A Broken Employment System Leaves Autistic Adults Stranded

S13

A Broken Employment System Leaves Autistic Adults Stranded     Only 1.1 percent of autistic adults in the U.S. access key publicly funded employment services. A broken disability service system is whyYou likely know at least one autistic person. One in 36 children and approximately 5.4 million adults in the U.S. are on the autism spectrum. Continued here

S53

What to Know About Fall COVID Vaccines     Mitt Romney is leaving the Senate. The depths of cynicism and hypocrisy inside his own party drove the decision, McKay Coppins reports.This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Continued here

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S10

Mathematicians Think Saudi Arabia's Ambitious 'Line' City Should Be a Circle     Despite efforts to make a planned city in the Saudi Arabian desert sustainable, its layout could create problems   In October 2022 construction work began on a megaproject called “the Line,” a 106-mile-long city in the Saudi Arabian desert. The plan is for nine million people to live within a mere 13 square miles—an area comparable to Burlington, Vt., which is home to only about 45,000 inhabitants. Continued here

S12

Vivitrol, Used to Fight Opioid Misuse, Has a Major Overdose Problem     A recent examination of Vivitrol’s clinical trial data uncovered many hidden overdoses. Its preferential use in the criminal justice system must stopAbout 100,000 Americans die each year from overdoses, primarily caused by opioids like illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Fortunately, we have two treatments for opioid use disorder proven in multiple studies to reduce the death rate by 50 percent or more. These are methadone and buprenorphine. This data should make these drugs the gold standard for treatment. But a third medication—often promoted based on a pivotal trial that we now know missed some key overdose data—also vies for that position. Continued here

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How Do I Handle a Bad Boss?     ELAINY MATA: What makes a boss bad? Would you be able to tell the difference between a boss who’s just not great at their job, or maybe your personalities are just clashing a bit versus a boss that’s actually toxic. Welcome to New Here, honest conversations and practical advice to help you play the game called “Work.” I’m Elainy Mata, and this week we’re talking about how to handle your first bad boss. Continued here

S51

The One Thing Everyone Should Know About Fall COVID Vaccines     Mitt Romney is leaving the Senate. The depths of cynicism and hypocrisy inside his own party drove the decision, McKay Coppins reports.The simplest way to think about them—everyone should just get one—is arguably the best. Continued here

S8

Apple suppliers Foxconn and Luxshare are scrambling for 45,000 workers     On a recent Friday in August, a few workers lined up outside Foxconn’s electronics assembly factory in the Bac Giang province of Vietnam, printed CVs in hand. Humidity hung over the sparse queue as 30-year-old truck driver Nguyen Thanh Cong waited to be interviewed. “I don’t know what they make here,” he told Rest of World with a shrug. Keen or not, by the following week, Cong was on the factory floor, pulling night shifts to make iPhone charging cables.Vietnam is the world’s third-largest manufacturing hub for smart devices from brands like Apple and Samsung. With Apple under pressure to expand manufacturing away from China, its suppliers, like Foxconn and Luxshare-ICT, are hiring rapidly in Vietnam to meet renewed orders for AirPods and chargers. Foxconn is recruiting some 24,500 assembly workers in the country’s north, according to a local media report. Rival Luxshare is hiring 24,000. These are massive recruitment numbers, considering tens of thousands of factory workers were pushed out of work during the recent slump. Continued here

S9

Domestic work in Vietnam: The 5-star butler who naps on the steps     When she was younger, Bui Thao My tried every job she could think of that didn’t require a degree or an investment. From laboring on a factory floor to selling snacks outside a school and running a street food cart, she did it all. Throughout her various jobs, she longed for a stability she struggled to find.Things took a turn in 2012, when My came across a recruitment ad by JupViec, then a newly founded agency that connected domestic workers with clients. Over a decade later, My is one of the top-performing workers for the company, a gig platform that now offers in-home services such as cleaning and cooking.  Continued here

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S7

Sea sponges offer lifeline to women in Zanzibar     As a gentle morning breeze blows across the Zanzibar shore, Hindu Simai Rajabu walks through knee-deep water to reach a shallow lagoon off the coast of Jambiani, Tanzania, where her floating sponge farm is located.Sporting shiny goggles and with a snorkel placed on top of her headscarf, Rajabu wades through the Indian Ocean, her laughter at the experience of being filmed mingling with the sound of the crashing waves. Continued here

S4

How the Best Chief Data Officers Create Value     Despite the rapidly increasing prominence of data and analytics functions, the majority of chief data officers (CDOs) fail to value and price the business outcomes created by their data and analytics capabilities. It comes as no surprise then that many CDOs fall behind expectations and have short tenures. The authors conducted 17 in-depth interviews with CDOs who are largely considered to be at the frontier of the role. Based on the interviews, they synthesized where CDOs can create value and how they can measure and price it. Beyond strategies for creating and demonstrating value, they provide insights into qualitative and quantitative measurements that data analytics leaders are currently adopting. Continued here

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S15

Humans Have Crossed 6 of 9 'Planetary Boundaries'     Scientists analyzed nine so-called planetary boundaries and found humans are currently transgressing sixHuman activity is turning Earth into a world that may no longer adequately support the societies we’ve built, scientists warn in a new study charting whether and by how much we have surpassed nine “planetary boundaries.” Continued here

S41

The Conservative Censorship Campaign Reaches Its Natural Conclusion     Mitt Romney is leaving the Senate. The depths of cynicism and hypocrisy inside his own party drove the decision, McKay Coppins reports.Four years ago, The New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project, a series of essays aiming to place “the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative,” sparked heated debate. Continued here

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S14

Ancient Human Fossil Trip to Space Raises Questions and Criticism     The decision to send hominin bones on a commercial spaceflight has raised eyebrows among paleontologistsOn a bright Friday morning last week, a Virgin Galactic spacecraft travelled 88 kilometres above Earth to the edge of space. On board were two Virgin Galactic pilots, an instructor and three passengers — and the remains of two ancient-human relatives that lived hundreds of thousands of years ago in southern Africa. Continued here

S19

Why Some Animals Thrive in Cities     Eat almost anything. Sleep almost anywhere. These, it seems, are the secrets to surviving in the city as a wild animal. Among the species that dominate urban spaces—pigeons, cockroaches, rats, foxes—these are the most obvious characteristics successful city dwellers have.But they aren’t the only tactics for urban survival. A new study has uncovered four very different sets of traits that animals use to prosper in the city. “There isn’t one-size-fits-all for how different species or different taxa respond to urbanization,” says Amy Hahs of the Green Infrastructure Research Group at the University of Melbourne, who led the research. Understanding how different types of animals adapt to the city in different ways, and what drives these changes, could help us improve urban biodiversity, and with it the overall health of our urban environment. Continued here

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S46

The Atlantic's October Cover Story: Senior Editor Jenisha Watts Writes About Her Escape From a Harrowing Childhood     Mitt Romney is leaving the Senate. The depths of cynicism and hypocrisy inside his own party drove the decision, McKay Coppins reports.After growing up in Lexington, Kentucky, Jenisha Watts came to New York City as a young journalist determined to make sure that no one would ever know her past. But Watts, a senior editor at The Atlantic, now writes with remarkable candor about the heartrending circumstances of her life for the first time in the cover story of The Atlantic’s October issue. In “Jenisha From Kentucky,” Watts details what it was like to grow up in a crack house in Lexington, and how she survived it. As a young child, Watts became a de facto parent to her four younger siblings; the children routinely witnessed crack use by their mother, Trina, as well as by neighbors and strangers. “Sometimes the cops would come, four or five at a time. My siblings and I would lie in bed as they walked through our dark apartment with flashlights, their staticky walkie-talkies impossible to understand. In the morning we’d see that they’d trashed the place: flipped mattresses onto the floor, pulled out drawers. My Aunt Soso says they once found drugs hidden in the cereal boxes.” Watts’s mother sometimes left the children home alone for long stretches of time without enough to eat. Eventually the children were separated, Watts to live with an aunt in Florida and then later with her grandmother back in Kentucky; her brothers and sisters went into foster care and group homes. Of her time in Florida, Watts writes: “I would walk down to a payphone near a convenience store where I could call my granny collect to ask about Trina and my siblings. That’s how I learned that the state had taken them away … They were all gone.” Continued here

S11

Bees 'Buzz' in More Ways Than You Might Think     A honeybee swarm has as much electric charge as a thundercloud, and the insects’ mass movements in the atmosphere might even have some influence on the weather.Jeff DelViscio: Hi Science, Quickly listeners. This is Jeff DelViscio, executive producer of the show. Continued here

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S29

How psychedelics may therapeutically alter the link between your two "selves"     When we think of altered states of consciousness, we tend to picture the brain or mind swirling in a psychedelic funhouse. This bias has influenced the scientific study of altered states, with psychedelic science focusing almost exclusively on the relationship between the mind and the brain. But what if consciousness has more to do with what’s below the neck than what’s between the ears? An emerging understanding of consciousness suggests that it may be rooted more deeply than cerebral interactions — specifically, in the body’s intrinsic sense of its internal state, or “interoception.” Psychedelics could offer a window into the relationship between interoception and consciousness, potentially enabling people to experience the intricate dance between the two in novel and beneficial ways. Continued here

S54

How to calm your nightmares | Psyche Guides     is a licensed psychologist in private practice. She provides telehealth services for adults with sleep, anxiety and stress-related concerns throughout California. Her education and training in behavioural sleep medicine occurred at the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.Nightmares are an almost universal experience. They can begin as young as age two and a half, and the majority of adults report having nightmares at least occasionally. While many people have infrequent, one-off nightmares, many others have repeated nightmares with a common theme or focus. As you can see in the following illustrations, there is considerable variety in the content and impact of nightmares; do any of these seem similar to your experiences? Continued here

S23

Autoworkers Prepare to Strike for a Place in the EV Future     Ethan Surgenavic was excited to begin work at a new electric vehicle battery-cell plant in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley last summer. The Ultium Cells plant is a joint venture of General Motors and South Korea’s LG, and he grew up in the area when GM was known for well-paid, unionized jobs. “I thought this might be my opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something great,” the HVAC technician says of his job on the leading edge of the EV boom. Then he started work.The lithium in EV batteries can react violently with water, and Surgenavic’s job involves controlling humidity in the battery plant’s rooms to precise levels. But he says wages are too low to attract enough qualified workers to maintain the huge building. When Ultium opened, production workers started at $16.50 an hour and maxed out at $20 an hour, a level far below GM’s own plants and one that 28 US senators called “a national disgrace” in a July letter to battery plant owners. Ultium staff voted to unionize with the United Auto Workers (UAW) in December, but are still bargaining their first contract. Chemical spills, exposures to toxic substances, and other safety problems have landed Ultium with $31,000 in fines from US federal regulators, with six investigations still open. Ultium spokesperson Katie Burdette says the company prioritizes safety and works with UAW-appointed safety representatives, but Surgenavic and others say the shiny green EV revolution isn’t looking so good for workers so far. Continued here

S2

The Myth of the CEO as Ultimate Decision Maker     Chief executives are responsible for guiding corporations, so the role inevitably requires making many decisions. But people overestimate the level of personal involvement CEOs have in this process. Instead of making decisions, CEOs tend to shape decisions, by designing the process, choosing when to participate directly, and monitoring the work — a selective process that mirrors the choices CEOs must make when carrying out other responsibilities. Continued here

S31

Unity's new "per-install" pricing enrages the game development community     For years, the Unity Engine has earned goodwill from developers large and small for its royalty-free licensing structure, which meant developers incurred no extra costs based on how well a game sold. That goodwill has now been largely thrown out the window due to Unity's Tuesday announcement of a new fee structure that will start charging developers on a "per-install" basis after certain minimum thresholds are met. Continued here

S52

What Mitt Romney Saw in the Senate     Mitt Romney is leaving the Senate. The depths of cynicism and hypocrisy inside his own party drove the decision, McKay Coppins reports.In an exclusive excerpt from my forthcoming biography of the senator, Romney: A Reckoning, he reveals what drove him to retire. Continued here

S58

Why Germany's Wild Boars Are Radioactive     Fallout from nuclear tests conducted in the mid-20th century may contribute to the high levels of radiation seen in the animals today, a new study findsFrom weapons tests to destructive accidents at power plants, human nuclear activity has contaminated the Earth with radioactive material. These unstable particles can spread long distances and remain in the environment for hundreds of years, accumulating in plants and the bodies of animals. Continued here

S6

Worker Safety Needs to Be Central to Your Company's Operations     Especially in high-hazard industries, there’s nothing more central to your firm’s operations than worker safety. By making worker safety central to a firm’s operations, not only are lives saved and injuries prevented, but there is a greater commitment among the entire workforce, from the CEO on down to the shop floor, to achieving operational excellence. In this article, the author highlights a unique strategic partnership that helped the electrical transmission and distribution construction industry control injuries and fatalities caused by exposures to workplace hazards. It identifies numerous best practices that any industry or firm can apply to reduce injury rates and improve worker safety, so that employees and your company can thrive. Continued here

S45

Rainbow Queen Encyclopedia     Mitt Romney is leaving the Senate. The depths of cynicism and hypocrisy inside his own party drove the decision, McKay Coppins reports.my ex wanted a pet pig, so we imagined it. even gave the thing a name, rubbed its invisible head before bed— Continued here

S48

Stress Drinking Has a Gender Divide     Mitt Romney is leaving the Senate. The depths of cynicism and hypocrisy inside his own party drove the decision, McKay Coppins reports.More than a decade ago, when Holly Whitaker worked a director-level job at a Silicon Valley start-up, insecurities haunted her. She feared never being enough, never getting ahead. “There was just an inability to be with myself,” she told me, “and that manifested as fear.” She often sought comfort in alcohol. The relief would start even as she anticipated drinking; at the first sip, she began to feel warm and right; numb, but also energized. Continued here

S28

Here's what your music preferences reveal about your personality     Every December since 2016, Spotify has run a hugely popular campaign where users get stats on which musicians and genres they listened to the most. The virality of the campaign lies in the fact that people think that the kind of music they listen to says something about them. Research linking personality types to music preferences suggests that they are right.Previous studies have hinted at a biological basis for music preferences. Hormones and environment shape the music someone likes. Scientists also have previously explored the relationships between particular music preferences and personality traits. A 2022 paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology looks at these relationships on a cross-cultural scale. Continued here

S30

The holiness of reality     For Julian Huxley, science was spiritual. The biologist, brother of the novelist Aldous Huxley and grandson of “Darwin’s Bulldog” Thomas Henry Huxley, thought evolutionary ideas hinted at humanity’s destiny: to safeguard the future of life on Earth and, by learning more about ourselves and the universe, expand the possibilities of humanity’s potential. Rejecting the idea of the supernatural gave him enormous “spiritual relief,” he wrote in his 1927 book Religion Without Revelation. Understanding reality scientifically was a religious endeavor. Part of what it meant to be spiritual, he wrote, was: Continued here

S3

How to Compete with a Fast-Growing Disruptor     In this episode, Harvard Business School professor Tatiana Sandino explains how OXXO CEO Eduardo Padilla responded to this strategic challenge. Instead of opening more stores as quickly as possible, he focused on improving the company’s culture and operations. The company implemented management systems across its locations and then used those systems to gain new economies of scale. Continued here

S26

In medieval Ireland, ships sailed across the sky     A tale from thirteenth-century Ireland: One day, when the people of Clonmacnoise were gathered in church, they spotted a ship sailing through the sky high above them. As they watched, the ship dropped its anchor, which scudded along the ground before catching on the church door.Soon a man came swimming from the firmament, trying to free the anchor. But the people of Clonmacnoise took hold of him and wouldn’t let him leave. The bishop realized that the man was drowning in the air, as if he was being held underwater, and ordered his congregation to let him go. Up swam the mysterious sailor, away into the air. Continued here

S25

Astronomers spot the first "bounce" in our Universe     If you were to look at the Universe on the absolute largest of cosmic scales, you’d find that galaxies cluster together in an enormous web of structure. Individual galaxies form along the threads of the web, with rich groups and clusters of galaxies forming at the nexuses where the threads meet. In between those threads are giant void regions, with far fewer galaxies than average, and some voids that are so deep they seem to harbor no galaxies at all. This web, to the best of our knowledge, is dominated by dark matter’s gravitational effects, but it’s only the normal matter — made of protons, neutrons, and electrons — that winds up forming the stars, gas, and dust that we can observe.However, there ought to be an extra structural effect that isn’t so easy to see: a clustering feature known as baryon acoustic oscillations. Dating back to the very early stages of cosmic history and caused by normal matter getting “bounced” away from a clustering center, it leaves an imprint that looks a bit like a cosmic bubble: where galaxies are more likely to be found a specific distance away from another rather than slightly closer or farther away. Although this feature has been seen statistically before, no individual “bounce” or “bubble” has ever been seen before. Continued here

S43

I Never Called Her Momma     Mitt Romney is leaving the Senate. The depths of cynicism and hypocrisy inside his own party drove the decision, McKay Coppins reports.This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here. Continued here

S50

Why Has a Useless Cold Medication Been Allowed on Shelves for Years?     Mitt Romney is leaving the Senate. The depths of cynicism and hypocrisy inside his own party drove the decision, McKay Coppins reports.You wake up with a stuffy nose, so you head to the pharmacy, where a plethora of options awaits in the cold-and-flu aisle. Ah, how lucky you are to live in 21st-century America. There’s Sudafed PE, which promises “maximum-strength sinus pressure and nasal congestion relief.” Sounds great. Or why not grab DayQuil in case other symptoms show up, or Tylenol Cold + Flu Severe should whatever it is get really bad? Could you have allergies instead? Good thing you can get Benadryl Allergy Plus Congestion, too. Continued here

S18

Becky Kennedy: The single most important parenting strategy     Everyone loses their temper from time to time — but the stakes are dizzyingly high when the focus of your fury is your own child. Clinical psychologist and renowned parenting whisperer Becky Kennedy is here to help. Not only does she have practical advice to help parents manage the guilt and shame of their not-so-great moments but she also models the types of conversations you can have to be a better parent. (Hint: this works in all other relationships too.) Bottom line? It's never too late to reconnect. Continued here

S49

Photos From Libya's Devastating Floods     On Sunday, a Mediterranean storm brought record-setting rainfall to much of Libya, filling rivers, overwhelming dams, and sweeping away entire neighborhoods in several coastal towns. Local authorities said that more than 5,100 people have been killed by the powerful flooding. Derna was one of the worst-hit cities after two dams failed and torrents of water rushed through its streets, destroying dozens of buildings. Foreign rescue crews are still arriving, lending assistance to local teams who are working to find any survivors among the debris. People look at the damage caused by flooding in Derna, eastern Libya, on September 11, 2023. # Continued here

S36

Calif. passes strongest right-to-repair bill yet, requiring 7 years of parts     California, the home to many of tech's biggest companies and the nation's most populous state, is pushing ahead with a right-to-repair bill for consumer electronics and appliances. After unanimous votes in the state Assembly and Senate, the bill passed yesterday is expected to move through a concurrence vote and be signed by Governor Gavin Newsom. Continued here

S57

Ancient Mosques Damaged in Morocco Earthquake     The country of Morocco is reeling from its deadliest earthquake in more than 60 years, a 6.8 magnitude event which has left more than 2,000 people dead. Much of the worst of the damage occurred in the ancient city of Marrakesh, 150 miles south of Casablanca, and the nearby Atlas Mountains. Marrakesh’s old city, or medina, has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1985, and the quake wreaked havoc on its buildings, some of which have stood for many hundreds of years. Marrakesh was first built in 1070 by Yūsuf ibn Tāshufīn of the Moroccan Almoravid empire, and the city served as the Almoravid capital before falling to another Muslim dynasty.  Continued here

S61

Leading Decongestant in Cold and Flu Medicines Doesn't Work, FDA Advisory Panel Says     Phenylephrine, a popular ingredient in over-the-counter remedies, is no better than a placebo, per the panelDespite its popularity, a key ingredient in many over-the-counter oral cold medicines is not effective at relieving nasal congestion, an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration voted on Tuesday. Continued here

S35

Biden called Arizona fab a "game-changer." Analyst calls it a "paperweight"     A new report has revealed that America may be quickly approaching a major roadblock in its bid to become a global chips leader by the end of the decade. Employees of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)—which is leagues ahead of competitors in mass production of advanced chips— told The Information that TSMC has no plans to build a packaging facility in the US. Continued here

S47

You Should Worry About the Data Retailers Collect About You     Mitt Romney is leaving the Senate. The depths of cynicism and hypocrisy inside his own party drove the decision, McKay Coppins reports.A man walks into a Minneapolis-area Target, angry about coupons his teenage daughter received for baby clothes and cribs. “Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?” he asks a store manager. Except, his daughter really was pregnant. Target had tuned a marketing-prediction model so tightly that it could successfully tell what was happening inside her body, before even the girl’s family knew. Continued here