Category: Articles of the week

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Articles of the Week 

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Millions swelter under dangerous Fourth of July heat wave

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

A man cools off by the river in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Swaths of California sweltered Tuesday, and things were only expected to get worse during the Fourth of July holiday week for parts of the United States with nearly 90 million people under heat alerts. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

By MELINA WALLING Associated Press

Around 134 million people in the U.S. are under alerts as an “extremely dangerous and record-breaking” heat wave broils much of the country, according to the National Weather Service.

Regions that may see temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) or much higher into the triple digits (well above 37 degrees Celsius) include nearly all of the West Coast, the southern Plains, most of the lower Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley and parts of Florida, said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service.

The Pacific Northwest will see the mercury rising later in the weekend. Arizona will continue to sizzle as firefighters battle a wildfire near Phoenix, where some contend with burns from blazing hot asphalt, concrete or other surfaces. And more humid regions will see a muggy weekend. Continue reading

Swedes take a new step in parental leave. Grandparents can now get paid to take care of grandkids

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Advanced

BY JAN M. OLSEN

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden launched a groundbreaking new law on Monday, allowing grandparents to step in and get paid parental leave while taking care of their grandchildren for up to three months of a child’s first year.

The development comes after the Swedish parliament, the 349-seat Riksdag, approved last December the government’s proposal on transfer of parental allowance. This comes 50 years after the Scandinavian country became the first in the world to introduce paid parental leave for fathers and not just mothers. Continue reading

So long plastic air pillows: Amazon shifting to recycled paper filling for packages in North America

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – The Amazon logo is seen, June 15, 2023, at the Vivatech show in Paris. Amazon is moving from putting plastic air pillows in its packages to using recycled paper filling instead, a move that’s more environmentally friendly and secures items in boxes better. The company said Thursday, June 20, 2024 that it’s already replaced 95% of the plastic air fillers with paper filler in North America and is working toward complete removal by year’s end. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer

Amazon is shifting from the plastic air pillows used for packaging in North America to recycled paper because it’s more environmentally sound, and it says paper just works better.

The company said Thursday that it’s already replaced 95% of the plastic air pillows with paper filler in North America and is working toward complete removal by year’s end.

“We want to ensure that customers receive their items undamaged, while using as little packaging as possible to avoid waste, and prioritizing recyclable materials,” Amazon said. Continue reading

Beneath offshore wind turbines, researchers grow seafood and seaweed

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Advanced

Workers aboard a small boat check lines of seaweed and mussels crops at Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm, about 15 kilometers off the Danish coast, Baltic Sea, Denmark, Tuesday June 18, 2024. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

By JAMES BROOKS Associated Press

KRIEGERS FLAK OFFSHORE WIND FARM, Denmark (AP) — In a small boat bobbing in the waves between towering offshore wind turbines, researchers in Europe’s Baltic Sea reach into the frigid water and remove long lines stretched between the pylons onto which mussels and seaweed are growing.

It’s part of efforts to explore multiple uses for remote wind parks far out at sea, such as fresh seafood production.

Run by the Swedish state-owned power firm Vattenfall and Denmark’s Aarhus University, the four-year project started in 2023 off the Danish east coast at Scandinavia’s largest wind farm, Kriegers Flak. With its first harvest just 18 months later, it’s already showing signs of early success. Continue reading

Life-Changing Art Museums You Need To Visit

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

By Melanie Allen | Wealth of Geeks undefined

Humanity has been creating art for millennia. The earliest known artworks predate civilization by 40,000 years. Artistic expression is clearly important for the human condition.

Our obsession with art only grew as we formed communities, then cities. As humanity learned the benefits of specialization, our artistic abilities flourished.

We cultivated talent, created schools focused on fine-tuning skills, dedicated state funds to promote artistic culture, and built massive museums, allowing us to store the most iconic artworks ever created for posterity.

These top art museums store some of humanity’s greatest treasures. Continue reading

Tobacco-like warning label for social media sought by US surgeon general who asks Congress to act

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

FILE – The U.S. Surgeon General’s Warning appears on a pack of Camel cigarettes purchased at a Chicago area news stand on Nov. 30, 2012. In a Monday, June 17, 2024, opinion piece for The New York Times, Dr. Vivek Murthy has called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms similar to those now mandatory on cigarette boxes. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer

The U.S. surgeon general has called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms and their effects on young people’s lives, similar to those now mandatory on cigarette boxes.

In a Monday opinion piece in the The New York Times, Dr. Vivek Murthy said that social media is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis among young people.

“It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe,” Murthy said. “Evidence from tobacco studies show that warning labels can increase awareness and change behavior.” Continue reading

Facebook owner Meta seeks to train AI model on European data as it faces privacy concerns

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Meta said Monday, June 10, 2024, it wants to use data from users in privacy-conscious Europe to train its artificial intelligence models. It’s facing concerns about data protection while battling to keep up with rivals like OpenAI and Google. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — Meta wants to use data from users in privacy-conscious Europe to train its artificial intelligence models, the social media giant said Monday as it faces concerns about data protection while battling to keep up with rivals like OpenAI and Google.

The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said that in order to better reflect the “languages, geography and cultural references” of its users in Europe, it needs to use public data from those users to teach its Llama AI large language model. Continue reading

Coffee, sculptures and financial advice. Banks try to make new branches less intimidating

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

A Bank of American branch in the Williamsburg section in Brooklyn, New York, is shown on Thursday, May 16, 2024. The branch was previously used as a studio space for a sculptor. The clean, airy branch features sculptures by the artist who was previously in the space, as well as additional art from around the neighborhood. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s like Sephora or Starbucks now offered a checking account.

After years of closing or mostly neglecting physical bank branches across the U.S., the nation’s largest banks are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on refurbishing old locations or building new ones, and in the process changing the look, feel and purpose of the local bank branch.

Many of these branches are larger, airier, and meant to feel more comfortable for those walking in with difficult financial questions. Others are being designed as “third spaces” to allow local nonprofits or community representatives to hold workshops or seminars for customers or neighbors. They are a contrast to the marble-clad temples to finance built 50 or 75 years ago and the stale cookie-cutter branches that more recently cluttered suburban malls. Continue reading

Centenarian veterans are sharing their memories of D-Day, 80 years later

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

An American D-Day veteran is welcomed at Deauville airport, Monday, June 3, 2024 in Deauville, Normandy to attend D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations. (AP Photo/Alexander Turnbull)

By SYLVIE CORBET and DANICA KIRKA Associated Press

CAEN, France (AP) — World War II veterans from the United States, Britain and Canada are in Normandy this week to mark 80 years since the D-Day landings that helped lead to Hitler’s defeat.

Few witnesses remain who remember the Allied assault. The Associated Press is speaking to veterans about their role in freeing Europe from the Nazis, and their messages for younger generations.

PAPA JAKE

“I am the luckiest man in the world,” D-Day veteran Jake Larson, a 101-year-old American best known on social media under the name “Papa Jake,” said as he arrived in Normandy this week. Papa Jake has more than 800,000 followers on TikTok.

Born in Owatonna, Minnesota, Larson enlisted in the National Guard in 1938, lying about his age as he was only 15. Continue reading

Tests find AI tools readily create election lies from the voices of well-known political leaders

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Advanced

FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a news conference at the German government guest house in Meseberg, north of Berlin, Germany, May 28, 2024. A group that monitors for misinformation found deep problems when it tested the most popular artificial intelligence voice-cloning tools and asked them to create audio of some of the world’s leading political figures. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

By ALI SWENSON Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — As high-stakes elections approach in the U.S. and European Union, publicly available artificial intelligence tools can be easily weaponized to churn out convincing election lies in the voices of leading political figures, a digital civil rights group said Friday.

Researchers at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate tested six of the most popular AI voice-cloning tools to see if they would generate audio clips of five false statements about elections in the voices of eight prominent American and European politicians.

In a total of 240 tests, the tools generated convincing voice clones in 193 cases, or 80% of the time, the group found. In one clip, a fake U.S. President Joe Biden says election officials count each of his votes twice. In another, a fake French President Emmanuel Macron warns citizens not to vote because of bomb threats at the polls. Continue reading