Discriminatory design and decision-making affects all aspects of our lives. Industrial design plays a role by steering human activities. For example, benches designed with prominent arm rests or shallow seats discourage homeless people from sleeping on them. This phenomenon is known as “hostile architecture." As one critic points out, it says a lot about a culture when its solution to homelessness is to put spikes on public surfaces.   read more

Satchell says whenever the app is open, even running in the background, it turns on microphones in fans' smartphones and records them while scanning for audio signals to pinpoint their location for marketing purposes. "Her phone was present in locations and personal and private situations not generally accessible to the public where the expectation was that her conversations were to remain private," the complaint states.   read more

In a class action that sounds like a Tom Clancy novel, a patient claims that implanted heart devices can be attacked by hackers. The security flaws not only put patients' information at risk, but the heart implants are vulnerable to attack "in ways previously not possible." For instance,someone could "modify the implant without necessarily being close to the victim," Ross says. "Such attacks can put at risk the safety of the patient with the implantable device, with fatal consequences..."   read more

Bee expert Marla Spivak said the governor's order "puts Minnesota miles ahead of all the other states in our nation. ... Some may think that these actions go too far, but I honestly don't know a farmer, a nursery operator, a grower, a pesticide applicator that wants to kill a bee or monarch while they're controlling their crop pests." Said Gov. Dayton: "We're not trying to ban anybody's practices or businesses. but there's a lot more we can do...to protect the pollinators."   read more

Even before the latest incidents, Cook had many misadventures. He got bitten by an alligator that he "accidentally" caught while fishing. And he was bitten by his friend's Burmese python, which he was trying to feed. "It's been a rough four years," he said. "Maybe the higher up ... is trying to get your attention that maybe something is going wrong. Or maybe I've simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time my whole life." He is unemployed because the company fired him due to his absences.   read more

Regulators are considering a cap of 60, 65 or 68 mph. Whatever the speed limit, drivers would be physically prevented from exceeding it. The government said capping speeds for new large vehicles will reduce the 1,115 fatal crashes involving heavy trucks that occur each year and save $1 billion in fuel costs. While the news is welcomed by some safety advocates, many truckers said such changes could lead to dangerous scenarios where they are traveling at much lower speeds than everyone else.   read more

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has an idea for making colleges cheaper — ditch the instructors and start playing online videos for students. "Why do you have to keep paying different lecturers to teach the same course? You get one solid lecturer and put it up online," Johnson said.   read more

The study found that a vast majority of the women are poor, African-American or Latino, and have drug or alcohol problems. About 80% have children. Most have been charged with low-level offenses, including drug or property crimes like shoplifting, but many are in jail for violating parole or for failed drug tests “Once a rarity, women are now held in jails in nearly every county — a stark contrast to 1970, when almost three-quarters of counties held not a single woman in jail,” the report said.   read more

The increase has been a boon to medical students and researchers, who dissect cadavers in anatomy class or use them to practice surgical techniques or test new devices and procedures. "Not too long ago, it was taboo. Now we have thousands of registered donors," said Mark Zavoyna. "Funerals are expensive. That certainly has something to do with it. Of course, it almost has this snowball effect, where you get five people to donate, and then their families tell another 25 people."   read more

Administration officials said the new rules would cut 1.1 billion metric tons of carbon emissions through 2027 and represent a global benchmark for reducing vehicle-exhaust pollutants linked to climate change. The carbon-reduction target is 10% more than when the rules were proposed last year. The trucking industry will save $170 billion in fuel costs through 2027 and reduce petroleum consumption by 2 billion barrels. “We are way out ahead of any other country,” said EPA chief Gina McCarthy.   read more

Medical marijuana will be available for any condition that is severe in which other medical treatments have been ineffective. Patients with a chronic medical condition that causes severe appetite loss, chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures or severe muscle spasms can have access, as well as people with PTSD. Further, Maryland will allow not only physicians but nurse practitioners, dentists, podiatrists and nurse midwives to certify patients as eligible to receive marijuana.   read more

Fuentes said Naruto "likely made the connection between manipulation of the camera as an item and the sound of the shutter and changing image in the lens as the shutter clicked." Although Naruto may not understand the concept of a photo, Fuentes said, the monkey intentionally engaged with the camera by observing human behavior and then using the device while making funny faces, clicking the shutter button and responding to camera noises.   read more

They "were repeatedly awakened from their sleep or disturbed from their daily activities by local, state or federal officials looking for a runaway child or a missing person, or evidence of a computer fraud, or call of an attempted suicide," the family said. Police got "reports about fraud, scams, stolen accounts, missing persons and stolen vehicles all related to the residence." After five years of this digitally inspired hell, reporter Kashmir Hill figured it out...   read more

The new data came as a relief to researchers, who had been taken aback by a rise in the nation’s death rate in 2015, an event that has happened only a few times in the past 25 years. It was propelled in part by an increase in mortality from drug overdoses. A flattening of the mortality rate from heart disease meant that rises in the death rate from drugs were no longer being offset. Last year was the first time since 1993 that the death rate from heart disease did not decline.   read more

Denver police will begin collecting racial information about the people they contact following recent protests and complaints about a lack of accountability. Chief White said it's difficult to determine if racial profiling is an issue without the facts. "Officers need to know and citizens need to know how everyone's actions are going to be held accountable," he said. Community activists rejected claims by authorities it would be too time-consuming to collect information on traffic stops.   read more

Why are there so few expert lawyers arguing on behalf of criminal defendants? Justice Sotomayor said that the main factor is vanity: Many criminal defense lawyers are too reluctant to cede the glamour of Supreme Court arguments to specialists. “I think it’s malpractice for any lawyer who thinks, ‘This is my one shot before the Supreme Court, and I have to take it,'” she said. Also tilting the playing field against criminal defendants: The Supreme Court itself is dominated by former prosecutors.   read more