All posts tagged: Age

Welcome to the Golden Age of Gerrymandering

Welcome to the Golden Age of Gerrymandering

Published by Sam Flores

This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present. Sign up here. Not long after the original gerrymander took its monstrous shape in 1812, The United States Gazette issued a harsh prophecy. Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry might otherwise have been forgotten to history but for the wicked practice that would come to bear his name. According to the paper, gerrymandering, “like the word mammoth, will probably be familiarly understood long after the filthy beast to which it is applied, shall become extinct.” As political predictions go, it was a good one. In 2026, the political map is crawling with newborn filthy beasts. Last year, at the direction of President Trump, the Texas state legislature gerrymandered its districts to give Republicans an edge in the House elections. More red states followed suit, triggering redrawn maps in blue states. In April, the Supreme Court’s Callais decision to block a majority-Black district in Louisiana effectively ended the Voting Rights Act’s requirement for majority-minority districts, opening the door to further gerrymanders …

The pigeon fanciers of the Bronze Age

The pigeon fanciers of the Bronze Age

Published by skeptic

Domestic animals have long been some of our closest companions. While dogs, cats, horses, cattle and chickens have all played major roles in human history, domestic pigeons may be a little less familiar. But they are no slouch when it comes to cultural importance. Charles Darwin wrote about domestic pigeon diversity to explore his theories of evolutionary change. Contemporary biologists have trained teams of pigeons to identify cancerous cells from certain medical images with an accuracy rivalling that of oncologists. Now, new research exploring ancient human-pigeon interactions in Cyprus has provided fascinating insights into the earliest stages of this millennia-long inter-species relationship. There are over 300 breeds of domestic pigeon, from homing pigeons used in competitive racing to the peculiar frillback, which looks like it has survived a rather nasty electric shock. In 2020, a Belgian racing pigeon named New Kim sold for €1.6 million (£1.4 million). A frillback pigeon. Muhammad Taayyab Saleem/Shutterstock But despite their contributions to contemporary society, we still know little about the origins of these pigeons. The wild form of all …

Apple Bringing App Store Age Verification to Texas as SB 2420 Takes Effect June 4

Apple Bringing App Store Age Verification to Texas as SB 2420 Takes Effect June 4

Published by skeptic

Apple today said App Store rules in Texas are changing due to the enforcement of SB 2420, a law that adds age assurance requirements for app marketplaces and developers. Apple users located in Texas will soon be required to confirm whether they are 18 years or older when creating an Apple Account. Apple Accounts for users under 18 must be part of a Family Sharing group, and parents need to provide consent for all App Store downloads, app purchases, and in-app transactions. Developers need to adopt the Declared Age Range API to provide the required age categories for new account users in Texas, and they are responsible for implementing the correct age restrictions. Developers must get parental consent for a minor to download an app, and are required to re-obtain consent if there is a “significant change” to an app. It is up to developers to determine when a significant change has been made to an app. Parents in Texas are able to revoke consent for any app they previously approved for their child, a …

‘The Autism Pastor’ Lamar Hardwick dies at age 47

‘The Autism Pastor’ Lamar Hardwick dies at age 47

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — The Rev. Lamar Hardwick, a disability activist, author and preacher known as “The Autism Pastor,” died on May 22. He was 47 years old. “With heavy hearts, we want to share that Lamar has transitioned after his journey with colon cancer,” Hardwick’s wife, Isabella Hardwick, said in a recent post on Facebook. “He was surrounded by love, peace, and family, and we are grateful for every precious moment we shared with him.” Friends and colleagues have described Hardwick as “brilliant” and “surprisingly funny” and said he was known for his dynamic preaching style. He is survived by his wife and three sons. Born June 5, 1978, in Killeen, Texas, Hardwick was influenced in his youth by his father’s dual career in the U.S. Army and as a Missionary Baptist Church pastor. Frequent moves created instability in Hardwick’s childhood, but he found comfort in the predictable rhythms of church. As an adult, he discerned a call to ministry and earned a Master of Divinity from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. Hardwick later completed …

Why you need to future proof your brain in middle age and how to start

Why you need to future proof your brain in middle age and how to start

Published by skeptic

To chart how our brains change over the course of our lives, neuroscientists have focused largely on beginnings and endings: the rapid development and pruning of neural connections in childhood and adolescence, and the degeneration associated with old age. “We kind of skipped over middle age,” says Sebastian Dohm-Hansen, a bioinformatician at University College Cork in Ireland. There are good reasons for that, not least that changes in brain structure and function are easier to spot with neuroimaging when they are at their most extreme. In the case of cognitive decline and dementia, “a lot of what we care about presents most dramatically after the age of 60”, says Dohm-Hansen. But over the past few years, researchers have started to look more closely at the middle-aged brain, identifying a series of subtle but significant changes between the ages of 40 and 65 that mark it out as a vital time to identify problems that won’t manifest until later in life. “Think of midlife as the top of an inverted U-curve,” says Ahmad Hariri, a professor of neuroscience at Duke University …

How to Play Cognitive Self Defense in the Age of AI

How to Play Cognitive Self Defense in the Age of AI

Published by Jenni Sidey

We lock our doors before bed. Ring doorbells watch our front porches. Credit card companies flag suspicious transactions before we notice them. Today, we’ve built elaborate systems to protect us—our money, our privacy, identity, and person. The infrastructure of modern self-protection is ubiquitous and impressive. So, as artificial intelligence moves deeper into daily life, something else may be worth protecting. It’s something we might not have thought of as an asset, but today, it might become one that’s central to our very existence. It’s the integrity of our own thinking. Typically, we don’t frame cognition that way. Intelligence is something to develop over time. We worry about education, memory, and knowledge. But we spend almost no time asking whether the habits that produce our thoughts can weaken when they stop being used. Every significant technology has reduced some form of human effort. The wheel, the appliance, the search engine all took something off our plate. Artificial intelligence may be the first to meaningfully reduce the labor of thinking itself. That is exactly what makes it …

A golden age of maths is dawning and mathematicians are freaking out

A golden age of maths is dawning and mathematicians are freaking out

Published by skeptic

I am attempting to solve a mathematical conundrum that has stumped many of humanity’s greatest thinkers. I have zero mathematical training, apart from a distant undergraduate physics degree, which should put my odds of success at slim to none. But I also have a trick up my sleeve – a kind of mathematical genie that can conjure arcane secrets seemingly out of thin air. I make a short request concerning an esoteric conjecture in number theory, then cross my fingers. Perhaps “genie” is a bit too strong – I’m simply using GPT 5.5 Pro, the latest iteration of OpenAI’s flagship model. But for mathematicians, modern AI models appear to have a spark of magic. Even in an era of rapid progress, the growth in AI’s mathematical ability is stunning. In just a few months, many prominent mathematicians have walked back previous scepticism and replaced it with sweeping predictions, whispering behind closed doors about job concerns and whether it is even worth embarking on a particular research project if AI might get there first. In April, …

Why We Should Walk Downhill More Often As We Age

Why We Should Walk Downhill More Often As We Age

Published by Sam Flores

Whether it’s Japanese walking, “Jeffing” or the run-walk-run method, and even “retro walking” to help my knees, it’s safe to say I’m fond of a good stroll. But on a recent hilly Northumberland hike, I noticed my legs felt more strained than usual: my muscles felt a little tenser, and my knees had worked harder. This seemed most extreme after the downhill part of the walk, a change other walkers noticed too. So, I asked experts ob-gyn Dr Suzanne Bartlett Hackenmiller, Chief Medical Advisor at AllTrails, and Fatema Contractor, osteopath and director at The Health Suite in Leicester, whether that post-descent twinge was a good or bad thing. The view on top of a hill Which are the main muscles used in downhill walking? Turns out the difference wasn’t just in my head – “we can often feel different muscles working” during a downhill walk,” Contractor said. Dr Hackenmiller explained that the main muscles worked during a downhill walk include the: These are key for stability, strength, and balance. “Walking downhill gives our muscles an …

Jamie Lee Curtis announces sister Kelly’s death at age 69

Jamie Lee Curtis announces sister Kelly’s death at age 69

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Jamie Lee Curtis has announced that her older sister, Kelly Curtis, has died at age 69. The Freaky Friday alum, 67, posted an emotional tribute Saturday on Instagram, alongside a black and white photo of her sister. Kelly’s cause of death has not been shared. “A warm aloha to my older sister, Kelly Lee Curtis. She passed away this morning. In her home. In nature. At peace,” she wrote. “She was my first friend and lifelong confidant. She was jaw droppingly beautiful, and a talented actress. She played a mean game of hearts, collected turtles, loved her family, nature, music, thrifting, travel, Facebook, and Pokémon Go. She was proud of her Danish roots and Hungarian Jewish ancestry and was a devoted American patriot. “She will be remembered for her loving generosity, fierce opinions, endless curiosity, unique style, and her powdered, almond, …

Teen sensation Fonseca comes of age by taming Djokovic at French Open

Teen sensation Fonseca comes of age by taming Djokovic at French Open

Published by Sam Flores

PARIS, May 29 : Novak Djokovic’s latest bid to capture a record 25th Grand Slam title was left in tatters after a stunning third-round defeat by Brazilian teen sensation Joao Fonseca in an entertaining epic at the French Open on Friday. Djokovic’s 4-6 4-6 6-3 7-5 7-5 defeat meant the 39-year-old Serb’s wait to surpass Margaret Court will go on in the twilight of a glorious career, as the draw in Paris opened up further a day after world number one Jannik Sinner’s shock exit. Victory in an epic clash lasting four hours and 53 minutes ensured that Fonseca became the first teenager to beat Djokovic at the Grand Slams, as he announced himself as another genuine contender to claim a maiden major crown. “I actually didn’t believe I could win the match, I just played and enjoyed being on the court. What an idol we have and what a pleasure it was to step onto the court against him, so I thank him. I’m very happy,” Fonseca said. “I was just trying to hit …