The Supreme Court's landmark decision to bar colleges and universities from considering race as a specific basis for admission will make it more difficult for schools to achieve a diverse student population, civil rights leaders and education advocates say.

School’s out for the summer and, if you’ve got kiddos in tow, your house is

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 14, 2023--

The drought that has led to low levels along the Mississippi River is now threatening the quality of

There is no evidence to suggest using Facebook is detrimental to wellbeing, Oxford scientists have said, challenging the view that the social media platform is linked to psychological harm. Researchers from the University’s Oxford Internet Institute analysed data from nearly a million people across 72 countries over 12 years – in the largest study of its kind – to understand more about the impact of Facebook on wellbeing. Professor Andrew Przybylski, who co-led the research published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, said: “We examined the best available data carefully – and found they did not support the idea that Facebook membership is related to harm – quite the opposite. “In fact, our analysis indicates Facebook is possibly related to positive well-being.” The research looked at Facebook data from 2008 to 2019, going back to when the platform was in its early stages. “We examined 72 countries’ per capita active Facebook users in males and females in two age brackets, 13-34 years and 35+ years,” the researchers said. The results also showed the association between using Facebook and wellbeing was slightly more positive for males as well as for younger people. Writing in the research paper, the authors said: “Although reports of negative psychological outcomes associated with social media are common in academic and popular writing, evidence for harms is, on balance, more speculative than conclusive.” Professor Matti Vuorre, also of the Oxford Internet Institute, who co-led the study, said: “Our findings should help guide the debate surrounding social media towards more empirical research foundations. “We need more transparent collaborative research between independent scientists and the technology industry to better determine how, when and why modern online platforms might be affecting their users.” Commenting on the study, Peter Etchells, professor of psychology and science communication at Bath Spa University, said: “This is a fascinating study that attempts to link Facebook uptake with measures of mental wellbeing in a broad-strokes manner, using data from over 70 countries. “Contrary to popular sentiment, the researchers didn’t find a negative association between the two; instead, it was generally the case that there were positive associations between country-level Facebook uptake and mental wellbeing. “To my mind, the value in this study lies in proof of principle – it demonstrates that it’s possible to leverage industry data to address meaningful questions about how digital technology interacts with our mental health.” But Prof Etchells said there were some caveats associated with the findings – which the study authors have addressed. He said: “This is a descriptive study, and as such cannot tell us anything about causation – that is, we don’t know how, if, or to what extent, changes in Facebook adoption drive changes in mental wellbeing. “Wellbeing is a complex phenomenon, and even in the context of social media use, we need to be careful drawing any firm conclusions by looking at how people use a single platform such as Facebook.” Read More Move fast and beat Musk: The inside story of how Meta built Threads Japan's tech investor SoftBank trims losses and promises offensive turnaround Chatbots sometimes make things up. Not everyone thinks AI's hallucination problem is fixable Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

'They give me lag and sh*t, it is weird,' xQc said as he blamed his connection for his poor performance

To absolutely no one's surprise, Google's first-ever foldable smartphone has landed. The new Google Pixel

A UFO hunter claims there is a huge spaceship hidden beneath one of the world’s major landmarks because it is “too big to move”. Ross Coulthart, an investigative journalist and UFO expert, said a “non-human” spacecraft is being stashed beneath a purpose-built structure – though he won't tell us where it is. Speaking in an interview, he said: “Some of these objects are not capable of being moved because they’re too bloody big.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “I know exactly where it is. I thought it was b*****ks when I heard it, too.” Coulthart was previously a reporter on the news and current affairs program 60 Minutes on Channel Nine in Australia and has since gone on to write a number of books including In Plain Sight: An investigation into UFOs and Impossible Science. The UFO hunter community’s response to his claims has been a mixture of disbelief and desperation to find out where the landmark is. Some people seem to think it’s in South Korea, while others think it’s likely to be in an air defence military base. Coulthart has already made headlines this year after interviewing a whistleblower, who claimed that the US military had several crashed spacecraft in its possession, along with alien bodies. The Pentagon has said it hasn't discovered any information to substantiate this claim – but Congress is taking it seriously. In a twist that would have made even fans of The X Files raise an eyebrow, the Congressional House Oversight Committee is to hold a hearing on the issue next week after Republican congressmen and women promised to look deeper into the issue. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was asked on Monday if he believes in aliens, in light of the hearing. "I will continue to see," McCarthy said. "But I think if we had found a UFO, I think the Department of Defense would tell us because they would probably want to request more money." "I'd love to see whatever facts and information we have," McCarthy added. "I'm very supportive of letting the American people see what we have, where we go." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Very few new users were attracted by the anticipated launch of Twitter rival Threads’ web application, new data suggests. Instagram’s Threads, launched in early July, swiftly became the fastest-growing app in the world and initially posed as a legitimate rival to Elon Musk’s platform Twitter, now rebranded as X. Though launched without key features of its rival, its early strategic roll out at a key time when Twitter was facing widespread backlash for policy changes under Mr Musk helped Threads quickly accumulate users. But weeks since its launch, Threads lacked one of the most basic features of social networks – to be able to use it outside of an app. Last week, the Threads web app was finally rolled out, with the platform’s chief and Instagram boss Adam Mosseri announcing that the web experience was available for everyone at threads.net. “Let us know what you think,” he said. While in the US, Threads’ website use jumped up by a fifth over the past week compared to the week prior, how this traffic may have contributed to the onboarding of new users remains unclear. Globally, the traffic increase to the platform via the website during this period was also only 3 per cent, according to digital intelligence firm Similarweb. In terms of other parameters as well, Threads’ traffic appears worrying. Mobile intelligence firm Sensor Tower reported earlier this month that daily active users on Threads dropped over 80 per cent since the platform’s launch, with only 8 million users using the app daily. There isn’t much data to also suggest there’s a rapid influx of new users signing up to join Threads since its web app launch. Similarweb speculates that much of the new Threads website visitors in the US were likely just older users moving from the app to the web. The Meta-owned app is continuing to test and roll out new features to woo in more users. The company is also starting to test keyword search in Australia and New Zealand. Mr Mosseri said the tests began on Thursday, and would expand to countries including the US “soon”. “Get excited – search is coming to Threads,” Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg posted on Threads along with a GIF of Vin Diesel from the Fast and Furious franchise saying, “I bet you gonna enjoy this.” Read More Threads launches on the web for everyone – apart from Europeans Musk admits X may be doomed to fail as new glitch wipes out pictures from former Twitter platform Twitter/X indicates it will start collecting ‘biometric information’ and ‘employment history’ Threads launches on the web for everyone – apart from Europeans Meta could finally launch Threads feature everyone is waiting for Elon Musk became ‘anti-woke’ because of his daughter’s gender transition, book claims

Australia’s prime minister is likely to face some pointed questions over climate action and a nuclear submarine deal

A prankster wearing a transparent bin bag and shower cap made his way down the catwalk at New York Fashion Week before being bundled away by security. The man can be seen checking over his shoulder before strutting his stuff in front of the audience - who appeared not to notice he was an intruder. YouTuber Fred Beyer uploaded footage of the incident - which happened earlier this month - to his channel on 13 September. He walked the catwalk during a fashion show hosted by Creators Inc, an agency for social media influencers.

In London, climate change is increasingly reflected in how much it costs to buy or rent real estate.