All posts tagged: Embracing

Why even a voicemail from your mom can help calm you

Why even a voicemail from your mom can help calm you

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore If you’re planning something special with your mom this Mother’s Day, she’s not the only one who will reap the benefits. The sound of a mother’s voice can trigger the production of the hormone oxytocin, commonly known as the love hormone, in their child, Dr Susan Albers at the Cleveland Clinic said Friday. Oxytocin is made in the region of the brain that’s responsible for regulating mood and released into the bloodstream where it lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol. And since we hear our mother’s voices even in the womb, we’re used to getting that oxytocin hit regularly, Albers, a psychologist at the clinic, explained. “The brain is wired early on to make a connection between safety and security and her voice, which can last into adulthood,” she said. A mother hugs her daughter in San Ysidro, California, in …

Cathy Newman on embracing our new political landscape with new show

Cathy Newman on embracing our new political landscape with new show

Published by Daniella Wilson

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. I cut my journalistic teeth as a political correspondent in the 1990s and 2000s, first on newspapers and then on television. I remember those years of Cool Britannia, with the Spice Girls and Noel Gallagher traipsing into Number 10. Even when that New Labour honeymoon soured, the TB-GBs (the nickname for Tony Blair, the then prime minister, and his arguments with his chancellor Gordon Brown) seem somehow quaint compared with the existential turbulence of recent administrations. Returning to Westminster to launch The Cathy Newman Show, a new flagship nightly show airing on Sky News and streaming on YouTube, the mood couldn’t be more different. Politics feels shoutier, more bitter. The bit of green carpet that divides government from opposition looks like a chasm. It’s undeniable that politics has changed dramatically and the world has, too. Just days before the local elections, the two party political system that has reigned supreme throughout my professional life appears shattered. And the media landscape has been upended as well. The 2026 …

Trump posts bizarre image of him and Jesus embracing as MAGA Christians rage at President | World | News

Trump posts bizarre image of him and Jesus embracing as MAGA Christians rage at President | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

Donald Trump has posted an image of him and Jesus appearing to embrace despite mounting anger from Christians. The post on Truth Social was captioned: “The Radical Left Lunatics might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!! President DJT”. The new photo was originally posted on a page on X called “Irish for Trump” alongside the caption: “I was never a very religious man .. but doesn’t it seem, with all these satanic, demonic, child sacrificing monsters being exposed … that God might be playing his Trump card!” The latest post comes just days after President Trump sparked international fury by posting an image depicting him as Jesus, dressed in robes and using divine power to heal a man. It was later taken down from the platform amid a backlash. Mr Trump claimed he never intended to liken himself to the son of God and insisted it was supposed to depict him as a doctor. A significant number of Christian voters helped Mr Trump secure his presidential election victory in 2024. But …

Embracing the Warrior-Guardian Paradox in Modern Policing

Embracing the Warrior-Guardian Paradox in Modern Policing

Published by Jenni Sidey

Few debates in law enforcement generate more heat — and less light — than the question of whether police officers should see themselves as warriors or guardians. Advocates on one side argue that the warrior identity is essential: that officers who hesitate expose themselves and innocent people to catastrophic harm. Advocates on the other argue that the warrior mindset poisons community trust, and that the guardian model is the only path to legitimacy in a democratic society. Both sides have valid and justified perspectives. And both sides are incomplete. The warrior and the guardian are not competing philosophies between which a department must choose. They are complementary capacities every officer needs — and every agency must develop, sustain, and honor equally. The question is not which mindset belongs in policing. It is how to build professionals skilled enough to know which one a given moment demands, and courageous enough to deploy it fully. The tension between these orientations is embedded in the founding DNA of modern policing. When Sir Robert Peel established the Metropolitan Police …

‘She’s Never Going to Age’: Porn Stars Are Embracing AI Clones to Stay Forever Young

‘She’s Never Going to Age’: Porn Stars Are Embracing AI Clones to Stay Forever Young

Published by skeptic

Lisa Ann technically quit the porn business in 2019, but for $30 a month you can now dream up any X-rated scenario of her on your computer. Ann, 53, was an adult performer for three decades starting in the mid 1990s and retired because she had reached her savings goal. But last year she had a change of heart. Ann, who considers herself an AI fanatic, signed a contract with OhChat, a London-based AI companion company, to license her likeness on its platform, essentially creating an AI version of her in every way that can be used to make sex scenes for paying customers: same voice, same physique, and same pillowy brown hair. As issues around deepfakes intensify and questions about the future of the adult industry become more dire with the passing of age-verification laws, several AI companion platforms want to create a new standard for consent-driven AI porn. More than sexting a faceless chatbot, digital twins—also called duplicates, doubles, clones, or replicas—draw on the exact likeness, including speech and mannerisms, of your favorite …

‘I never had those deep chats in the smoking area’: Arlo Parks on embracing late night life with her hedonistic new album | Arlo Parks

‘I never had those deep chats in the smoking area’: Arlo Parks on embracing late night life with her hedonistic new album | Arlo Parks

Published by Sam Flores

Until only a few years ago, Arlo Parks had never been clubbing. The lack of a party phase makes sense when you consider that while most of her friends were decamping to university at 18, Parks was busy bagging a record deal, releasing her debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, a few months after her 20th birthday. “It’s something that I almost didn’t have time to think about,” she says, speaking from LA, where she has lived since 2022, and where she feels very much at home. (This morning has already consisted of gymming and a walk in 28-degree sunshine that’s as bright as her neon-red hair.) “But I definitely did come to the conclusion that I had missed out – I hadn’t really had the time to be silly and have crazy, deep conversations in the smoking area. To be in an anonymous space and feel like you’re part of this whole.” Now 25, she has very much made up for lost time with her third album, Ambiguous Desire – a paean to the night-time, …

Embracing Intellectual Humility in Political Conversations

Embracing Intellectual Humility in Political Conversations

Published by Jenni Sidey

In my last post, I discussed the principle of intellectual charity as an essential element of constructive political conversations. As a companion to the principle of charity, we also need to cultivate an attitude of intellectual humility. I am using the word humility both in its common meaning and in a more specific sense. We should begin with personal humility — recognizing the limits of our knowledge, that others know more than we do, and that, in any specific instance, we might be wrong. Humility in this sense (“I don’t know enough about this problem” or “I could be wrong”) is an antidote to pathological certainty, and it’s almost entirely absent from current political arguments, at all levels. I would like to add an additional meaning of intellectual humility that is especially relevant to political debates. Intellectual humility asks, “What are the limits of my beliefs?” An attitude of humility requires that we recognize the complexity of most social and political problems. Every policy, domestic or international, is likely to have both good and bad …

People Are Protesting Data Centers—but Embracing the Factories That Supply Them

People Are Protesting Data Centers—but Embracing the Factories That Supply Them

Published by skeptic

Last month, Pamela Griffin and two other residents of Taylor, Texas, took to the lectern at a city council meeting to object to a data center project. But later, they sat back as council members discussed a proposed tech factory. Griffin didn’t speak up against that development. No one did. A similar contrast is repeating in communities across the US. Data centers are meeting unprecedented public resistance, with environmental costs a leading concern. More of them have been needed to power a growing appetite for AI, and they’ve become obvious flash points for communities worried about what automation could mean for them. However, many of the factories getting built to supply servers, electrical gear, and other parts to data centers are facing virtually no opposition. Factories tend to create more jobs and drain fewer natural resources than data centers do, so with the exception of a few controversial chipmaking fabs in several states, they have been sailing through local hearings to get permits and tax breaks. But experts who follow supply chains say the minimal …

Embracing sauna culture can lower dementia risk and boost brain health

Embracing sauna culture can lower dementia risk and boost brain health

Published by skeptic

Regular sauna sessions can have physical benefits, but what does heat therapy to your brain? gpointstudio/Getty Images I’m already a devoted cold-water swimmer, and last year I wrote about its benefits for the brain. But I’ve started seeing more and more written about heat therapy and its neurological perks. And while the evidence is only just emerging, it’s starting to look quite persuasive, so I decided to investigate further. For science, I made the most of Scandinavian sauna culture while I was visiting Finland and Sweden last month. I also learned that “sauna” is pronounced “sow-na” (with the “ow” rhyming with “how”), rather than my south-east London pronunciation of “sorna”. Finnish saunas, which are typically heated to between 70°C and 110°C (158°F to 230°F) and have low humidity, are the most well-studied. Regular use has been linked with many physical benefits – a lower risk of hypertension, muscular problems and respiratory conditions, for instance. But now researchers are starting to unveil cognitive benefits, too. These improvements include fewer headaches, increased mental well-being, better sleep and …