Friday, July 12, 2024

Research explains why board games so popular among many people with autism

playing board games — Credit: Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels

Board gaming is a growing industry, and anecdotally popular among people who display autistic traits.

Now new research has highlighted the science supporting the anecdote—and, for the first time, the important reasons behind the link.

Led by researchers at the University of Plymouth, the research took the form of five studies, collectively showing that people with autism are overrepresented in board gaming compared to the general population, and that playing modern board games—such as Dixit or Werewolf—provided a social outlet in a structured space.

Published across two papers in the American Journal of Play and Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, the research also showed that board games took the pressure off the uncertainty around meeting and interacting with people, removing the need for small talk and providing a form of escapism.

Shedding light on the games' popularity, the findings could help to inform future work on designing well-being interventions for special populations.

How did the research work?

The first of the research studies surveyed 1,600 board gamers worldwide—uncovering that around 7% of them were diagnosed as autistic, compared to just 1% of the general population. In addition, 30% of those people surveyed had significantly high levels of autistic traits, according to a widely used self-administered questionnaire called the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ).

The second study comprised 13 in-depth interviews, in which participants—all of whom were hobbyist board gamers and had been medically diagnosed with autism—were asked about their experiences of board games, and how they felt the hobby interacted with their condition.

The themes uncovered included finding the games both 'comforting' and 'stimulating,' enabling gamers to engage with their passions, and how games act as an alternative vehicle for social communication.

In the third study, 28 autistic individuals, who were not already involved in the hobby, were introduced to board games in groups of between five and 10 over an afternoon. Subsequent focus groups were then analyzed, uncovering themes around how board games are challenging but encouraged growth, and how they were an alternative method for forging social relationships.

Studies four and five report the results of two-year-long interventions involving weekly board game sessions, one with autistic adolescents at a special educational needs (SEN) school, the other with autistic adults, many with occurring intellectual disability. Results showed that the gaming intervention built community, independence and skills among both groups.

The work was co-led by Dr. Liam Cross and Dr. Gray Atherton from the University of Plymouth's School of Psychology, who hope to use the findings to further work into improving well-being for people with autism.

Atherton says, "We know that board games are a safe and valuable hobby to many people with autism. What this research established was why that's the case, and we really want to use the findings to conduct future work. The findings as a whole aren't a shock, but what is surprising is the lack of evidence underpinning board game use as an intervention for people with autism.

"Hearing the feedback from the study participants was really motivating to try and push this forward in different settings—and is further reinforced by another recent study we've published in the Journal of Simulation and Gaming on the game mechanics that might work for different people in specific populations. Everyone with autism is unique, and we want to ensure any interventions could be adapted as needed for those who might benefit."

Cross says, "When we talk about hobbyist board gaming, we mean don't just mean a family game of Monopoly every now and then. We mean the kind of newer games that individuals play frequently at places like board game cafes. It's a popular hobby, and we're pleased to have been able to shed more light on its importance for so many people.

"We're also using our research to support adapting existing games for people with autism to make their gameplay even more accessible and enjoyable, and have recently returned from a board gaming conference in Canada to share our findings with the community. It's an exciting area to work in."

More information: Liam Cross et al, Game Changer: Exploring the Role of Board Games in the Lives of Autistic People, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06408-0

Gray Atherton et al, We've all come together: A board gaming approach for working with autistic people. American Journal of Play (2024) www.museumofplay.org/app/uploa … -Gaming-Autistic.pdf

Journal information: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Provided by University of Plymouth Autistic children could be the real winners from online games

Detecting germs in the air, room by room

by Polly Tita, Rush University Medical Center

What if you could stop germs at the door? Or know within minutes if a virus was in the air

Scientists at Rush are researching a tool that detects germs in the air, even as they enter a building or gathering spot. It's one of the ongoing efforts to discover ways to protect the public from infectious diseases.

Hannah Barbian, Ph.D., is a genomic epidemiologist—a scientific detective whose arsenal includes genomic sequencing of the evidence, i.e., germs that are known to be circulating and those that may be a surprise.

Barbian analyzes germs, mapping their genomic makeup, investigating outbreaks and searching for emerging viral and bacterial threats at the Regional Innovative Public Health Laboratory at Rush.

She identifies and tracks COVID-19 variants for the Chicago Department of Public Health by analyzing samples shared by area hospitals. Such surveillance has been an important part of the local and national public health response since the pandemic.

While current surveillance programs track the strains of respiratory viruses and bacteria in available patient samples, the aerosol technology pinpoints what pathogens are inside a building, on a room-by-room basis.

Barbian's work inspired her to investigate what sampling the air could achieve, how precise it could be and how quickly and easily it could detect pathogens at specific locations.

So far, so good

Getting air samples is easy, which means this method could potentially provide real-time room-level surveillance of germs quickly and simply, she said.

Barbian set up an air sampler, a 13-inch by 14-inch box, about the size of a desktop printer, in four places at Rush University Medical Center: two in the emergency department, one in a lobby and the fourth near a hospital entrance.

In collaboration with the Chicago Department of Public Health, air sampling devices also have been placed in six additional locations across Chicago to test how air sampling can complement existing disease surveillance methods. The sampling is part of the RIPHL's work performing pathogen genome surveillance.

"It can capture air from a large room and, if strategically placed, say at an entrance point or a shared lunch area, it can gather infectious disease data for a building's occupants," she said.

Barbian's research into the new technology began as a pilot project for the Rush Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, which chose eight projects designed to enhance infectious disease research and community preparedness in Chicago.

The Aerosol Sense sampling device collects air from all directions continuously in a designated area. Testing of the air samples can be done in as little time as an hour and a half.

Barbian is looking for known respiratory viruses and bacteria while also studying what else is in the air. To detect new microbes, Barbian runs a process called metagenomic sequencing, which studies the genomic make up of whatever pathogen might be found in the samples.

"Our preliminary data suggest that a large number of human bacteria and viruses can be seen in air samples," she said.

Finding new pathogens

In addition, the study is testing the air for eight types of respiratory viruses and bacteria that are known to be of concern, such as flu. The findings of the air samples align with what is found through traditional clinical surveillance, she said. Even the COVID-19 virus detected in the air matches the lineages detected in clinical samples collected about the same time.

Based on what she's found so far, air sampling could identify the presence of a wide range of germs while also enhancing current surveillance methods that analyze wastewater and clinical samples for specific viruses, she said.

"It is easier to acquire air samples, and the technology provides more focused, finer-scale results than wastewater," Barbian said. "And it requires less coordination than clinical sampling."

While the air contains the genetic material from many types of germs, their presence should not worry people in the tested areas. The device identifies miniscule amounts of a virus and detection does not necessarily indicate live or transmissible virus.

Provided by Rush University Medical Center

What's next after omicron?

Poseidon vs. Chaac: Mexico 'cancels' statue of Greek god after complaint from Maya Indigenous groups

Chaac is the water god of local Maya Indigenous culture

Associated Press
Published July 12, 2024

Mexican authorities "closed" a 10-foot-tall statue of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, that was erected in May in the Gulf of Mexico just off the town of Progreso, Yucatan, after legal complaints were filed.

A group of activist lawyers filed a legal complaint, saying the statue of the Greek god offended the beliefs of local Maya Indigenous groups who prefer Chaac, their own local god of water.

The statue and the controversy surrounding it have become a social media sensation.

The gods must be angry — or just laughing at the hubris of humanity.

Authorities in Mexico have slapped a "closure" order on a 10-foot-tall aquatic statue of the Greek god of the sea Poseidon that was erected in May in the Gulf of Mexico just off the town of Progreso, Yucatan.

Mexico’s environmental protection agency said late Thursday that the statue, which appears to show an angry trident-wielding Poseidon "rising" from the sea a few meters from the beach, lacked permits. In the few months it was up, tourists had gathered to take pictures of themselves with it as a striking background.

But it was symbolically "closed" Thursday — and could be removed altogether — after a group of activist lawyers filed a legal complaint saying the statue of the Greek god offended the beliefs of local Maya Indigenous groups who prefer their own local god of water, known as Chaac.

It's always been dangerous for humans to get involved in battles between deities. But this one appears to be all about present-day humanity, combining "cancel culture," social media storms, lawsuits and the one truly fearsome, overpowering force in today's world: Instagram selfie-fueled tourism.

True to form, Mexico social media users took to, well, social media, to crow about the decision, with at least a dozen posting slogans like "Chaac One, Poseidon Zero."

Tourists take pictures of the Poseidon sculpture before the arrival of Hurricane Beryl in Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico, on July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Zetina, File)

There are arguments on both sides.

"Poseidon is a Greek god who is alien to our Maya culture," according to the legal complaint filed recently against the statue. "I have a human right for my Maya culture to be preserved." The lawyers' group that filed the complaint did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The complaint also mentions the alleged lack of permits.

Technically, under Mexican law, any building project that could alter the ecosystem must file impact statements and get approval, though the government routinely violates its own rules and often slaps the little-feared "closure" stickers on private projects long after the damage is already done.

The office of environmental protection said the Poseidon statue had been erected by the Progreso municipal government without environmental impact studies. The office said it would "continue the administrative process (regarding the statue) to determine the appropriate actions."

But the federal government, little known for its concern for the environment, appears to be responding more to pressure groups.

Critics of the statue cite a series of recent storms in and around the Gulf — Tropical Storm Alberto in June and Hurricane Beryl this week — as proof that Chaac, a fanged, hook-nose deity who isn't quite as Instagram-friendly as Poseidon, is angry.

Defenders of the statue — which strikingly shows Poseidon's body rising mightily from a relatively calm, open stretch of water near the beach — also have their arguments, though they might not hold up as well in court: it's pretty, and it's good for business.

"It's an attraction for our town and it draws attention," said Lizeth Alvarado Juárez, 28, an employee at a hotel in Progreso. "There are people who come from Merida (the state capital) just to see the Poseidon."

Battles between the gods just aren't what they used to be. "It's all about the memes," Alvarado Juárez said.

Scientists breed most human-like mice yet

WATCH OUT FOR CAT PEOPLE

By Emily Cooke

Scientists have bred mice that are just like us — at least in terms of their immune systems.

It is now possible to breed mice with a fully developed and functional human immune system, new research suggests. (Image credit: Evgenyi_Eg via Getty Images)

For the first time, scientists have bred mice with fully fledged human immune systems. The researchers say these human-like animals will enhance drug development.

When faced with an infection, these "humanized" mice produce immune cells that mimic the structure and diversity of the immune cells made by humans. When injected with a chemical that triggers widespread inflammation in the body, the mice develop a version of the autoimmune disease lupus that closely resembles that seen in humans, the researchers discovered.

The scientists described their findings in a paper published June 25 in the journal Nature Immunology.

These are not the first humanized mice ever bred — the lab animals are staples in research as they enable scientists to study features of the human immune system inside a living animal. This is helpful for testing the safety and effectiveness of new drugs, as well as vaccines against infectious diseases, before they are trialed in humans.

Related: New immunotherapy could make blood more 'youthful,' mouse study hints

However, for years, researchers have struggled to create humanized mice that accurately respond to infection in the same way that humans do. Previous attempts have resulted in approximations of the human immune system, but these are missing certain human features, the team behind the new paper said in a statement.

To develop a better humanized mouse, the researchers first bred mice that had been genetically modified to have a weakened immune system. When the mice were around 1 to 2 days old, the team injected human stem cells into the animals' hearts. The stem cells, which had been extracted and purified from umbilical cord blood, were capable of becoming any type of immune cell.

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The animals' hearts then pumped the stem cells into the soft, spongy tissue within the mice' bones, known as bone marrow, which is where immune cells are normally produced. Because the mice were immunodeficient, the human stem cells could easily set up camp in the bone marrow.

After a few weeks, the team introduced a human version of the sex hormone estrogen into the mice. This hormone is known primarily for its role in promoting female sexual and reproductive development, but it also plays a big part in molding immature stem cells into mature, specialized immune cells.

Once imbued with human estrogen, the mice began to make a plethora of human immune cells. These included T cells, which directly attack germs, and B cells, which produce bug-busting antibodies that help mark pathogens for destruction.

To see how the humanized mice reacted to a vaccine, the team injected the animals with the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech. In response, the mice produced human antibodies against the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Similarly, when exposed to proteins from Salmonella typhi bacteria, the bug behind typhoid fever, the mice made antibodies against the pathogen.

The new mouse model could become a valuable tool for biomedical research, the team said. In particular, these mice will be useful for vaccine development, said Dr. Paolo Casali, a co-senior study author and professor of medicine at the University of Texas.

Complex impact of large wildfires on ozone layer dynamics unveiled

by Chinese Academy of Sciences

Bushfire — Credit: Vladyslav Dukhin from Pexels

In a revelation that highlights the fragile balance of our planet's atmosphere, scientists from China, Germany, and the U.S. have uncovered an unexpected link between massive wildfire events and the chemistry of the ozone layer. Published in Science Advances, this study reveals how wildfires, such as the catastrophic 2019/20 Australian bushfires, impact the stratosphere in previously unseen ways.

The ozone layer, a crucial shield protecting life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, has been on a path to recovery thanks to the Montreal Protocol. This landmark international treaty, adopted in 1987, successfully phased out the production of numerous substances responsible for ozone depletion.

Over the past decades, the ozone layer has shown significant signs of healing, a testament to global cooperation and environmental policy.

However, the stability of this vital atmospheric layer is now facing a new and unexpected challenge. During the 2019/20 Australian wildfires, researchers observed a dramatic increase in stratospheric aerosols—tiny particles that can influence climate, health and atmospheric chemistry.

Utilizing advanced satellite data and numerical models, the research team successfully demonstrated the impact of wildfires through a novel phenomenon: the smoke-charged vortex (SCV).

"The SCV is a powerful, smoke-laden whirlpool that transports wildfire emissions into the stratosphere, reaching altitudes of up to 35 kilometers," explained Prof. Hang Su from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one of the corresponding authors of the study.

"This process led to at least a doubling of the aerosol burden in the southern hemisphere's middle stratosphere. These aerosols, once reaching such high altitudes, initiated a series of heterogeneous reactions that impacted ozone concentrations."

The international team discovered that these wildfire-induced aerosols facilitated heterogeneous chemical reactions, which paradoxically led to both ozone depletion and ozone increase at different atmospheric layers.

While the lower stratosphere experienced significant ozone loss, they found that the enhanced chemical reactions on aerosols at higher altitudes, i.e., the middle stratosphere, lead to increase of ozone. In Southern Mid-Latitudes, this complex interplay managed to buffer approximately 40% (up to 70%) of the ozone depletion observed in the lower stratosphere in the following months of the mega-bushfire events.

So why does this matter?

"Our study demonstrates an unexpected and crucial mechanism, by which the absorbing aerosols in wildfire smoke, such as black carbon, can induce and sustain enormous smoke-charged vortices spanning thousands of kilometers," said Prof. Yafang Cheng, another corresponding author from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry.

"These vortices can persist for months, carrying aerosols deeply into the stratosphere and affecting the ozone layer in distinct ways at different altitudes. This highlights the need for continued vigilance and research as climate change progresses."

The ozone layer's role in filtering UV radiation is crucial for protecting all life forms on Earth. The Montreal Protocol's success in reducing ozone-depleting substances was a monumental achievement, but the new findings highlight that natural events, exacerbated by climate change, pose additional risks to this fragile layer.

With the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires driven by global warming, the formation of SCVs and their impact on the stratosphere could become more common, threatening the delicate balance of the ozone layer.

This study opens new avenues for research into how wildfire and other climate-driven events might influence stratospheric chemistry and ozone dynamics in the future.

More information: Chaoqun Ma et al, Smoke-charged vortex doubles hemispheric aerosol in the middle stratosphere and buffers ozone depletion, Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adn3657. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn3657

Journal information: Science Advances

Provided by Chinese Academy of Sciences

Spillover of tropospheric ozone is affecting measurements of stratospheric ozone recovery more than previously realized

CALIFORNIA
Air-pollution study finds San Joaquin Valley residents pay millions on ‘completely preventable’ medical costs

by Vivienne Aguilar,

Central Valley Journalism Collaborative

July 12, 2024

A plume of smoke from a fire started by a lightning strike burns near Highway 26. In Calif., on June 24, 2024. (Vivienne Aguilar/CVJC via Bay City News)

Air in he San Joaquin Valley costs a fortune.

So say researchers at UC Merced, who found that three prevalent air pollutants in the region can cost San Joaquin Valley residents more than $700 million dollars per year in medical expenses, school absences and lost productivity.

“People do understand money,” said lead researcher Gilda Zarate-Gonzalez, a Fresno-based health economist and doctor of philosophy in public health. “They do understand the dollar signs, and I want to empower a community to see how much we’re paying for things that are completely preventable.”

The study, “Costs of Air Pollution in California’s San Joaquin Valley: A Societal Perspective of the Burden of Asthma on Emergency Departments and Inpatient Care,” was published in March in the Journal of Asthma and Allergy.

Previous studies have found that the San Joaquin Valley has some of the worst air quality in the U.S. For her research, Zarate-Gonzalez used 2016 data from hospitals and emergency departments in six of the Valley’s eight counties. Stanislaus County and Kings County did not provide data.

Researchers focused on data from 2016 because that year California experienced fewer wildfires, and therefore better air quality, than four of the five years leading up to the start of their work.

The study took three years to complete. First, Zarate-Gonzalez and her team assessed the impact of asthma on quality of life. Next, they used the hospital data to track exposures to specific pollutants known to increase the risk of asthma — particulate matter (PM2.5), ozone and nitrogen dioxide. Finally, they used education and Social Security data to calculate the number of school and work days people missed due to respiratory illnesses.

In 2016, estimated costs related to emergency department visits totaled $498,014,124. Costs related to hospital admissions totaled $223,552,720.

They do understand the dollar signs, and I want to empower a community to see how much we’re paying for things that are completely preventable.GILDA ZARATE-GONZALEZ, UC MERCED LEAD RESEARCHER

Researchers estimated that, in 2016, even a reduction of one part-per-billion in each of the three pollutants they studied would have prevented about 21,000 visits to emergency departments and about 19,000 hospitalizations. The resulting cost savings would have been almost $137 million, including $93,651,220 related to adults, $14,891,329 related to seniors and $28,179,332 related to school-aged children.

“When a child gets sick, a parent or a caretaker is going to have to take them to the emergency room,” Zarate-Gonzalez said. “And so that productivity of that adult being with the child, caring for the child, it’s also a cost for society.”

Schools also take a financial hit when children get sick, because when kids miss class, schools lose money.

“Attendance, daily attendance, average attendance is how schools get reimbursed for children to actually demonstrate that they’re in school and learning,” Zarate-Gonzalez said. “And so those are losses for our region.”

Because Zarate-Gonzalez was unable to get data on asthma-related visits to primary care physicians, she said, the actual cost of air pollution in the Valley is likely higher than her research shows.

In fact, she said, more people should be treated for asthma in primary care settings than in hospitals because preventative care measures associated with more routine doctor visits often lead to better health outcomes.

The ratio of doctors to patients in the San Joaquin Valley is far lower than the state average. The shortage of doctors means that the work of preventative care often falls to community based organizations that try to supplement infrequent doctor appointments.

Zarate-Gonzalez said insurance companies also have a role to play in getting ahead of the worst outcomes for people living with asthma.

“I want health insurance to look at this and say, oh, yeah, it’s costing us a lot of money,” she said. “Because emergency department and hospitalization is a lot more costly than managing asthma in the primary care setting.”

Zarate-Gonzalez, whose son lives with asthma, said there’s no safe time of year to breathe air in the Valley because different seasons present different risks to respiratory health. During summer, for example, raw gasses heated by sunlight turn into ozone, causing asthma attacks and other respiratory problems.

Nitrogen dioxide “is the one that’s sending people to the emergency department and to contribute hospitalizations in the warm season,” Zarate-Gonzalez said. “And then, obviously, particulate matter is a big problem in the winter.

Major causes of air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley stem from agriculture and the diesel fuel emissions that go with it.

Zarate-Gonzalez pointed out that county needs assessments in the Valley have found that residents want to address air pollution and respiratory health.

“They want clean air,” she said. “But how public health departments are going to do that, I really don’t know.”

Who’s supposed to clean the air?

Determining who is responsible for improving air quality in the Valley is more complicated than it sounds. State and local agencies can implement policies that address pollution and related health outcomes, but lawmakers have to enact those policies, and unlock the funding that goes with them. Getting them to do that often requires advocacy by residents and local nonprofits.

“It is really community based organizations that are the strongest advocates in the public health sector to clean up the air,” Zarate-Gonzalez said. “I really haven’t seen a lot of public health departments involved.”

Elaine Labson, executive director of Little Manila Rising, a nonprofit in Stockton focused on education and public health, said public agencies in the Valley purport to address asthma in the Valley, but don’t prioritize it.

“It’s hard to activate (the) county, it’s hard to activate the city when they’re not even really engaged into it unless you see, like, a giant funding stream coming in,” she said. “And that’s when they start paying attention to it.”

In 2017, lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 617 to address dangerous air quality in landlocked regions of California. The bill required the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to work with communities that were nominated to receive grants and have their burden of air pollution exposure studied over the next five years.

From 2018 to 2023, CARB awarded about $35 million in grants to monitor air quality, collect data, create local emission reduction plans and engage community stakeholders across the state. To date, CARB has nominated more than a dozen communities in the Valley to participate in the programs. Local air districts distribute the money to community-based organizations that sit on steering committees and meet monthly to discuss goals and where to invest resources.

Little Manila Rising joined the Stockton steering committee in 2020, and formed DAWN, short for Decreasing Asthma Within Neighborhoods. The program is named after Dr. Dawn Mabalon, co-founder of Little Manila Rising, who died of an asthma attack while on vacation with her family in 2018.

DAWN’s program director, Jazmarie LaTour, said her team’s work is “grounded in knowing that her life could have been saved. And so in the work that we do, we know that we have the power to save lives.”

It is really community based organizations that are the strongest advocates in the public health sector to clean up the air.GILDA ZARATE-GONZALEZ, UC MERCED LEAD RESEARCHER

Together, Labson and LaTour have five family members who live with asthma.

As part of the steering committee, Little Manila Rising collects the stories and concerns of residents living with asthma and brings them to local health officials. The group also educates local residents on mitigating the impacts of air pollution in their daily lives by using air purifiers and weatherizing their homes.

Of course, the cost of those measures puts them out of reach for many Valley residents. And for people who work outside all day, including the Valley’s massive population of farm workers, options for reducing exposure to air pollution are essentially limited to wearing masks.

LaTour said her team also works to increase access to medications that treat respiratory problems.

“The going rate for an inhaler on the street is $70,” she said. “You know, people buy inhalers from other people. And that’s either because of a diagnosis that they hadn’t been able to get or been telling their doctor about or, or don’t have insurance, or they simply just can’t afford the cost of an inhaler.”

Zarate-Gonzalez was unable to address disproportionate health outcomes based on income and race in her study because the data included limited demographic information. But AB-617 requires CARB to do exactly that.

“California has made many gains in improving air quality in the state,” Kevin Olp, who leads CARB’s office of reporting, assessment and strategy said in an email. “But there are still many communities that are disproportionately impacted by poor air quality, in part, because of racist land use practices and policies.”

Olp said in an email statement that race is a determining factor in choosing which communities receive state air quality grants because research has shown that disproportionate harm is caused by poor air quality in low-income communities and communities of color.

“Exposure to air pollution, the presence of sensitive populations such as children or the elderly, and vulnerability measures, such as poverty and unemployment are the defining factors of nomination,” Olp said.

Zarate-Gonzalez said that in her upcoming work she hopes to demonstrate how air pollution disproportionately affects Black, Latin, Asian, Indigenous and other communities of color.

“I want to be specific about what we’re talking about when it comes to air pollution, race and ethnicity,” she said.

Vivienne Aguilar is the health equity reporter for the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative in collaboration with the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF).

TEMPER TANTRUM

Elon Musk Demands "Criminal Prosecution" of People Who Won't Give Him Money

He still thinks the left is conspiring against him.

Image by Getty /

Futurism

JUL 12, 2024

VICTOR TANGERMANN

X-formerly-Twitter owner Elon Musk is very unhappy with advertisers, who are opting out of giving him money. In fact, Musk — the self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist" — is calling for them to be criminally prosecuted for, um, exercising the mild free speech of not paying him.

"Hopefully, some states will consider criminal prosecution," he tweeted, responding to a video of conservative pundit Ben Shapiro accusing "legacy media" of lying to "preserve left-leaning narratives."

Shapiro was testifying in front of a House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, which released a report this week, accusing the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) of conspiring to suppress conservative voices on the internet, an increasingly common talking point among Republicans.

Now that Musk has surrounded himself with pundits sympathetic to his increasingly right-wing beliefs, he was quick to chime in.

"Extremely concerning!" Musk tweeted in response to the report.

"Having seen the evidence unearthed today by Congress, X has no choice but to file suit against the perpetrators and collaborators in the advertising boycott racket," he wrote.

Basically, Musk essentially wants it to be illegal for companies to refuse to advertise on his platform.

But who could blame them for leaving in droves following his chaotic $44 billion acquisition in 2022? The company has quickly turned into a cesspool of disinformation and hate speech — a nosedive accelerated by Musk's own racist tirades.

And it's not just advertisers. Data suggests users are also jumping ship in droves.

Meanwhile, Musk has attempted to stem the bleeding by begging advertisers to return. That's despite quite literally telling them to "go fuck yourselves" during the New York Times DealBook Summit last year.

It's a precarious situation for the company, which has already been reeling from plummeting revenue. Last month, Bloomberg reported that ad revenues were down almost 40 percent in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

And Musk's kneejerk lawsuits aimed at nonprofits that fight hate speech online aren't going well, either. The infamously litigious CEO had been accusing these groups of scaring away advertisers — somehow forgetting his own role in the exodus.

His suit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate was dismissed in March, for example, with a judge finding that Musk was trying to "punish" the group for exercising free speech. Another lawsuit he filed against Media Matters for America is scheduled for a trial in April next year — but the nonprofit maintains that the complaint is already dead in the water.

Whether Congress will agree with Musk's provocative insinuation that advertisers who boycott X should be criminally prosecuted remains dubious at best.

For its part, GARM maintains that it didn't do anything wrong, telling Ars Technica in a statement that it "has continually demonstrated that it will cooperate with the House Judiciary Committee in good faith" and that it remains "steadfast in the conviction that GARM enhances transparency in previously opaque practices relative to ad placements in digital social media."

The situation is especially awkward for X CEO Linda Yaccarino, who has historically supported GARM, a flagship partner of the World Economic Forum, to which she has strong ties.

Now, Yaccarino is desperately trying to pick up the pieces and put out Musk's fires.

On July 1, X announced that it had "reinstated our relationship" with GARM. "X is committed to the safety of our global town square and proud to be part of the GARM community!"

Whether Musk would agree with that sentiment remains to be seen.

AMERIKA

Study: Gun laws help reduce suicides, not murders, among children

By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay News
July 12,2024

Restrictive gun laws can decrease suicide rates among children and teenagers, but they don't seem to lower their risk of being murdered, a new study says. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News

Restrictive gun laws can decrease suicide rates among children and teenagers, but they don't seem to lower their risk of being murdered, a new study says.

States with laws requiring safe storage of firearms and mandatory waiting periods had lower suicide death rates among kids younger than 18, researchers report.

However, no gun laws appeared to lower children's risk of being murdered by a firearm, even those that prohibit access for people at risk of harming themselves and others, result show.

"It was surprising to me that no laws appear to be impacting the rates of homicide in children, not even safe access," said lead researcher Dr. Krista Haines, an assistant professor of surgery and population health sciences at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. "It's sad and shocking."

For the study, researchers analyzed data on more than 17,000 child firearm deaths that occurred between 2009 and 2020, including more than 6,700 suicides and more than 10,200 murders.

They compared 36 different state-level firearm laws to see if any appeared to reduce or increase the risk of suicide or homicide for children.

The analysis "suggests that we do actually have some laws that work," Haines said in a news release.

"But there are very few of these laws, and they only appear to work for suicide, not for homicide," she continued. "Our study clearly points to a need for more laws and controlled access to these guns, especially given the high rates of death among children in the United States."

Interestingly, "stand your ground" laws that protect people who use guns in self-defense appeared to increase children and teens' risk of suicide, researchers found.

Laws setting minimum ages for possession or purchase of firearms did not significantly reduce suicide death rates, results show.

The U.S. accounts for more than 90% of child firearm deaths worldwide, researchers said in background notes. More studies are needed to understand the risk to kids, they argue.

"This is a very early study, and we need to continue to use this kind of research to advance better policies," senior researcher Dr. Suresh Agarwal, chief of trauma, acute and critical care surgery at Duke University, said in a news release. "What we have in place now has limited impact, particularly with regard to homicides."

The new study was published Thursday in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

More information

KFF has more about child and teen firearm deaths.

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2023 Rolling Hills Estates landslide likely began the winter before

by University of California, Los Angeles

Californians are familiar with landslides that occur around storms, when saturated soil and rock loses its grip and slips from its perch on the substrate. These types of landslides can be triggered by intense rainfall, and incoming storms can be a warning that neighborhoods need to evacuate.

Landslides that happen during the hot, dry summers, though, tend to take people by surprise. In July 2023, for example, a landslide seemed to come out of nowhere to devastate a neighborhood in Rolling Hills Estates, located on the northern side of the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County.

Now, landslide researchers at UCLA and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or JPL, have published a paper in Geophysical Research Letters that shows that the 2023 Rolling Hills Estates event was a slow-moving, progressive landslide that began the winter before, when unusually heavy rainfall infiltrated into the slope and reduced its strength. The researchers used satellite data to measure minute shifts in the surface of the affected area before, during and after the slide and concluded that this method could be used to detect future landslides before they become catastrophic.

"Movement on the Palos Verdes Peninsula's Portuguese Bend Landslide has been recorded since the late 1950s," said paper co-author Alexander Handwerger, a research scientist at UCLA's Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science & Engineering and JPL. "But there was no discernible movement in this region of the nearby Rolling Hills Estates before 2023. People began reporting movement, as indicated by cracks in houses, in April 2023, which matches our observations. There was initial slow movement that accelerated progressively, culminating in complete collapse several months later."

The study, led by UCLA postdoctoral researcher Xiang Li, used satellite radar and optical data taken over Los Angeles every few weeks to measure ground motion over time. The satellite radar data for Rolling Hills Estates from 2016 to July 2023 revealed that after very slight movement during the 2019 rainy season, the ground remained stable until heavy winter rainfall, starting in December 2022, kickstarted movement in February. By June, the area had moved 0.04 meters, or about 1.6 inches, and on July 8—a sunny, dry day preceded by 40 dry days—around 10 meters, or 33 feet, of horizontal motion occurred, destroying 12 homes.

The likely reason for the delay between initial movement in February and complete failure in July is that it took time for increased instability to develop. The researchers hypothesize that as water seeped through the ground, a sliding surface formed, causing the landslide body, including the ground surface, to slide progressively until the entire landslide moved rapidly all at once.

"Formation of the sliding surface will induce some movement, while the collapse will only occur when the sliding surface is fully developed," Li said. "The progression can happen over hours, months or years."

The researchers then attempted to determine if the Rolling Hills Estates landslide could have been predicted. By computing the displacement over time, they arrived at a predicted failure date on July 11, three days after the real landslide on July 8. They note that although their results are encouraging, predicting landslides using satellite remote sensing data needs further refinement, and landslides in areas without good historical satellite data might not be possible to predict in this way.

Li said that one of the challenges in forecasting landslides is the time period over which the progression takes place. Accurate forecasting requires continuous historical and ongoing satellite radar or in-situ measurements.

Handwerger is a core member of a project at JPL that is building an analysis-ready surface displacement database from satellite radar data for the entire United States, U.S. territories, Canada within 200 km of the U.S. border, and all mainland countries from the southern U.S. border up to and including Panama. The project, called Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis, or OPERA, will contain analysis-ready data for near real-time monitoring and, possibly, landslide prediction.

"These motions can be quite subtle before they begin to move fast," Li said. "Cracks in structures are what people tend to notice first. In fact, local residents in Rolling Hills Estates first reported cracks in their houses starting in April 2023. Signs of active movement require caution and monitoring because they could signal a progressive failure in the future."

More information: Xiang Li et al, Exploring the Behaviors of Initiated Progressive Failure and Slow‐Moving Landslides in Los Angeles Using Satellite InSAR and Pixel Offset Tracking, Geophysical Research Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1029/2024GL108267

Journal information: Geophysical Research Letters

Provided by University of California, Los Angeles City sprawl responsible for acceleration of deep landslide movement, finds study

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