Lifeboat Foundation

After years of frustrating pushback, Africa may soon be able to declare itself polio-free.

The disease that affects mostly children under 5 and can lead to irreversible paralysis, has been all but wiped out in Africa — except for in Nigeria. There, religious leaders often interfered with vaccination campaigns, but thanks to increased efforts, the country hasn’t seen a new polio case since July of last year, NPR’s Goats and Soda reported.

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“It would have been crazy to say just a few years ago. But today, Google produces better-designed software than any other tech behemoth. If you don’t believe that, then set down your Apple-flavored Kool-Aid. Take a cleansing breath, open your mind, and compare Android and iOS.”

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“The maker of the Kindle is going to flip the formula used for reimbursing some of the authors who depend on it for sales. Instead of paying these authors by the book, Amazon will soon start paying authors based on how many pages are read—not how many pages are downloaded, but how many pages are displayed on the screen long enough to be parsed.” Read More

[The Washington Post] The explosion was the third failed attempt to resupply the space station with cargo in recent months.

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California’s Assembly on Thursday approved a hotly contested bill requiring that nearly all public schoolchildren be vaccinated, clearing one of its last major legislative obstacles before the measure heads to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown.

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“We (“we” meaning robots, at least at first) need to do lots of lunar experiments. What’s the nature of the Moon’s poles? Where is the water stored? We can answer those questions using robots—a couple of surface rovers, like Curiosity on Mars. These rovers can measure temperatures, slopes, surface properties, and the measurements of existing ice. Once we figure out a way to locate this vital resource on the Moon, the real progress can begin.” Read more

Interest in Nootropics has grown exponentially over recent years within the health conscious communities and is still a trend moving upwards as I write this. Nootropics are essentially smart drugs that can be bought over the counter or online at retail prices below $50. The majority of Nootropics are cognitive enhancers, that is they are…

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“These are long-term trends that began decades ago, says David Autor, an MIT economist who has studied ‘job polarization’—the disappearance of middle-skill jobs even as demand increases for low-paying manual work on the one hand and highly skilled work on the other. This ‘hollowing out’ of ­the middle of the workforce, he says, ‘has been going on for a while.’ Nevertheless, the recession of 2007–2009 may have sped up the destruction of many relatively well-paid jobs requiring repetitive tasks that can be automated.”

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