2024 - Page 163 of 173

30 Jan

First Bird Flu Deaths Reported In Antarctic Penguins

Howard L. PettersonHealth

Why It Matters: Penguins are already under pressure.The familiar black-and-white birds are facing numerous threats, including climate change, pollution and commercial fishing. Three Antarctic penguin species — emperor penguins, southern rockhopper penguins and macaroni penguins — are listed as vulnerable or near threatened.Before H5N1 arrived in the Antarctic region last fall, highly pathogenic bird flu viruses had never been documented in the area before. That means that the penguins are likely to have little existing immunity. And because they breed in large, crowded colonies, once one penguin is infected, the virus could spread rapidly, causing mass mortalities. (As the virus…

30 Jan

Thompson: LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry is still the NBA’s best theater

Howard L. PettersonNews

SAN FRANCISCO — The frustration seethed in Stephen Curry. Until it boiled to the surface. Until he let out a roar. Until he ripped his jersey from the collar to the 30.He’d scored 46 points on 35 shots, getting the benefit of just three free throws in his 43 minutes. He hit the game-tying layup at the end of regulation. Inside the final minute of the first overtime, he forced a turnover and then hit a massive corner 3, setting up the game-tying 3 from Klay Thompson that kept the Warriors alive. Then in the second overtime, Curry’s final points…

30 Jan

Focused Cuts and Fewer Layers: Tech Layoffs Enter a New Phase

Howard L. PettersonNews

Last year, Mark Zuckerberg declared 2023 to be a “year of efficiency.” His company, Meta, soon laid off a third of its employees. Amazon, Google and Microsoft also cut tens of thousands of workers.Their worlds did not stop. Not only that, the companies were rewarded. Their stock prices soared. Some divisions were more productive. And the companies — including X, formerly known as Twitter, which has chopped nearly 80 percent of its staff since late 2022 — continued operating.Other chief executives took notice. And a month into 2024, tech companies have entered a new phase of cost cutting.After last year’s…

30 Jan

Truck Makers Team Up to Push for Electric Vehicle Chargers

Howard L. PettersonNews

There are more than four million electric vehicles on American roads, but fewer than 1,000 of them are heavy-duty trucks. On Tuesday, the three largest truck makers plan to announce a push to remedy that deficit by calling on governments and utilities to help them build many more places to charge big rigs.Daimler Truck, which owns Freightliner; Navistar, which is controlled by Volkswagen; and Volvo Trucks have formed an association to push for chargers, improvements to the electricity grid and other measures they say are needed to promote battery- or hydrogen-powered trucks.The new organization, Powering America’s Commercial Transportation, will be…

28 Jan

ROPA method at Babynova: ideal for couples if you live in Hamilton (New Zealand)

Howard L. PettersonHealth

Female couples in Hamilton (New Zealand) can start their family at Babynova, a Colombian fertility clinic, using the ROPA method. This special assisted reproduction technique, also known as "Reception of Oocytes from Partner", allows both women to be active participants in the conception and gestation of their child, since they share the genetic material and create the unique bond with their baby. What does the ROPA method consist of? The ROPA method is based on a process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) with some particularities that make it ideal for female couples. The steps are explained below: Ovarian stimulation and…

28 Jan

After Help From Kenyan Police Is Blocked, Haitians Ask: What Now?

Howard L. PettersonNews

Gangs have taken over entire neighborhoods in Haiti’s capital, and killings have more than doubled in the past year, but for the organizers of the Port-au-Prince Jazz Festival, the show simply had to go on.So while judges an ocean away deliberated whether to send a contingent of officers to pacify Haiti’s violence-riddled streets, festival organizers made do by shortening the length of the event to four days from eight, moving the acts from a public stage to a restricted hotel venue and replacing the handful of artists who canceled.As 11.5 million Haitians struggle to feed their families and ride the…

28 Jan

The Man in Room 117

Howard L. PettersonHealth

Sam and Olga had concluded that only involuntary treatment could break the cycle for Andrey — something open-ended, combining long-term injectable medications with intensive therapy and counseling.They are part of a much larger ideological shift taking place, as communities grope for ways to manage ballooning homeless populations. California, one of the first states to turn away from involuntary treatment, has passed new laws expanding it. New York has made a billion-dollar investment in residential housing, psychiatric beds and wraparound services.Sam had staked his hopes on Washington’s new involuntary treatment law, and found it maddening that this fall, when Andrey was…

28 Jan

Jannik Sinner beats Daniil Medvedev to win Australian Open, his first Grand Slam title

Howard L. PettersonNews

They are in a hurry, this younger cohort of tennis stars, with no interest in waiting their turn to take over their sport, or respecting their elders. On a warm Sunday evening in Rod Laver Arena, Jannik Sinner, the 22-year-old fast-rising star from Italy, became the latest member of the ‘next generation’ to win a Grand Slam title. He recovered from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 and win the Australian Open title in his maiden tilt in one of the game’s ultimate showdowns. In doing so, he became only the second player younger than…

28 Jan

David L. Mills, Who Kept the Internet Running on Time, Dies at 85

Howard L. PettersonNews

David L. Mills, an internet pioneer who developed and, for decades, implemented the timekeeping protocol used by financial markets, power grids, satellites and billions of computers to make sure they run simultaneously, earning him a reputation as the internet’s “Father Time,” died on Jan. 17 at his home in Newark, Del. He was 85.His daughter, Leigh Schnitzler, confirmed the death.Dr. Mills was among the inner circle of computer scientists who from the 1960s through the ’90s developed Arpanet, a relatively small network of linked computers located at academic and research institutions, and then its globe-spanning successor, the internet.It was challenging…

28 Jan

Private Equity Is Starting to Share With Workers, Without Taking a Financial Hit

Howard L. PettersonNews

In 2018, Anna-Lisa Miller was working with agricultural cooperatives in Hawaii, helping them reinvest in their communities through shared ownership.Ms. Miller, who had gone to law school and had planned to do civil rights litigation, loved the principle of workers partaking in the financial success of their employers, and the next year joined Project Equity, a nonprofit that helps small businesses transition to worker ownership. But it was slow going, with each transaction requiring customized assistance.Then she came across an investor presentation from a different universe: KKR, one of the world’s largest private equity firms. In it, a KKR executive,…