Tag Archives: News
Politics: Democratic Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang Interview
Entrepreneur and 2020 Democratic candidate Andrew Yang tells NewsHour Weekend he was ‘honored and disappointed’ to be the lone candidate of color at the last debate. He joins Yamiche Alcindor to discuss his plan to give every American adult $1,000 a month, why he believes headlines about the economy are misleading, and how he would handle North Korea if he became president.
Top New Science Videos: “Breakthrough” Of The Year, Top Stories & Books 2019 (ScienceMag)
As the year comes to a close, we review the best science, the best stories, and the best books from 2019. Our end-of-the-year episode kicks off with Host Sarah Crespi and Online News Editor David Grimm talking about the top online stories on things like human self-domestication, the “wood wide web,” and more.
News Editor Tim Appenzeller joins Sarah to discuss Science’s 2019 Breakthrough of the Year, some of the contenders for breakthrough, also known as runners-up, and a breakdown—when science and politics just didn’t seem to mix this year.
Finally, Science books editor Valerie Thompson brings her favorites from the world of science-inflected media. She and Sarah talk about some of the best books reviewed in Science this year, a food extinction book we should have reviewed, a pair of science-centric films, and even an award-winning birding board game.
Travel: Innovations Inside Carnival’s “Mardi Gras” (2020), The Largest Cruise Ship Ever (WSJ Video)
Cruise ships are getting larger and the activities on board more extreme. WSJ’s Scott McCartney visits a shipyard in Finland to see how the cruise operator Carnival is able to pack so much on a ship — including a rollercoaster — and still have it float.
Future Of Flight: Rolls-Royce Unveils “Accel Aeroplane”, World’s Fastest Electric Plane
Rolls-Royce is leading a highly specialised challenge to build the world’s fastest all-electric aircraft
This zero-emissions plane is expected to make a run for the record books with a target speed of 300+ MPH (480+ KMH).
Rolls-Royce has rolled out to the public for the first time its Accel aeroplane which it hopes will earn the blue-chip engineer a place in history by smashing the current speed record for an electrically-powered aircraft. The battery-powered Accel is targeting a top speed in excess of 300mph over four 3,000-metre runs during a single flight when goes for the record off the Welsh coast in the summer.
To read more about Rolls-Royce’s electric plane: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/…
Space Exploration: NASA Goddard “Modernizing For The Future” (Video)
“We are modernizing Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and its six sites for the future. A comprehensive Facilities Master Plan is an essential element in developing a blueprint for the future of our Center. Goddard recognizes the importance of fostering a work environment that is enjoyable, rewarding and aligned with meeting the challenges of tomorrow. The Master Plan will develop the infrastructure to support our business goals and missions, inform future investment decisions and respond to the growth and diversity of our mission and customer requirements. Its content will be informed by site visits, stakeholder interviews and workshops at all campuses, starting at the Greenbelt campus. This will be followed by similar efforts at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Texas, White Sands Complex in New Mexico, Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and Katherine Johnson Independent Verification & Validation Facility in West Virginia.Goddard’s master plan process is scheduled to continue through 2021.
Website: https://www.nasa.gov/goddard
Travel: Harbour Air Seaplanes Announces World’s First Commercial Electric Plane Flight
From a Harbour Air Seaplanes online release:
“Today, we made history,” said Greg McDougall, CEO and founder of Harbour Air Seaplanes. “I am incredibly proud of Harbour Air’s leadership role in re-defining safety and innovation in the aviation and seaplane industry. Canada has long held an iconic role in the history of aviation, and to be part of this incredible world-first milestone is something we can all be really proud of.”
December 10, 2019 – Harbour Air, North America’s largest seaplane airline and magniX, the company powering the electric aviation revolution, today announced the successful flight of the world’s first all-electric commercial aircraft. The successful flight of the ePlane, a six-passenger DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver magnified by a 750-horsepower (560 kW) magni500 propulsion system, took place on the Fraser River at Harbour Air Seaplanes terminal in Richmond (YVR South) this morning. The plane was piloted by Harbour Air CEO and founder Greg McDougall. This historic flight signifies the start of the third era in aviation – the electric age.
To read more: https://www.harbourair.com/harbour-air-and-magnix-announce-successful-flight-of-worlds-first-commercial-electric-airplane/
Surgery: There Are No Low-Risk Procedures For Frail Older Patients (NYT)
From a New York Times online article:
“Our data indicate that there are no low-risk procedures among patients who are frail,” Dr. Hall and his co-authors concluded in their study.
Dr. Hall’s research, recently published in JAMA Surgery, has found that frail, older adults are more likely than other patients to die after even supposedly minor procedures — and even when the surgery goes well, without complications.
After operations, frail patients find it harder than others to regain strength and mobility, and to return to independent lives. Doctors and researchers assess frailty in a variety of ways. Geriatricians often measure things like gait and grip strength, and look for unintended weight loss and exhaustion.
To read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/13/health/frail-elderly-surgery.html
Top Political Podcasts: Mark Shields And David Brooks On The Latest In Washington (PBS)
Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s political news, including the House Judiciary Committee’s passage of articles of impeachment along party lines, Republicans’ defense of President Trump, how impeachment affects Trump politically, what the Horowitz report says about the FBI and a bombshell report on the Afghan war.
Media: 41% Of Americans Believe News Has Become Less Reliable, 44% No Change (Rand Corp, 2019)
From a Rand.org online release:
Many people (41 percent) indicated that they believed that news has become less reliable than in the past; a similar number (44 percent) said they believed there has been no change; and 15 percent said they thought news is more reliable now.
Different demographic groups get their news in different ways
- People whose primary news sources are social media and in-person contacts are generally younger and female, and they tend to have less education than a college degree and lower household incomes.
- People whose primary news sources are print publications and broadcast television tend to be be significantly older, and they are less likely to be married.
- People whose primary news source is radio are significantly more likely to be male, less likely to be retired, and more likely to have a college degree.
- People whose primary news sources are online platforms are significantly younger, more likely to be male and have a college degree and higher income, and less likely to be black.
Attitudes toward the reliability of news are mixed
- Overall, 44 percent reported that they believed “the news is as reliable now as in the past.”
- Nearly the same amount — 41 percent — reported a belief that the news has become less reliable.
- A minority (15 percent) said that they believed that the news is more reliable now.
- There was an association between news consumption profiles and perceptions of reliability — people who relied more heavily on online, radio, and social media/in-person platforms to obtain news were less likely to say that news is more reliable now than in the past.
To view full Rand Study: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR4212.html?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=RAND%20Policy%20Currents+AEM:%20%20Email%20Address%20NOT%20LIKE%20DOTMIL&utm_campaign=AEM:631600804
Boomers Daily 