Statutes
Canada proposes teen social media ban - with workaround for tech firms
Canada is proposing a social media ban for children and teenagers under the age of 16, mirroring a similar law passed in Australia late last year. But unlike Australia's law, tech firms could sidestep Canada's ban if they demonstrate they have policies to minimise harm to minors. The law includes sweeping measures to regulate AI chatbots and curtail harmful content online. It would create a regulator to ensure tech firms comply. Some free speech groups have warned it would expand censorship.
Canada announces bill banning social media for anyone under 16
The regulation also imposes new safety expectations on'AI chatbot services.' Canada is joining Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia, in banning teenagers from using social media. The Safe Social Media Act introduced by Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, bans children under the age of 16 from having a social media account and introduces new regulatory expectations for social media services and AI platforms. Under the legislation, social media services are required to design their products to be safer for children. Platforms will also be expected to remove deepfakes and content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor.
Rare hybrid sea turtle released back into the ocean after rescue
Earl grey is the offspring of two different species. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Scientists will monitor Earl Grey's progress. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .
Russia to task bankers with shooting down Ukrainian drones
Russian lawmakers have passed a bill to allow trained bank employees to shoot down Ukrainian drones amid an increase in the number of attacks. The draft legislation, which would see banks across Russia install electronic jamming systems while selected employees would shoot down incoming unmanned aircraft, passed in its third and final reading in the lower house Duma on Tuesday, according to the state-run TASS news agency. The bill says the legislation is needed to protect Bank of Russia facilities, including those located in the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation - referring to the four eastern Ukrainian regions that Moscow has announced it has annexed despite not controlling them fully - amid the increasing number of sabotage and terrorist attacks. Under the plan, banks would finance the installation of the equipment on their premises. With banks in almost every town, their incorporation into Russia's air defences could help expand its cover.
Fans don't cool rooms and 3 other myths about home energy conservation
More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. A fan can help you feel cooler, but won't lower the temperature of a room. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy . Want to spend less on energy?
Hamsters run on wheels for a surprisingly joyful reason
Even wild animals enjoy a good wheel. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Turns out, that midnight "workout" might not be boredom or restlessness after all. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .
This phallic fungus also smells like rotting flesh
Charles Darwin's daughter once hunted the putrid'devil's dipstick.' More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Also called devil's dipstick, this native fungi are found in most of eastern North America. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .
Thailand plans reform of up to 7,000 business rules to tempt foreign investment
Thailand risks losing ground to regional rivals such as Vietnam and Indonesia, which have moved more aggressively to streamline regulatory regimes and court foreign capital. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul's government plans a sweeping reform of more than 7,000 business regulations, aiming to cut bureaucratic hurdles and accelerate investment as it tries to compete for global capital. The planned rollback of ministerial rules and secondary regulations, many of which have accumulated into a significant burden on companies, marks a concerted push to reposition Thailand as a more competitive destination for multinational firms reconfiguring supply chains. The effort was detailed in a government statement Monday and comes as Thailand risks losing ground to regional rivals such as Vietnam and Indonesia, which have moved more aggressively to streamline regulatory regimes and court foreign capital. "Regulations intended to guide have, in practice, become costs," said government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek.
Expectation-Maximization as a Spectrally Governed Relaxation Flow
The expectation--maximization (EM) algorithm combines global monotonicity, local linear convergence, and strong practical robustness, but these features are usually analyzed separately. Global descent is nonlinear, whereas local convergence is governed by the spectrum of the linearized EM map. How these two levels fit into a single dynamical picture has remained less transparent. We make explicit the latent-variable operator that connects them. Along the EM trajectory, the likelihood increment admits a global energy decomposition in terms of posterior-relative entropy. Linearization at a nondegenerate maximizer $θ^\ast$ then reveals the local operator \[ \mathcal G_{θ^\ast}=I-DT(θ^\ast), \] which coincides with both the missing-information ratio and the information-geometric Hessian of the observed likelihood. This operator provides a unified description of local contraction, posterior rigidity, and geometric curvature. Its spectrum yields a sharp characterization of local convergence and naturally leads to an optimal scalar relaxation rule for locally accelerated EM. These results place global descent, local spectral behavior, and optimal local relaxation within a common dynamical framework.
US Supreme Court temporarily lifts ban on abortion pill mail delivery
The United States Supreme Court has temporarily reinstated a rule allowing an abortion pill to be prescribed through telemedicine and dispensed through the mail, lifting a judicial ban that narrowed access to the medication nationwide. Justice Samuel Alito issued an interim order on Monday, pausing for one week a decision by the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals to reimpose an older federal rule requiring an in-person clinician visit to receive mifepristone. The Supreme Court's action, called an "administrative stay", gives the justices more time to review emergency requests by two manufacturers of mifepristone to ensure that the drug can be provided via telehealth and the mail while the legal challenge plays out. Alito ordered Louisiana to respond to the drugmakers' requests by Thursday and indicated that the administrative stay would expire on May 11. The court would be expected to extend the interim stay or formally decide the requests by that time.