The nation’s food supply chain is showing signs of strain, as increasing numbers of workers are falling ill with the coronavirus in meat processing plants, warehouses and grocery stores.
The World Health Organization on March 11 declared the coronavirus a pandemic. Within a week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that Americans keep a 14 day supply of food and other essentials. Alarmed consumers rushed to supermarkets hoarding groceries and cleaning products, leaving some stores trying to keep up with the surge in demand. For the week ending March 21, sales of fresh meat increased by 100%, canned tuna by more than 200% and dried beans by nearly 400%compared with a year earlier.
Karan Girotra, Cornell University professor, on whether we should be concerned about the U.S. food supply in light of all the panic buying that’s going on right now.
The daily drama of money and work from the BBC.
Mitigating Covid-19 transmission risks aboard aircraft has been a major focal point during the current crisis. But before passengers even reach their gates, they have to navigate often crowded TSA security checkpoints. When stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions begin to lift, concerns about social distancing are likely to continue for a period. Aviation editor Robert Silk spoke with Sheldon Jacobson, a University of Illinois computer science professor whose research has included the foundational analysis of what became the TSA PreCheck program, about what can be done to reduce checkpoint risks.
Ashley Smith
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Can we really trust AI to make better decisions than humans? A new study says … not always. Researchers have discovered that OpenAI’s ChatGPT, one of the most advanced and popular AI models, makes the same kinds of decision-making mistakes as humans in some situations—showing biases like overconfidence of hot-hand (gambler’s) fallacy—yet acting inhuman in others (e.g., not suffering from base-rate neglect or sunk cost fallacies).
The genetic testing company 23andMe, which holds the genetic data of 15 million people, declared bankruptcy on Sunday night after years of financial struggles. This means that all of the extremely personal user data could be up for sale—and that vast trove of genetic data could draw interest from AI companies looking to train their data sets, experts say.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as the new secretary of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s de facto healthcare czar. He will have influence over numerous highly visible agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, among others. Given that healthcare is something that touches everyone’s life, his footprint of influence will be expansive.
Health insurance has become necessary, with large and unpredictable health care costs always looming before each of us. Unfortunately, the majority of people have experienced problems when using their health insurance to pay for their medical care. Health insurance serves as the buffer between patients and the medical care system, using population pooling to mitigate the risk exposure on any one individual.
From Tesla to SpaceX to xAI, Elon Musk’s sprawling global business empire will be slammed by Trump’s tariffs regime. Here’s how.
A bipartisan push in Congress would return the power to impose tariffs to the legislature.
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban's question to Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, on energy costs took off on social media on Saturday.
Florida lawmakers have banned wind turbines off its shores and near the coast, saying the bill is meant to protect wildlife and prevent noise.