Author: KnowledgeHippo

House Republicans used words like “violence,” “piracy” and “chaos.” They asked university leaders why so few protesters had been suspended. They showed videos and handled a document with a bright red ‘F’ grade.Leaders at Northwestern, Rutgers and the University of California, Los Angeles responded with phrases such as “due process,” “appropriate penalties” and “task force.”At the third congressional hearing with college presidents on Thursday, Republicans asked them a pointed question about pro-Palestinian encampments that student protesters have set up on college campuses and campuses across the country in response to the Israel-Hamas war.But university leaders appeared to learn lessons from…

If you or someone you love talks almost exclusively in Internet references — “Energizing Your Golden Retriever Friend” or “Show Me Rachel” — you may be suffering from a condition known as “brainrot.”The term mainly refers to low value internet content and the effects caused by excessive time consumption. Example: “I’ve watched so many TikToks, I’m out of my mind.”Online discussion of brainrot has recently become so widespread that some social media users have begun creating parodies of people who appear to embody the condition.Several videos from TikTok user Heidi Becker show her facing the camera as she rapidly merges…

Tesla’s shareholder vote on Elon Musk’s pay is in some ways a referendum on the performance of the company and its CEO.But even before the vote is completed on Thursday, Tesla’s share price shows that investors have plenty of doubts about Mr. Musk and the automaker’s prospects.Tesla shares are down nearly 30 percent this year, even as the broader stock market is up 14 percent. At its peak in 2021, Tesla’s market value was $1.2 trillion, putting it in the company of tech giants like Microsoft, Apple and Google. Its value has since sunk to about $576 billion, ranking it…

Akira Endo, a Japanese biochemist whose research on fungi helped lay the groundwork for widely prescribed drugs that lower a type of cholesterol that contributes to heart disease, died on June 5. He was 90 years old.Chiba Kazuhiro, president of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, where Dr. Edo was an emeritus professor, confirmed the death in a statement. The statement did not give a cause or where he died.Cholesterol, produced mainly in the liver, has important functions in the body. It is also a major contributor to coronary heart disease, a leading cause of death in the United States,…

Air Force One is quite comfortable if you’re its most privileged frequent flyer, with a comfortable bedroom and a spacious office.However, most US presidents will try to avoid making two round trips to Europe, separated by about 60 hours on the ground at home. Yet that’s what President Biden is doing this week.”The president’s schedule is full. It is,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “There is much to be done on behalf of the American people.”Mr. Biden left the United States for D-Day celebrations in France last Wednesday, June 5. Stayed over the weekend for a state dinner…

Julio Frenk, a public health expert who has led the University of Miami since 2015, was named Wednesday as the next permanent chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles. He will oversee an elite public institution still reeling from intense protests and a violent attack on student protesters this spring.Dr. Frank will become the first Latino to lead UCLA, whose student body is one of the most diverse in American higher education. He will succeed Gene Block, who will step down at the end of July.The 17-year tenure of Dr. Block saw the university boost its academic reputation by…

Sony Pictures Entertainment is acquiring Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and will operate its 35 locations, a rare example of a traditional Hollywood studio owning a theater chain.The deal, announced Wednesday, followed the Justice Department’s decision in 2020 to void Paramount’s so-called consent decrees — film distribution rules dating back to 1949 that forced Hollywood’s biggest studios to sell their film holdings. These rules were intended to prevent studios from controlling the film business, from creation to exhibition.In 2019, the Justice Department’s then-head of antitrust, Makan Delrahim, said changes in the entertainment industry “made it unlikely that the remaining defendants would be…

The European Union announced Wednesday that it would impose additional tariffs of up to 38 percent on electric cars made in China, a move it said would help level the playing field for automakers in Europe.The tariffs, which have been expected for months, come on top of existing 10% tariffs, but the level of their impact has been disputed. Some European automakers argue they will start a trade war, but other experts said they will not stop China’s dominance of the industry.Instead, they argue that incentives are needed to make low-emission cars more attractive to drivers if the European Union…

A week after losing hard-fought elections at two Mercedes-Benz plants in Alabama, the United Automobile Workers asked federal officials Friday to order a new vote, saying the German automaker violated labor laws to suppress support for the union .Mercedes-Benz waged a “relentless anti-union campaign” marked by “wanton lawlessness,” the UAW said in a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board. Among other things, the union said, Mercedes fired four pro-union employees, barred pro-union workers from campaigning and forced employees to watch anti-union videos.Workers at the Mercedes plants outside Tuscaloosa, which make sport utility vehicles and batteries, voted 56 percent to…

Space changes you, even on short trips off-planet.Four people who spent three days away from Earth in September 2021 experienced physical and mental changes that included modest declines in cognitive tests, stress on the immune system and genetic changes in their cells, scientists report in a paper published Tuesday in Nature journal and many other related journals.Almost everything that changed in the astronauts returned to normal after they fell to Earth. None of the changes appeared to be an impressive consideration for future space travelers. But the results also underscored how little medical researchers know.Christopher Mason, a professor of genomics,…