Ankita Reddy ’19 blends anthropology and biology to improve public health

Before she even set foot on the MIT campus, Ankita Reddy ’19 was exploring questions of medicine, public health, and social inequities. During high school, she produced a documentary about Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cell line has proved invaluable to medical research — but who never gave consent for its use in this way. And while interning in a lab at the National Institutes of Health, Reddy found her focus shifting to a societal picture, as federal budget reductions squeezed scientists:

"I was curious about the impacts of cuts on physicians and researchers who were struggling to sustain work on human diseases," she recalls. "I realized I was increasingly interested in finding meaningful intersections of science and the humanities."

Intersections of science and the humanities

At MIT, Reddy swiftly identified a path for pursing discipline-spanning studies. As a double major in anthropology and biology, she put her full range of interests to work. Her senior thesis involved hybrid research in these two areas: Reddy helped develop a rapid, inexpensive diagnostic for mosquito-borne disease, and she also performed field research and analysis looking at the potential deployment of this and other diagnostic devices in developing countries.

The efficacy and success of medical advances must always be evaluated within a larger social context, Reddy says. "Infectious diseases impact communities unequally — often hitting hardest those without resources," she notes. "In order to do the most good for individual patients and to slow the spread of disease, our interventions need to take into consideration the public health capacity of communities, as well as local ideas of health and sickness."

A foundation in anthropology

Reddy credits foundational anthropology coursework for her commitment to this kind of public health approach. As a first-year student, she took 21A.331[J] (Infections and Inequalities: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Global Health), which was taught by three professors: chemical engineer Arup Chakraborty; biologist and physician Dennis Kim; and medical anthropologist Erica Caple James, who became Reddy's advisor.

"It is fascinating to view infectious diseases through multiple lenses," says Reddy. "The goal is finding the synergy of anthropological and medical thinking to make interventions more tailored and culturally sensitive, so they can be deployed to effect widespread change," she says.

Combining anthropology with biology for a public health mission

As she honed her skills in Boston-area wet labs and pursued a developmental health clinical internship at a Johannesburg, South Africa, hospital, Reddy sought opportunities to realize her interdisciplinary ambitions. James sent Reddy to the lab of Lee Gehrke, the Hermann L.F. von Helmholtz Professor in the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science at MIT. There, she was recruited by senior researcher Irene Bosch to help design an inexpensive paper-based diagnostic for such diseases as Zika, dengue, and Chikungunya. This proved the ideal venue for Reddy to play out her fusion of anthropology and scientific interests within a public health mission.

Starting in 2017, Reddy helped tweak the diagnostics in the lab, and spent some frenzied months field-testing the devices internationally — all while carrying a full course load.

"In junior year, I took the devices to Brazil for a long weekend, and it was really challenging," she recounts. "I had to take 10 flights round-trip, which really tested my motivation and resilience."

These trips helped spark the idea behind her senior thesis in anthropology. While evaluating the efficacy of the diagnostic in the field, Reddy was also wondering how such tests "could be be meaningfully deployed in resource-poor areas."

Experience and intuition

So in 2018, with the help of an Eloranta Summer Research Fellowship, Reddy spent several months in Hyderabad and Bangalore, India, interviewing and observing physicians and medical students during rounds at infectious disease hospitals catering largely to poor populations. She hoped to learn whether mosquito-borne diseases posed a major issue for these hospitals; what kind of improvements in treatment, public health infrastructure, or diagnosis physicians might seek; and how they used technology or other methods to relieve the suffering of patients in their daily practice.

Drawing on ethnographic expertise garnered from such classes as 21A.802 (Seminar in Ethnography and Fieldwork), Reddy was able to tease out some central themes from interview transcripts and field notes.

"Experience and intuition play a huge role in medical expertise in these hospitals," says Reddy. "Everyone had a story about a physician who had a sixth sense, who knew from a glance — without using any technology — what disease a patient suffered from." Any attempt to bring new technologies into these hospital environments, she says, "must acknowledge the existing structures that are based on medical improvisation and intuition."

From diagnostics to doctor

These insights will prove useful as Reddy launches her post-graduation life as a researcher at E25Bio, a startup spun out of the Gehrke Lab. With her grasp of cultural context, Reddy hopes to help craft a realistic business model to attract funding and speed the dissemination of her team's diagnostic technology. She particularly looks forward to the project's next phase, where uploaded data from globally deployed diagnostic devices could provide a detailed picture of the spread or containment of mosquito-borne illnesses around the world.

But even as she helps advance this pathbreaking biotechnology, Reddy is intent on pursuing a more direct way of contributing to public health: She is applying to medical schools.

"I aspire to be a physician-anthropologist, because I don't think I can choose one or the other," she says. "I'd like to use the power of the white coat to listen to what people have to say, take care of them in a collaborative way, and maybe, while doing this, contribute a new perspective to both the medical and anthropology fields."

Story prepared by MIT Anthropology and MIT SHASS Communications
Communications Director: Emily Hiestand
Liaison: Irene Hartford
Writer: Leda Zimmerman

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Libya attack: 'Dozens killed in air strike' on migrant centre

The country is a key springboard for migrants seeking to travel to Europe.

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Top Strategies to Have in Place Before You Start an Online Business

You can start an online business if you are willing to be strategic in your approach. Smart brand builders understand the need to develop strategies for continued growth. If you’re an online business owner who wants to do everything in your power to succeed, the following are the top strategies you need to have in place when building your company.

4 Strategies to Have in Place Before You Start an Online Business

Lead Generation

Without a sound lead generation strategy, your online business is likely doomed for failure. Customers aren’t going to discover your company magically. It would be best if you had a plan in place to acquire new customers. Even after you acquire customers, some of them will never return to your business. You can’t depend on existing customers to keep purchasing from your business. Lead generation is an ongoing component of building a successful company and is critical to long-term viability.

Content Marketing

Choosing to use content marketing to grow your business is only the first step. There is a massive amount of content already online. You need to develop a plan for your content marketing outreach. A ‘create it, and they will come’ strategy won’t work when today’s consumer has a sea of quality blog posts at their disposal. It would help if you determined in advance who will be responsible for content creation, how topics will be decided, and who will be responsible for monitoring the performance and ROI of your content.

Social Media Marketing

If you are building an online business, social media outreach needs to be part of your marketing plans. Even if you’re only on Facebook, your business needs a sound social media marketing strategy to ensure your posts reach your target customers. Consider everything from which social platforms you’ll use to the types of posts you’ll share. If your company isn’t active on social media, your competitors will beat you to prospective customers.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO is another essential component of building a profitable online business. It’s not enough to use content marketing and social media marketing to attract consumers; you need to integrate SEO into both of those outreach efforts. Ensure that your social media posts are optimized for keywords your customers will use, and your blog posts contain long-tail keywords search engine users will hunt for. Today’s consumers are using platforms like Twitter and Facebook as search engines; your social media posts need to be optimized for discovery just like your blog posts.

Building a successful online business requires that you have several marketing strategies in place. In an increasingly contentious business environment, it is the savviest brand builder who will succeed.

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Africa Cup of Nations: Ghana's Atsu to miss rest of tournament through injury

Ghana and Newcastle United winger Christian Atsu will miss the rest of the Africa Cup of Nations with a hamstring injury.

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Tiny motor can “walk” to carry out tasks

Years ago, MIT Professor Neil Gershenfeld had an audacious thought. Struck by the fact that all the world’s living things are built out of combinations of just 20 amino acids, he wondered: Might it be possible to create a kit of just 20 fundamental parts that could be used to assemble all of the different technological products in the world?

Gershenfeld and his students have been making steady progress in that direction ever since. Their latest achievement, presented this week at an international robotics conference, consists of a set of five tiny fundamental parts that can be assembled into a wide variety of functional devices, including a tiny “walking” motor that can move back and forth across a surface or turn the gears of a machine.

Previously, Gershenfeld and his students showed that structures assembled from many small, identical subunits can have numerous mechanical properties. Next, they demonstrated that a combination of rigid and flexible part types can be used to create morphing airplane wings, a longstanding goal in aerospace engineering. Their latest work adds components for movement and logic, and will be presented at the International Conference on Manipulation, Automation and Robotics at Small Scales (MARSS) in Helsinki, Finland, in a paper by Gershenfeld and MIT graduate student Will Langford.

Their work offers an alternative to today’s approaches to contructing robots, which largely fall into one of two types: custom machines that work well but are relatively expensive and inflexible, and reconfigurable ones that sacrifice performance for versatility. In the new approach, Langford came up with a set of five millimeter-scale components, all of which can be attached to each other by a standard connector. These parts include the previous rigid and flexible types, along with electromagnetic parts, a coil, and a magnet. In the future, the team plans to make these out of still smaller basic part types.

Using this simple kit of tiny parts, Langford assembled them into a novel kind of motor that moves an appendage in discrete mechanical steps, which can be used to turn a gear wheel, and a mobile form of the motor that turns those steps into locomotion, allowing it to “walk” across a surface in a way that is reminiscent of the molecular motors that move muscles. These parts could also be assembled into hands for gripping, or legs for walking, as needed for a particular task, and then later reassembled as those needs change. Gershenfeld refers to them as “digital materials,” discrete parts that can be reversibly joined, forming a kind of functional micro-LEGO.

The new system is a significant step toward creating a standardized kit of parts that could be used to assemble robots with specific capabilities adapted to a particular task or set of tasks. Such purpose-built robots could then be disassembled and reassembled as needed in a variety of forms, without the need to design and manufacture new robots from scratch for each application.

Langford's initial motor has an ant-like ability to lift seven times its own weight. But if greater forces are required, many of these parts can be added to provide more oomph. Or if the robot needs to move in more complex ways, these parts could be distributed throughout the structure. The size of the building blocks can be chosen to match their application; the team has made nanometer-sized parts to make nanorobots, and meter-sized parts to make megarobots. Previously, specialized techniques were needed at each of these length scale extremes.

“One emerging application is to make tiny robots that can work in confined spaces,” Gershenfeld says. Some of the devices assembled in this project, for example, are smaller than a penny yet can carry out useful tasks.

To build in the “brains,” Langford has added part types that contain millimeter-sized integrated circuits, along with a few other part types to take care of connecting electrical signals in three dimensions.

The simplicity and regularity of these structures makes it relatively easy for their assembly to be automated. To do that, Langford has developed a novel machine that's like a cross between a 3-D printer and the pick-and-place machines that manufacture electronic circuits, but unlike either of those, this one can produce complete robotic systems directly from digital designs. Gershenfeld says this machine is a first step toward to the project's ultimate goal of “making an assembler that can assemble itself out of the parts that it's assembling.”

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Lil Nas X’s announcement sends strong message to LGBT teenagers to be themselves, says Milan Christopher

Lil Nas X’s announcement that he is gay could potentially save LGBT teen lives, according to Milan Christopher.

TMZ asked the former “Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood” star to weigh in on the rapper-country artist’s revelation that he’s gay, and Milan said the announcement would give children hope that they too can live their truths and be successful.

—Did Lil Nas X just come out of the closet?-—

“I think it’s dope. I think we really needed that,” said Christopher. “He’s at the height of his career and he did it. I totally support it. I’m here for it.”

“I think it’s the perfect time to do it. He didn’t wait until his career was like super huge, he just released that song and came right out with it before Pride Month ended,” Milan added. “I think he’s going to inspire a lot of young kids.”

Lil Nas X, the 20-year-old who wrote the blockbuster hit, “Old Town Road,” came out as gay on Sunday after he performed in front of 180,000 people in Glastonbury, England with Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus. It was the last day of Pride Month.

“Some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more. but before this month ends i want y’all to listen closely to c7osure,” Lil Nas tweeted.

Milan, who is also gay, said Nas’ bravery will help isolated gay teenagers from feeling so alone in the world.

—LAPD’s internal affairs will investigate police handling of getaway driver in Nipsey Hussle case—

“LGBT youth, especially African-American LGBT youth, (have) the highest rate of suicide in our country,” Milan said. “That was one of the hardest times of my life when I was a youth growing up in the hood,” as a gay man. “So I think by him doing that, it sends a strong message to kids to be themselves, they can be successful. His song is #1 on iTunes. He’s killing it.”

Milan added, with a chuckle, that Nas’ revelation also is “an aha moment to all the bigots who don’t like gay people whatever and the whole time they been dancing to his song. It was genius.”

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This Jellyfish Robot Is Much More Than Just a Good Swimmer

At less than a quarter inch across, the magnetically activated robot manipulates water flow to in turn manipulate objects.

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The Simple Way Apple and Google Let Domestic Abusers Stalk Victims

To prove a point about common location-sharing apps, I asked my wife to use them to spy on me.

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LAPD’s internal affairs will investigate police handling of getaway driver in Nipsey Hussle case

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Office of the Inspector General is now investigating why the woman who fled the scene of Nipsey Hussle’s murder, driving the suspect in a getaway car was sent home by police after she attempted to turn herself in.

The Internal Affairs Group is evaluating a desk officer’s response in the incident, according to CBS News.

The woman, whose name is being withheld by police, reportedly helped the suspect, Eric R. Holder, flee from the March 31 killing but later went to the police station after her car and license plate were widely featured on the news.

“Oh my God,” the woman told her mother, according to Grand Jury testimony. “My car is on here and everything, and I didn’t do anything. I didn’t know this boy was gonna do this.”

—Nipsey Hussle reportedly called his killer a ‘snitch’ before he was shot dead—

CBS News reported that when her mother tried to notify police, she was allegedly told that detectives wouldn’t be available until 6 a.m. the next day.

The next morning, when they showed up at the police station, a front desk officer said “don’t worry about it” and “don’t listen to the news,” according to Grand Jury transcripts. The woman left but attempted to reach detectives again later, but was turned away, according to LAPD Detective Cedric Washington’s testimony.

Now an internal investigation will examine what went wrong.

—Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist was victim of hoax 911 police call—

“While the initial indications pointed to a miscommunication, we have initiated an administrative investigation to ensure all policies and procedures were followed,” Josh Rubenstein, an LAPD spokesman, told CBS News in an email. “We will review all statements that have already been given, interview all of the individuals involved, and look for any potential body cam video that may have captured the interchange.”

But so far, Rubenstein told the Los Angeles Times that police appeared to have acted properly.

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SpaceX Recovered Its First Rocket Fairing. Let’s Crunch the Numbers!

SpaceX recovered its first fairing last week after a Falcon Heavy launch. Here's how to estimate the challenge faced by Ms. Tree, the retrieval boat.

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Nike pulls Betsy Ross-era flag sneaker after Colin Kaepernick reached out to the company

This is why representation matters.

Nike has made the decision not to release a sneaker that features an old 18th-century replica of the American flag. Nike had created the sneaker to commemorate the July 4th holiday.

In a statement released to CNN Business, the athletic-wear giant wrote: “Nike has chosen not to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July as it featured an old version of the American flag.”

—Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist was victim of hoax 911 police call—

This comes after Nike had already delivered some of the sneakers to retail stores. But after Nike received a complaint from former NFLer, Colin Kaepernick, that he and others found the sneakers to be offensive, Nike is asking stores to return them, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The sneaker was priced at $140 and set to release on Monday, according to Sneakernews.com. Released photos of the shoe show a version of the American flag with 13 stripes and 13 stars arranged in a circle – the Betsy Ross version of the American flag used in the United States from 1777 to 1795. It was used during the era of slavery.

It is not known whether any of the sneakers were sold before Nike pulled them and asked stores to return already distributed shoes.

—“Old Town Road” #1 on Billboard for 13th week setting hip-hop record—

CNN was unsuccessful in reaching Kaepernick for comment on Monday. Last year, Kaepernick became the face of a groundbreaking Nike advertising campaign.

Nike has had its share of pulled products in recent months.

The company recently halted selling some of its products in China following a fashion designer’s support for protests in Hong Kong, which sparked backlash across social media.

In a statement, Nike said it made a decision to remove some products “based on feedback from Chinese consumers.”

And in May, Nike stopped an Air Force 1 sneaker from being released after an indigenous group in Panama took issue with its design.

 

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Niger attack: Raid on army base kills 18 soldiers

US and French air strikes helped to repel the suspected Islamist militants, the government says.

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How to Take Photos of Fireworks With Your Phone

Use these battle-tested tips and camera settings to capture dramatic photos of those explosions in the sky.

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I Opted Out of Facial Recognition at the Airport—It Wasn't Easy

Opinion: We've been assured that facial recognition technology is secure, reliable, and accurate. That's far from certain.

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'Neon Genesis Evangelion' Is Remarkably Relevant in 2019

Two decades after its debut, a Netflix re-release of the show is proving how prescient it is.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist was victim of hoax 911 police call

A prank phone call led police to the Bowie, Md. home of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Leonard G. Pitts Jr., where they handcuffed him while investigating a report of a crime.

Pitts, a columnist for The Miami Herald, said police woke him up early Sunday morning at 4:48 a.m. to investigate a reported crime taking place inside Pitts’ home. The phone tip, which called into the Bowie police and referenced that a serious crime was taking place, was found to be false, according to The Washington Post.

—“Old Town Road” #1 on Billboard for 13th week setting hip-hop record—

Pitts told reporters that he didn’t have a clue who would make such a call, but that someone called 911 to report to police that his wife or another person was “being murdered” inside his house. Pitts said police ordered him out of the house and told him to get on his knees. It was then that they handcuffed a surprised Pitts.

Pitts’ wife and other family members soon exited the house, and after police checked the house to determine there “were no corpses,” Pitts was released with a police apology, he said.

The column that Pitts, 61, writes covers national issues and runs in roughly 250 papers. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his commentary in 2004.

Bowie Police Chief John Nesky, who also arrived at the scene early Sunday morning, told the Miami Herald that his department would investigate the matter, according to The Washington Post.

—Mississippi man who spent 12 years in jail for crimes he didn’t commit was fatally shot last week two blocks from his home—

Nesky also told the Miami Herald that his officers have to “assume the information is valid until we prove otherwise.”

Swatting is a common type of fraudulent call where callers send police to random people’s homes on the report of a crime. However, Nesky told the paper he isn’t sure if this incident can be classified as swatting or something that was more targeted.

Pitts said he is clueless as to who could have done this, and said police informed him that the caller’s telephone number was blocked.

When a reporter asked him whether he had recently written on a topic that may have been controversial, Pitts laughed and responded that much of his work could be deemed that way. But say most recently he was on vacation so couldn’t have ruffled any feathers.

And he said he holds no grudges against the police, who were just doing their jobs.

The police “were pretty cool,” he said. “I can find no fault with them.”

Hoax call about a murder sends cops to @MiamiHerald columnist and Pulitzer-winning writer Leonard Pitts Jr.’s door. Cops apologize https://t.co/UZcaI5uyLs pic.twitter.com/IU80S7MT40

— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) July 1, 2019

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Secrets from a Recovering Multitasker

Be honest: None of us are as good as multitasking as we think we are. Research shows that it takes the brain of a multitasker 15 minutes to refocus on the task they were originally committed to completing.

Natalia Peart, is a clinical psychologist, business consultant, and author of the book FutureProofed: How to Navigate Disruptive Change, Find Calm in Chaos, and Succeed in Work & Life. She says that it is time to dispel the myth that being a “good multitasker” makes for more productivity in the workplace and for individuals personally when it’s actually the cause of burnout.

With over 25 years of experience problem solving for Fortune 1000 companies, nonprofits, and corporate America, Peart says that with the pace of people’s lives being quicker than ever, and the digital age, it is time stop championing the unproductive behavior of multitasking.

Natalia Peart

“We try to multitask; we realize it’s not working; we assume that we’re not doing it well enough—and so you know, what we do? We look for the next productivity tip, we look for the next hack,” says Peart.

And it simply does not work. “We exhaust ourselves some more until we’re completely burned out.”

Dr. Peart offers these tips to become a recovering multitasker to prevent burnout and prioritize yourself and your health:

• See it [life and assignments] as a series of sprints and not a marathon. — Our bodies and our brains can only absorb about 90 to 120 minutes until we’re going to need a break.
• Pay attention to your body. – If you need rest, rest. Do not caffeinate in efforts to get more done.
• Give yourself a quick break.– Get up, walk, clear your brain a little bit, let it rest, especially you know, those days where you have a lot happening and you’re just mentally fatigued.
• Don’t work against yourself, work with yourself.
• Take regular stretch breaks. – Take yourself away from your work, come back, you’ll be able to get more done.

“We always have a to-do list and we feel really good about checking stuff off but then we put off happiness because we’re always trying to figure out what’s that next thing to check off,” says Peart. To that point, she says that you should find time to restore yourself.

 

 

 

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“Old Town Road” #1 on Billboard for 13th week setting hip-hop record

For the 13^th straight week, Lil Nas X ‘s “Old Town Road,” which features country crooner Billy Ray Cyrus tops the Billboard Hot 100 – setting a record for the longest reign of a hip hop song.

“Old Town Road” (on Columbia Records) leads the Streaming Songs chart for a 13th week, with 88.7 million U.S. streams, which was down slightly at 3%, for the week ending June 27, according to Nielsen Music.

The track supersedes previous records set by Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again,” in 2015, The Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” in 2009 and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” in 2002-2003, according to Billboard. Each of these songs topped the chart in the rap category for 12 weeks.

Lil Nas X is in rarefied company. “Old Town Road” is only the 12th single in the Hot 100’s 60-year history to dominate the charts for as long as it has. In fact, it’s the first hit since “Despacito,” Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’shit maker featuring Justin Bieber, which spent 16 weeks at No. 1 back in 2017 and ties the record for that length of time with Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” in 1995-96.

Coming in at No. 2 this week is Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s “Señorita.”

“Road” is the little song that could. Despite some controversy earlier in the year, when Billboard, recategorized it from its Hot Country Songs chart to hip hop, it has continued to gain traction and rule the charts. Billboard removed “Old Town Road” from the Hot 100 chart, the Hot Country Songs chart, and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, saying it doesn’t reflect a traditional country music song. The organization notified Lil Nas X’s label, Columbia Records, that the song was ranked by mistake, according to Rolling Stone.

In a statement released in late March, Billboard said: “It does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version,” according to a statement Billboard released in late March, sparking backlash and allegations of racism.

Fast-forward to the week of July 6^th. “Old Town Road” is at the top spot on the hip hop charts.

The post “Old Town Road” #1 on Billboard for 13th week setting hip-hop record appeared first on theGrio.

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The Meaning Behind the #UnwantedIvanka Meme

Bizarre Photoshops of the first family are typically more internet game than political commentary. This one's different.

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Nigeria fuel tanker explosion kills dozens

A tanker loaded with petrol skids off the road and explodes in Nigeria.

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US jails Rwandan for hiding genocide involvement from immigration

Jean Leonard Teganya is to serve eight years for immigration fraud, but not alleged rape or murder.

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*Spider-Man: Far From Home* Hints at the Future of the MCU

It's in good, web-slinging hands.

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WATCH: Here’s why Lizzo should play Ursula in ‘The Little Mermaid’ over Melissa McCarthy

Disney has had tons of success remaking their iconic animated features into live-action versions and The Little Mermaid is reportedly next on their list. Although the studio is reportedly in talks with Melissa McCarthy to play Ursula, Lizzo has her eyes on the role and we agree she would make the perfect choice.

When news broke that Melissa McCarthy was being considered for the role, the body-positive beauty reacted with a sad face emoji on social media.

Lizzo calls out “racist” security guard at Summerfest, says she will file complaint

🥺 https://t.co/lLPwqMxW4O

— |L I Z Z O| (@lizzo) June 28, 2019

It wasn’t long before she took matters into her own hands and released an audition tape that proves she has what it takes to bring the vivacious villain to life. “I’M URSULA. PERIOD @Disney,” she posted along with a video of herself dressed as the sea witch.

Check it out:

I’M URSULA. PERIOD. @Disney pic.twitter.com/9YPVPPvVpz

— |L I Z Z O| (@lizzo) November 1, 2018

While Melissa McCarthy is a great comedian and has proven she can dive into drama as well, Ursula isn’t exactly a humorous character. Lizzo has the voice to pull off Ursula’s biggest moments, including “Poor Unfortunate Souls” the song she nailed in her impromptu audition.

Our new fave: 5 powerful life lessons we could all learn from Lizzo

The role would certainly take Lizzo’s career to the next level, and who could deny that this would be a perfect opportunity for Disney to take their diversity initiatives to new heights? Huge stars like Will Smith and Beyonce are featured in Aladdin and The Lion King, but what about getting a rising star in a big role?

We can’t help but be proud of Lizzo for going after what she wants, especially when an award-winning actress is already being considered. Let’s hope she gets the shot she deserves.

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Getting more heat out of sunlight

A newly developed material that is so perfectly transparent you can barely see it could unlock many new uses for solar heat. It generates much higher temperatures than conventional solar collectors do — enough to be used for home heating or for industrial processes that require heat of more than 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit).

The key to the process is a new kind of aerogel, a lightweight material that consists mostly of air, with a structure made of silica (which is also used to make glass). The material lets sunlight pass through easily but blocks solar heat from escaping. The findings are described in the journal ACS Nano, in a paper by Lin Zhao, an MIT graduate student; Evelyn Wang, professor and head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering; Gang Chen, the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor in Power Engineering; and five others.

The key to efficient collection of solar heat, Wang explains, is being able to keep something hot internally while remaining cold on the outside. One way of doing that is using a vacuum between a layer of glass and a dark, heat-absorbing material, which is the method used in many concentrating solar collectors but is relatively expensive to install and maintain. There has been great interest in finding a less expensive, passive system for collecting solar heat at the higher temperature levels needed for space heating, food processing, or many industrial processes.

Aerogels, a kind of foam-like material made of silica particles, have been developed for years as highly efficient and lightweight insulating materials, but they have generally had limited transparency to visible light, with around a 70 percent transmission level. Wang says developing a way of making aerogels that are transparent enough to work for solar heat collection was a long and difficult process involving several researchers for about four years. But the result is an aerogel that lets through over 95 percent of incoming sunlight while maintaining its highly insulating properties.

The key to making it work was in the precise ratios of the different materials used to create the aerogel, which are made by mixing a catalyst with grains of a silica-containing compound in a liquid solution, forming a kind of gel, and then drying it to get all the liquid out, leaving a matrix that is mostly air but retains the original mixture’s strength. Producing a mix that dries out much faster than those in conventional aerogels, they found, produced a gel with smaller pore spaces between its grains, and that therefore scattered the light much less.

In tests on a rooftop on the MIT campus, a passive device consisting of a heat-absorbing dark material covered with a layer of the new aerogel was able to reach and maintain a temperature of 220 C, in the middle of a Cambridge winter when the outside air was below 0 C.

Such high temperatures have previously only been practical by using concentrating systems, with mirrors to focus sunlight onto a central line or point, but this system requires no concentration, making it simpler and less costly. That could potentially make it useful for a wide variety of applications that require higher levels of heat.

For example, simple flat rooftop collectors are often used for domestic hot water, producing temperatures of around 80 C. But the higher temperatures enabled by the aerogel system could make such simple systems usable for home heating as well, and even for powering an air conditioning system. Large-scale versions could be used to provide heat for a wide variety of applications in chemical, food production, and manufacturing processes.

Zhao describes the basic function of the aerogel layer as “like a greenhouse effect. The material we use to increase the temperature acts like the Earth’s atmosphere does to provide insulation, but this is an extreme example of it.”

For most purposes, the passive heat collection system would be connected to pipes containing a liquid that could circulate to transfer the heat to wherever it’s needed. Alternatively, Wang suggests, for some uses the system could be connected to heat pipes, devices that can transfer heat over a distance without requiring pumps or any moving parts.

Because the principle is essentially the same, an aerogel-based solar heat collector could directly replace the vacuum-based collectors used in some existing applications, providing a lower-cost option. The materials used to make the aerogel are all abundant and inexpensive; the only costly part of the process is the drying, which requires a specialized device called a critical point dryer to allow for a very precise drying process that extracts the solvents from the gel while preserving its nanoscale structure.

Because that is a batch process rather than a continuous one that could be used in roll-to-roll manufacturing, it could limit the rate of production if the system is scaled up to industrial production levels. “The key to scaleup is how we can reduce the cost of that process,” Wang says. But even now, a preliminary economic analysis shows that the system can be economically viable for some uses, especially in comparison with vacuum-based systems.

The research team included research scientist Bikram Bhatia, postdoc Sungwoo Yang, graduate student Elise Strobach, instructor Lee Weinstein and postdoc Thomas Cooper. The work was primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program.

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Sudan crisis: New sense of hope for young revolutionaries

Protesters are continuing to take to the streets, calling for an end to military rule in the country.

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The Blazing Science of This Year's Total Solar Eclipse

Eclipse-chasing scientists are gathered in South America for the total solar eclipse on July 2. Here's what they're hoping to see.

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Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman' Comics Reportedly Getting a Netflix Series

In other news, Paul Rudd is joining 'Ghostbusters 2020' and Lady Gaga might be in 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3'.

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R. Kelly is staying visible despite sex abuse charges

Singer R. Kelly is not hiding out in his condo as sexual assault charges continue to pile on. Instead, he is out and about, playing b-ball and dining at some of Chicago’s top eateries.

“Last Tuesday, we had a great time dining on Rush Street — along with his attorney Steve Greenberg — where people were coming up to his table in droves,” his publicist, Darrell Johnson told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Look, at the end of the day, it is what it is and he [Kelly] is looking forward to his day in court.”

—Kelly charged with 11 brand NEW counts of sexual abuse—

Johnson said Kelly is also writing music and working on his upcoming album.

“Right now he is looking forward to the release of his first recording [since the latest indictments] hopefully in the next few months — and being able to tour and working with artists on more spiritual songs,” he said.

Michael Sneed, of the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote in the article that sources told him Kelly recently dined at Tavern on Rush and Gibsons – two top restaurants on Rush Street – and that he was pleasantly greeted by fans who wanted to pose for pictures with him.

“What is really surprising … is when he [Kelly] dines out, he gets no negativity from anybody,” one source, who reportedly dined with Kelly at Gibson’s last week, told Sneed. The source wants to remain anonymous.

Even as Kelly faces the civil suit as well as criminal sex abuse charges that involve four victims – three of whom were minors in the late 1990s when the alleged abuse occurred – some people are still happily snapping pictures with him when they see him out and about. In contrast, President Donald Trump’s son, Eric, was recently spat upon at a Chicago restaurant last week by a disgusted waitress.

—When she got pregnant, Jada Pinkett Smith caved to her “old school” mom and married Will Smith—

“In fact, patrons ask for pictures with him, not of him! Not everybody asks for autographs these days. They want an instant hit. Photos. It makes it easy on everybody,” the unnamed source told the newspaper.

“… he isn’t laying low! He frequently smokes his favorite cigars outside Trump Tower where he lives! And was doing so at Tavern on Rush last week,” the source added.

As a condition of his bail, Kelly is prohibited from leaving the state of Illinois. So he’s been spending some of his time hooping it up with guys from his neighborhood.

“But now it’s at least three days a week with his neighborhood buddies at an indoor court on the South Side, losing weight and doing cardio five days a week,” said his publicist, Johnson.

In other R. Kelly news, last week the embattled singer’s lawyers filed a motion asking a Cook County judge to dismiss a civil sexual abuse lawsuit seeking claims for damages asserting that the statute of limitation had expired.

The post R. Kelly is staying visible despite sex abuse charges appeared first on theGrio.

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You've Never Seen Skateparks Like This Before

Photographer Amir Zaki finds sculptural beauty in the concrete playgrounds of southern California.

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Ciara chided by some Christians for taking part in World Pride

Kamala Harris’ campaign is not here for the birther innuendo

We’ve been down this birther road before.

Kamala Harris who is believed to be one of the Democratic presidential frontrunners is firing back at Donald Trump, Jr. who shared a Twitter post that seemed to question Harris’ American Blackness, and her campaign is letting it be known that they are not here for the Obama birther redux.

“This stuff is really vile and everyone should speak out against it,” Lily Adams, Harris’ campaign spokeswoman, tweeted Saturday.

—Kamala Harris hit in new birther movement—

The tweet came after the Daily Beast ran a story about Harris’ candidacy among the crowded pool of Democrat 2020 candidates and the racial attacks levied against her, which the outlet calls “a play straight out of the racist birther playbook used against Barack Obama.”

Trump Jr. became involved after he shared a Twitter post which read: “Kamala Harris is not an American Black. She is half Indian and half Jamaican. I’m so sick of people robbing American Blacks (like myself) of our history” and then commented: “Is this true? Wow.”

Trump Jr. has since deleted the comment. Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past decade, you’d realize that Trump Jr.’s daddy played the same “birther” card against Obama, rallying the fringes of the Republican Party to question whether our forever POTUS was born in the United States and legally eligible to be president.

—Kamala Harris pressed to get more personal about why she’s running for president—-

According to The New York Times, a spokesperson for Trump Jr. claims that his tweet was “simply him asking if it was true that Kamala Harris was half-Indian because it’s not something he had ever heard before.”

Harris’ rival former vice president Joe Biden responded to the post calling it “birtherism.”

The same forces of hatred rooted in ‘birtherism’ that questioned @BarackObama‘s American citizenship, and even his racial identity, are now being used against Senator @KamalaHarris. It’s disgusting and we have to call it out when we see it. Racism has no place in America.

The same forces of hatred rooted in ‘birtherism’ that questioned @BarackObama‘s American citizenship, and even his racial identity, are now being used against Senator @KamalaHarris. It’s disgusting and we have to call it out when we see it. Racism has no place in America.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 29, 2019

While Twitter followers of Adams were incredulous.

“Deplorable,” agreed Phil @PrettyGoodPhil.

“Been speaking out about it even before she declared. I don’t understand what not being ‘black enough’ even means,” wrote Sambar Pappad.

Yet some others agreed that Harris isn’t Black Black.

“The allegation was that she’s not a member of the African American community. This is true. She has no African American ancestor. The most time she’s spent around African Americans was locking them in cages,” wrote a user by the Twitter name of Boko Harambe.

The post Kamala Harris’ campaign is not here for the birther innuendo appeared first on theGrio.

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Star Wars News: What Do 'The Rise of Skywalker' International Titles Mean?

A lot of people have a lot of theories.

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The One Free Press Coalition Spotlights Journalists Under Attack - July 2019 List

So far in 2019, Mexico is the deadliest country for journalists.

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Libyan warlord Haftar releases six Turkish citizens

The release of the six men comes after Turkey warns it could use force against their captors.

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Africa Cup of Nations: Guinea's Naby Keita flies to Liverpool for treatment

Guinea midfielder Naby Keita leaves the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt to fly to Liverpool for assessment and treatment by doctors at the Premier League side.

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Cardi B explains what went down between her and a well-known reporter

Fujifilm Instax Mini LiPlay Review: A Cam and Printer In One

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New Analysis Techniques Unearth a Trove of Unusual Minerals

Ion beams and special x-rays mean that ever-smaller slivers of material can be scanned without destroying the surrounding rock.

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When she got pregnant, Jada Pinkett Smith caved to her “old school” mom and married Will Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith wasn’t ready to get married. But after she got pregnant by Will Smith, her mother felt differently.

“…My mother was like, ‘You have to get married’ – she’s so old school – and Will wanted a family. So I said, ‘All right, maybe it’s something I should do,” Pinkett Smith, 47, told PEOPLE magazine.

But as for herself, Jada tells the magazine: “I never wanted to get married.”

—-Jada Pinkett Smith admits she had a threesome ‘once’-—

The actress and talk show host graced this week’s cover, and along with her daughter Willow, 18, and mother Adrienne, 65 – who together star in Facebook Watch’s Red Table Talk – the ladies dish on their family’s super tight relationship.

Jada and Will started dating in 1995. Two years later, she became pregnant with her son, Jaden, 21. That’s when all this marriage talk started to bubble over.

“Gammy (Adrienne) freaking called Will and cried her freaking eyes out, so then I had to have a wedding and that was infuriating,” Jada tells PEOPLE, explaining that she was in her first trimester and suffering from morning sickness when they wed on New Year’s Eve, 1997.

Now Pinkett Smith is grateful that she married Will. Back then, however, she couldn’t fathom them going the distance because she had never personally witnessed a successful marriage.

“I had never seen a happy marriage,” Pinkett Smith explains. “I adored Will, I f——- adored him, but I just didn’t want to be married.”

—-Jada Pinkett Smith on infidelity and breaking free from husband Will’s idea of marriage ‘Our whole life looked like his dream’—-

Twenty-one years married, these days Jada and Will shun labels and don’t call themselves “married.” That feels too confining for Pinkett Smith’s liking. Instead, she refers to their union as a “life partnership.”

“I don’t own him. He doesn’t own me. He has to be his own person first, and vice versa… Love is freedom,” she says.

We’re just glad they are still happily together because Black love is beautiful.

 

 

 

The post When she got pregnant, Jada Pinkett Smith caved to her “old school” mom and married Will Smith appeared first on theGrio.

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How Remote Lakes Could Help Unravel Microplastic's Mysteries

The Experimental Lakes Area is a one-of-a-kind platform for potentially testing how omnipresent microplastics are stressing ecosystems.

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Health Brands Hims and Hers Flout Facebook’s Rules on Drug Ads

Wellness brands Hims and Hers violate Facebook policies by offering prescription drugs in ads. The ads also don't disclose side effects, as required by the FDA.

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The Second Coming of the Robot Pet

Man's best friend isn't a dog—it's a dog-like robot, designed to perform tricks and tug at your heartstrings.

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Inside Nigeria's kidnap crisis

How a man dubbed "Nigeria's Supercop" is tackling kidnapping and armed robbery in the country.

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Afcon 2019: Morocco coach Herve Renard's journey from binman to bench

Morocco coach Herve Renard worked as a cleaner for years before making it as a football manager.

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Africa Cup of Nations: What to look out for on day 11 in Egypt

Madagascar produced the shock of the Africa Cup of Nations so far on Sunday, but who will follow them into the last 16 on Monday?

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Caster Semenya will not race at World Championships if she loses appeal

Caster Semenya says she will not race at the World Championships in Qatar later this year if she loses an appeal against IAAF rules governing testosterone levels in female athletes.

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Did Lil Nas X just come out of the closet?

Lil Nas X has been making headlines ever since he burst onto the music scene with his runaway rap/country hit “Old Town Road.” The 20-year-old born Montero Lamar Hill whose single has spent 12 weeks at the No.1 spot on the Hot 100 chart, has plenty of people believing he is gay after a series of social media posts seemed to suggest the news.

Lil Nas X hits cover of Teen Vogue: 5 Interesting Takeaways

“some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more. but before this month ends i want y’all to listen closely to c7osure,” he posted on Sunday along with a rainbow emoji.

some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more. but before this month ends i want y’all to listen closely to c7osure. 🌈🤩✨ pic.twitter.com/O9krBLllqQ

— nope (@LilNasX) June 30, 2019

Here are a few lines from the song he referred to:

True say
I want and I need
To let go
Use my time to be free
It’s like it’s always what you like
It’s always what you like
Why it’s always what you like?
It’s always what you like, huh
Ain’t no more actin’, man that forecast say I should just let me grow
No more red light for me, baby, only green, I gotta go
Pack my past up in the back, oh, let my future take a hold
This is what I gotta do, can’t be regretting when I’m old

Lil Nas X hitched up his horse for a surprise performance for kids

A couple hours later, he seemed to confirm the news after several followers commented on his initial post.

deadass thought i made it obvious pic.twitter.com/HFCbVqBkLM

— nope (@LilNasX) June 30, 2019

“deadass thought i made it obvious,” he tweeted along with the cover art for his new EP 7, featuring a rainbow.

Racist country music fans boycott Wrangler’s new Lil Nas X’s collection

Considering Sunday was the last day of PRIDE month, the timing would make sense. So far,  some are still debating whether or not Lil Nas X actually confirmed that he is gay or if he was just showing support for the LGBTQ community in honor of PRIDE month. Plenty of Twitter fans have voiced their support and excitement while others have already started suggesting he should be canceled for coming out.

We’ll have to wait and see if the Wrangler-loving sensation elaborates any further.

 

The post Did Lil Nas X just come out of the closet? appeared first on theGrio.

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Teaching artificial intelligence to create visuals with more common sense

Today’s smartphones often use artificial intelligence (AI) to help make the photos we take crisper and clearer. But what if these AI tools could be used to create entire scenes from scratch?

A team from MIT and IBM has now done exactly that with “GANpaint Studio,” a system that can automatically generate realistic photographic images and edit objects inside them. In addition to helping artists and designers make quick adjustments to visuals, the researchers say the work may help computer scientists identify “fake” images.

David Bau, a PhD student at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), describes the project as one of the first times computer scientists have been able to actually “paint with the neurons” of a neural network — specifically, a popular type of network called a generative adversarial network (GAN).

Available online as an interactive demo, GANpaint Studio allows a user to upload an image of their choosing and modify multiple aspects of its appearance, from changing the size of objects to adding completely new items like trees and buildings.

Boon for designers

Spearheaded by MIT professor Antonio Torralba as part of the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab he directs, the project has vast potential applications. Designers and artists could use it to make quicker tweaks to their visuals. Adapting the system to video clips would enable computer-graphics editors to quickly compose specific arrangements of objects needed for a particular shot. (Imagine, for example, if a director filmed a full scene with actors but forgot to include an object in the background that’s important to the plot.)

GANpaint Studio could also be used to improve and debug other GANs that are being developed, by analyzing them for “artifact” units that need to be removed. In a world where opaque AI tools have made image manipulation easier than ever, it could help researchers better understand neural networks and their underlying structures.

“Right now, machine learning systems are these black boxes that we don’t always know how to improve, kind of like those old TV sets that you have to fix by hitting them on the side,” says Bau, lead author on a related paper about the system with a team overseen by Torralba. “This research suggests that, while it might be scary to open up the TV and take a look at all the wires, there’s going to be a lot of meaningful information in there.”

One unexpected discovery is that the system actually seems to have learned some simple rules about the relationships between objects. It somehow knows not to put something somewhere it doesn’t belong, like a window in the sky, and it also creates different visuals in different contexts. For example, if there are two different buildings in an image and the system is asked to add doors to both, it doesn’t simply add identical doors — they may ultimately look quite different from each other. 

“All drawing apps will follow user instructions, but ours might decide not to draw anything if the user commands to put an object in an impossible location,” says Torralba. “It’s a drawing tool with a strong personality, and it opens a window that allows us to understand how GANs learn to represent the visual world.”

GANs are sets of neural networks developed to compete against each other. In this case, one network is a generator focused on creating realistic images, and the second is a discriminator whose goal is to not be fooled by the generator. Every time the discriminator ‘catches’ the generator, it has to expose the internal reasoning for the decision, which allows the generator to continuously get better.

“It’s truly mind-blowing to see how this work enables us to directly see that GANs actually learn something that’s beginning to look a bit like common sense,”  says Jaakko Lehtinen, an associate professor at Finland’s Aalto University who was not involved in the project. “I see this ability as a crucial steppingstone to having autonomous systems that can actually function in the human world, which is infinite, complex and ever-changing.”

Stamping out unwanted “fake” images

The team’s goal has been to give people more control over GAN networks.  But they recognize that with increased power comes the potential for abuse, like using such technologies to doctor photos. Co-author Jun-Yan Zhu says that he believes that better understanding GANs — and the kinds of mistakes they make — will help researchers be able to better stamp out fakery.

“You need to know your opponent before you can defend against it,” says Zhu, a postdoc at CSAIL. “This understanding may potentially help us detect fake images more easily.”

To develop the system, the team first identified units inside the GAN that correlate with particular types of objects, like trees. It then tested these units individually to see if getting rid of them would cause certain objects to disappear or appear. Importantly, they also identified the units that cause visual errors (artifacts) and worked to remove them to increase the overall quality of the image.

“Whenever GANs generate terribly unrealistic images, the cause of these mistakes has previously been a mystery,” says co-author Hendrik Strobelt, a research scientist at IBM. “We found that these mistakes are triggered by specific sets of neurons that we can silence to improve the quality of the image.”

Bau, Strobelt, Torralba and Zhu co-wrote the paper with former CSAIL PhD student Bolei Zhou, postdoctoral associate Jonas Wulff, and undergraduate student William Peebles. They will present it next month at the SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles. “This system opens a door into a better understanding of GAN models, and that’s going to help us do whatever kind of research we need to do with GANs,” says Lehtinen.

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Tunisia - the birthplace of the Arab Spring which lost its hope

Tunisia is seen as one of the few success stories of the Arab Spring so have so many of its people lost hope?

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Tyrese Garvin: Dad shot after witnessing birth of twin dies at same hospital

Tyrese Garvin, 20, shot on June 23 while walking home from the hospital after witnessing the birth of his twins, has died, the Daily Mail reported Sunday.

Garvin was treated at University Hospital in Louisville, Ky., where he spent several days in intensive care before he was taken off life support. His newborns, a boy and girl, were taken to see their father before he passed away, the report said.

READ MORE: Father shot a week after his twin babies are born to be taken off life support

The twins were born prematurely and still remain at the hospital.

“He was very excited about becoming a father, and for something like this to happen and his children will never get to know him, that’s sad,” Kathleen Roberts, Garvin’s grandmother told WLKY.

“He did not deserve to be shot like he did. He’s going to never be able to see his children, and they’re never going to know their father,” Roberts continued.

The shooting was completely random, police said. The incident was part of a spike in shootings in Louisville that left 12 dead this month and others injured, the Daily Mail notes.

Three juveniles between the ages on 14 and 17 were arrested in connection with the shooting death.

At a press conference on Thursday, Homicide Lt. Emily McKinley explained that over the past few weeks, the city has experienced an increase in drive-by shootings and related car thefts allegedly carried out by teenagers.

But the statement was no salve for Garvin’s grandmother, who continues to struggle with the loss of her loved one.

READ MORE: ‘It won’t work’: Kamala Harris’ campaign claps back at racist birther claims

“It’s just a hard impact for me because I know I’ll never see him walk through that door and act silly with me anymore, but this is just so senseless,” Roberts said.

Garvin’s family has now created a GoFundMe page to help pay for his medical and funeral costs. Their goal is 50,000 dollars, they’ve currently raised almost 20,000 dollars.

The post Tyrese Garvin: Dad shot after witnessing birth of twin dies at same hospital appeared first on theGrio.

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‘It won’t work’: Kamala Harris’ campaign claps back at racist birther claims

Sen. Kamala Harris‘ campaign is clapping back to trolls that say she isn’t Black enough, garnering support even from competitors in the crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates. Critics compared the “birtherism” claims to President Barack Obama‘s experience.

During Thursday’s Democratic Presidential debate, Donald Trump Jr. replied to a tweet questioning Harris’ identity, sparking a social media firestorm, CNN reported.

READ MORE: Kamala Harris hit in new birther movement

The tweet, written by a critic who identifies as African American, wrote: “Kamala Harris is *not* an American Black. She is half Indian and half Jamaican,” . “I’m so sick of people robbing American Blacks (like myself) of our history. It’s disgusting. Now using it for debate time at #DemDebate2? These are my people not her people. Freaking disgusting.”

Trump Jr.’s response to the tweet: “Is this true? Wow,” has since been deleted, and Donald Trump’s spokesman Andy Surabian told The New York Times it was a misunderstanding.

“Don’s tweet was simply him asking if it was true that Kamala Harris was half-Indian because it’s not something he had ever heard before,” Surabian said.”And once he saw that folks were misconstruing the intent of his tweet, he quickly deleted it.”

But Harris’ aide, Lily Adams, quickly bounced back with a response. “This is the same type of racist attack his father used to attack Barack Obama,” she said, according to CNN. “It didn’t work then and it won’t work now.”

Joe Biden, whom Harris trounced at Thursday’s debate, tweeted:

The same forces of hatred rooted in 'birtherism' that questioned @BarackObama's American citizenship, and even his racial identity, are now being used against Senator @KamalaHarris. It’s disgusting and we have to call it out when we see it. Racism has no place in America.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 29, 2019

Elizabeth Warren, Gov. Jay Inslee, Julian Castro and Beto O’Rourke agreed:

The attacks against @KamalaHarris are racist and ugly. We all have an obligation to speak out and say so. And it’s within the power and obligation of tech companies to stop these vile lies dead in their tracks.

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) June 29, 2019

The coordinated smear campaign on Senator @KamalaHarris is racist and vile. The Trump family is peddling birtherism again and it’s incumbent on all of us to speak out against it.

— Jay Inslee (@JayInslee) June 29, 2019

These disgusting and racist attacks are part of a right-wing effort to delegitimize an accomplished and powerful black woman.

Senator Harris has lived an American dream story, and we shouldn’t give voice to those attempting to undermine it. https://t.co/tZssl0zvnf

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) June 30, 2019

There's a long history of black Americans being told they don't belong—and millions are kept down and shut out to this day. @KamalaHarris is an American. Period. And all of us must call out attempts to question her identity for what they are: racist. https://t.co/g3n7lmoU2h

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) June 29, 2019

However, the best clapback of them all came form U.S. Sen. Cory Booker.

.@KamalaHarris doesn’t have shit to prove. https://t.co/OQm8wVub7W

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) June 29, 2019

READ MORE: Top 5 winning moments from Sen. Kamala Harris during her first 2020 Democratic Debate

Kamala’s “Blackness” is in question because although she was born in the U.S., she was born to an Indian mother and Jamaican father, both immigrants; her marriage to a white man; and her record of incarcerating minorities as a prosecutor.

But Harris told the Breakfast Club in March, she’s unbothered by false claims about her blackness.

“So I was born in Oakland, and raised in the United States, except for the years that I was in high school in Montreal, Canada,” Harris responded with a laugh. “And look, this is the same thing they did to Barack (Obama). This is not new to us and so I think that we know what they are trying to do.

“They are trying to do what has been happening over the last two years, which is powerful voices trying to sow hate and division, and so we need to recognize when we’re being played,” Harris said.

The post ‘It won’t work’: Kamala Harris’ campaign claps back at racist birther claims appeared first on theGrio.

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#Whentheyseeus: Chicago review board reopens case five years after cops killed Black teen

Nearly five years after a Black Chicago teenager was shot and killed by police, new evidence may help his mother get a better insight on what exactly happened to him.

Roshad McIntosh, 19, was shot and killed in August 2014. U.S. District Court Judge Jorge L. Alonso of Chicago this week ruled to reopen discovery in the teen’s wrongful death federal lawsuit, CNN reports.

READ MORE: Kamala Harris hit in new birther movement

The original investigation was conducted by Chicago’s Independent Police Review Authority(IPRA), which is now called COPA, failed to find wrongdoing by officers in the shooting. The officer involved claimed Roshad pointed a gun at him, the officer fired three shots, which resulted in the teen’s death. The IPRA found the shooting to be “within policy,” and the agency closed the case by October 2015, according to CNN.

But the Roshad’s mother, Cynthia Lane, was not convinced. She filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against the city of Chicago after the IPRA failed to take disciplinary action against officers involved in the shooting, and the Cook County Attorney failed to file any charges.

“We’ve never believed the narrative given by the police in this case,” Andrew Stroth, Lane’s attorney, said.

This is when Lane decided to take matters into her own hands and began to request her son’s hospital and paramedic records from the day of the shooting.

COPA reopened the case in August 2017, and it remains open.

The reopening of discovery gives Stroth and his team access to all the documents, data, transcripts and exhibits generated by COPA’s re-investigation. It will also allow him to to interview witnesses who were questioned previously by the agency.

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“It makes me more confident in getting justice and that’s what I’ve wanted from the beginning,” Lane said.

The discovery deadline of September 30, 2019 was set by Judge Alonso, CNN notes, citing court documents. The documents also note that the deadline could be extended.

Ava DuVernay’s compelling Netflix dramatization When They See Us has been viewed by more than 23 million accounts on the streaming platform. The film tells the story of five Black and Latino boys, who were coerced into confessing to a brutal rape inside New York’s Central Park has been a hard-hitting reality check on the injustices handed down by the American court system after they were wrongly convicted in 1989. Since the series’ release, the title has come to represent how the justice treats men and women of color.

The post #Whentheyseeus: Chicago review board reopens case five years after cops killed Black teen appeared first on theGrio.

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Africa Cup of Nations: DR Congo thrash Zimbabwe 4-0 to stay in contention

DR Congo give themselves a chance of qualifying for the last 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations with a comfortable win over Zimbabwe.

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Africa Cup of Nations: Mohamed Salah scores as Egypt beat Uganda to win group

Egypt maintain their perfect start to their Africa Cup of Nations campaign by beating Uganda in Cairo to win Group A.

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Laverne Cox speaks out against deaths of Black trans women amid pride celebrations

Laverne Cox explained during an interview with BuzzFeed’s AM2DM how Black transgender women are being killed at a disturbingly high rate in the U.S.

Cox on Friday shed light on the issue ahead of this year’s World Pride celebration, which kicked off Sunday. New York City’s pride celebration was even more moving this year, coming after the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, ABC News noted.

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The Stonewall riots began in 1969 when police repeatedly raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village, which is now a known safe haven for the LGBTQ community.

But some in the community are not safe no matter where they are. An estimated 11 transgender women have been killed so far this year in the U.S., according to BuzzFeed News. The list includes Brooklyn Lindsey, 32, who was found dead on June 25.

Lindsey’s body was discovered on the porch of a vacant home in Kansas City, Mo. She suffered one or more gunshot wounds to her body and unspecified trauma to her face. The 10 other murdered women were between the ages of 20 to 40.

The Human Rights Campaign has identified the Black transgender women as: Dana Martin, Jazzaline Ware, Ashanti Carmon, Claire Legato, Muhlaysia Booker, Michelle “Tamika” Washington, Paris Cameron, Chynal Lindsey, Chanel Scurlock, and Zoe Spears.

The average life expectancy of Black trans women in the U.S. is 35, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

The deaths underscore why Cox discussed the issue.

“Your attraction to me as a trans woman is not a reason to kill me,” she told AM2DM. “There’s this whole sort of myth that trans women are out there tricking people, that they deserve to be murdered, and that’s not the case.”

Cox has been a long time advocate for trans women’s rights and sees the ugly in advocacy, but also does her best to focus on the good.

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“For a long time I was talking about this all the time and just felt I was existing in this space of death, constantly, and it was insanely depressing,” she said. “And so I try to be in a ‘both and’ place, given the place of celebrating Indya Moore being on the cover of Elle magazine and Janet Mock having this landmark deal at Netflix.”

Cox joins three million others and a sea of color on the streets of Manhattan on Sunday for the World Pride parade. Transgender actors and Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore and MJ Rodriguez, who are also the stars of FX’s Pose served as Grand Marshalls of the World Pride parade on Sunday.

The post Laverne Cox speaks out against deaths of Black trans women amid pride celebrations appeared first on theGrio.

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Money moves: Tyra Banks to trademark ‘Smize’ Ice Cream

50 Years After Fair Housing Act, Buying a Home Remains Out of Reach for Many African Americans

The Fair Housing Act of 1968—legislation designed to prevent discrimination and provide access to housing for all—was enacted over 50 years ago. Yet, buying a home continues to be out of reach for African Americans, according to a new survey.

NeighborWorks America, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., is on a mission to help more people live in affordable homes by working with affiliate nonprofits to provide housing education. Their recent survey reveals that 70% of U.S. adults say the homebuying process is complicated and out of reach.

“It’s a lot to understand the responsibilities of homeownership,” says Karen Hoskins, acting vice president of National Homeownership Programs and Lending at NeighborWorks America. “For example, what’s the best mortgage product to buy the home that you are interested in? There’s a lot of information.“

The Barriers to Entry for African American Homeownership

But other financial experts believe the difficulty of homeownership is largely exaggerated and creates a barrier to entry for many African Americans. “The how-to steps and myths of how hard homeownership is to obtain have scared many homeowners away,” says Jeff Wilson II, author of The Lies our Parents Were Sold and Told Us and principal at The W2 Group accounting firm.

“The 20% down payment myth lives on and discourages African Americans from following through on the homebuyers’ process,” he says.

The NeighborhoodWorks America national survey gathered responses from 1,000 adults 18 and over. The survey results confirmed the need for more education about the housing process and financial management.

“I believe the addition of community programs that educate possible homeowners about the process is mandatory to provide access for all,” says Wilson. “It’s also important for prospective homeowners to seek the assistance and insights of a financial coach to ensure they have a plan in place to pay for housing expenses beyond the down payment. New homeowners without the proper knowledge or coach may find themselves struggling to stay financially afloat.”

One out of 5 black people said their most important financial goal for 2019 is to pay bills and everyday expenses, according to the survey. The idea of financial planning classes to help improve a person’s financial situation appealed to 46% of survey participants.

Hoskins notes that part of the conversation needs to focus on a person’s ability to purchase a home right now. “You have to look at the individuals’ life circumstances and what their needs are when it relates to housing. Having sufficient savings and funds in reserve is important.”

The Consequences of Debt

Unfortunately, debt continues to decrease the savings rate and create barriers for many African Americans who seek to participate in the homeownership process. “Student loan debt and credit card debt are the front-runners that present a challenge for some consumers to be able to qualify for a mortgage,” says Hoskins. “In some cases, the credit card debt is part of the student loan debt because credit cards may have been used to purchase books or other supplies needed for education.”

What’s the solution to overcoming barriers to homeownership? Having access to education and the right information are key. Working with a housing counselor or financial coach can help you navigate one of the biggest financial decisions you will make in your lifetime.

“There is a myth that you need a 20% down payment to purchase a home. There are mortgage programs where the down payment requirements are much less. Consumers may not be aware of this. That’s a benefit of connecting with a housing counselor,” says Hoskins.

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Black Enterprise Contributors Network 

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Burundi 0-2 Guinea: Result means Guinea can still make Africa Cup of Nations last 16

Mohamed Yattara scores twice as Guinea beat 10-man Burundi 2-0 to keep alive their hopes of reaching the Africa Cup of Nations last 16.

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5 Skills Successful Entrepreneurs Possess

Do you envy other entrepreneurs who attract media attention for their companies? Do you see other business successes and silently wonder why they’re doing so well when your product is even better? It could be that it’s not a matter of product/market fit, but more a matter of founder/market fit. Entrepreneurs who succeed tend to possess specific skills others fail to hone.

5 Skills Successful Entrepreneurs Possess

They are socially savvy

Failing to be socially savvy can have a direct impact on the success of your company. Knowing how to schmooze at a conference or how to interact with well-known members of the tech Twitterati can significantly improve your business’s exposure. Many startup companies have enjoyed increased success simply because their founders were wise in the ways of social connections. It’s not necessarily the business with the better product that wins; it’s the company with the socially-savvy founder that is more likely to earn attention.

They are good listeners

Entrepreneurs who are good listeners not only become better leaders, they also tend to outshine competitors. The more you develop your listening skills, the better prepared you are to notice tidbits others miss. Stop yourself from trying to think of your response while others are speaking and instead focus on listening intently to what others are saying.

They are good communicators

Just as good listening skills are essential, so too are excellent communication skills. From the way you speak to team members to how you explain your company in front of a crowd, each aspect of your communication efforts needs to be finely tuned. Customers (and angel investors) respond better to entrepreneurs with excellent verbal skills. Making an effort to improve your communication skills continually is an endeavor you will never regret.

They are self-confident

An entrepreneur without confidence is destined for mediocre success at best. It would be best if you believe in yourself as a business builder and as a leader. If you can’t confidently explain your business vision to others around you, don’t expect customers to come beating down your door.

They are risk-takers

Entrepreneurs who are risk-takers tend to achieve greater success than those who are timid and meek. Even if you tend to be more of an introvert, you can still improve your risk-taking skills. Try different marketing techniques, approach high-profile venture capitalists, or speak to journalists at tech conferences; anything you can do to get out of your usual comfort zone is fair game when becoming more of a risk taker.

Working on these skills can increase your odds of long-term success as an entrepreneur. Not only will you build a better business, but you will also create a better you in the process.

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Africa Cup of Nations: Madagascar v Nigeria

Madagascar produce the biggest shock so far at the Africa Cup of Nations as they beat three-time winners Nigeria to go into the last 16 as group winners.

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