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🟢Is it possible to lose weight fast?
#Education #Food #Health #TED_Ed #Animation #Human_Body
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🟢Is it possible to lose weight fast?
In the wealthiest circles of Victorian England, bizarre fads ran rampant. But perhaps none was as strange as the tapeworm diet, in which dieters swallowed an unhatched tapeworm and let it grow inside them by consuming undigested meals. Obviously, this is an exceptionally dangerous and unhealthy way to manage your weight. However, while modern fad diets aren't usually this extreme, they do promise similar results; specifically, losing weight fast. So, are there any fast diets that do work? And are any of them actually healthy for you?
To answer these questions, let’s consider a thought experiment. Sam and Felix are identical twins both planning to go on a diet. They share the same height, weight, fat and muscle mass. But Sam is hoping to lose weight slowly, while Felix wants to go fast.
Sam's plan is to gradually decrease his calorie intake and increase his regular exercise. With less energy coming in and more being expended, he’s creating an energy deficit inside his body. To compensate, Sam’s body begins breaking down his emergency glucose supply, stored in the liver in the form of glycogen. Then, after 4 to 6 hours, his body starts burning fat cells as a major energy source. This process releases lipid droplets which are broken down into compounds that float through the bloodstream and provide energy to organs and tissues.
Felix aims to create a similar energy deficit by dramatically cutting his calorie intake. Unlike Sam, who’s still eating smaller meals, Felix is eating almost nothing. And his body responds by going into a starvation response. Felix’s body breaks down his entire store of emergency glucose in just 18 hours. And while Sam steadily replenishes glycogen with every healthy meal, Felix’s low-calorie diet does not. Desperate for energy, his body starts breaking down other materials, including his muscles. Meanwhile, Sam’s regular exercise is maintaining his muscle mass. This means he’ll use more energy both during exercise and at rest, making it easier for him to lose weight. Felix, on the other hand, is losing muscle mass and burning fewer calories than ever for his body's basic functions, making weight loss even more difficult.
Despite all this, there’s one element of Felix’s fast diet that might make him think he's on the right track. Every gram of glycogen is bound to several grams of water. This can add up to two kilograms of water weight, all of which is lost when the glycogen is depleted. For Felix, this might seem like he’s losing weight fast. But as soon as he stops starving himself, his body will replenish its glycogen store and regain that weight.
Clearly, Felix’s plan does more harm than good, but extreme calorie reduction diets aren’t the only regimens promising to shed weight fast. Plans called “detoxification diets” either promote or restrict certain foods to provide specific nutrients in high quantities. These can be useful for addressing some nutritional problems, but they’re far too specific to be used as general cure-alls. For example, for a person with low vitamin A, a juice diet might be helpful. But for someone high in vitamin A, juicing could be disastrous. And regardless of personal nutrition, maintaining a juice diet over multiple weeks is likely to compromise the immune system due to a lack of essential fats and proteins.
In the wealthiest circles of Victorian England, bizarre fads ran rampant. But perhaps none was as strange as the tapeworm diet, in which dieters swallowed an unhatched tapeworm and let it grow inside them by consuming undigested meals. Obviously, this is an exceptionally dangerous and unhealthy way to manage your weight. However, while modern fad diets aren't usually this extreme, they do promise similar results; specifically, losing weight fast. So, are there any fast diets that do work? And are any of them actually healthy for you?
To answer these questions, let’s consider a thought experiment. Sam and Felix are identical twins both planning to go on a diet. They share the same height, weight, fat and muscle mass. But Sam is hoping to lose weight slowly, while Felix wants to go fast.
Sam's plan is to gradually decrease his calorie intake and increase his regular exercise. With less energy coming in and more being expended, he’s creating an energy deficit inside his body. To compensate, Sam’s body begins breaking down his emergency glucose supply, stored in the liver in the form of glycogen. Then, after 4 to 6 hours, his body starts burning fat cells as a major energy source. This process releases lipid droplets which are broken down into compounds that float through the bloodstream and provide energy to organs and tissues.
Felix aims to create a similar energy deficit by dramatically cutting his calorie intake. Unlike Sam, who’s still eating smaller meals, Felix is eating almost nothing. And his body responds by going into a starvation response. Felix’s body breaks down his entire store of emergency glucose in just 18 hours. And while Sam steadily replenishes glycogen with every healthy meal, Felix’s low-calorie diet does not. Desperate for energy, his body starts breaking down other materials, including his muscles. Meanwhile, Sam’s regular exercise is maintaining his muscle mass. This means he’ll use more energy both during exercise and at rest, making it easier for him to lose weight. Felix, on the other hand, is losing muscle mass and burning fewer calories than ever for his body's basic functions, making weight loss even more difficult.
Despite all this, there’s one element of Felix’s fast diet that might make him think he's on the right track. Every gram of glycogen is bound to several grams of water. This can add up to two kilograms of water weight, all of which is lost when the glycogen is depleted. For Felix, this might seem like he’s losing weight fast. But as soon as he stops starving himself, his body will replenish its glycogen store and regain that weight.
Clearly, Felix’s plan does more harm than good, but extreme calorie reduction diets aren’t the only regimens promising to shed weight fast. Plans called “detoxification diets” either promote or restrict certain foods to provide specific nutrients in high quantities. These can be useful for addressing some nutritional problems, but they’re far too specific to be used as general cure-alls. For example, for a person with low vitamin A, a juice diet might be helpful. But for someone high in vitamin A, juicing could be disastrous. And regardless of personal nutrition, maintaining a juice diet over multiple weeks is likely to compromise the immune system due to a lack of essential fats and proteins.
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Therein lies the problem with all these fast-moving diets— whether you’re cutting calories or food groups, extreme diets are a shock to your system. There are well-established rates of healthy weight loss motivated by both diet and exercise that account for genetic and medical differences. And staying on those timelines requires a dietary lifestyle that’s sustainable. In fact, some of the worst side effects of extreme diets are rarely discussed since so few people stick with them, it also bears mentioning that many societies have unhealthy relationships with weight, and people are often pressured to diet for reasons other than health or happiness. So rather than trying to lose weight fast, we should all be taking our time to figure out what the healthiest lifestyle is for ourselves.
#Education #Food #Health #TED_Ed #Animation #Human_Body
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#Education #Food #Health #TED_Ed #Animation #Human_Body
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🟢What is schizophrenia?
#TED_Ed #Education #Animation #Brain #Human_Body #Mental_Health #Emotions #Illness #Disease #Medicine
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#TED_Ed #Education #Animation #Brain #Human_Body #Mental_Health #Emotions #Illness #Disease #Medicine
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❤6👍1
🟢What is schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia was first identified more than a century ago, but we still don’t know its exact causes. It remains one of the most misunderstood and stigmatized illnesses today. So, let’s walk through what we do know— from symptoms to causes and treatments.
Schizophrenia is considered a syndrome, which means it may encompass a number of related disorders that have similar symptoms but varying causes. Every person with schizophrenia has slightly different symptoms, and the first signs can be easy to miss— subtle personality changes, irritability, or a gradual encroachment of unusual thoughts. Patients are usually diagnosed after the onset of psychosis, which typically occurs in the late teens or early twenties for men and the late twenties or early thirties for women. A first psychotic episode can feature delusions, hallucinations, and disordered speech and behavior. These are called positive symptoms, meaning they occur in people with schizophrenia but not in the general population. It’s a common misperception that people with schizophrenia have multiple personalities, but these symptoms indicate a disruption of thought processes, rather than the manifestation of another personality. Schizophrenia also has negative symptoms, these are qualities that are reduced in people with schizophrenia, such as motivation, expression of emotion, or speech. There are cognitive symptoms as well, like difficulty concentrating, remembering information, and making decisions.
So what causes the onset of psychosis? There likely isn’t one single cause, but a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors that contribute. Schizophrenia has some of the strongest genetic links of any psychiatric illness. Though about 1% of people have schizophrenia, children or siblings of people with schizophrenia are ten times likelier to develop the disease, and an identical twin of someone with schizophrenia has a 40% chance of being affected. Often, immediate relatives of people with schizophrenia exhibit milder versions of traits associated with the disorder— but not to an extent that requires treatment. Multiple genes almost certainly play a role, but we don’t know how many, or which ones.
Environmental factors like exposure to certain viruses in early infancy might increase the chance that someone will develop schizophrenia, and use of some drugs, including marijuana, may trigger the onset of psychosis in highly susceptible individuals. These factors don’t affect everyone the same way. For those with very low genetic risk, no amount of exposure to environmental risk factors will lead them to develop schizophrenia; for those with very high risk, moderate additional risk might tip the balance.
The antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia have helped researchers work backwards to trace signatures of the disorder in the brain. Traditional antipsychotics block dopamine receptors. They can be very effective in reducing positive symptoms, which are linked to an excess of dopamine in particular brain pathways. But the same drugs can make negative symptoms worse, and we’ve found that negative symptoms of schizophrenia may be tied to too little dopamine in other brain areas. Some people with schizophrenia show a loss of neural tissue, and it’s unclear whether this atrophy is a result of the disease itself or drug-induced suppression of signaling. Fortunately, newer generations of antipsychotics aim to address some of these issues by targeting multiple neurotransmitters, like serotonin in addition to dopamine. It’s clear that no one transmitter system is responsible for all symptoms, and because these drugs affect signaling throughout the brain and body, they can have other side effects like weight gain.
Schizophrenia was first identified more than a century ago, but we still don’t know its exact causes. It remains one of the most misunderstood and stigmatized illnesses today. So, let’s walk through what we do know— from symptoms to causes and treatments.
Schizophrenia is considered a syndrome, which means it may encompass a number of related disorders that have similar symptoms but varying causes. Every person with schizophrenia has slightly different symptoms, and the first signs can be easy to miss— subtle personality changes, irritability, or a gradual encroachment of unusual thoughts. Patients are usually diagnosed after the onset of psychosis, which typically occurs in the late teens or early twenties for men and the late twenties or early thirties for women. A first psychotic episode can feature delusions, hallucinations, and disordered speech and behavior. These are called positive symptoms, meaning they occur in people with schizophrenia but not in the general population. It’s a common misperception that people with schizophrenia have multiple personalities, but these symptoms indicate a disruption of thought processes, rather than the manifestation of another personality. Schizophrenia also has negative symptoms, these are qualities that are reduced in people with schizophrenia, such as motivation, expression of emotion, or speech. There are cognitive symptoms as well, like difficulty concentrating, remembering information, and making decisions.
So what causes the onset of psychosis? There likely isn’t one single cause, but a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors that contribute. Schizophrenia has some of the strongest genetic links of any psychiatric illness. Though about 1% of people have schizophrenia, children or siblings of people with schizophrenia are ten times likelier to develop the disease, and an identical twin of someone with schizophrenia has a 40% chance of being affected. Often, immediate relatives of people with schizophrenia exhibit milder versions of traits associated with the disorder— but not to an extent that requires treatment. Multiple genes almost certainly play a role, but we don’t know how many, or which ones.
Environmental factors like exposure to certain viruses in early infancy might increase the chance that someone will develop schizophrenia, and use of some drugs, including marijuana, may trigger the onset of psychosis in highly susceptible individuals. These factors don’t affect everyone the same way. For those with very low genetic risk, no amount of exposure to environmental risk factors will lead them to develop schizophrenia; for those with very high risk, moderate additional risk might tip the balance.
The antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia have helped researchers work backwards to trace signatures of the disorder in the brain. Traditional antipsychotics block dopamine receptors. They can be very effective in reducing positive symptoms, which are linked to an excess of dopamine in particular brain pathways. But the same drugs can make negative symptoms worse, and we’ve found that negative symptoms of schizophrenia may be tied to too little dopamine in other brain areas. Some people with schizophrenia show a loss of neural tissue, and it’s unclear whether this atrophy is a result of the disease itself or drug-induced suppression of signaling. Fortunately, newer generations of antipsychotics aim to address some of these issues by targeting multiple neurotransmitters, like serotonin in addition to dopamine. It’s clear that no one transmitter system is responsible for all symptoms, and because these drugs affect signaling throughout the brain and body, they can have other side effects like weight gain.
❤7👍4
In spite of these complications, antipsychotics can be very effective, especially when combined with other interventions like cognitive-behavioral therapy. Electroconvulsive therapy, though it provides relatively short-lived relief, is also re-emerging as an effective treatment, especially when other options have failed. Early intervention is also extremely important. After months or years of untreated psychosis, certain psychoses can become embedded in someone’s personality. And yet, the dehumanizing stigma attached to this diagnosis can prevent people from seeking help. People with schizophrenia are often perceived as dangerous, but are actually much more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators. And proper treatment may help reduce the likelihood of violence associated with schizophrenia.
That’s why education— for patients, their families, and their communities— helps erode the stigma and improves access to treatment.
#TED_Ed #Education #Animation #Brain #Human_Body #Mental_Health #Emotions #Illness #Disease #Medicine
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That’s why education— for patients, their families, and their communities— helps erode the stigma and improves access to treatment.
#TED_Ed #Education #Animation #Brain #Human_Body #Mental_Health #Emotions #Illness #Disease #Medicine
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🟢Why haven't we cured arthritis?
#TED_Ed #Animation #Science #Education #Human_Body #Health_Care #Medical_Research #Biology #Health #Medicine #Aging
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🤩2👌1
🟢Why haven't we cured arthritis?
While regaling you with daring stories from her youth, it might be hard to believe your grandmother used to be a trapeze artist. However, the bad backs, elbow pain, and creaky knees so common in older people is more than just “old age." In fact, the source of this stiffness plagues many young people as well. The culprit is arthritis: a condition that causes inflammation and pain in the joints of over 90 million people in the U.S. alone. But are stiff, creaky joints really inevitable? What makes arthritis so pervasive, and why haven’t we found a cure for this widespread condition?
The first hurdle is that arthritis is actually a spectrum of over 100 different arthritic conditions. All these conditions share symptoms of joint pain and inflammation, but the origin and severity of those symptoms vary widely.
Even the most common type, osteoarthritis, is trickier to prevent than one might think. It’s a general misconception that arthritis is confined to old age. The origins of osteoarthritis can often be traced to a patient’s early life, from any seemingly ordinary joint injury. Following impact, immune cells rush in to help clean and repair the damaged site and begin pumping out enzymes, including matrix metalloproteinases and aggrecanases. These enzymes clear out the damaged tissue and contribute to inflammation. But while this rapid swelling helps protect the joint during recovery, inadequately healed tissue can cause these immune cells to overstay their welcome. The continuing flood of enzymes starts to degrade the cartilage, weakening the joint and leading to arthritis later on.
Not all forms of arthritis can simply be traced to an old sports injury. Take rheumatoid arthritis, which affects 1.3 million U.S. adults. This condition is actually an autoimmune disease in which autoantibodies target natively produced proteins, some of which are secreted by cartilage cells. We still don’t know what causes this behavior, but the result is that the body treats joint tissue like a foreign invader. Immune cells infiltrate the joint despite there being no tissue damage to repair. This response leads to chronic inflammation, which destroys bone and cartilage.
While regaling you with daring stories from her youth, it might be hard to believe your grandmother used to be a trapeze artist. However, the bad backs, elbow pain, and creaky knees so common in older people is more than just “old age." In fact, the source of this stiffness plagues many young people as well. The culprit is arthritis: a condition that causes inflammation and pain in the joints of over 90 million people in the U.S. alone. But are stiff, creaky joints really inevitable? What makes arthritis so pervasive, and why haven’t we found a cure for this widespread condition?
The first hurdle is that arthritis is actually a spectrum of over 100 different arthritic conditions. All these conditions share symptoms of joint pain and inflammation, but the origin and severity of those symptoms vary widely.
Even the most common type, osteoarthritis, is trickier to prevent than one might think. It’s a general misconception that arthritis is confined to old age. The origins of osteoarthritis can often be traced to a patient’s early life, from any seemingly ordinary joint injury. Following impact, immune cells rush in to help clean and repair the damaged site and begin pumping out enzymes, including matrix metalloproteinases and aggrecanases. These enzymes clear out the damaged tissue and contribute to inflammation. But while this rapid swelling helps protect the joint during recovery, inadequately healed tissue can cause these immune cells to overstay their welcome. The continuing flood of enzymes starts to degrade the cartilage, weakening the joint and leading to arthritis later on.
Not all forms of arthritis can simply be traced to an old sports injury. Take rheumatoid arthritis, which affects 1.3 million U.S. adults. This condition is actually an autoimmune disease in which autoantibodies target natively produced proteins, some of which are secreted by cartilage cells. We still don’t know what causes this behavior, but the result is that the body treats joint tissue like a foreign invader. Immune cells infiltrate the joint despite there being no tissue damage to repair. This response leads to chronic inflammation, which destroys bone and cartilage.
🤩5👍2
Yet another condition, spondyloarthritis, has similarities to both of the conditions we’ve covered. Patients experience continuous inflammation in the joints and at the sites where ligaments and tendons attach to bones, even without any initial injury. This leads to the flood of enzymes and degradation seen in osteoarthritis, but is driven by different inflammatory proteins called cytokines. As the enzymes eat away at cartilage, the body attempts to stabilize smaller joints by fusing them together. This process sometimes leads to outgrowths called bone spurs, which also cause intense stiffness and joint pain.
With so many factors causing arthritis, our current treatments are tailored to tackle specific symptoms rather than underlying causes. These range from promising MACI techniques, which harvest cells from small pieces of cartilage to grow replacement tissue. To a technique called microfracture, where surgeons create small holes in the bone, allowing bone marrow stem cells to leak out and form new cartilage. As a last resort, people with withered cartilage can even undergo full joint replacements.
But outside these drastic measures, the underlying drivers of autoimmune arthritis still present a unique treatment challenge. Scientists are making progress with therapies that block TNF-alpha, one of the primary proteins causing inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis. But even this approach only treats the symptoms of the condition, not the cause.
In the meantime, some of our best defenses against arthritis are lifestyle choices: maintaining a healthy weight to take pressure off joints, low-impact exercises like yoga or cycling, and avoiding smoking. These arthritis-fighting behaviors can help us lead longer lives as we continue to research cures and treatments for the huge diversity of arthritic conditions.
#TED_Ed #Animation #Science #Education #Human_Body #Health_Care #Medical_Research #Biology #Health #Medicine #Aging
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With so many factors causing arthritis, our current treatments are tailored to tackle specific symptoms rather than underlying causes. These range from promising MACI techniques, which harvest cells from small pieces of cartilage to grow replacement tissue. To a technique called microfracture, where surgeons create small holes in the bone, allowing bone marrow stem cells to leak out and form new cartilage. As a last resort, people with withered cartilage can even undergo full joint replacements.
But outside these drastic measures, the underlying drivers of autoimmune arthritis still present a unique treatment challenge. Scientists are making progress with therapies that block TNF-alpha, one of the primary proteins causing inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis. But even this approach only treats the symptoms of the condition, not the cause.
In the meantime, some of our best defenses against arthritis are lifestyle choices: maintaining a healthy weight to take pressure off joints, low-impact exercises like yoga or cycling, and avoiding smoking. These arthritis-fighting behaviors can help us lead longer lives as we continue to research cures and treatments for the huge diversity of arthritic conditions.
#TED_Ed #Animation #Science #Education #Human_Body #Health_Care #Medical_Research #Biology #Health #Medicine #Aging
🎙Join ➣ @TEDTalksLearning ☜
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🟢How policewomen make communities safer?
#Social_Change #Women #Justice_System #Work #Feminism #United_States #Diversity #TED_Fellows #Gender
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#Social_Change #Women #Justice_System #Work #Feminism #United_States #Diversity #TED_Fellows #Gender
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❤3🥰2
🟢How policewomen make communities safer?
I've been a police officer in an urban city for nearly 25 years. That's crazy, right? And in that time, I've served in every rank, from police officer to police chief. A few years ago, I noticed something alarming.
Starting in 2014, I started monitoring recruits as they cycled through police academies in the state of New Jersey, and I found that women were failing at rates between 65 and 80 percent, due to varying aspects of the physical fitness test. I learned that a change in policy now required recruits to pass the fitness exam within 10 short workout sessions. This had the greatest impact on women. The change meant that recruits had about three weeks out of a five-month-long academy to pass the fitness exam. This just didn't make sense, though.
Police agencies and police recruits had made huge investments to get those recruits into the academy. Police recruits had passed lengthy background checks, they had passed medical and psychological exams, they had quit their jobs. And many had spent more than 2,000 dollars in fees and equipment just to get kicked out within the first three weeks?
The dire situation in New Jersey led me to examine the status of women in policing across the United States.
I found that women make up less than 13 percent of police officers. A number that hasn't changed much in the past 20 years. And they make up just three percent of police chiefs as of 2013, the last time the data was collected. We know that we can improve those rates. Other countries like Canada, Australia and the UK have nearly twice the amount of policewomen. And New Zealand is steadily marching towards their goal of recruit gender parity by 2021. Other countries are actively working to increase the number of women in policing, because they know of a vast body of research evidence, spanning more than 50 years, detailing the advantages to women in policing.
From that research, we know that policewomen are less likely to use force or to be accused of excessive force. We know that policewomen are less likely to be named in a lawsuit or a citizen complaint. We know that the mere presence of a policewoman reduces the use of force among other officers. And we know that policewomen are met with the same rates of force as their male counterparts, and sometimes more, and yet they're more successful in defusing violent or aggressive behavior overall. So there are vast advantages to women in policing, and we're losing them to arbitrary fitness standards.
The problem is, the United States has nearly 18,000 police agencies -- 18,000 agencies with wildly varying fitness standards. We know that a majority of academies rely on a masculine ideal of policing that works to decrease the number of women in policing. These types of academies overemphasize physical strength, with much less attention spent to subjects like community policing, problem-solving and interpersonal communication skills. This results in training that does not mirror the realities of policing. Physical agility is but a small component of police work. Much of an officer's day is spent mediating interpersonal conflicts. That's the reality of policing.
These are my babies. And we can reduce the disparity in policing by changing exams that produce disparate outcomes. The federal courts have stated that men and women simply are not physiologically the same for the purposes of physical fitness programs. And that's based on science.
Respected institutions that law enforcement deeply respects, like the FBI, the US Marshals Service, the DEA and even the US military -- they rigorously test fitness programs to ensure they measure fitness without gender-disparate outcomes. Why is that? Because recruiting is expensive. They want to recruit and retain qualified candidates. You know what else the research finds? Well-trained women are as capable as their male counterparts in overall fitness, but more importantly, in how they police.
I've been a police officer in an urban city for nearly 25 years. That's crazy, right? And in that time, I've served in every rank, from police officer to police chief. A few years ago, I noticed something alarming.
Starting in 2014, I started monitoring recruits as they cycled through police academies in the state of New Jersey, and I found that women were failing at rates between 65 and 80 percent, due to varying aspects of the physical fitness test. I learned that a change in policy now required recruits to pass the fitness exam within 10 short workout sessions. This had the greatest impact on women. The change meant that recruits had about three weeks out of a five-month-long academy to pass the fitness exam. This just didn't make sense, though.
Police agencies and police recruits had made huge investments to get those recruits into the academy. Police recruits had passed lengthy background checks, they had passed medical and psychological exams, they had quit their jobs. And many had spent more than 2,000 dollars in fees and equipment just to get kicked out within the first three weeks?
The dire situation in New Jersey led me to examine the status of women in policing across the United States.
I found that women make up less than 13 percent of police officers. A number that hasn't changed much in the past 20 years. And they make up just three percent of police chiefs as of 2013, the last time the data was collected. We know that we can improve those rates. Other countries like Canada, Australia and the UK have nearly twice the amount of policewomen. And New Zealand is steadily marching towards their goal of recruit gender parity by 2021. Other countries are actively working to increase the number of women in policing, because they know of a vast body of research evidence, spanning more than 50 years, detailing the advantages to women in policing.
From that research, we know that policewomen are less likely to use force or to be accused of excessive force. We know that policewomen are less likely to be named in a lawsuit or a citizen complaint. We know that the mere presence of a policewoman reduces the use of force among other officers. And we know that policewomen are met with the same rates of force as their male counterparts, and sometimes more, and yet they're more successful in defusing violent or aggressive behavior overall. So there are vast advantages to women in policing, and we're losing them to arbitrary fitness standards.
The problem is, the United States has nearly 18,000 police agencies -- 18,000 agencies with wildly varying fitness standards. We know that a majority of academies rely on a masculine ideal of policing that works to decrease the number of women in policing. These types of academies overemphasize physical strength, with much less attention spent to subjects like community policing, problem-solving and interpersonal communication skills. This results in training that does not mirror the realities of policing. Physical agility is but a small component of police work. Much of an officer's day is spent mediating interpersonal conflicts. That's the reality of policing.
These are my babies. And we can reduce the disparity in policing by changing exams that produce disparate outcomes. The federal courts have stated that men and women simply are not physiologically the same for the purposes of physical fitness programs. And that's based on science.
Respected institutions that law enforcement deeply respects, like the FBI, the US Marshals Service, the DEA and even the US military -- they rigorously test fitness programs to ensure they measure fitness without gender-disparate outcomes. Why is that? Because recruiting is expensive. They want to recruit and retain qualified candidates. You know what else the research finds? Well-trained women are as capable as their male counterparts in overall fitness, but more importantly, in how they police.
❤5
The law-enforcement community is admittedly experiencing a recruitment crisis. Yet, if they truly want to increase the number of applicants, they can. We can easily recruit more women and reap all those research benefits by training well-qualified candidates to pass validated, work-related, physiologically-based fitness exams, as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
We can increase the number of women, we can reduce that gender disparity, by simply changing exams that produce disparate outcomes. We have the tools. We have the research, we have the science, we have the law. This, my friends, should be a very easy fix.
Thank you.
#Social_Change #Women #Justice_System #Work #Feminism #United_States #Diversity #TED_Fellows #Gender
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We can increase the number of women, we can reduce that gender disparity, by simply changing exams that produce disparate outcomes. We have the tools. We have the research, we have the science, we have the law. This, my friends, should be a very easy fix.
Thank you.
#Social_Change #Women #Justice_System #Work #Feminism #United_States #Diversity #TED_Fellows #Gender
🎙Join ➣ @TEDTalksLearning ☜
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❤3
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🟢The Chemistry Of Cookies
#TED_Ed #Animation #Science #Chemistry #Bacteria #Food
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#TED_Ed #Animation #Science #Chemistry #Bacteria #Food
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🟢The Chemistry Of Cookies
In a time-lapse video, it looks like a monster coming alive. For a moment, it sits there innocuously. Then, ripples move across its surface. It bulges outwards, bursting with weird boils. It triples in volume. Its color darkens ominously, and its surface hardens into an alien topography of peaks and craters. Then, the kitchen timer dings. Your cookie is ready. What happened inside that oven? Don't let the apron deceive you! Bakers are mad scientists. When you slide the pan into the oven, you're setting off a series of chemical reactions that transform one substance, dough, into another, cookies. When the dough reaches 92 degrees Fahrenheit, the butter inside melts, causing the dough to start spreading out. Butter is an emulsion, or mixture of two substances that don't want to stay together, in this case, water and fat, along with some dairy solids that help hold them together. As the butter melts, its trapped water is released. And as the cookie gets hotter, the water expands into steam. It pushes against the dough from the inside, trying to escape through the cookie walls like Ridley Scott's chest-bursting alien. Your eggs may have been home to squirming salmonella bacteria. An estimated 142,000 Americans are infected this way each year. Though salmonella can live for weeks outside a living body and even survive freezing, 136 degrees is too hot for them. When your dough reaches that temperature, they die off. You'll live to test your fate with a bite of raw dough you sneak from your next batch. At 144 degrees, changes begin in the proteins, which come mostly from the eggs in your dough. Eggs are composed of dozens of different kinds of proteins, each sensitive to a different temperature. In an egg fresh from the hen, these proteins look like coiled up balls of string. When they're exposed to heat energy, the protein strings unfold and get tangled up with their neighbors. This linked structure makes the runny egg nearly solid, giving substance to squishy dough. Water boils away at 212 degrees, so like mud baking in the sun, your cookie gets dried out and it stiffens. Cracks spread across its surface. The steam that was bubbling inside evaporates, leaving behind airy pockets that make the cookie light and flaky. Helping this along is your leavening agent, sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda. The sodium bicarbonate reacts with acids in the dough to create carbon dioxide gas, which makes airy pockets in your cookie. Now, it's nearly ready for a refreshing dunk in a cool glass of milk. One of science's tastiest reactions occurs at 310 degrees. This is the temperature for Maillard reactions. Maillard reactions result when proteins and sugars break down and rearrange themselves, forming ring-like structures, which reflect light in a way that gives foods like Thanksgiving turkey and hamburgers their distinctive, rich brown color. As this reaction occurs, it produces a range of flavor and aroma compounds, which also react with each other, forming even more complex tastes and smells. Caramelization is the last reaction to take place inside your cookie. Caramelization is what happens when sugar molecules break down under high heat, forming the sweet, nutty, and slightly bitter flavor compounds that define, well, caramel. And, in fact, if your recipe calls for a 350 degree oven, it'll never happen, since caramelization starts at 356 degrees. If your ideal cookie is barely browned, like a Northeasterner on a beach vacation, you could have set your oven to 310 degrees. If you like your cookies to have a nice tan, crank up the heat. Caramelization continues up to 390 degrees. And here's another trick: you don't need that kitchen timer; your nose is a sensitive scientific instrument. When you smell the nutty, toasty aromas of the Maillard reaction and caramelization, your cookies are ready. Grab your glass of milk, put your feet up, and reflect that science can be pretty sweet.
#TED_Ed #Animation #Science #Chemistry #Bacteria #Food
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In a time-lapse video, it looks like a monster coming alive. For a moment, it sits there innocuously. Then, ripples move across its surface. It bulges outwards, bursting with weird boils. It triples in volume. Its color darkens ominously, and its surface hardens into an alien topography of peaks and craters. Then, the kitchen timer dings. Your cookie is ready. What happened inside that oven? Don't let the apron deceive you! Bakers are mad scientists. When you slide the pan into the oven, you're setting off a series of chemical reactions that transform one substance, dough, into another, cookies. When the dough reaches 92 degrees Fahrenheit, the butter inside melts, causing the dough to start spreading out. Butter is an emulsion, or mixture of two substances that don't want to stay together, in this case, water and fat, along with some dairy solids that help hold them together. As the butter melts, its trapped water is released. And as the cookie gets hotter, the water expands into steam. It pushes against the dough from the inside, trying to escape through the cookie walls like Ridley Scott's chest-bursting alien. Your eggs may have been home to squirming salmonella bacteria. An estimated 142,000 Americans are infected this way each year. Though salmonella can live for weeks outside a living body and even survive freezing, 136 degrees is too hot for them. When your dough reaches that temperature, they die off. You'll live to test your fate with a bite of raw dough you sneak from your next batch. At 144 degrees, changes begin in the proteins, which come mostly from the eggs in your dough. Eggs are composed of dozens of different kinds of proteins, each sensitive to a different temperature. In an egg fresh from the hen, these proteins look like coiled up balls of string. When they're exposed to heat energy, the protein strings unfold and get tangled up with their neighbors. This linked structure makes the runny egg nearly solid, giving substance to squishy dough. Water boils away at 212 degrees, so like mud baking in the sun, your cookie gets dried out and it stiffens. Cracks spread across its surface. The steam that was bubbling inside evaporates, leaving behind airy pockets that make the cookie light and flaky. Helping this along is your leavening agent, sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda. The sodium bicarbonate reacts with acids in the dough to create carbon dioxide gas, which makes airy pockets in your cookie. Now, it's nearly ready for a refreshing dunk in a cool glass of milk. One of science's tastiest reactions occurs at 310 degrees. This is the temperature for Maillard reactions. Maillard reactions result when proteins and sugars break down and rearrange themselves, forming ring-like structures, which reflect light in a way that gives foods like Thanksgiving turkey and hamburgers their distinctive, rich brown color. As this reaction occurs, it produces a range of flavor and aroma compounds, which also react with each other, forming even more complex tastes and smells. Caramelization is the last reaction to take place inside your cookie. Caramelization is what happens when sugar molecules break down under high heat, forming the sweet, nutty, and slightly bitter flavor compounds that define, well, caramel. And, in fact, if your recipe calls for a 350 degree oven, it'll never happen, since caramelization starts at 356 degrees. If your ideal cookie is barely browned, like a Northeasterner on a beach vacation, you could have set your oven to 310 degrees. If you like your cookies to have a nice tan, crank up the heat. Caramelization continues up to 390 degrees. And here's another trick: you don't need that kitchen timer; your nose is a sensitive scientific instrument. When you smell the nutty, toasty aromas of the Maillard reaction and caramelization, your cookies are ready. Grab your glass of milk, put your feet up, and reflect that science can be pretty sweet.
#TED_Ed #Animation #Science #Chemistry #Bacteria #Food
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🟢Kids are speaking up for the environment. Let's listen
#Climate_Change #Environment #Technology #Nature #Art #Countdown
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#Climate_Change #Environment #Technology #Nature #Art #Countdown
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🟢Kids are speaking up for the environment. Let's listen
My name is Olafur Eliasson. I'm an artist. I work with natural phenomena, the weather, climate, environment and our future, one could say.
I was very inspired by youth movements, how young people actually have organized themselves in order to be heard. For some time now, I have in fact collaborated with young people -- they are the artists as well, in this case -- to make a project "Earth Speakr," where we, the grown-ups, can listen to them. So join me in listening to them talking about the environment, and about the climate, about the future, and see what they have to say.
Girl 1: With "Earth Speakr," I can share my voice to anything I see. It's a platform for us to speak up and for the world to hear us. I could put a face on anything around me and say my message. Hey, excuse me, I can see you.
(Recorded voice) Hey, excuse me. I can see you.
Kids can be the experts. When we come together, we can find the answers. All you have to do is listen.
Boy 1: Fight for our future.
(Italian) Help me to live 1,000 years more.
(German) I am hungry!
Boy 2: It's our future, and it's getting hotter.
(Recorded voice) It's our future, and it's getting hotter. If I see a message I like, I can share it with my friends and family.
Girl 2: It's so cool because we can share our voices, we can hear others, and that's how we know that we're not alone in this fight. And if enough of us make messages, then the grown-ups will have to listen to us. Then we can really make a change in the world.
(Polish) I was so dry before I got watered!
(Portuguese) Hello! My message would be that all houses should have solar panels!
(French) Hey, I am Willy from the Earth!
Girl 3: Imagine every place being as green as me. This can be your future.
OE: See? Their imagination is just so inspiring, I think, and gives me hope also, frankly speaking. So in "Earth Speakr," only kids can speak, and the grown-ups are listening, right?
Of course, I still have an ask for you, as a grown-up, go and make a Speakr message with a kid and send it out into the world. Make sure that the kid feels "Wow! Somebody's listening to me." Because if we do that, I think the future might be shaping in the right direction.
Thank you.
#Climate_Change #Environment #Technology #Nature #Art #Countdown
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My name is Olafur Eliasson. I'm an artist. I work with natural phenomena, the weather, climate, environment and our future, one could say.
I was very inspired by youth movements, how young people actually have organized themselves in order to be heard. For some time now, I have in fact collaborated with young people -- they are the artists as well, in this case -- to make a project "Earth Speakr," where we, the grown-ups, can listen to them. So join me in listening to them talking about the environment, and about the climate, about the future, and see what they have to say.
Girl 1: With "Earth Speakr," I can share my voice to anything I see. It's a platform for us to speak up and for the world to hear us. I could put a face on anything around me and say my message. Hey, excuse me, I can see you.
(Recorded voice) Hey, excuse me. I can see you.
Kids can be the experts. When we come together, we can find the answers. All you have to do is listen.
Boy 1: Fight for our future.
(Italian) Help me to live 1,000 years more.
(German) I am hungry!
Boy 2: It's our future, and it's getting hotter.
(Recorded voice) It's our future, and it's getting hotter. If I see a message I like, I can share it with my friends and family.
Girl 2: It's so cool because we can share our voices, we can hear others, and that's how we know that we're not alone in this fight. And if enough of us make messages, then the grown-ups will have to listen to us. Then we can really make a change in the world.
(Polish) I was so dry before I got watered!
(Portuguese) Hello! My message would be that all houses should have solar panels!
(French) Hey, I am Willy from the Earth!
Girl 3: Imagine every place being as green as me. This can be your future.
OE: See? Their imagination is just so inspiring, I think, and gives me hope also, frankly speaking. So in "Earth Speakr," only kids can speak, and the grown-ups are listening, right?
Of course, I still have an ask for you, as a grown-up, go and make a Speakr message with a kid and send it out into the world. Make sure that the kid feels "Wow! Somebody's listening to me." Because if we do that, I think the future might be shaping in the right direction.
Thank you.
#Climate_Change #Environment #Technology #Nature #Art #Countdown
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🟢The true cost of gold
#Business #Corruption #Education #Africa #History #Money #Government #Animation
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#Business #Corruption #Education #Africa #History #Money #Government #Animation
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🟢The true cost of gold
Gold is one of Earth’s most valuable resources, with one kilogram regularly valued at over 55,000 US dollars. In 2020, Mali produced an estimated 71.2 tons of gold. But Mali only saw $850 million from gold in 2020, when that amount is worth billions, not to mention that the country likely produced much more than the reported 71.2 tons. The situation isn’t unique: a number of other gold-rich countries in Africa, including Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Niger also aren’t seeing the income they should, given the price of gold. The force behind this is greed on an individual, corporate, and national scale, and a corrupt system that perpetuates itself.
Although Mali has abundant gold, the country lacks the infrastructure to mine and export it. So the government allows multinational corporations to apply for licenses to mine gold in exchange for taxes paid to Mali’s government. These taxes should, theoretically, finance development, like building the infrastructure to mine gold, improve the economy, and provide citizens with public goods like healthcare and education. Tax money alone isn’t enough to do these things, of course: a government also has to be invested in its people’s well-being, and government corruption can prevent progress. But without adequate funds, even the best intentioned government doesn’t stand a chance of improving circumstances for its citizens.
Foreign corporations exploit Mali’s need for tax revenue to get the government to sign on to very unfavorable yet perfectly legal contracts. For example, one such contract stated that no corporate taxes would be owed for the first five years, costing Mali millions in tax revenue. Meanwhile, mining licenses sometimes allow these corporations to take samples of gold out of the country without registering them or paying taxes on them. These should be small amounts of gold used to test for quality, but the license doesn’t limit the size of samples, so this creates a loophole where corporations export large amounts of gold without paying any tax.
The multinational corporations are also evading taxes they are legally required to pay. They filter profits through a labyrinth of tax havens that’s difficult to trace. Or they exaggerate their expenses so they end up owing very little in taxes. For instance, a corporation in Mali uses a subsidiary in Ireland to manage its operations and another subsidiary in the Netherlands to license its brand name. The corporation in Mali pays management fees to the Irish subsidiary and pays intellectual property license fees to the Dutch company, all for enormous sums. These costs are deducted from overall profits, leaving the amount subject to taxes at a bare minimum.
These companies also buy gold on the black market. Local, small-scale miners often operate without a license, so the government is unaware of how much gold they mine. Corporations buy gold from these miners, avoiding the cost of mining the gold themselves, and pay the miners far below market value. Then they turn around and tell the government they incurred huge expenses mining gold they didn’t mine at all. There’s no way for Mali’s revenue authority to verify this information, causing the country to lose even more tax money.
Similarly, corporations pay corrupt government officials to help them smuggle gold across borders, primarily to the United Arab Emirates, rather than operating through legal channels. In 2016, Mali reported around $200 million of exported gold, but the UAE reported receiving slightly over $1.5 billion of imported gold from Mali that same year. The gold is then sold to European, American, and Asian markets from the UAE, with no questions asked about its origins. Similar patterns can be seen with gold-rich countries across Africa, indicating that gold smuggling is happening on a massive scale, without ever being subject to taxes.
Gold is one of Earth’s most valuable resources, with one kilogram regularly valued at over 55,000 US dollars. In 2020, Mali produced an estimated 71.2 tons of gold. But Mali only saw $850 million from gold in 2020, when that amount is worth billions, not to mention that the country likely produced much more than the reported 71.2 tons. The situation isn’t unique: a number of other gold-rich countries in Africa, including Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Niger also aren’t seeing the income they should, given the price of gold. The force behind this is greed on an individual, corporate, and national scale, and a corrupt system that perpetuates itself.
Although Mali has abundant gold, the country lacks the infrastructure to mine and export it. So the government allows multinational corporations to apply for licenses to mine gold in exchange for taxes paid to Mali’s government. These taxes should, theoretically, finance development, like building the infrastructure to mine gold, improve the economy, and provide citizens with public goods like healthcare and education. Tax money alone isn’t enough to do these things, of course: a government also has to be invested in its people’s well-being, and government corruption can prevent progress. But without adequate funds, even the best intentioned government doesn’t stand a chance of improving circumstances for its citizens.
Foreign corporations exploit Mali’s need for tax revenue to get the government to sign on to very unfavorable yet perfectly legal contracts. For example, one such contract stated that no corporate taxes would be owed for the first five years, costing Mali millions in tax revenue. Meanwhile, mining licenses sometimes allow these corporations to take samples of gold out of the country without registering them or paying taxes on them. These should be small amounts of gold used to test for quality, but the license doesn’t limit the size of samples, so this creates a loophole where corporations export large amounts of gold without paying any tax.
The multinational corporations are also evading taxes they are legally required to pay. They filter profits through a labyrinth of tax havens that’s difficult to trace. Or they exaggerate their expenses so they end up owing very little in taxes. For instance, a corporation in Mali uses a subsidiary in Ireland to manage its operations and another subsidiary in the Netherlands to license its brand name. The corporation in Mali pays management fees to the Irish subsidiary and pays intellectual property license fees to the Dutch company, all for enormous sums. These costs are deducted from overall profits, leaving the amount subject to taxes at a bare minimum.
These companies also buy gold on the black market. Local, small-scale miners often operate without a license, so the government is unaware of how much gold they mine. Corporations buy gold from these miners, avoiding the cost of mining the gold themselves, and pay the miners far below market value. Then they turn around and tell the government they incurred huge expenses mining gold they didn’t mine at all. There’s no way for Mali’s revenue authority to verify this information, causing the country to lose even more tax money.
Similarly, corporations pay corrupt government officials to help them smuggle gold across borders, primarily to the United Arab Emirates, rather than operating through legal channels. In 2016, Mali reported around $200 million of exported gold, but the UAE reported receiving slightly over $1.5 billion of imported gold from Mali that same year. The gold is then sold to European, American, and Asian markets from the UAE, with no questions asked about its origins. Similar patterns can be seen with gold-rich countries across Africa, indicating that gold smuggling is happening on a massive scale, without ever being subject to taxes.
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All of this creates a vicious cycle, forcing a continued reliance on the corporations that helped create the situation in the first place. More than half of Mali’s citizens live below the international poverty line, while their nation’s wealth lines the pockets of foreign corporations and corrupt officials.
#Business #Corruption #Education #Africa #History #Money #Government #Animation
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#Business #Corruption #Education #Africa #History #Money #Government #Animation
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🟢The original ring of power
#Education #Psychology #Philosophy #Humanity #TED_Ed #Animation #Ethics
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#Education #Psychology #Philosophy #Humanity #TED_Ed #Animation #Ethics
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