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96-year-old Nobel Laureate Arthur Ashkin in his basement lab on December 21, 2018. Ashkin won half of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work inventing optical tweezers in the late 1980s.
Credit: Hilary Brueck/Business InsiderAt 96, Arthur Ashkin is the oldest person to ever be awarded a Nobel Prize.
- Ashkin won half the 2018 prize in physics for his role in developing technology that makes very small beings “levitate” using only light. He did that work at Bell Labs in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
- His discovery spurred the invention of optical tweezers, which have been used to stretch DNA and invent a life-saving malaria test, among other medical uses.
- But the Nobel Laureate says he’s not done inventing yet — his lifelong obsession with light has taken a recent turn toward solar energy.
RUMSON, NEW JERSEY — Arthur Ashkin, the world’s oldest Nobel Prize winner, favors comfort over style. When I met him in his New Jersey home, he was sporting a fleece-lined zip-up, corduroy […]
Using brain-scanning technology, artificial intelligence, and speech synthesizers, scientists have converted brain patterns into intelligible verbal speech—an advance that could eventually give voice to those without.
It’s a shame Stephen Hawking isn’t alive to see this, as he may have gotten a real kick out of it. The new speech system, developed by researchers at the Neural Acoustic Processing Lab at Columbia University in New York City, is something the late physicist might have benefited from.
Hawking had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a motor neuron disease that took away his verbal speech, but he continued to communicate using a computer and a speech synthesizer. By using a cheek switch affixed to his glasses, Hawking was able to pre-select words on a computer, which were read out by a voice synthesizer. It was a bit tedious, but it allowed Hawking to produce around a dozen words per minute.
But imagine if Hawking didn’t have to manually select and trigger the words. Indeed, some individuals, whether they have ALS, locked-in syndrome, or are recovering from a stroke, may not have the motor […]
Mitch McConnell and Trump
Just over a year after the GOP rammed through its $1.5 trillion tax plan—which has predictably rewarded the ultra-rich while doing virtually nothing for workers—Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his Republican colleagues were condemned for pushing yet another “blatant giveaway to their wealthy donors” by introducing a bill on Monday that would permanently repeal the estate tax.
“At a time of record inequality, the very last thing we should do is line the pockets of the rich.”
—Sen. Bernie Sanders
“Greed has no limit for the GOP,” declared Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness. “We need to reverse direction—not allow the GOP to hand the rich even more tax cuts.”
The deeply unpopular Republican tax law already significantly weakened the estate tax by doubling the exemption, allowing couples with up to $22 million to pass on their fortunes tax-free.
If it passes Congress, the plan introduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Thune (R-S.D.), and McConnell—and co-sponsored by dozens of Senate Republicans—would accomplish the longstanding GOP goal of completely eliminating the estate tax.
“Ending the estate tax would give a tax break of up […]
Credit: vgajic/E+/Getty
The rich are getting richer, and younger.
A survey of U.S. investors with $25 million or more finds their average age dropped by 11 years since 2014, to 47. These fabulously rich Americans, whose ranks have more than doubled since the depths of the Great Recession, are younger than less wealthy millionaires. The average age of those with at least a mere $1 million is 62, a number that hasn’t budged in years.
Where is this new money coming from? A new generation of millionaires and billionaires probably owe as much to inheritances as to self-made fortunes. “There may be more Mark Zuckerbergs at the top of the wealth distribution than in the 1960s, but also more Paris Hiltons,” Saez and Zucman wrote.
About 172,000 U.S. households have net worths of at least $25 million, Spectrem estimated last year. That’s up from 84,000 in 2008.
![The Rise [...]
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The American Heart Association said Thursday that more than 121 million adults had cardiovascular disease in 2016. Taking out those with only high blood pressure leaves 24 million, or 9 percent of adults, who have other forms of disease such as heart failure or clogged arteries.
Measuring the burden of diseases shows areas that need to improve, the heart association’s chief science and medical officer, Dr. Mariell Jessup, said in a statement.
High blood pressure, which had long been defined as a top reading of at least 140 or a bottom one of 90, dropped to 130 over 80 under guidelines adopted in 2017. It raises the risk for heart attacks, strokes and many other problems, and only about half of those with the condition have it under control.
Being diagnosed with high blood pressure doesn’t necessarily mean you need medication right away; the first step is aiming for a healthier lifestyle, even for those who are prescribed medicine. Poor diets, lack of exercise and other bad habits cause 90 percent of high blood pressure.
The report is an annual statistics update by the heart association, the National Institutes of Health and others.
Other highlights:
—Heart and blood vessel disease is linked to 1 of every […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
