As some countries rapidly roll out vaccination programmes, there have been concerns that increases in infection rates amongst vaccinated groups mean vaccines are less effective than we hoped, especially in the face of the feared Delta variant.
Epidemiologist Dr Katelyn Jetelina from the University of Texas Health Science Centre School of Public Health explains why this isn’t what the numbers show – rather than decreasing vaccine effectiveness, increasing rates can be explained by a statistical phenomenon known as ‘base rate fallacy’.
After months of bipartisan negotiation, the Senate may finally vote this weekend on a 2,700 page infrastructure bill that includes $1 trillion in spending on things like roads, bridges, public transit, and broadband.
After a week of exploring how Chicago’s City Council and mayoral system work, we take stock of what we learned and what we can change.
Reset talks to the city's top watchdog, a longtime alderman, and a community leader for what solutions they think are needed.
Today, up to 3 billion people around the world play video games, from candy based mobile puzzles to virtual battlegrounds filled with weapons. Many people have turned to gaming during the pandemic as a way of staying connected – but what does science really say about the impact of gaming?
Does playing violent video games lead to violence in the real world? Do brain training apps really work? How much gaming is too much – can videogames really be addictive? And how can videogames help us to explore difficult issues like death, grief and loss?
Alex Lathbridge and Anand Jagatia look at the evidence and play some games along the way, speaking to psychologists, doctors and game designers about the power of video games to change us - for better or worse.
With Adrian Hon, Professor Andrew Przybylski, Professor Pete Etchells, Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones and Dr Sabine Harrer
The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
In lieu of my usual re-runs filling out August, I’m doing something different: a full-reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, presented in three parts.
The infrastructure bill-related surprise in the U.S. Congress came in the form of a competing amendment with a short list of exemptions from the original language. On this episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW addresses the latest updates on the bill, including:
The White House claimed support of the Portman, Warner and Sinema competing amendment, citing its ability to strengthen tax compliance in the crypto industry. Crypto advocates have been quick to call out the intentional gaps in the amendment’s language as well as the clear lack of technological understanding.
The proposed amendment specifically excludes proof-of-work mining from the reporting requirements, a surprising stance compounded by the fact that the language itself seems to misunderstand the difference between validation and mining. Some Bitcoin maximalists rejoice at their preferential treatment over proof-of-stake networks like Ethereum, but it remains unclear whether this amendment would protect even Bitcoin in the long term.
If the amendment were passed, the bill itself would not go into effect until 2023. Organizations like Fight for the Future are creating resources for crypto allies to contact their senators. If the amendment passes, how will crypto adapt?
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The Breakdown is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Razor Red” by Sam Barsh. Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images News, modified by CoinDesk.
The stock market hits a record high on a stronger-than-expected jobs report. Square buys Australian fintech company AfterPay for $29 billion in stock. Etsy tumbles on earnings. And Weber Grill makes its public markets debut. Motley Fool analysts Ron Gross and Jason Moser discuss those stories and weigh in on the latest from Cloudflare, CVS Health, Mercadolibre, Wayfair, and Draftkings. Our analysts share two stocks on their radar: Synaptics and 10x Genomics. Plus, we revisit our July interview with Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman and talk about the future of work.
