05a Health

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A new study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Oxford, and UCLA suggests that using an AI chatbot for just 10 minutes could negatively impact your ability to think and problem-solve. And honestly, the findings are a little alarming.

As reported by Wired, the researchers asked participants to solve problems, including simple fractions and reading comprehension tasks. Some participants were given access to an AI assistant that could solve the problem for them.

When the AI was suddenly removed, those participants were far more likely to give up or get the answer wrong. In other words, the moment the AI crutch was gone, people struggled.

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Pro-life advocates have long warned about Planned Parenthood’s role in ending innocent lives through abortion, but now the threat has expanded. The abortion giant is not only ending lives in the present but it is advancing practices that may prevent future generations of children from ever being conceived.

How? By targeting minors with medical interventions that can lead to permanent sterility.

This is not speculation. It can be clearly seen in Planned Parenthood’s expanding involvement in providing so-called gender-transition services.

A review by Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee found that 14 Planned Parenthood regional reports – the regions that consistently publish comparable data – recorded a more than 40 percent increase in reported ‘gender-affirming care,’ visits, or services from 2023-2024 to 2024-2025. Because Planned Parenthood’s national 2024-2025 annual report does not provide a national total for ‘gender-affirming care,’ CWALAC aggregated figures from regional reports that publish comparable data. Planned Parenthood’s national gender-care page lists estrogen and anti-androgen therapy, testosterone therapy, puberty blockers, surgery referrals, and transition support, while noting that not every health center offers every service.

“This is several years in a row now that this number has increased despite society for the most part turning its back and reversing course on a lot of this,” Macy Petty, a legislative strategist for CCA, told the Daily Wire. “Planned Parenthood has found a way to continue this harmful and destructive business.”

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Federal officials are scrambling after a powerful new artificial intelligence (AI) model demonstrated the ability to hack virtually every major operating system and web browser, triggering urgent warnings from top government and financial leaders.

AI giant Anthropic’s new system, known as “Mythos,” is being kept under tight restrictions.

However, insiders say the threat is already serious enough that the U.S. government is racing to understand it before it’s too late.

Treasury Rushes to Access High-Risk AI

According to reports, the U.S. Treasury Department is urgently seeking access to Anthropic’s restricted model

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Big data, artificial intelligence and advanced pricing algorithms make it easier than ever for companies to fine-tune prices for individual products to closely reflect their unique value and cost. The conventional wisdom is straightforward: better data, better algorithms and sharper segmentation should produce better profits. But new research suggests that the most profitable answer isn’t always more fine-grained pricing across a product line. In fact, it is fewer, better-chosen price points.

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This week, Sam is joined by Maddy Myers, editor-in-chief of Mothership. She’s also a co-host of the video games podcast Triple Click.

Maddy launched Mothership with co-founder Zoë Hannah in January. It’s a queer and women-owned independent publication that focuses on gender and games. They discuss Maddy’s early days of games journalism at a (print!) alt-weekly in Boston and then at the Mary Sue, how she and Zoë decided it was time to quit their jobs and launch their own indie outlet, and the importance of owning your own work as a journalist.

Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode’s bonus content and to power our journalism.

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Human societies have not just adapted to the natural world. They have steadily learned how to transform it. Drawing on research from archaeology, ecology, anthropology, and evolutionary theory, Erle Ellis, professor of geography and environmental systems at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, explains how cultural practices have evolved to give humans extraordinary influence over the ecosystems that sustain them.

From early uses of fire to cook food and shape landscapes to modern systems like industrial agriculture, global trade, and rapidly growing cities, societies have developed powerful tools and institutions. These social and cultural advances have allowed humans to reshape the planet on a massive scale while improving their ability to survive and thrive.

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Although it was completely expected, it’s wonderful to hear that Mississippi pro-life Gov. Tate Reeves has signed House Bill 1613.

HB 1613 amends the state’s drug trafficking statutes to make it illegal “to create, sell, barter, transfer, manufacture, distribute, dispense or prescribe an ‘abortion-inducing drug.’”

HB 1613 passed both the House in February and the Senate in March by overwhelming margins

Penalties for those convicted of a crime include up to ten years in prison,” according to Bridget Sielicki. “Additionally, the legislation allows the Attorney General to bring a civil lawsuit against anyone accused of violating the law” but imposes “no penalties on the mother taking the abortion drug — only those involved in trafficking and distributing.”

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Bread has long been a dietary cornerstone, sustaining societies for generations. It is deeply woven into everyday life. But with obesity rates continuing to climb, researchers are beginning to question whether this reliance on staple carbohydrates still makes sense in modern diets.

Obesity increases the risk of many lifestyle-related diseases, making prevention a major public health priority. Traditionally, research has focused on high fat consumption as the main driver of weight gain. This is why many animal studies rely on high fat diets.

However, carbohydrates such as bread, rice, and noodles are consumed daily around the world, yet their role in obesity and metabolism has not been explored as thoroughly. While many people believe that “bread makes you gain weight” or that “carbohydrates should be limited,” it has been unclear whether the issue lies in the foods themselves or in how people choose and consume them.

Iran war threatens to push 2.5 mn people in India into poverty: UNDP report | Economy & Policy News www.business-standard.com
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The conflict and military escalation in West Asia threatens to push 2.5 million people in India into poverty and the country is projected to experience some loss in its human development progress, according to estimates and projections by the United Nations.

The United Nations Development Programme, in a report titled ‘Military Escalation In The Middle East: Human Development Impacts Across Asia And The Pacific’ noted that the conflict is “widening human development pressures across Asia and the Pacific through higher fuel, freight, and input costs, the shock is diminishing household purchasing power, raising food insecurity, straining public budgets, and weakening livelihoods.”

 The preliminary assessment, issued Tuesday, estimates that globally 8.8 million people are at risk of falling into poverty and the West Asia military escalation could cost Asia-Pacific up to $299 billion.

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FRANKFURT, Germany – One of the major reasons for the creation of the European Union was to make Europeans wealthier. Along the way, however, something went seriously wrong.

Europeans are becoming poorer compared to Americans, who are becoming richer.

One in five Germans now faces the risk of imminent poverty in what has long been one of the world’s wealthiest nations.

In France, the poverty rate has hit a 30-year high.

Blurb:

Scientists at Stanford Medicine have identified a naturally occurring molecule that appears to mimic some of the weight loss effects of semaglutide, the drug widely known as Ozempic. In animal studies, the molecule reduced appetite and body weight while avoiding several common side effects such as nausea, constipation, and muscle loss.

The molecule, called BRP, works through a different but related biological pathway and activates distinct groups of neurons in the brain. This suggests it may offer a more precise way to control appetite and metabolism.