In this "Worth Your Time" segment, Dr. Bernard Harris marks his 15th anniversary of first being the African-American to walk in space by announcing a free summer science camps for more than 1,500 low-income Houston children.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Are You Ready for Mind Games?
by Emru Townsend
If you thought eye control was freaky, you'd better sit down: San Francisco startup Emotiv Systems has developed a controller (the pictured headset is the developer version) that use sensors to read your thoughts. No more fiddling with a d-pad; just think "frag that alien with my grenade launcher" and you're blowing up bug-eyed monsters before you know it. Read more...
Also read:
Mind Control Game
Also read:
Mind Control Game
Study: Charter Schools Increasing Racial Segregation in Classrooms
AMY GOODMAN: While the charter school movement is growing, some concerns are being raised about the system. A new study by UCLA’s Civil Rights Project suggests charter school growth is increasing classroom segregation. Seven out of ten black charter school students attend schools with extremely low numbers of white students. Black students account for 32 percent of charter school enrollment nationwide, twice the percentage enrolled in public schools. The UCLA report is entitled “Charter Schools’ Political Success is a Civil Rights Failure.”
Gary Orfield joins us now on the telephone. He’s co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, author of many books including School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back? and Dismantling Desegregation: The Quiet Reversal of Brown v. Board of Education.
Gary Orfield, welcome to Democracy Now! Explain the results of your study. Read transcript
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Caribbean Series facing a youth movement
By Jesse Sanchez
It seems necessary for Puello and the confederation -- made up of the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela -- to focus on youth. The Major League stars are often prohibited by their teams from participating in the Caribbean Series and a full Winter League season, because the big league clubs want to protect their investment. In addition, the new Winter League agreement between Major League Baseball and the Caribbean Confederation adds restrictions to players to protect them from being overworked, and it could reduce the pool of players in the future.
Here's something else to consider: Sometimes star players do not want to play. The winter is vacation time for some established players, and some players want to work out on their own. Read more...
Protecting Youth in Prisons From Violence and Abuse
detention centers with virtually no protection but their own defenses.
When no one is guarding their safety and well-being, youth in custody
are easy prey to sexual victimization and rape.
As Mr. Kristof
says, ending the criminal abuse of youthful offenders is essential to
their rehabilitation. When minors in custody cannot trust adults in
whose care they are placed, the resilience of youth that helps them
resist negative peer pressure, and develop a positive sense of their
own potential and future, is broken. Read more...
Editorial - Boy Scouts a steady influence for millions of youth
The Boy Scouts are 100 years old today. 
Ceremonies are scheduled today around the nation and here in the Cape Fear region, honoring an organization that has had a profound impact on generations of young men and their families. A hundred years is quite a milestone, but even more impressive is how many boys have at one time or another worn the Scouting uniform. Read more...
Survey shows today's kids are making better decisions about life
More kids doing right thing, survey says
"(The survey) paints an encouraging picture about a generation of youth responsible to themselves and others, who value diversity, acceptance and community involvement," the researchers said in their report. "(It) also shows that young people today are in many ways more committed to these values than were their predecessors 20 years ago."
For example, on the issue of diversity, the researchers say a girl from Austin, Texas, told them, "I would like to be an accepting person - a person who is open to all kinds of ideas and accepts people for who they are. They shouldn't have to hide any part of themselves around me."
In addition, 59% of the kids surveyed said being around people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds is important to them.
Among 7th through 12th graders, the researchers say they also found that:
79% of the kids said they'd volunteer in their communities.
76% said they'd give to charity. Read more...
"(The survey) paints an encouraging picture about a generation of youth responsible to themselves and others, who value diversity, acceptance and community involvement," the researchers said in their report. "(It) also shows that young people today are in many ways more committed to these values than were their predecessors 20 years ago."
For example, on the issue of diversity, the researchers say a girl from Austin, Texas, told them, "I would like to be an accepting person - a person who is open to all kinds of ideas and accepts people for who they are. They shouldn't have to hide any part of themselves around me."
In addition, 59% of the kids surveyed said being around people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds is important to them.
Among 7th through 12th graders, the researchers say they also found that:
79% of the kids said they'd volunteer in their communities.
76% said they'd give to charity. Read more...
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Girl, 7, gets OK to be samba queen in Rio Carnival
A family court judge ruled Wednesday that a 7-year-old girl should be allowed to samba before a crowd of thousands as a Carnival drum corps queen, a coveted role normally reserved for sultry models.
Little Julia Lira is scheduled to perform for the packed Sambadrome stadium — and for millions more around the country via live television — early Monday morning when the Viradouro samba group parades. Read more…
Report: Hundreds forced into labor, sex in Ohio
By MATT LEINGANG
About 1,000 American-born children are forced into the sex trade in Ohio every year and about 800 immigrants are sexually exploited and pushed into sweatshop-type jobs, a new report on human trafficking in the state said Wednesday.
Ohio's weak laws on human trafficking, its growing demand for cheap labor and its proximity to the Canadian border are key contributors to the illegal activity, according to a report by the Trafficking in Persons Study Commission. Read more…
About 1,000 American-born children are forced into the sex trade in Ohio every year and about 800 immigrants are sexually exploited and pushed into sweatshop-type jobs, a new report on human trafficking in the state said Wednesday.Ohio's weak laws on human trafficking, its growing demand for cheap labor and its proximity to the Canadian border are key contributors to the illegal activity, according to a report by the Trafficking in Persons Study Commission. Read more…
Scientists find first genes linked to stuttering
By STEPHANIE NANO
"In terms of mythbusters, this is really an important step forward," said Jane Fraser, president of the Stuttering Foundation.
Researchers taking part in a government-funded study discovered mutations in three genes that appear to cause the speech problem in some people. Stuttering tends to run in families, and previous research suggested a genetic connection. But until now, researchers had not been able to pinpoint any culprit genes. Read more…
Stuttering Foundation: http://www.stutteringhelp.org
Childhood obesity linked to early death: US study
Being obese as a child increases the risk of dying before you reach 55, says a study published Wednesday, a day after US First Lady Michelle Obama launched a program to fight childhood obesity amid warnings it is shortening lives. Out of 4,857 non-diabetic Native American children aged five to 20 who took part in the study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 166 died before they reached the age of 55 of disease or self-inflicted injury such as alcohol intoxication or drug use -- called "endogenous causes". Read more...
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Youth to Youth surveying ads on Super Bowl
Results from the Drug-Free Action Alliance Super Bowl Survey 2009 revealed that two of the top three "most memorable" commercials, according to middle and high school students, were beer commercials.
That falls in line with studies suggesting that alcohol commercials target youth. Read more…
Web Addiction Soars Among China's Youth, Survey Says
Owen Fletcher
The number of young Chinese addicted to the Internet leaped to 24 million last year, a survey showed, as state media and some Chinese parents fret over social ills said to be linked to the Web.
Online games are often seen as a main cause of Internet obsession among adolescents in China, and state media have blamed them for contributing to problems as wide-ranging as teen pregnancy and violent crime.
The number of Web-addicted youths was nearly double the figure from 2005… Read more…
The number of young Chinese addicted to the Internet leaped to 24 million last year, a survey showed, as state media and some Chinese parents fret over social ills said to be linked to the Web.Online games are often seen as a main cause of Internet obsession among adolescents in China, and state media have blamed them for contributing to problems as wide-ranging as teen pregnancy and violent crime.
The number of Web-addicted youths was nearly double the figure from 2005… Read more…
The Yankees hope to inspire Chinese youth with trophy
The New York Yankees showed off the World Series trophy in China's capital Wednesday, hoping to inspire young Chinese to aspire to winning baseball's greatest prize.
Created Equal: Part Two
by: Michelle Ashworth
When Lilly got out of prison, he decided to take responsibility and change his lifestyle.
"When I started to basically feel like the life I was choosing was not worth it, the consequences the results of my actions were too heavy and I didn't want to bear that load any longer."
That's when he started the group Decipher, a youth outreach program here in Abilene. Decifer builds connections with Abilene's mislead youth. Here group leaders share their own personal struggles and triumphs, in the hope to steer teens in the right direction.
"We took the premise that if we approach youth without being judgmental and we opened up to them about our own personal decisions that may have led to some unfortunate consequences that they would be inspired to relate to us and open up to us in return," said Lilly.
As an ex-convict, Lilly is now using his previous mistakes as a lifeline to teens, so they understand they're not alone in their struggles. Read more and watch video…
When Lilly got out of prison, he decided to take responsibility and change his lifestyle. "When I started to basically feel like the life I was choosing was not worth it, the consequences the results of my actions were too heavy and I didn't want to bear that load any longer."
That's when he started the group Decipher, a youth outreach program here in Abilene. Decifer builds connections with Abilene's mislead youth. Here group leaders share their own personal struggles and triumphs, in the hope to steer teens in the right direction.
"We took the premise that if we approach youth without being judgmental and we opened up to them about our own personal decisions that may have led to some unfortunate consequences that they would be inspired to relate to us and open up to us in return," said Lilly.
As an ex-convict, Lilly is now using his previous mistakes as a lifeline to teens, so they understand they're not alone in their struggles. Read more and watch video…
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