Why anti-vaccine propaganda still runs rampant on Instagram

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This story is part of Doubting the Dose, a series that examines anti-vaccine sentiment and the role of misinformation in supercharging it.  Read more here . It takes about three taps on Instagram to find numerous sources of misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines. The problem has been well-reported. And Facebook, which owns Instagram, has made several rounds of changes to discourage the spread of vaccine misinformation on its platforms. Facebook says it’s already removed millions of Facebook and Instagram posts containing false information about COVID-19 and the vaccines. But anti-vaccine content remains a pervasive presence on one of the most popular social networks. Vaccine misinformation that spreads on social platforms like Instagram is one component of the ongoing “infodemic,” a dimension of the crisis that’s impacted how people think about the pandemic and the public health initiatives combating it. Currently almost a third of Americans do not plan to get vaccinated , as a Pew Research study from early March shows. And in order to reach herd immunity— when 80% to 85% of the population carries antibodies— a significant segment of the fearful, doubtful, and paranoid will need to be convinced to get their shot, for the good of everybody. “The more people who remain unvaccinated, the more opportunity the virus has to take hold in a community and create an outbreak,” says Summer Johnson McGee, dean of the School of Health Sciences at the University of New Haven. “As populations reach herd immunity, less social distancing, greater social mixing of groups, and larger-capacity events should be possible without fear about major outbreaks and lockdowns.” As the numbers of willing-yet-unvaccinated people go down in the next few months, a new phase in the information war may begin. If curbing misinformation’s spread has been the focus so far, then actively changing the minds of vaccine doubters may soon become a pressing priority. Read More …

Meet BetterUp, the Silicon Valley startup where Prince Harry now works

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Prince Harry is now working for a company called BetterUp, a coaching platform for employers, as its Chief Impact Officer. He says joining BetterUp is an extension of his desire to help people lead more meaningful lives. But what exactly does BetterUp do? Founded in 2013, BetterUp aims to offer more people the opportunity to access expensive executive coaching that can help them be more productive and achieve personal goals. It combines individual one-on-one coaching with a series of educational resources and practice exercises to help people excel at work. To do that, the platform focuses on giving people tools for tackling their work, advocating for promotions, and offering advice on other aspects of their lives that may be inhibiting their growth at the office. This includes coaching on better eating habits and effective parenting. The upper echelons of management are usually the only ones with access to this kind of coaching, but BetterUp is trying to bring it to the corporate working masses. The company charges employers a monthly subscription fee per employee for access to the platform and its coaches. Clients include Airbnb, Google, Hilton, and Warner Brothers, and individuals can also sign up for the platform through a free trial. Read More …

2 former Navy Seals are using robot submarines to build ‘Google Earth’ for the ocean

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In 2005, Joe Wolfel and Judson Kauffman were a year into their Navy Seal careers when they received a briefing on the USS San Francisco , a nuclear-powered submarine that crashed into an undersea mountain, in large part due to uncharted waters. Joe Wolfel (left) and Judson Kauffman [Photo: courtesy of Terradepth] “The Navy really doesn’t have charts or maps of very much of the seafloor at all,” Kauffman says. Even now, 80% of the ocean remains unmapped, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . “That was the first time that either one of us understood the level of ignorance that exists around this subsea world, so that kind of planted a seed.” Still, their scheme for hurdling that challenge wouldn’t germinate for another dozen years, after the pair parlayed their military experience into a business consultancy and began noting the burgeoning array of space exploration robotics. “One day we looked at each other and said, ‘Why isn’t anybody taking this technology—autonomy, AI, and machine learning—and finding a way to map the ocean?’ ” Kauffman says. “There’s a whole lot of room for modern technology to come in and disrupt the world of ocean exploration and the industry of ocean surveys.” [Image: courtesy of Terradepth] That vision has since blossomed into Austin-based Terradepth , a data service company that has developed a new type of robotic submarine to autonomously map the ocean and its varied environments. [Photo: courtesy of Terradepth] The 30-foot-long submersible uses a camera and sensor suite to collect data, then employs machine learning to process it, discern what’s important, and reprogram itself to return to a location and test for additional information—all without human intervention. The system relies on edge computing, which can analyze information and solve problems at the data source in near real time. The team successfully ran the submarine through its first on-site paces in nearby Lake Travis earlier this month, paving the way for more robust testing in the Gulf of Mexico within three weeks and the Florida coast after that. Along with a camera, the submarine utilizes two types of sonar as well as depth, navigational, temperature, and geolocation instruments. It can dive to nearly 20,000 feet, the depth of 98% of the ocean Read More …

The pernicious staying power of COVID-19’s first viral disinformation campaign

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This story is part of Doubting the Dose, a series that examines anti-vaccine sentiment and the role of misinformation in supercharging it.  Read more here . On a Monday in May, a now-infamous video titled “Plandemic” started to spread on social media. In a matter of days, millions of people had seen it. Media outlets devoted breathless attention to the conspiracy-laden film and its anti-mask, anti-vaccine, and anti-government agenda. It was not the first piece of disinformation about COVID-19, but it was perhaps the most potent. It also struck at just the right time. It was two months into the pandemic, and little was known yet about the virus. Americans were captive in their homes, searching the web for answers about a deadly disease. “Plandemic” offered a definitive storyline about COVID-19, when public health officials had unsatisfactory answers. The film took the opportunity to sow doubt in crucial figures such as National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases chief Anthony Fauci and call into question mask wearing—one of the few available tools at the time to combat the spread of COVID-19. It was the best attempt yet to undo critical public health efforts underway and make Americans question government leadership. “Plandemic” was the first big wave in a rising tide of unquellable disinformation and misinformation about COVID-19. By the time the internet platforms we rely on to curate the web suppressed the video, it was already too late. It had reached nearly 10 million people across YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook by some estimates. Read More …

These 7 tips will make you a Chromebook power user

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Part of the appeal of handy-dandy Chromebooks is that they’re so easy to use. Boot one up, sign in to your Google account, and . . . well, that’s about it. But if you use a Chromebook regularly, there are a handful of pretty cool and useful features you might not have discovered yet. Let’s take a look at some tips and tricks that make life with a Chromebook more rewarding. Terrific touchpad tricks You’ve moused around. You’ve clicked. Maybe you’ve even clicked and dragged. But wait! There’s more. To perform a right-click—say, to bring up a context menu—you can either click two fingers on the touchpad at the same time or hold down the Alt key and click with one finger. You can also use two fingers at a time to scroll up and down or left and right. If you’ve got an active webpage open in Chrome, swiping left or right acts like clicking the back or forward buttons in the browser. To open a link in a new Chrome tab, click it with three fingers at once. Read More …