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Stanford Medicine study identifies distinct brain organization patterns in women and men

What difference does it make?

Stanford Medicine researchers have developed a powerful new artificial intelligence model that can distinguish between male and female brains.

A new study by Stanford Medicine investigators unveils a new artificial intelligence model that was more than 90% successful at determining whether scans of brain activity came from a woman or a man.

The findings, published Feb. 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, help resolve a long-term controversy about whether reliable sex differences exist in the human brain and suggest that understanding these differences may be critical to addressing neuropsychiatric conditions that affect women and men differently.

Charlestown under a high wind advisory through tonight

 

Wake up!

Back in the day, being woke meant being smart

Ronald E. Hall, Michigan State University

Demonstrators march on Jan. 1, 1934, in Washington
against the unjust trials of nine Black men falsely
accused of raping two white women. Bettmann/Getty Images

If Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had his way, the word “woke” would be banished from public use and memory.

As he promised in Iowa in December 2023 during his failed presidential campaign, “We will fight the woke in education, we will fight the woke in the corporations, we will fight the woke in the halls of Congress. We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob.”

DeSantis’ war on “woke ideology” has resulted in the banning of an advanced placement class in African American studies and the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion programs in Florida’s universities and colleges.

Given the origins of the use of the word as a code among Black people, DeSantis has a nearly impossible task, despite his tireless efforts.

For Black people, the modern-day meaning of the word has little to do with school curriculum or political jargon and goes back to the days of Jim Crow and legal, often violent, racial segregation. Back then, the word was used as a warning to be aware of racial injustices in general and Southern white folks in particular.

In my view as a behavioral scientist who studies race, being woke was part of the unwritten vocabulary that Black people established to talk with each other in a way that outsiders could not understand.

Rhode Island Environmental Laws Find Themselves in Land of the Lost

Pass it and forget it

By Frank Carini / ecoRI News columnist

Rhode Island has a peculiar way of protecting public and environmental health. On paper, it’s awesome. In reality, it sucks.

In the early 2000s, for example, the General Assembly passed legislation designed to control the use of pesticides on school grounds. But in typical Rhode Island fashion, the law has never really been enforced.

Rep. Lauren Carson, D-Newport, expressed her frustration with this all-too-common state practice during a Feb. 6 House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources hearing.

“Many parts of the bill have never happened,” she said. “I’m disappointed this bill was not property implemented.”

Carson noted the legislation mandated that after July 1, 2001, no person other than a licensed or certified commercial applicator was allowed to apply pesticide in any school building or on the grounds of any school.

“We don’t have any idea if that is happening,” she said. “Could be maintenance people are using chemicals.”

The law’s other six mandates — e.g., the creation of a task force and providing, each new school year, parents and guardians with a written statement regarding pesticide application policy on school property and a description of any pesticide use at the school the previous year — were also forgotten.

Carson has co-sponsored a bill (H7359), with same name as its ignored predecessor, “Pesticide Control,” that she and other lawmakers hope will remedy the past 23 years of neglect.

Honestly though, what is the point of crafting, holding hearings, voting, and sometimes passing legislation that is designed to protect Rhode Island public and environmental health?

As soon as the governor’s signature dries and the bill-signing show packed up, the legislation is forgotten. No follow-up. No support. No funding. No enforcement. Pure theater.

GOP loves a parade

By Mike Luckovich

Trump's economic record

FBI’s chief explosive scientist who analyzed Boston Marathon bombing to speak at URI on March 8

FBI’s Kirk Yeager to share insight into explosives science with future forensic scientists at URI 

Kirk Yeager, chief explosive scientist at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, will discuss the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and other explosive events during the University of Rhode Island’s Forensic Science Seminar Series on Friday, March 8. 

URI students attend the series for credit, but lectures are free and open to the public.  

During his presentation, “Bombings: from Tactics to Trials,” Yeager will discuss a career that has taken him to crime scenes on Boylston Street and beyond. His lecture is scheduled for URI’s Beaupre Center for Chemical and Forensic Sciences (Room 100), 140 Flagg Road, on the Kingston Campus from 3:30 to 5 p.m.  

Sea lampreys are our cousins; Expect awkward Thanksgiving dinners

Scientists uncover how sea lamprey brain development is remarkably similar to that of humans

Stowers Institute for Medical Research

The sea lamprey, a 500-million-year-old animal with a sharp-toothed suction cup for a mouth, is the thing of nightmares. 

A new study from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research discovered that the hindbrain -- the part of the brain controlling vital functions like blood pressure and heart rate -- of both sea lampreys and humans is built using an extraordinarily similar molecular and genetic toolkit.

Research from the lab of Investigator Robb Krumlauf, Ph.D., published on February 20, 2024 in Nature Communications offers a glimpse into how the brains of ancient animals evolved.

The team unexpectedly uncovered that a crucial molecular cue is very broadly required during vertebrate hindbrain development.

When the AI-Powered Killer Drones Start Talking to Each Other

Humanity could face a significant risk to its existence

MICHAEL T. KLARE for the TomDispatch

Yes, it’s already time to be worried — very worried. As the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have shown, the earliest drone equivalents of “killer robots” have made it onto the battlefield and proved to be devastating weapons. But at least they remain largely under human control. 

Imagine, for a moment, a world of war in which those aerial drones (or their ground and sea equivalents) controlled us, rather than vice-versa. Then we would be on a destructively different planet in a fashion that might seem almost unimaginable today. 

Sadly, though, it’s anything but unimaginable, given the work on artificial intelligence (AI) and robot weaponry that the major powers have already begun. Now, let me take you into that arcane world and try to envision what the future of warfare might mean for the rest of us.

By combining AI with advanced robotics, the U.S. military and those of other advanced powers are already hard at work creating an array of self-guided “autonomous” weapons systems — combat drones that can employ lethal force independently of any human officers meant to command them. 

Called “killer robots” by critics, such devices include a variety of uncrewed or “unmanned” planes, tanks, ships, and submarines capable of autonomous operation. 

They deserve each other

A perfect couple: The worst president and a wretched first lady 

by Mark Sumner for Daily Kos

Here they are with another role model power couple, convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. (Davidoff Studios/Getty Images)

Melania Trump hasn’t been associating with her husband, Donald, on his retribution tour across America. She hasn’t been at his side during his trials for fraud or for defaming a woman he sexually assaulted in a dressing room. 

She didn’t even show up for her spouse’s New Year's Eve party. That level of dedicated absence may lead to suggestions that the Einstein visa-winning former nude model doesn’t really care for her ketchup-hurling husband.

The genuineness of this photo of Trump and 11 year old
Ivanka was checked by Snopes.com
and determined to be real.

But over the weekend, there was more evidence that the pair are perfect for each other. They may not be a match made in heaven, but in whatever spiritual sweatshop cranks out rich-old-guy-and-much-younger-trophy-wife relationships, these two are a chef’s kiss.

That fresh evidence starts with Fox News fuming over the latest presidential rankings from a survey of political scholars who specialize in presidential history. Those rankings once again have Abraham Lincoln in the top spot. It’s also no surprise who is riding in the historical caboose. Not only is Trump ranked dead last, he’s last by a huge margin. It’s bad. Like, way behind James Buchanan bad.

And to really get MAGA fans grinding their molars: Both Barack Obama and Joe Biden are in the top 15.

History shows liberals were always right

For more cartoons by Ruben Bolling, CLICK HERE

Thank you for your service.

 

Electronics Recycling in Charlestown on Saturday, March 2

Safely dispose of old electronics, electrical appliances, wires, etc.

Indie Cycle owner Phyllis Hutnak (photo by Will Collette)

Put it on your calendar and start collecting all your unused stuff!

Charlestown Mini Super and Indie Cycle, LLC will hold an electronic waste drop off event on Saturday, March 2 from 9 AM until noon at the Mini-Super located on 4071 Old Post Road.

The drop off event is free and open to anyone.

Phyllis Hutnak, owner of Carolina-based Indie Cycle LLC, and her company were profiled HERE and HERE shortly after their launch more than 12 years ago.

By giving them your old electronics stuff prevents hazardous material from being dumped in the landfill and, instead, will make sure these discarded items are recycled.

See the list of things they take here, collect it up, and bring it in on March 2!

Indie Cycle normally holds an event here every three months so if you miss this one the next will likely be in early June.