged is the companys role in the Myanmar genocide.

The act also incorporates changes to Section 230 proposed by legal scholars such as George Washington University law professor and former Obama administration Justice Department official Spencer Overton. He recommended a carve-out that would force online platforms to obey federal civil-rights laws. This would mean, among other things, platforms could not allow content or advertising intended to suppress voting by protected groups.

In addition, the bill would change what Section 230 protects from information" to speech," something proposed by law professors Danielle Keats Citron, of The University of Virginia, and Mary Anne Franks, of the University of Miami. This change would put all sorts of conduct outside the laws protection, from gun sales to fraudulent transactions, and force platforms to do something about them.

Courts are already establishing the limits of the existing language of Section 230 by, for example, ruling that it does not protect Airbnb from violations of local rental laws, which the company had argued it should.

With the SAFE TECH Act, were looking to shift the conversation around Section 230 away from Republicans debunked claims of anti-conservative bias to the real harms caused by internet platformsthings like civil rights violations, stalking, and harassment," says Sen. Hirono. This bill lays down a marker and signals to Facebook, Google, Twitter, and others that the days of burying your heads in the sand while your platforms are weaponized against innocent users are over," she adds.

Some scholars warn that the SAFE TECH Act could be nearly as threatening to the internet economy as eliminating Section 230 entirely. It is sloppily drafted to an irresponsible degree," says Daphne Keller, director of the Program on Platform Regulation at Stanford University, who was an associate general counsel at Google until 2015.

One provision enables claims against sites that receive or make payments for content. Ms. Keller says this could bring more lawsuits against entities such as Amazon Web Services, which could be liable for content shared by its customers users, and Bandcamp, which allows independent musicians to sell their tracks.

She says the law also loosely defines violations of peoples civil rights," and because it makes platforms liable for harassment or intimidation," it will be up to the courts to decide what constitutes harassment and intimidation of one user by another. The provisions intended to help victims of discrimination and harassment will be weaponized by trolls and white-supremecist organizations," she adds.

This legislation has some admirable goals," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of the original authors and sponsors of Section 230. Unfortunately, as written, it would devastate every part of the open internet, and cause massive collateral damage to online speech." The SAFE TECH Act would also cause web hosts and cloud storage companies to purge their networks of controversial speech, and harm and silence marginalized people whose speech might be considered controversial, he adds.

A Pew survey published last August says that 90% of Republicans believe social-media sites censor political viewpoints. Some researchers have found the opposite is true. A just-published report from researchers at New York University found that in general, social media privileges and amplifies the views of right-wing users.

The PACT Act, originally proposed in June 2020, would require online platforms to explain their content-moderation practices clearly, require quarterly reports on what content has been removed, and impose less stringent requirements on small online platforms, to avoid placing undue burdens on startups without the same resources as Big Tech.

Other legislative efforts like the SAFE TECH Act have taken a more targeted approach to address very specific issues," says Sen. Thune. The PACT Act brings more transparency to technology companies content moderation practices so we can hold them more accountableand there is bipartisan support for the outcomes the PACT Act seeks to achieve," he adds.

The question of how to fix the internet with updates to Section 230 is far-reaching and complex enough it could require leadership from the executive branch, says Nicol Turner Lee, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. President Biden could convene a commission on a handful of topics related to speech online, including the regulation of hate speech, harassment and incitement, she continues, and make updating Section 230 part of its agenda.

Such a committee could form soon. In a Jan. 26 hearing, President Bidens nominee for secretary of Commerce, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, said she would use the National Telecommunications and Information Administrations power to convene stakeholders to decide what is to be done about Section 230.

Whatever happens to Section 230, any changes to it cant possibly solve all of the problems of the modern internet which it has enabled.

Weve basically moved aspects of every kind of good and bad human behavior online, with consequences that are sometimes awful and very often complicated," says Ms. Keller. Now pundits and some people in D.C. have become convinced that we can tackle all of that by amending this one little law."

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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How Congress might upend Section 230, the law big tech is built on - Livemint

Human Behavior

This is why you have to watch out for the self-propelled pedestrian – Innovation Origins

The self-driving car is on its way and will be for some time to come. It works just fine on the highway or on main roads. As long as there are no cyclists busy sending apps, pizza delivery riders zipping by on their scooters or any inattentive pedestrians nearby, a self-driving car without a steering wheel can function well enough. If there are any out on the roads, they will only be able to drive at very low speeds in order to have enough brake in time for unexpected incidents. Also, a self-driving car will have a tough time crossing busy roads if there are pedestrians constantly crossing over. In short, traffic congestion will likely increase.

In order to explore what technological solutions can help with this, I came up with the term, the self-propelled pedestrian, a pleonasm somewhat similar to the self-driving car.

Back on March 7, 2015, I wrote the blog below, which, except for the future interconnectivity of cars, still has relevance today.

With some simple, existing technologies, the car will be able to drive itself, at least on the highway. If a car is equipped with lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control and automatic brake assist systems, the driver can calmly read a newspaper or take a nap on the highway. These types of self-driving cars are usually featured in the news, with the year 2017 or 2020 tacked on.

It is much more difficult to make a self-driving car for in city traffic, because cyclists, pedestrians and mobility scooters are very unpredictable and the robot car has absolutely no control over a pedestrians behavior. Besides, it is impossible for computer, radar, lidar, etc. systems to predict which intentions another road user may have. If a motorist is approaching on the left or right, it is the look in their eyes that is often the best predictor of their behavior. If their gaze is tense, then the road user intends to cross. If they are not staring so intensely or even seem a bit distracted, then they are willing to wait another round. Or they are under the influence of mind-altering substances. Systems that are installed on an automated car do not yet have this predictive capability. Albeit there are developments in this area as well.

Systems that can gauge car driver fatigue through eye movements have been around for quite a while. In such cases, the driver could be advised to go and grab a cup of coffee. Of course, the technology is already advanced enough that other drivers in the vicinity can be notified that a driver who is not well-rested is approaching from the left. Yet the right to privacy still takes precedence. A step further can measure breathing, muscle tension, heart rate, perspiration and skin temperature. These readings change under the influence of stress, and stress levels tend to increase when crossing complicated intersections.

Yet another step forward are predictions about human behavior that can be made by using a special MRI technique inside the brain. Neurologists at the University of Western Ontario (Canada) have been examining activity in several areas of the brain this way. By combining and interpreting that information, they can predict seconds in advance what movements a test subject will make next. Scientists at the University of Michigan have adapted this technology to make it mobile by inserting an implant into the skull that transmits signals to a small computer outside the body. This could also enable people with e.g. spinal cord injuries to still move their arms or legs. Technically speaking, this information could also be exchanged between cars and people so that trips around town would be slightly more comfortable.

Also read: A real-time signal from bicycles can reduce the number of serious accidents with cars

About this column

In a weekly column, written alternately byWendy van Ierschot,Bert Overlack,Eveline van Zeeland,Eugene Franken, Jan Wouters,Helen Kardan, Katleen Gabriels, Mary Fiersand Hans Helsloot, Innovation Origins tries to figure out what the future will look like. These columnists, occasionally joined by guest bloggers, are all working in their own way on solutions to the problems of our time. So that tomorrow is good. Here are all theprevious articles.

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This is why you have to watch out for the self-propelled pedestrian - Innovation Origins

Physiology

Chocolate-flavored e-cigarettes are ‘particularly harmful’ to the lungs, study shows – News-Medical.Net

New research shows chocolate-flavored e-cigarettes are "particularly harmful" to the lungs. In fact, scientists found all 10 flavors tested caused some level of toxicity in the cells lining the lungs, resulting in cell death in some instances. The toxins also significantly reduced the ability of immune system cells to remove bacteria and regulate inflammation. The research article was published in the America Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology and has been chosen as an APSselect article for February.

The data show that the chemical profiles of the e-liquid flavors studied (apple, banana, bubblegum, cappuccino, cherry, chocolate, cinnamon, mango, peppermint and tobacco) contained as many as 15 chemicals. The most harmful flavors, such as chocolate and banana, included high levels of a chemical component called a benzene ring. Flavors with a lower concentration of benzene ring were less harmful. The researchers also found different brands of chocolate and banana flavored e-liquids with lower amounts of benzene ring chemicals were also less harmful.

The purpose of the study, according to researchers, was to determine whether immune dysfunction and toxicity in the lungs previously observed in earlier studies were dependent on the flavor used, independent of the presence of nicotine. To find out, they exposed lung cells of healthy, non-smoking subjects to the e-cigarette vapor produced from different flavors.

We believe that this study provides evidence that the potential harm from using flavors does not come from the name on the bottle, but rather the flavoring chemical composition, the flavoring chemicals present and their concentration. This suggests that any limits on permitted flavors should be based on this sort of data specifically to ensure that allowed products truly represent the lowest level of harm possible."

Miranda Ween, PhD, Researcher, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Australia

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Chocolate-flavored e-cigarettes are 'particularly harmful' to the lungs, study shows - News-Medical.Net

Physiology

L-Cysteine Provides Neuroprotection of Hypoxia-Ischemia Injury in Neon | DDDT – Dove Medical Press

Tingting Li,1,* Jiangbing Li,1,2,* Tong Li,3,* Yijing Zhao,1 Hongfei Ke,1 Shuanglian Wang,1 Dexiang Liu,4 Zhen Wang1

1Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, Peoples Republic of China; 2Department of Cardiology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, Peoples Republic of China; 3Department of Neurosurgery Surgery, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Shandong Province, Peoples Republic of China; 4Department of Medical Psychology and Ethics, School of Basic Medicine Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, Peoples Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Dexiang LiuDepartment of Medical Psychology and Ethics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250012, Peoples Republic of ChinaEmail liudexiang@sdu.edu.cnZhen WangDepartment of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 Wenhua Xi Road, Jinan, Shandong, 250012, Peoples Republic of ChinaEmail wangzhen@sdu.edu.cn

Background: Previous work within our laboratory has revealed that hydrogen sulfide (H2S) can serve as neuroprotectant against brain damage caused by hypoxia-ischemia (HI) exposure in neonatal mice. After HI insult, activation of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway has been shown to be implicated in neuro-restoration processes. The goal of the current study was to determine whether the neuroprotective effects of H2S were mediated by the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.Methods: The mouse HI model was built at postnatal day 7 (P7), and the effects of L-Cysteine treatment on acute brain damage (72 h post-HI) and long-term neurological responses (28 days post-HI) were evaluated. Nissl staining and Transmission electron microscopy were used to evaluate the neuronal loss and apoptosis. Immunofluorescence imaging and dihydroethidium staining were utilized to determine glial cell activation and ROS content, respectively.Results: Quantitative results revealed that L-Cysteine treatment significantly prevented the acute effects of HI on apoptosis, glial cell activation and oxidative injury as well as the long-term effects upon memory impairment in neonatal mice. This protective effect of L-Cysteine was found to be associated with the phosphorylation of Akt and phosphatase and a tensin homolog deletion on chromosome 10 (PTEN). Following treatment with the PI3K inhibitor, LY294002, the neuroprotective effects of L-Cysteine were attenuated.Conclusion: PTEN/PI3K/Akt signaling was involved in mediating the neuroprotective effects of exogenous H2S against HI exposure in neonatal mice.

Keywords: Akt, H2S, hypoxia-ischemia, neuroinflammation

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L-Cysteine Provides Neuroprotection of Hypoxia-Ischemia Injury in Neon | DDDT - Dove Medical Press

Physiology

Dr. Maria Delivoria-Papadopoulos, Saved Thousands of Infants, 90 – The National Herald

PHILADELPHIA Dr. Maria Delivoria-Papadopoulos, 90, of Lansdowne, PA, an internationally renowned scientist in the field of neonatal medicine who helped save thousands of infants through her groundbreaking research, died on September 11, 2020 of endometrial cancer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

A professor emeritus of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine, former director of newborn services at HUP, and a pioneer in neonatal and pediatric medicine, she joined the faculty at Penn in 1967 as an instructor in pediatrics, according to the Penn Alumni magazine, the Pennsylvania Gazette. She became an assistant professor in physiology and pediatrics a few years later, moving up to associate professor and then, in 1976, full professor of pediatrics, physiology, and obstetrics-gynecology. She also served as the director of newborn services and the intensive care nursery at HUP from 1974 to 1996. She was associate dean for International Medical Programs, and she was also an associate physician at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. She retired in 1996.

Dr. Delivoria-Papadopoulos is perhaps best known for performing the worlds first successful ventilation treatment for premature infants in North America. She received continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health for decades for her research, as well as numerous awards, including the American Academy of Pediatrics Lifetime Achievement Award, Penns Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the Leonard Berwick Memorial Teaching Award from the Perelman School of Medicine.

During a 50-year career, Dr. Delivoria-Papadopoulos was a professor of pediatrics, physiology, and obstetrics/gynecology at Drexel University College of Medicine, and director of neonatal intensive care at St. Christophers Hospital for Children.

She was regarded as the mother of neonatology and a legend in the field," Greeces Neonatal Society said in an online tribute, the Inquirer reported.

She remains alive in the hearts and memories of the hundreds of doctors she trained and inspired to have a love for sick children, of the hundreds of Greek doctors she opened the way for, and of the thousands of Greek patients who found treatment at specialized centers with her help, the Society said on Sept. 14.

Born in Athens, she was the daughter of Constantine and Kalliopi Delivoria and earned a medical degree from Athens University. Dr. Delivoria-Papadopoulos came to the United States in 1957 to pursue postdoctoral study in physiology at the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the faculty and created the neonatal unit at Penn, which she ran before leaving as professor emeritus in 2000.

She was on the Drexel faculty from 2000 to 2006, where she held the Ralph Brenner Endowed Chair in Pediatrics at St. Christophers Hospital.

Dr. Delivoria-Papadopoulos was honored globally for her achievements and continued research in neonatal medicine throughout her life, the Inquirer reported, noting that her most important contribution was taking the iron lung used to treat polio victims in the 1950s and adapting it to support the breathing of premature babies. Another was the use of magnetic resonance imaging to assess the infants' brains.

She was the first doctor to place an infant on a respirator to help with respiratory distress syndrome, her family said in a statement, adding that she was also the first woman and doctor to demonstrate the effective use of mechanical ventilation to treat lung disease in premature infants, the Inquirer reported.

Her nearly 60-year medical career was dedicated to at-risk newborns, and she touched the lives of countless children, St. Christophers Hospital said in an online post, the Inquirer reported.

Among the cases on which she consulted was in 1963 for Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, the infant son of President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, the Inquirer reported, noting that Dr. Delivoria-Papadopoulos was working at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto at the time and was called when the baby developed breathing problems.

She did not treat the child, because it was considered unseemly for a Canadian physician to treat the child of a U.S president, the Inquirer reported, adding that a Boston specialist placed the infant in a hyperbaric chamber filled with 100% oxygen, similar to the ones used by divers and despite frantic efforts by doctors, the child lived for only 39 hours, dying at 4:04 AM Aug. 9.

Dr. Delivoria-Papadopoulos served as an adviser to the National Institutes of Health and was the author of 400 scientific publications and had an extensive network of scientific protgs as well as thousands of surviving patients, including many for whom she was the only hope, the Inquirer reported.

They kept in touch with her always, said her son, James C. Patterson, the Inquirer reported.

Joseph McGowan, a family friend for 40 years, told the Inquirer that she spent a month in Greece every summer, providing free medical care to Greek children.

Dr. Delivoria-Papadopoulos worked from a tent and gave each child a toy so they wouldnt fear doctors, the Inquirer reported.

After her mother passed away in 1985, Dr. Delivoria-Papadopoulos wore black, sometimes punctuated with a signature white blouse, for the rest of her life, the Inquirer reported.

She was predeceased by her husband, Christos Papadopoulos, who died in 2002. Besides her son James, she is survived by another son, Constantine C. Patterson, and a grandson.

Services were private. Memorial donations may be made to any veterans organization.

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Dr. Maria Delivoria-Papadopoulos, Saved Thousands of Infants, 90 - The National Herald