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New AI chatbot tutors could upend student learning

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:42:47 GMT

PALO ALTO, Calif. — A dozen students huddled at communal classroom tables one morning this spring, their gazes fixed on math lessons on their laptops.The sixth graders at Khan Lab School, an independent school with an elementary campus in Palo Alto, California, were working on quadratic equations, graphing functions, Venn diagrams. But when they ran into questions, many did not immediately summon their teacher for help.They used a text box alongside their lessons to request help from Khanmigo, an experimental chatbot tutor for schools that uses artificial intelligence.The tutoring bot quickly responded to one student, Zaya, by asking her to identify specific data points in a chart. Then Khanmigo coaxed her to use the data points to solve her math question.“It’s very good at walking you through the problem step by step,” Zaya said. “Then it congratulates you every time it helps you solve a problem.”Khan Lab School students are among the first schoolchildren in the United States...

How California is helping save the next generation of abortion doctors

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:42:47 GMT

For decades, abortion education has been mandatory in the training of ob-gyn doctors.Now, a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, it is increasingly unavailable.With abortion access vanishing in almost half of the country, Bay Area medical-training programs have launched a deliberate and concerted counteroffensive, hosting and helping future doctors from states where access is restricted. The goal is twofold: to ensure the nation doesn’t lose a generation of providers, and to arm doctors everywhere with the expertise to care for women who, now more than ever, need to understand the new complexities of being pregnant.“It’s key that we learn how to counsel our patients on all of their options,” said 29-year-old Dr. Anita Vasudevan, who left her home state of Texas for UC San Francisco-sponsored abortion training at a primary care residency program at Sutter Santa Rosa Family Medicine. “Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because it can be ...

Opinion: Climate leadership means funding nature-based solutions

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:42:47 GMT

The California Legislature recently passed a budget bill that includes hundreds of millions of dollars for nature-based solutions to the climate crisis. We applaud the investments in climate resilience and natural resources, especially the State Coastal Conservancy, which has had a major impact on the Bay Area’s landscapes. We encourage the governor to support this budget with his signature. It includes the kind of investments that need to become a consistent component of future budgets.Climate change is here and happening now. From nonstop atmospheric rivers to orange, smoke-filled skies, every Bay Area resident has experienced some of the impacts. And the impacts are only going to worsen. The good news is that solutions are available if we choose to act and if our elected leaders invest public funds. Now is the time to mobilize at the pace and scale needed to address the biggest challenge of our lifetime. The state budget is one important step in that direction.We are ready to tak...

Bay Area’s 3 big cities all vying to be Bay FC’s long-term hometown

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:42:47 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — There’s yet another territorial battle shaping up between the cities of Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose.Now the Bay Area’s three largest cities are vying to become the future home of Bay FC.The National Women’s Soccer League’s newest franchise is set to kick off in the spring of 2024 at a temporary home, which will likely be the San Jose Earthquakes’ home of PayPal Park.And while there is still so much for Bay FC to do in the run-up to that first match next spring, Alan Waxman, co-founder and CEO of Sixth Street and co-chair of Bay FC, has made it clear that the organization wants its own training facility and stadium in the long-term future.“You can’t be a world-class franchise without having a world-class practice stadium, because that’s where the players live,” Waxman told this news organization. “And ultimately, you can’t be world class without having your own stadium. And we’re playing to win.”The desire for a stadium specific for a women’s team may have see...

Elias: California insurance chief mustn’t cave in to industry he regulates

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:42:47 GMT

You would never know it by watching the almost ubiquitous television commercials advertising State Farm Insurance to viewers on a wide variety of telecasts.Related ArticlesLocal Opinion | Elias: Newsom should appeal decision to free Manson Family member Local Opinion | Opinion: Valley Water project protects Milpitas residents, businesses from flooding Local Opinion | Opinion: Saratoga mayor offers safety tips for summer Local Opinion | Opinion: Expanding RYDE enables senior mobility and empowerment Local Opinion | Elias: Newsom would be wise to stick with his planned transit funding cut State Farm has fired the first shot in what might become a war against California home and apartment owners, though, one with eventual costs amounting to billions of dollars. Allstate Insurance one week later admitted that it has already joined in.The State Farm strike came on May 26, when it announced to little fanfare t...

Putin responde desafiante a rebelión del Grupo Wagner: “Una puñalada por la espalda”

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:42:47 GMT

El presidente de Rusia, Vladímir Putin, prometió el sábado que defenderá su país frente a la rebelión armada declarada por el propietario del contratista militar privado Grupo Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, que dirigió a de sus tropas desde Ucrania hasta una ciudad clave al sur de Moscú.El motín, que Putin calificó como “una puñalada por la espalda”, era la mayor amenaza a su liderazgo en más de dos décadas en el poder.El ejército privado de Prigozhin parece controlar el cuartel general militar en Rostov del Don, una ciudad a más de 660 millas de la capital rusa, desde donde se gestionan las operaciones en Ucrania, según un reporte de inteligencia del Ministerio de Defensa de Gran Bretaña.No está claro cómo pudo Prigozhin entrar a la ciudad rusa ni cuántos soldados lo acompañaban. Crisis en Rusia: Moscú impone medidas antiterroristas, mientras Grupo Wagner sigue en rebeldía Rusia investiga al jefe mercenario del Grupo Wagner por supuestas amenaza...

“Podríamos haber sido nosotros”, dicen padre e hijo que se retiraron del viaje en el submarino Titán por preocupaciones de seguridad

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:42:47 GMT

(CNN )– Un padre y su hijo renunciaron a sus asientos en el submarino Titán por preocupaciones de seguridad solo unas semanas antes de su catastrófica implosión, le dijeron a CNN.El inversionista Jay Bloom y su hijo Sean dijeron que ambos estaban preocupados por el sumergible y su capacidad para viajar a las profundidades del océano antes del viaje planeado.Sus asientos finalmente fueron para Shahzada y Suleman Dawood, el padre y el hijo que estaban a bordo cuando el barco implosionó y estaban entre los cinco pasajeros que perecieron.“Vi muchas banderas rojas. Solo estaba destinado a cinco personas. Simplemente no pensé que pudiera sobrevivir sumergiéndose tan bajo en el océano”, dijo Sean, de 20 años, a Erin Burnett de CNN este viernes por la noche.Recordó haber visto un video de Stockton Rush, director ejecutivo de OceanGate, la compañía que ofrece la expedición en aguas profundas, caminando por el sumergible y sus características.OceanGate promocionó su submarino como segur...

Los últimos minutos del sumergible Titan, y la paloma “mutante”: lo más insólito de la semana

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:42:47 GMT

Si crees que ya lo viste todo, estás equivocado. Estas son las noticias más insólitas de esta semana. ¿CÓMO HABRÍAN SIDO LOS ÚLTIMOS MINUTOS EN EL SUMERGIBLE TITAN?Tras confirmarse el jueves la muerte de los cinco tripulantes del sumergible Titán, a casi una milla del naufragio más famoso del mundo, el Titanic, la gran pregunta es ¿cómo ocurrieron los hechos y cómo fueron los últimos minutos de los cinco tripulantes que iban a bordo?“Ellos ni se enteraron que la cápsula implosionó y que lamentablemente ellos estaban bajando y mientras estaban bajando la presión aumenta obviamente, toda la estructura pues simplemente colapsó y con ellos adentro lamentablemente, eso fue lo que ocurrió”, dijo Andrés Tremante, profesor universitario y experto en rescates.Un vehículo de Boston hecho por la empresa Pelagic Research Services en Cape Cod fue el encargado de encontrar los restos del sumergible; ahora el reto es ubicar los restos de las 5 víctimas.PARAMÉDICO ADOPTA A BEBÉ ABANDONADAUn bo...

What to expect during the 2024 total solar eclipse

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:42:47 GMT

(CNN) — Sky-gazers across North America are in for a treat in 2024 when a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the United States and Canada.The highly anticipated celestial event doesn’t occur until April 8, but eclipse fans are already booking hotels within the path of totality, and experts suggest making plans now so as not to miss out.That’s likely because a total solar eclipse won’t be visible across the contiguous US again until August 2044. (It’s been nearly six years since the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017.)Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming eclipse.What is a total solar eclipse?A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, completely blocking the sun’s face.Those within the path of totality, or locations where the moon’s shadow will completely cover the sun, will see a total solar eclipse. People outside the path of totality will still be able to see a partial solar eclipse, where the moon only blocks part of the sun...

EU countries bordering Russia on alert after mutiny against Moscow

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:42:47 GMT

EU countries bordering Russia were on alert Saturday, with some beefing up their border security, after the Wagner paramilitary group seized control of a strategic Russian city and threatened to move on Moscow.The insurrection by the mercenary group came after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin declared war on Moscow’s defense ministry in the early hours of Saturday morning, claiming Kremlin officials had killed thousands of his soldiers. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the move “treason” and vowed to “neutralize” the threat in a televised address.Estonia and Latvia have stepped up their border security in response, according to the countries’ governments, while Latvia suspended visa applications and entry to the country from Russia.“Visa or border entry [for] Russians leaving Russia due to current events won’t be considered,” Latvian Foreign Minister and incoming President Edgars Rinkēvičs wrote on Twitter. He added that there was “no direc...