Latest news with #Moyer
Scientific American
26-05-2025
- Science
- Scientific American
Scientific Strategies to Help Kids Meet the Challenges of a Cruel World
Between climate change, economic anxiety and political turmoil, the world can feel like a scary place, especially for kids. Today's young people have already been through a deadly global pandemic, they regularly drill to prepare for school shootings, and they must learn to navigate an age of misinformation and danger online. These stressors seem to be taking a toll; measurements show anxiety and sleep deprivation among adolescents are rising, and even teen suicide attempts are increasing. To parents, the situation can feel overwhelming. The good news is, there's a lot parents can do to help their kids meet the challenges of the world we live in, writes parenting journalist (and frequent Scientific American contributor) Melinda Wenner Moyer. In her new book Hello, Cruel World! Science-Based Strategies for Raising Terrific Kids in Terrifying Times (Penguin Random House, May 2025) Moyer surveys scientific research on kids' mental health and ways to improve it. Moyer divides her book into three sections focused on evidence-backed tips for helping young people cope with challenges, connect to others, and cultivate strong characters. Scientific American spoke to her about how to shield kids from online misinformation, nurture self-compassion and get your children to open up with you. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. [ An edited transcript of the interview follows. ] The concept of the book, this 'cruel world,' resonates so much with me as a parent, and I'm sure with so many people. Tell me a bit more about how you started feeling like the world is becoming a really tough place for kids. I have had this growing anxiety and angst as a parent, just thinking about the world that my kids were coming into and that they were going to inherit from us. There are so many things looming, you know, climate change and disinformation. I was also getting so many comments from parents saying, 'I'm just so scared on behalf of my kids, and I don't know what I can do to prepare them and help them get them ready for this world that we're going to hand them.' And I'm always trying to think of solutions and trying to figure out ways to reassure both myself and my readers. We do have some control here. And so I started researching, what are the key skills that we know can help kids get through all this? I was really trying to come up with concrete strategies that I could communicate to parents to help them feel a little less worried, a little more in control, and feel like they really could do something as parents, because I think parenting is a form of activism. We are raising the next generation of kids, and through our parenting, we can change the world. In what specific ways do you think there are challenges that kids are facing today that previous generations haven't really had to face before? We know from the research that there are a lot of tweens and teens who are struggling with mental health issues. Whether or not you think that the statistics are as bad as they seem, there seems to be a signal there that we should pay attention to. And so a big part of the book is about: How can we help kids cope? What are the things we can do to help them manage their emotions in healthy ways, rather than unhealthy ways? Another big one is technology. Every generation panics about technology, and so the question is, well, how much different is our situation today than it was when the TV came out, or the printing press—these were all big changes at the time. But I think this is certainly the first generation where kids have a handheld connection to technology, potentially at all times. That does feel momentous. One message in the book that really spoke to me was that helping our kids is also about helping ourselves—that we can't teach kids things like self-compassion, or balancing work and leisure, or all these other lessons, until we can embody them ourselves. I do think a really overlooked aspect of child health and development is: How are the parents doing? What's their mental health like? What are the skills that they have or don't have? Because we are teaching our kids so much through the choices we make. You know, are we beating ourselves up when we burn dinner? Are we constantly putting ourselves down? Our kids are learning from that and thinking, okay, I should be doing this too. I think we do overlook the role of our own well-being. This is really important because our kids are watching us. I want to be careful too: I'm not saying this to put more pressure on parents. We already have so many expectations of ourselves to ensure that our kids are succeeding at everything they do, that they're comfortable all the time, that they're protected all the time, that they're happy all the time. We have these expectations about what we should be doing as parents that are both unrealistic and unhelpful. When we overprotect, when we over-coddle, that actually undermines the development of key skills for them. Problem solving and resilience and emotional regulation, these are all skills that kids learn through practice. They need to be sad, they need to be disappointed and frustrated. They need to fail and experience what that is and understand that that's part of the process of learning. So a lot of what I'm trying to do is give parents permission to step back a little bit and to relax. You write in the book a lot about connection—how a strong connection between parents and kids is important for their mental health and is protective against some of the things we worry about, such as bad influences from social media. How do you make sure your connection is strong? If you're worried you're not connecting enough with your kids, then there are things you can do. I was really surprised at the power of listening to our kids—like really listening. I think we hear a lot about talking to your kids. And I think sometimes that can be misinterpreted as, lecture to your kids, you know, tell them not to do this and not to do that, and set rules and communicate the rules. But it's also really listening to them in a respectful way, and being willing to consider their perspective, which you may not always agree with. And when they open up to you, drop everything. It's impossible sometimes, but when they are opening up to you, even if it's in a very inconvenient time, try to allow it and stop what you're doing. Kids often like to connect right before bedtime, which is the most frustrating time ever, right? But we should really allow the connection to happen on their terms, because that's a form of giving our kids some autonomy. If you're getting from your kids some willingness to be vulnerable with you, I think that that is a really good sign. There's a relationship between feeling listened to and being willing to be self-reflective and also intellectually humble, which I think is really interesting. So when we feel heard, when we feel safe and not threatened, we're much more willing to consider what we don't know, and to acknowledge uncertainty within ourselves. What can parents do if we're worried about the information, the bad actors, the scary, negative stuff that our kids are coming across online? What can we do to help them tell the difference between misinformation, lies and reality online? There's very little media literacy education happening in schools. It really helps if the parent has some of those skills already, because then they can model media literacy and information literacy a little better for kids. So I encourage parents to try to learn about media literacy. One thing that every media literacy expert said to me was to ask your kids open-ended questions about what they're seeing and hearing in the media. It's such a beautifully simple approach, but apparently it's very, very powerful. So this could be anything, like with little kids, asking: What do you like about this show? Or why do you think that character just did what they did? It could also involve talking about how movies and cartoons are made. And when kids get older, you can ask even bigger questions, like: Who made this? Why was it made? Why is it being presented this way? What or who is missing from this? Who might benefit from this? Who might be harmed by it? Getting kids to think about these big-picture questions about the media can be super helpful in fostering this sort of curiosity and this questioning perspective in kids. These are some really wonderful tips, and I'm going to try to put them into practice. As a parent, I'm always reading and trying to learn how to be the best parent I can be. But sometimes I wonder how much it really matters what we do and how we parent. How much of who our kids are and who they're going to turn out to be, is completely out of our control anyway? People still debate this. We know genetics, of course, really matter. We know that temperament and personality, these are not things that we're probably going to be able to shift in our kids. But we also do know that a lot of what we're passing on to our kids is through the relationships we build with them, through the conversations we're having with them to help them understand how the world works, to help them understand what they can do to build stronger relationships, how they can interact with people. They really do learn a lot from our modeling, in terms of how to behave, how to manage conflict, how to think about different situations. We know that there are a lot of skills that kids learn through observing others, through the conversations they have with others, through the opportunities they're given to develop skills. A big example is resilience. We know that kids who are overprotected, prevented from failing, from experiencing challenges, that those are kids who are going to grow up not knowing how to problem solve and not knowing how to deal with feelings of frustration. They haven't been given opportunities to develop emotional regulation skills and they will really suffer for that when they get older. So I feel like we do have a lot of power in terms of the perspective that we help kids develop about the world, about why it looks the way it does. We can give them the opportunities at a young age to develop skills that will serve them the rest of their lives.
Global News
21-05-2025
- Health
- Global News
University of Guelph prof's waterless decontamination technology is changing food safety
A University of Guelph professor's technology is changing the way we take care of our food. Keith Warriner, a professor of food safety, has developed a technology that combines hydrogen peroxide, UV light and ozone to create hydroxyl radicals, which kill 99 per cent of pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella. He first developed the technology over 20 years ago in the United Kingdom, using the same chemistry that forms hydroxyl radicals. He said hydroxyl radicals are seen in clouds. When the sun shines into the ozone, it degrades into hydroxyl radicals and dissipates into water. Warriner put that chemistry to work in a chamber to decontaminate fresh produce, such as lettuce, tomatoes and cauliflower. The technology's water-free system has advantages over conventional methods. 'To be effective, it can decontaminate. You don't have any water, so you're saving on water, it can degrade pesticides like chlorpyrifos, whereas in washing, it's like having a bath, literally,' Warriner said. Story continues below advertisement The system can decontaminate 100,000 pounds of produce every hour and works on fruits, vegetables and raw pet food. Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy However, the prototype never caught on until years later, when a listeria outbreak occurred in 2015 and the technology was used to help save Ontario apple grower Paul Moyer's business. Moyer turned to the award-winning food scientist for help. 'He would say, 'Look, we need a process where we can assure that apples are going to be listeria-free, and I said, 'I've got this technology from previous research.' And we did the project. Sure enough, we showed that we could inactivate the listeria, make the candy apples safe,' Warriner said. The technology resulted in massive success; it boosted Moyer's sales tenfold, doubled the fruit's shelf life and allowing it to be sold in multiple states south of the border. The success also led to Moyer starting Clean Works Technology in 2017, partly owning the patent for Warriner's technology. The U of G professor and his team of food science students are currently looking at ways to improve the technology, including developing versions that might work on eggs and medical equipment, among other commodities. Warriner said it's going to be 'a game-changer' for food safety. He said it has all the features needed for industrial applications. Story continues below advertisement 'You've got the throughput, you've got monitoring, you've got research that's proven research and it works,' he said. He said trying to get others to buy in presents a barrier, as is the case with all new technologies. And it's a barrier he is trying to overcome. 'The reality with fresh produce is that it's grown in an open field, and we know urban populations where also water quality is affecting it, so testing alone won't save you, but having a pasteurization step, as I call it, will save your day,' he said. More than 200 studies have been done to validate the technology's safety and efficacy, and it's led to commercial units expanding to other continents, including Europe, South America and Australia.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man caught on camera yelling slurs, punching Portland homeowner facing assault charges, investigators say
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The man in SE Portland and yelling slurs at Spanish workers was arraigned in court on Thursday, officials say. According to investigators, Caleb Moyer was the man caught on camera cursing at the workers near SE 42nd Avenue and Rex Street. Police said Moyer appeared to be 'upset over the ethnicity of the crew.' When confronted, Moyer threatened and punched the man in the face in front of his 5-year-old daughter, authorities say. Moyer faces multiple assault charges from the incident. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Yahoo
Real Time Crime Center offers Columbus Police information that leads to arrests
Editor's Note: This is the third of a four-part series. Links to other articles in the series can be found at the bottom of this article. COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — When the Columbus Police Department's Real Time Crime Center began ramping up more than a year ago, some officers and detectives on the street were skeptical about just how much the cameras would help. It didn't take long for them to embrace the new technology. Listen Cpl. Antonio Burgess. 'It cuts down on investigative time,' he said. 'We can solve cases a lot quicker.' Burgess is a property crimes investigator. Listen to how he solved a series of burglaries. 'This guy ended up breaking into about at least a dozen convivence stores,' he said. Investigators thought the crimes were connected, but were not close to solving them. Burgess told the Real Time Crime Center what he knew — times and locations. 'We figured out his pattern,' Burgess said. 'He would usually break into these stores between the hours of 2 o'clock and 6 o'clock. … By him doing it late at night we knew that there were not a lot of vehicles on the roadways. So, with a lot of hard work we passed it on to the Real Time Crime Center.' An analyst spent hours looking at roadway cameras. 'They were able to give us a car, a possible suspect vehicle,' Burgess said. 'The location of that car pretty much – the same car now – matched all of the times and dates that these stores were getting broken into. … It would have took us months to go out and physically go up to stores.' The Real Time Crime Center also comes into play on the most violent crimes. Sgt. Adam Moyer of the Columbus Police Department has his own story of how it helped in an investigation. 'Back in the beginning of March, I had a shooting at Elizabeth Canty Homes,' Moyer said. 'An individual shot among an occupied vehicle. Utilizing the cameras that were in the apartment complex, the Real Time Crime Center was able to view the victim as he drives into the complex and the suspect coming from a specific apartment.' The city cameras inside the complex and business cameras outside Canty led police to a suspect,' Moyer said. 'And instead of weeks, it took just hours to feed that video to the detectives. 'My next day into work, within an hour of being at work, I had video footage coming from the Real Time crime center.' Sometimes it's quicker than that, according to Chief Stoney Mathis. 'Having a Real Time Crime Center puts that information together in real time and feeds that information to the detectives, almost before they get on the scene,' Mathis said. 'As a matter of fact, we have had the Real Time Crime Scene provide information to the police officers while they are en route to the scene.' Beyond the Beat continues in these articles: Part 1: Columbus Real Time Crime Center at forefront of dramatic change in policing Part 2: How civilians are changing the way police work is done Part 4: Beyond the Beat: How the Real Time Crime Center is shaping the future of policing Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WRBL.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Yahoo
Woman Finds Husband Dead in Lake After Falling Off Jet Ski
A 43-year-old man has died after the jet ski he and his wife were riding overturned in Arizona on Easter, authorities said. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said in a news release obtained by PEOPLE that authorities responded on Sunday, April 20, around 2:59 p.m., local time, to a report of a personal watercraft that flipped over with two people in the Scorpion Bay area of Lake Pleasant, located northwest of Phoenix. 'The jet ski was making a u-turn in the water and the subjects fell off,' the sheriff's office said. 'A male and female were both wearing life jackets, however, the female found the male floating face down in the water and was unable to turn him over.' Authorities found the unresponsive man, identified as Tejan Sesay, who was being administered life-saving procedures by good Samaritans from another boat, authorities said. Related: Cruise Ship Passenger Dies While Jet Skiing in the Bahamas: Police Despite authorities' efforts to revive Sesay with CPR, he was pronounced dead at 3:30 p.m., the agency added. Sesay's wife did not sustain injuries. 'An investigation is underway to determine the male's exact cause of death,' the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said. David Moyer, a MCSO public information officer, told Fox affiliate KSAZ that the couple had rented the jet ski at Scorpion Bay. Related: Family of 10-Year-Old Who Died in Jet Ski Crash Files Wrongful Death Suit Against Boy Scouts, Seeking $10M 'The female stated that it was having some sort of mechanical issue and they were attempting to make a U-turn when they both fell off to take it back," he said. Other nearby boaters tried to help Sesay, Moyer noted. "We thank them, obviously, for stopping to assist,' Moyer told KSAZ. 'They obviously saw somebody in distress, so they did come to their aid and they did the best they could do at that point.' In a Monday, April 21, Facebook post announcing Sesay's death, Sierra Power Renewable Energy SL Limited, which is based in Sierra Leone, said that he was a co-founding member of the organization. Related: 2 Teenage Girls Killed After Jet Ski Collides with Boat on Illinois Lake Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 'As Chairman of our Technical Committee and our representative in the United States, Mr. Sesay was instrumental in shaping the vision and mission of Sierra Power,' the group wrote. 'His unwavering dedication to clean energy access and sustainable development in Sierra Leone will never be forgotten," they added. "We extend our deepest condolences to his family, loved ones, and all those whose lives he touched.🕯️May his soul rest in perfect peace." Read the original article on People
