Latest news with #PennsylvaniaStateUniversity
Middle East Eye
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Poll: 82 percent of Israelis favour expelling Palestinians from Gaza
A new poll found that 82 percent of Israeli Jews support the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, while an additional 56 percent support expelling Palestinian citizens of Israel. The poll was conducted Pennsylvania State University and conducted by Tamir Sorek for the Israeli polling firm Geocartography Knowledge Group, Haaretz reported. The number marks a massive increase of support for expelling Palestinians compared to a 2003 survey, in which support was 45 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Pause in US student visa interviews makes families review plans
Mumbai: Increased scrutiny of international students' social media activity and a pause in US visa interview appointments have triggered more concern among Indian students aspiring to study in the US. With the roadmap unclear and digital vetting deepening, many feel caught in a wave of uncertainty about their academic futures. In some cases, parents are considering putting plans for foreign education on hold for a year or look for alternatives in Australia or Europe. Dr. Karan Gupta, a career guidance counsellor, confirmed that "students who already have visa appointments can proceed as planned," but those without one "will have to wait longer till appointments open." He said social media profiles "are being scrutinised more closely," a practice that, while not new, has now intensified. US secretary of state Marco Rubio has in a recent cable to US embassies indicated the need to widen screening of foreign students for social media activity that promotes anti-semitism or indicates a desire to participate in political movements. This heightened focus on their digital activity is prompting many students to review their online profile and past activity. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like How to seamlessly scale and efficiently manage network traffic - Google Cloud: Future of Infrastructure CIO | Google Cloud, AMD Undo "If their political opinions or views don't align with that of the US, they're going to face problems," Gupta explained. However, he said this was not an invasion of privacy since the content is publicly posted. A student at Pennsylvania State University had a different perspective: "To be honest, it is really scary. Just hearing about how many international students had their visas cancelled is nerve-racking." Education consultant K.P. Singh echoed these concerns, stating that digital vetting "has actually been in place for over two years now," but "the US govt is now moving toward formalizing it with defined parameters." Singh noted that about 10% of his students express anxiety, though "parents are debating whether to defer their children's plans by a year or look for alternatives like Australia or Europe." The lack of clarity and consistency in the US govt's approach is especially troubling. According to the Penn State student, "There really is no pattern to who is getting sent back. It's all very messed up." Mental health is also taking a hit. "A lot of students are very stressed and it's taking a toll on their mental health," they said, adding that the university has arranged special counselling sessions. Despite these hurdles, Dr. Gupta assures students that universities are supportive. "They are telling students not to panic and proceed as planned." Yet, as visa policies evolve, the future remains uncertain—leaving students in a precarious balancing act between their academic aspirations and an increasingly watchful immigration system.
Scientific American
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scientific American
Behind the Scenes on the Science of The Last of Us
Behavioral ecologist David Hughes, who consulted on the video game that inspired the hit TV show The Last of Us, speaks about how our experience with the COVID pandemic changed the way we relate to zombie fiction By & Nature magazine The year was 2013, and the release of a hotly anticipated zombie-apocalypse video game was on the horizon. The game, called The Last of Us, invited players to explore what then seemed a fanciful scenario: a world devastated by a pandemic in which a pathogen kills millions of people. Unlike in many apocalypse fictions, the pathogen responsible wasn't a bacterium or a virus, but a fungus called Cordyceps that infects humans and takes over their brains. 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. The writers at game studio Naughty Dog, based in Santa Monica, California, were inspired by real fungi — particularly Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, known as the zombie-ant fungus. The fungus infects insects and releases chemicals into the animals' brains to change their behaviour. Ahead of the game's release, Naughty Dog turned to scientists, including behavioural ecologist David Hughes, a specialist in zombie-ant fungi (he named one after his wife), to field questions from the media about the fungal and pandemic science that inspired the story. Hughes, who is at the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, has since moved to studying climate change and food security. The Last of Us spawned a sequel game in 2020 and a critically acclaimed television show, the second season of which concludes on 25 May on HBO. Hughes spoke to Nature about his experience consulting on the game and why COVID-19 changed our appetite for zombies. What was your involvement with the game? Naughty Dog studios asked me and a few other people who were notable in this space, including psychologists, to talk about whether we could have a global pandemic. Of course, in the intervening period, we all learnt that the answer was yes. They asked us to go around Europe and do a series of lectures to stave off critique and provide support to the idea that infections that jump from one species into another — zoonotic infections — are not only possible, but actually they're the predominant mechanism by which humans are infected with new parasites that cause disease. I had the good fortune to go to the studios and see the artistry that was involved, and meet the team and the voice actors of the video game. What did you make of the science in the game? I was really impressed by how much the game's writers got into the science of it and started to understand things like fungi and slime moulds, and just trying to think about the ways in which these organisms do their business. They really took it by themselves and incorporated those elements into the game. I think they were even mail-ordering slime moulds so they could just leave it out on a petri dish and examine it. And you see that throughout the game. And now in the TV programme, in the intros, they have these slime balls. The writers were geeky, and understanding fungi is not complex, so they ran with it. Did you play the games? I tried and I failed miserably! I'm just a typical hopeless scientist. Is the idea of a Cordyceps pandemic realistic? It is not unrealistic that fungi can infect humans if they come from animals. It is unrealistic to think that they could cause the behavioural changes in humans. The writers took liberties. They had different stages about how the infection changes over time. That's all fanciful, of course. Looking at the second season of the TV show, it was interesting that they have this communicative nature of the spores or the fungal hyphae. That's interesting because we know fungi are connected like that over many kilometres — for example, the mycorrhizal fungi, which are underneath root systems in trees, do that effectively. Have you been impressed by the science in the TV show? I often find that's the wrong question, because I dont think the job of the entertainment industry is to impress scientists. Scientists are highly problematic individuals. It's called the Carl Sagan effect. The more you popularize science, the less good your science is. It's an inverse relationship. I think it doesn't really matter. Science belongs to society, and people should tell stories about that. And, you know, snooty scientists saying, 'Oh, you didn't get this exactly right,' — like, who cares? What was your reaction when the COVID-19 pandemic happened? I told you so! In The Last of Us lectures, I talk about the same thing. I said, the problem is not whether we'll have zombie-ant fungi manipulating humans. It's not going to happen. The problem is if we lose 5% of our population, and the global economy shuts down, which we saw. Do you think the COVID-19 pandemic changed our appetite for zombie-apocalypse media? It's very interesting. You build a game about a dystopian future based on a pandemic, you live through a pandemic, and then what's the relevance of the game or the movie? I think our appetite for being scared by pandemics has receded because we all have PTSD. Or, we don't have PTSD and realized that some of us just don't care about other people. So it's interesting to look at the history of zombie lore. Back in the 1950s and 60s, it was all about nuclear weapons, because we were all collectively fearful of that. And then it moved into diseases, because we had an over-populated society. Then we had a pandemic, and we shrugged and moved on. So the fascinating thing is, The Last of Us is nice, but it's not what it used to be. first published on May 23, 2025.
Middle East Eye
7 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Majority of Israelis support expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, poll finds
An overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews support the transfer of Palestinians from Gaza, according to a poll by Pennsylvania State University. The survey, conducted in March and published by Haaretz newspaper on Thursday, found that 82 percent of Israeli Jews support the forced expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Earlier this month, Israel launched the "Operation Gideon's Chariots" in the besieged strip, which, according to the Israeli news outlet Ynet, is intended to advance US President Donald Trump's plan to "clean out" Gaza. Ynet reported that during the operation, the Israeli army plans to push as many Palestinians as possible towards the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, where food and aid will be delivered. The new military plan is also aimed at promoting the "voluntary emigration" of Palestinians, according to Ynet. The new plan has garnered support among the majority of the Israeli public, even though the Israeli army's chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, warned that it would pose a danger to the lives of the Israeli captives in Gaza. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters According to a separate Channel 13 poll, 44 percent of the Israeli public supports the operation while 40 percent oppose it. The same poll showed that the Israeli public also supports the continuation of the full blockade that Israel has imposed on the Gaza Strip since the beginning of March. It found that 53 percent of the Israeli public think that Israel should not allow humanitarian aid into the enclave. Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that one of Israel's war goals is to implement Trump's proposed plan to expel the Palestinians from Gaza. At a press conference, Netanyahu said that he was willing to end the war but only "under clear conditions that will ensure the safety of Israel: all the hostages come home, Hamas lays down its arms, steps down from power, its leadership is exiled from the strip". "And we carry out the Trump plan - a plan that is so correct and so revolutionary," he added. Secular public supports expulsion According to the Penn State poll, support for the mass expulsion of Palestinians from the enclave was also found among 70 percent of the secular Jewish public, parts of which are considered liberal. Meanwhile, support among the Masortim (traditionalists), religious, and ultra-Orthodox communities exceeds 90 percent. The sweeping and cross-political and social support for the expulsion of Palestinians does not stop at the borders of the occupied Gaza Strip. According to the poll, 56 percent of Israeli Jews support the expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel from their land. Donald Trump's Gaza plan: Ethnic cleansing or crime against humanity? Read More » While the highest levels of support for the move were recorded amongst the Masortim, religious, and ultra-Orthodox communities, exceeding 60 percent, there was also significant backing among the secular public. Thirty-eight percent of secular Israeli Jews support the expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel from the country, the poll reported. Commenting on the results survey, Shay Hazkani, a professor of history and Jewish studies at the University of Maryland, and Tamir Sorek, a professor in the history department at Penn State University, wrote: "There are those who see the shock and anxiety that befell the Israeli public in the wake of the events of October 7th as the only explanation for this radicalization. "But the massacre only seems to have unleashed demons that have been nurtured over decades in the media and in the legal and educational systems." Throughout the war, Israeli media outlets have echoed calls for the expulsion and killing of Palestinians. Recently, Israeli human rights organisations submitted a request to the Supreme Court to open an investigation against Channel 14, seen as loyal to Netanyahu, on suspicion of "incitement to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity". The education system has also played a role in shaping extremist views among young Israelis. Hazkani and Sorek say that since the early 2000s, it has undergone a process of radicalisation. According to the poll, only 9 percent of Jewish men under the age of 40, representing most of the soldiers in regular and reserve duty, were fully opposed to the ideas of expulsion and transfer. Religious language It was only last March that the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed a petition filed by human rights organisations seeking to compel the government to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. In the ruling, one of the justices used religious language to justify the verdict. Since the beginning of the war, religious language has been widely used in Israel to describe the war in Gaza. One frequently invoked term is 'Amalek' - referring to an ancient enemy of the Israelites, against whom Jewish tradition commands an all-out war. Trump says 'clean out that whole thing' as part of his plan for Gaza Read More » A week after the 7 October Hamas-led attack, Netanyahu urged ground troops preparing to enter Gaza to "remember what Amalek has done to you". Religious discourse in Israel, however, is not limited to the religious public. The poll found that 65 percent of the Jewish population believes there is a modern-day "Amalek". And of those, about 93 percent think the "mitzvah" , or commandment, to 'wipe out the memory of Amalek' should still apply today. Meanwhile, 47 percent of the Jews answered yes to the question: "Do you support the claim that the [Israeli army] in conquering an enemy city, should act in a manner similar to the way the Israelites did when they conquered Jericho under the leadership of Joshua, ie to kill all its inhabitants?" The reference is to the biblical account of the conquest of Jericho. "Zionism, in addition to being a national movement, is also a movement of immigrant-settlers, which seeks to push the local population out," wrote Hazkani and Sorek. "The aspiration for absolute and permanent security can lead to an operative plan to eliminate the opposing population, and therefore every settlement project has the potential for ethnic cleansing and genocide."
India Gazette
23-05-2025
- Science
- India Gazette
Scientists outline nuclear winter scenario
The aftermath following an exchange of nukes could include prolonged cooling, agricultural collapse and social upheaval, a study has said Apart from killing millions, a war between Russia and the US could result in a 'nuclear winter' that would devastate the Earth's atmosphere and lead to a drastic reduction in agricultural production, a group of American scientists has said. A team led by an assistant research professor at Pennsylvania State University, Yuning Shi, published the results of their stimulation of a war between the two largest nuclear powers in an article in Environmental Research Letters earlier this month. According to the paper, "a global nuclear war" could see up to 150 million tons of soot released into the atmosphere, leading to "prolonged cooling, agricultural collapse, and social upheaval on an unprecedented scale." In such a scenario, precipitation and solar radiation would decrease by as much as 70% globally, resulting in the average air temperature dropping by over 15 degrees Celsius, it said. Due to this 'nuclear winter', the annual production of maize, which the scientists focused on, could decrease by as much as 80%, the paper said. Supply chains and trade could also be seriously disrupted, further worsening the situation in the agricultural sector and leading to regional or global famine, the researchers stressed. According to their estimates, it would take from seven to 12 years to restore food production levels. Understanding the possible damage from a nuclear exchange and preparing for it is "critical" given current geopolitical trends, including the Ukraine conflict, the tensions between India and Pakistan, and instability in the Middle East that have "undermined the fragile detente that prevailed during the last years of the Cold War," the paper stressed. Shi and his colleagues proposed to develop what they called 'Agricultural Resilience Kits' of region- and climate-specific seeds and technology packages to serve as a "buffer against uncertainty" in case of a 'nuclear winter'. Last month, Nikolay Patrushev, national security adviser to President Vladimir Putin, accused Western powers of "deploying their military machine against Russia and becoming delirious with nuclear apocalypse scenarios." Moscow has repeatedly denied claims by the US and EU of planning to use nuclear weapons during the Ukraine conflict. However, Russia updated its nuclear doctrine in 2023, allowing for the use of such arms as a deterrent to prevent aggression by hostile powers and military blocs that possess weapons of mass destruction or large arsenals of conventional weapons. (
