Author: KnowledgeHippo

Listen and Follow “Hard Fork”Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTubeThis week we look at how artificial intelligence is affecting jobs. As companies begin to announce AI-related job cuts and experiment with customer service bots, economists are placing bets on whether AI will lead to significant gains for companies and workers. Some even predict it will help rebuild the middle class.Next, multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker Paul Trillo joins us to talk about his experience as part of a select group of testers who were granted early access to Sora, OpenAI’s video creation tool. And finally, Kevin explains what happened when…

In 1817, James Parkinson expressed hope for the disease that bears his name. He thought that at some point a discovery would be made and “the progress of the disease might be stopped.”Now, almost 200 years since Parkinson expressed his hope and after four decades of unsuccessful clinical trials, a team of French researchers is reporting the first glimmer of success – a modest slowing of the disease in a year-long study.And the drug they used? A so-called GLP-1 receptor agonist, similar to the hugely popular drugs Ozempic, for diabetes, and Wegovy, for obesity.Up to half a million Americans have…

When Hotel Maria is completed in June, 159 chandeliers will hang from the ceilings of its 79 rooms, 38 suites and public areas. Its bar will serve 31 types of champagne. And renovations to its four buildings – two of which opened in December – will include restoring 42 kilometers (26 miles) of original mouldings.These are just some of the things that will distinguish the Maria as a “real five-star city hotel”, according to Heli Mende, its commercial director.The Finnish capital is no stranger to luxury. It already has several high-end hotels, such as Hotel Kamp and St. George. There…

World leaders and humanitarian groups said on Friday that Israel must show concrete results after it responded to mounting pressure from the United States by announcing it would open more aid routes to the Gaza Strip, where the United Nations has warned famine is looming.At a press conference in Brussels on Friday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken welcomed the new aid channels, calling them “positive developments,” but said the United States was watching to see whether Israel would make facilitating humanitarian aid a priority. . crisis in Gaza. A measure of Israel’s commitment, he said, will be “the number…

President Biden will announce a new effort Monday to reduce or eliminate student loan debt for millions of borrowers, an election-year effort to revive his goal of providing large-scale relief to Americans struggling to repay their college loans. . the plan said Friday.Mr. Biden is expected to see the new Education Department regulations that target millions of borrowers, including those whose loans have grown because of accrued interest and others who can demonstrate financial hardship prevents repayment, according to the person who spoke under the condition of anonymity. because the arrangements have not yet been formally proposed by the department.The…

Marty Davis, the wealthy head of a kitchen-countertop manufacturing company in Minnesota, is a staunch supporter of former President Donald J. Trump. He contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to help elect Mr. Trump in 2020 and encouraged him to fight to overturn the 2020 election results. Shortly after Mr. Trump’s social media company said in October 2021 that it planned to go public through a merger with a cash-rich shell company, Mr. Davis was one of the first to lend millions to the fledgling business to to be able to survive until The merger closed and will fund the…

Stripe, a payments start-up, is one of the most successful companies to emerge from Silicon Valley in a generation. Last year, its valuation reached $65 billion. But in the 15 years since its inception, there has been no way for most individuals to invest in it.It’s a problem that has vexed private investors for years, as startups like Stripe, SpaceX and OpenAI soar to huge private market valuations. Only so-called accredited high net worth investors are allowed to invest in private technology startups. By the time companies go public a decade or more after their inception, their growth has often…

Bird flu outbreaks among dairy cows in several states, and at least one infection in a farmer in Texas, have fueled fears that the virus may be the next infectious threat to humans.The influenza virus, called H5N1, is highly pathogenic, meaning it has the ability to cause severe illness and death. But while its spread among cows was unexpected, people can only catch the virus from close contact with infected animals, not from each other, federal officials said.”It’s really about people being in environments where they might be interacting with cattle infected with this virus,” said Dr. Dimitris Daskalakis, director…

In February, Barb McGowan took a seven-day cruise on Holland America Line, visiting the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and the Dominican Republic for just $343, or $49 a day, excluding taxes, port fees and incidentals. By comparison, Holland America currently lists a seven-day Caribbean cruise in October from around $700.The arrest: He had just 48 hours notice.Ms. McGown, a 64-year-old from Naples, Fla., who runs a restaurant franchise, took one of the line’s new standby cruises, which are aimed at travelers who live near departure ports and are meant to fill empty ship seats.”I look for deals and this was…

To be clear, we abhor any expression of anti-Semitism and wholeheartedly reject any role for anti-Semitism on our campuses. Likewise, we believe it is dangerous to confuse criticism of Israel or Zionism with anti-Semitism. Equating criticism of any nation with inherent racism jeopardizes basic democratic freedoms on and off campus. As the ACLU wrote in its November statement, a university “cannot fulfill its mission as a forum for vigorous dialogue” if it controls the opinions of faculty members and students, however much any of us may disagree with them or find them offensive.In a nationwide crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech, students…