Link Roundup April 2018

[wepon]

CIPHER WAR

They compared the conditional entropy of the Indus script to known linguistic systems, like Vedic Sanskrit, and known nonlinguistic systems, like human DNA sequences, and found that the Indus script was much more similar to the linguistic systems. “So, it’s not proof that the symbols are encoding a language but it’s additional evidence hinting that these symbols are not just random juxtapositions of arbitrary symbols,” says Rao, “and they follow patterns that are consistent with the those you would you expect to find if the symbols are encoding language.”

It’s Official: Fish Feel Pain

It is impossible to definitively know whether another creature’s subjective experience is like our own. But that is beside the point. We do not know whether cats, dogs, lab animals, chickens, and cattle feel pain the way we do, yet we still afford them increasingly humane treatment and legal protections because they have demonstrated an ability to suffer. In the past 15 years, Braithwaite and other fish biologists around the world have produced substantial evidence that, just like mammals and birds, fish also experience conscious pain. “More and more people are willing to accept the facts,” Braithwaite says. “Fish do feel pain. It’s likely different from what humans feel, but it is still a kind of pain.”

The Devonte Hart Case Highlights a Profound Racial Disparity in the Treatment of Child Abuse

All three of the states that the family lived in received reports of child welfare concerns, and yet apparently the children were never removed from the Harts’ care. The disparity in ramifications for suspected—and confirmed—child abuse is particularly striking when compared with the jail time black mothers receive for something like leaving their kids at a food court while they were doing an interview less than 30 feet away. Or for testing positive for marijuana after giving birth. Or for only being able to afford an apartment where your landlord won’t fix a rat problem.

How To Change Your Facebook Settings To Opt Out of Platform API Sharing

UPDATE (3/30/18): We have updated this post and its screenshots to reflect how Facebook reorganized and removed some settings this week.

Decolonise science – time to end another imperial era

In the same study, 60% to 70% of the scientists based in developed countries did not acknowledge their collaborators in poorer countries as co-authors in their papers. This is despite the fact they later claimed in the survey that the papers were the result of close collaborations.

Facebook sent a doctor on a secret mission to ask hospitals to share patient data

Facebook's pitch, according to two people who heard it and one who is familiar with the project, was to combine what a health system knows about its patients (such as: person has heart disease, is age 50, takes 2 medications and made 3 trips to the hospital this year) with what Facebook knows (such as: user is age 50, married with 3 kids, English isn't a primary language, actively engages with the community by sending a lot of messages).

Women In Pakistan Dared To March — And Didn't Care What Men Thought

Before the march began, activists took to the stage and spoke of their struggles and triumphs. Veeru Kohli, a member of the Dalit community in the Thar Desert (low-caste Hindus known by the epithet of "untouchables") related how she escaped a life of slave labor to become a political activist. Kainat Soomro, a victim of gang rape at 13 who is trying to take her rapists to court, described her as yet unsuccessful 11-year fight for justice. An activist from the Christian community excoriated the government for ignoring the scourge of forced conversions, where Muslim men kidnap minority women, force them to convert to Islam and marry them against their consent.

China's Xinjiang surveillance is the dystopian future nobody wants

In Xinjiang, there are no signs that the massive buildup in both police presence and surveillance technology will recede anytime soon, despite the perceived success in limiting violence and protests thus far. If anything, it looks like things will get a lot worse. More and more Uyghurs, perhaps as many as 120,000, are being rounded up and sent to reeducation camps for minor offenses. Increasingly, any outward expression of religion or cultural expression is being seen as subversive, with even elderly intellectuals facing arrests, like the 82-year-old Islamic scholar Muhammad Salih Hajim, who died earlier this year in a reeducation camp. Now Uyghurs are also being forced to hand over DNA samples and put spyware on their phones. Meanwhile, spending on both technology and human-security presence is expected to rise even further.

A Velvet Worm Named for Totoro

A recently discovered species was so cute, it got a name straight out of Studio Ghibli: Eoperipatus totoros. The species name is an homage to the CatBus in the film My Neighbor Totoro:

Windrush generation: Who are they and why are they facing problems?

And in 2010, landing cards belonging to Windrush migrants were destroyed by the Home Office.

Just 90 companies caused two-thirds of man-made global warming emissions

Between them, the 90 companies on the list of top emitters produced 63% of the cumulative global emissions of industrial carbon dioxide and methane between 1751 to 2010, amounting to about 914 gigatonne CO2 emissions, according to the research. All but seven of the 90 were energy companies producing oil, gas and coal. The remaining seven were cement manufacturers.

World Hunger Is Increasing, Thanks to Wars and Climate Change

At the same time, these regions are experiencing increasingly powerful storms, more frequent and persistent drought and more variable rainfall associated with global climate change. These trends are not unrelated. Conflict-torn communities are more vulnerable to climate-related disasters, and crop or livestock failure due to climate can contribute to social unrest.

Windrush generation: 'I'm an Englishman'

Some members of the so-called Windrush generation, who arrived in the UK decades ago as children, have been incorrectly identified as illegal immigrants. Here are some of their stories.

Kim, Moon Pledge Denuclearization Of Peninsula And End To Korean War

A year of especially serious tensions leading up to Friday was followed by a sudden thaw and an offer by Kim in recent weeks to meet with President Trump. Mere months ago, the two leaders were trading insults and threatening to wage war. However, the White House appears to be taking Kim's offer seriously and the two men could meet as soon as next month.

Chimpanzees and monkeys have entered the Stone Age

In other words, the Stone Age primates are so widely scattered across the evolutionary tree that they must have each come up with the technology independently. "We have multiple inventions of the same behaviour," says Haslam.