M Mitchell Waldrop News Today

Exploring opportunities to enhance atrocity prevention and early warning through improved tracking and understanding of online false narratives

The 100 million Americans currently carrying medical or dental debt could get some relief, after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took steps to prohibit credit agencies from including that debt on credit reports. As Julia Char Gilbert - Connelly policy advocate with the Colorado Center on Law and Policy - explained, bad credit scores due to medical debt can create big problems. "Families are increasingly facing barriers to accessing rental housing, a credit card, certain form...

Fraud prevention experts are getting the word out in Idaho on how to avoid scams. Events across the state in October aim to help people identify and protect themselves from thieves. Cathy McDougall, director of outreach for AARP Idaho, said if you suspect someone of a con, it is best not to engage with them. ...

Maines new Office of Affordable Health Care holds its first public hearing this week, and people are being strongly encouraged to participate. Health insurance rates are increasing next year, and Mainers - like all Americans - continue to pay some of the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Ceilidh Shea, policy advocate with the nonprofit Consumers for Affordable Healthcare, said the hearing is a chance for Mainers to help lawmakers better understand their healthcare needs. ....

By M. Mitchell Waldrop for the National Academy of Science.Broadcast version by Eric Tegethoff for Washington News Service reporting for the Pulitzer Center-Public News Service Collaboration. The problem has gone by many names since the 2016 US presidential election first brought it to widespread attention-from "fake news," to "infodemic" during the COVID-19 pandemic, to "misinformation" in a slew of academic studies. ...

We have squandered 80 years on a wrong conception of how our economy works. There is much to fix…

In his keynote at the Technical.ly Builders Conference, CEO Chris Wink talks about emerging technologies, booming entrepreneurship and demography.

Science is the domain of logic, of data, of mathematics and argument and proof. Scientists are supposed to be trained to recognize their biases and then to ignore or compensate for them in order to discover reality in all its awful glory. Politics is not usually considered a domain of science as politics is almost…

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