A deadly 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit Afghanistan on June 22. So far, more than 1000 people have been reported dead, and at least another 1500 have been injured. This is a humanitarian disaster that requires aid.
Watch this video clip of fantasy writer Ursula LeGuin's acceptance speech of the 2014 U.S. National Book Award. Be prepared to summarize and discuss the points she makes about writers and the contemporary world.
Harvard Business Review has researched the mindsets that affect a person’s leadership ability. Here are different mindsets they have found.
Growth and Fixed Mindsets. People with a growth mindset believe that people change. Everyone can develop their abilities, intelligence, and talent. However, people with a fixed mindset believe people are born with specific skills and cannot develop them.
Elon Musk has ordered all employees to return to the office full-time or resign. In two leaked memos, he makes it clear that remote work will not be allowed except for "particularly exceptional contributors for whom this is impossible". These memos have been reported on news networks and Twitter feeds. The news network CNBC transcribed the first memo.
Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, says it will provide outside researchers more information on how political and social ads are targeted on its platform, providing insight into the ways that politicians, campaign operatives and political strategists buy and use ads during election periods.
Even though punishment by death has been abolished in many places globally, there are still fifty-five countries that practice the death penalty, with the USA and China being among them. So what are the arguments for and against the death penalty?
Watch this short video about what happens in the brain when we sing. Listen carefully to hear what happens in the different parts of the brain.
Look at the menu of any sushi shop in Japan and you will almost certainly see salmon: fatty, tender and bright orange. But salmon is actually a relatively new addition to the sushi menu.
New research from the Babraham Institute has potentially made a revolutionary breakthrough in regenerative medicine. The scientists developed a method to rejuvenate skin cells by 30 years.
Our cells have several functions, such as providing structure and support, transporting molecules, producing energy, helping with growth, creating metabolic reactions and helping in reproduction. However, with age, cells lose these functions and accumulate age marks.
One night at a hotel in 2009, tech executive Shawn Seipler thought about how many bars of soap guests use for a night and then leave. He called the front desk to find out what they did with the used soap and learned that they just throw it away. In the U.S. alone, hotels throw out about 3.3 million bars of soap every day.
People generally think of trees as disconnected loners, competing for water, nutrients, and sunlight, with winners shading out losers and sucking them dry. But evidence to the contrary is coming to light. Forest trees are, in fact, cooperative and live in interdependent relationships maintained by communication and collective intelligence similar to an insect colony.
Society is filled with social and etiquette rules. As we grow up, we learn them and follow them without even noticing. Etiquette can be different in various situations, cultures, communities and workplaces.
Even though people learn these rules when growing up, they are later able to distinguish the rules themselves in new cultures. However, what should we do with robots? If robots become parts of our workplace, what should we teach them?
Please, look at the task below with your teacher and discuss it.
"Doodling" is drawing without thinking about it, on whatever is in front of us. Sometimes it's on the side of meeting notes, or on an envelope or napkin. It's a very common habit. So, why do we do it?
There are a few reasons we doodle:
to keep ourselves awake during a boring presentation, lecture, etc.; and
to focus on something while meditating.
In late April, the Indonesian government announced a temporary ban on exports of crude palm oil and its refined products, such as cooking oil. The decision came as a surprise to commercial goods traders as the government had previously stated the ban would only apply to refined products. After the government’s initial statement, prices of crude palm oil significantly fluctuated given uncertainties about what products the ban would cover. Prices have again skyrocketed in light of the most recent announcement.
Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator—the tech accelerator that supports early-stage, growth-driven companies through education, mentorship and financing—has funded a number of successful start-ups including Dropbox, Airbnb and Reddit. Despite this, in 2013 he made a controversial comment about how he evaluates potential companies. He managed to both offend many foreign-born Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and reveal a prejudice common among venture capitalists.
Rare and neglected diseases remain a serious problem in our modern world, despite advances in science and technology. Big pharmaceutical companies don't fund research and development into treatments for these diseases because they aren't profitable. The drugs end up costing much more to make than they'll earn back, so they remain un- or underfunded.
Elon Musk is a famous Twitter user. He wants to change Twitter rules on what is allowed to be posted. However, recently he surprised everyone by saying that he would buy this social media company. Musk has been offered loans of $25.5 billion from big American banks and he promised to pay the rest of the $21 billion out of his pocket.
Bones found in Ireland show that humans have taken care of each other since ancient times. The bones, buried 5,500 years ago, belonged to a child with Down Syndrome. The baby lived to be about 6 months old and was breastfed. When it died, it was buried in a monumental tomb with other adults and children.
These days, video conferencing is part of the everyday lives of most business people. If you have ever worked online, you have probably encountered a myriad of problems. Sometimes, your connection cuts out; at other times, there is too much glare on your face.
Watch this short video and learn about some examples of the issues that occur during video calls. While watching, think about how the participants could avoid these issues.
Wars have many impacts not only on the countries involved but also on regions and even the whole world. In our globalized world, countries rely on each other for imports and exports. The global supply and demand chain has many steps in it. Disruptions in even one of these steps can lead to severe consequences, such as increased production and transportation costs and a lack of products. It can lead regions to economic crisis, food insecurity and famine.
Please, look at these two graphs and discuss them with your teacher.
