Thank you!We have emailed you a PDF version of the article you requested You can also addnewsletters@iflscience.comto your safe senders list to ensure you never miss a message from us IFLScience HomePart Of The Bronze Age "Treasure Of Villena" Appears To Have An Extraterrestrial OriginComplete the form below to listen to the audio version of this article IFLScience needs the contact information you provide to us to contact you about our products and services You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time For information on how to unsubscribe, as well as our privacy practices and commitment to protecting your privacy, check out ourPrivacy Policy IFLScience HomeJoin for Exclusive FacebookemailJames is a published author with four pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary. FacebookemailEditedbyKaty EvansKaty Evans FacebookemailKaty is Managing Editor at IFLScience where she oversees editorial content from News articles to Features Image credit: Municipal Archaeological Museum of Villena (CC by 4.0) Parts of the "Treasure of Villena" found in the Iberian Peninsula appear to have originated from space First discovered in 1963, the Treasure of Villena is a haul of 66 items largely made of gold and silver and other ornaments – was a significant find and representing one of the most important examples of goldsmithing from the area and time But dating the treasure precisely has been somewhat troublesome "The discovery of the Cabezo Redondo Treasure (Villena with some golden pieces related to those of Villena suggest dates for both groups within the Late Bronze Age (1400-1200 cal BC)," the team explains in their study "The bone of contention that forced some researchers to lower the chronology well into the Late Bronze Age is the existence in the Villena Treasure of two iron metal pieces: a small hollow semisphere covered with an openwork sheet of gold supposedly interpreted as the end of a sceptre or baton of command or as a sword hilt This led some archaeologists to date the treasure to this later period.  However, there is another possibility; that the iron within the items came from meteorites, rather than terrestrial sources. Other items from the ancient past, including Tutankhamun’s dagger have been found to have been made from iron delivered to the Earth via meteorite.  While invasive techniques of determining if the metal was meteoric were ruled out the team was able to analyze samples using mass spectrometry "The results of the analyses carried out on the iron pieces from the Villena Treasure presented here indicate with great probability that they are objects made of meteoritic iron," the team explained "The cap was possibly made of meteoritic iron [comparable to] the global composition of the Mundrabilla meteorite (Australia) analyzed years before in the Freiburg laboratory." The bracelet initially looked to contain less nickel at around 2.8 percent though follow-up tests showed slightly higher nickel content potentially from deeper into the artifacts or more expensive tests would be needed to say for certain that the metal came from an extraterrestrial source looking at the archaeological and historical context alongside the chemical analysis it looks likely that the metal came from a meteorite "The available data indicate that the helmet and bracelet from the Villena Treasure would be the first two pieces attributable to meteoritic iron in the Iberian Peninsula which is compatible with a Late Bronze Age chronology prior to the start of widespread terrestrial iron production," the team wrote in their conclusion "The chronology of the abandonment of Cabezo Redondo is placed at a time before 1200 cal BC[E]." The study is published in Trabajos de Prehistoria HumansT. Rex Handbags Could Soon Be A Thing, Ronan The Sea Lion Has Better Rhythm Than Some Humans, And Much More This Week2 days agolink to article ancient ancestorsHuman Wounds Heal Nearly 3 Times Slower Than Other Animals': Could This Be Due To Our Evolution?3 days ago150link to article T. Rex Leather, Glow-In-The-Dark Gas Clouds, And Musical Sea Lionslink to article The Five Most Common Headacheslink to article © 2025 IFLScience. All Rights Reserved. RSS A mental health survey administered to Seattle-area middle and high schoolers is putting their sensitive personal information at risk, according to a February investigation from The Seattle Times and the education-focused outlet The 74 While parents and schools were sold on the survey as a tool to identify struggling
students a public records request showed just how invasive many survey questions are takes around 12 minutes to complete and asks students about general demographic features along with questions about their mental health did you ever seriously think about ending your life?" According to The 74 has spent more than $21 million on the survey and related mental health supports since 2018 and anything else they feel like writing in—plus their whole mental health record," Stephanie Hager Hager is part of a group of parents who sought to highlight the survey's security vulnerabilities by successfully obtaining student data through a public records request Hager says she identified six different students based on the information they provided in the survey and a quick internet search—highlighting just how easily students can be de-anonymized Some school officials have echoed these concerns "We want to proceed with an abundance of caution to not create unnecessary harm," one school administrator wrote in a 2019 report discussing the survey "A factor that has complicated our efforts in particular is a lack of clarity and guidance around the validity and reliability and vetting of the screening tool We are unsure if we are being asked to field test a research or diagnostic tool As such we have concerns about ensuring clear and consistent informed consent." "It really is causing considerable angst," the school official added In their effort to prevent mental health crises schools are gathering a staggering amount of personal information—risking students' privacy and security for a nebulous gain to physical safety Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Emma Camp is an associate editor at Reason Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" Kamil Majchrzak has been on an upward trend throughout the season regaining the best sensations prior to his doping suspension and being out of the circuit for a while The 28-year-old Pole managed to clinch the title at the ATP Challenger Villena 2024 after defeating Nicolás Moreno de Alborán in the final with a score of 6-4 6-2 This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, ATP Challenger Villena 2024: Kamil Majchrzak se proclama campeón But a couple of new laws he's signed about guns and booze call his small-government bona fides into question Last week, he signed legislation that gives Colorado "one of the most restrictive gun laws in the country," according to CBS News pushed by a state senator whose son was killed during the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting sell and make most semi-automatic firearms without background checks and training." The law requires purchasers to get a background check from their county sheriff who will have the discretion to deny permission if the purchaser is deemed a "danger." After that initial check the purchaser will then have to pass a 12-hour training course have their names entered into the state database and pass a second check by a firearms dealer which allow semiautomatics to mimic fully automatic weapons A spokesman for the Colorado State Shooting Association told CBS News that the law is unconstitutional and that the gun rights group plans to sue. Polis has long supported other restrictions on gun ownership, such as red flag laws that allow law enforcement to temporarily suspend gun rights for individuals deemed a threat to themselves and others without due process Also last week, Polis signed legislation stopping the ability of grocery stores and big-box retailers to sell distilled spirits (or hard liquor) about three dozen supermarkets and big-box retailers are allowed to sell spirits like tequila Senate Bill 33 halts the expansion of grocery stores that can sell hard liquor as a way of protecting the state's independent alcohol retailers Polis said that he didn't like the way the law "puts the state government in the position of picking winners and losers" and limits consumer choices noting the overwhelming support in both houses of the state legislature 25-086 passed with similarly lopsided support as the bill governing liquor sales bill suggesting that Polis may well sign it out of deference to the majority Nick Gillespie is an editor at large at Reason and host of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie the preseason of Carlos Alcaraz kicked off who will split his time between Club de Campo de Murcia and the Ferrero Tennis Academy in Villena It will be at this second stop where he will host two special guests none other than the British player Jack Draper (#15) and the Italian Flavio Cobolli (#32) who was already here last December and did quite well who also visited the Levantine coast and look at the progress he made It will be fascinating to see these men share experiences in this preseason test before the start of 2025 This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Dos top35 compartirán pretemporada con Alcaraz en Villena The Trump administration believes that high tariffs will boost the prospects of American manufacturing but one iconic truck company is now preparing to lay off hundreds of workers—because of the tariffs For more than a century, the Mack Trucks plant on the outskirts of Allentown, Pennsylvania, has been churning out heavy equipment to haul stuff from place to place. It is one of the largest employers in the region blue-collar jobs that President Donald Trump and his allies want to promote in America Some of those jobs are about to disappear. Mack Trucks will lay off between 250 and 350 workers over the next few weeks, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports A company spokesperson told the Capital-Star that the layoffs are due to "market uncertainty about freight rates and demand" and "the impact of tariffs." one of the impacts of tariffs is increased economic uncertainty and decreased demand for products like the ones Mack Trucks makes That's a tidy illustration of how higher tariffs are hurting American businesses in more ways than one: higher prices for imported goods and component parts on the front end coupled with lower sales expectations on the back end As that dynamic plays out across the whole economy, the tariffs will create more losers than winners. A Goldman Sachs report published this week estimates that Trump's tariffs will create about 100,000 new manufacturing jobs (a result of supply chains shifting to the U.S. as the president wants) but will destroy 500,000 other jobs in the process That would reflect what happened during Trump's first term, when his tariffs cost about 245,000 American jobs "A lot of companies are definitely going to go under, that's for sure," Molson Hart, CEO of Viahart, an educational toy company, told The Atlantic's Derek Thompson this week "Firms expect conditions to worsen in the months ahead," the New York Federal Reserve noted in its April survey of manufacturers which showed "a level of pessimism that has only occurred a handful of times in the history of the survey." Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport, a global logistics firm, warned in a series of posts on X that ocean freight bookings from China are down 50 percent since Trump's tariffs hit That could potentially wipe out as much as $1 trillion in economic activity if the tariffs remain in place for a full year "Thousands, and then millions, of American small businesses, including many iconic brands, will go bankrupt this year if the tariff policies on China don't change," Petersen wrote The stock market might have been the first to respond to the consequences of Trump's tariffs but the damage was always going to be more widespread American workers are about to end up on the front lines of the president's trade war Eric Boehm is a reporter at Reason With over $28 trillion in publicly held debt the last thing the country needs is a policy that scares undocumented immigrants out of paying taxes—and punishes them for doing something the government has encouraged them to do for decades Fiona Harrigan is a deputy managing editor at Reason Amidst a cache of glittering golden treasures from the Iberian Bronze Age a pair of corroded objects might be the most precious of all A dull bracelet and a rusted hollow hemisphere decorated with gold are forged but with iron from meteorites that fell from the sky The discovery, led by now-retired head of conservation at the National Archeological Museum Spain, Salvador Rovira-Llorens, was revealed in a paper published last year and suggests that metalworking technology and techniques were far more advanced than we thought in Iberia more than 3,000 years ago The Treasure of Villena, as the cache of 66 mostly gold objects is known was discovered more than 60 years ago in 1963 in what is now Alicante in Spain and has since come to be regarded as one of the most important examples of Bronze Age goldsmithing in the Iberian Peninsula determining the age of the collection has been somewhat difficult to do thought to be part of a scepter or sword hilt; and a single Both have what archaeologists have described as a "ferrous" appearance – that is the Iron Age – where smelted terrestrial iron began to replace bronze – didn't start until around 850 BCE The problem is that the gold materials have been dated to between 1500 and 1200 BCE So working out where the ferrous-looking artifacts sit in the context of the Treasure of Villena has been something of a puzzle There is a way to tell the difference: iron from meteorites has a much higher nickel content than iron dug out of Earth's ground So researchers obtained permission from the Municipal Archaeological Museum of Villena and determine just how much nickel they contained They carefully took samples of both artifacts and subjected the material to mass spectrometry to determine their composition which alters the elemental makeup of the artifact the results strongly suggest that both the hemisphere and the bracelet were made from meteoritic iron This neatly solves the dilemma of how the two artifacts align with the rest of the collection: they were made around the same period "The available data suggest that the cap and bracelet from the Treasure of Villena would currently be the first two pieces attributable to meteoritic iron in the Iberian Peninsula," the researchers explain in their paper "which is compatible with a Late Bronze chronology prior to the beginning of the widespread production of terrestrial iron." non-invasive techniques that could be applied to the objects to obtain a more detailed set of data that would help cement the findings The findings were published in Trabajos de Prehistoria An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024 families have complained of cruelty from the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) when their incarcerated loved ones become seriously ill or die legislation in Congress is attempting to put a stop to what it calls inhumane treatment Sens. Jon Ossoff (D–Ga.) and John Kennedy (R–La.) introduced legislation Wednesday—the Family Notification of Death or Illness in Custody Act—that would require the Justice Department to issue guidance to the BOP for promptly notifying families of individuals in custody who become seriously ill The Justice Department would also distribute those policies as a model for state and local lockups to follow the families of those incarcerated never find out about a serious illness or even the death of a loved one behind bars," Ossoff said in a press release A companion bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Reps A BOP spokesperson declined to comment on the legislation citing the agency's policy of responding directly to members of Congress the spokesperson said that "upon arrival at an FBOP facility all individuals in our custody are asked to provide a primary point of contact (next of kin) in the event of death or illness the institution will notify the next-of-kin." According to BOP policy the warden or other designee should telephone the deceased inmate's next-of-kin "immediately to communicate the circumstances surrounding the death." The policy also states that the warden should draft a letter of condolence explaining the nature and causes of death However, families say that's not what's happening. In interviews with Reason last year they described delays in being notified that their incarcerated loved one had been hospitalized or even died; having their phone calls ignored; not being allowed to see their loved one in their final moments; delays in being sent the body and death certificate; being given inaccurate or incomplete information about the manner of death; or waiting months and years for the Bureau to fulfill their public records requests for more information about how their loved one died "He was always complaining about how his blood sugars were always high, and they didn't listen to him, nobody would pay attention to him," Valencia told Reason last year "I remember he called me one day and he told me but I feel a little bit better today.' And then he stopped calling me out of nowhere and that he was probably not gonna make it." Valencia says officials didn't allow her to be with her son in his final moments The BOP listed his official cause of death as complications from influenza Another woman told Reason she discovered her husband had died in federal prison but instead when she checked the BOP's online inmate locator and saw his status had changed to "deceased." These problems occur in state prisons and local jails as well. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in 2020 how the Clayton County Jail failed to notify a woman that her mother had suffered serious injuries from an alleged fall and had been on life support at a hospital for three weeks Ossoff's office highlighted another case of a Georgia woman who was only notified of her father's death at a state prison after a letter was returned to her stamped It shouldn't take legislation for jailers to show families the bare minimum of human decency and it should be embarrassing that lawmakers feel it's necessary to mandate such a thing C.J. Ciaramella is a reporter at Reason Will publishing someone's name or workplace online soon be illegal in Georgia? Last week, the state Senate overwhelmingly voted to pass an antidoxing bill that would punish a wide range of common online speech by up to a year in jail While the bill aims to protect individuals from having sensitive information—like their Social Security numbers or addresses—published without their consent it goes far beyond such private information The bill is a "law against criticism of any kind," Andrew Fleishman, a criminal defense attorney who testified against the bill "It means that if I act with reckless disregard for the possibility that it might cause you mental anguish or economic harm of $500 or more but anything that could lead someone to that." The bill defines doxing as a crime that occurs when a "person intentionally posts another person's personally identifying information without their consent and does so with reckless disregard for whether the information would be reasonably likely to be used by another party to cause the person whose information is posted to be placed in reasonable fear of stalking serious bodily injury or death to oneself or a close relation or to suffer a significant economic injury or mental anguish as a result therefrom." prohibited personal information includes anything from posting a person's name "religious practices of affiliation," and "life activities" to their biometric data or a "sexually intimate or explicit visual depiction." As a result the bill is incredibly overbroad in terms of what speech it prohibits "So if I said 'Emma Camp is a crappy journalist,' yes But if I just said 'there's a lady at Reason I don't like,' that could also do "This is a law that has a million bad applications and maybe one good one." Fleishman isn't the only one concerned that the bill violates the First Amendment "The idea that you could post something online and then someone else might act on that kind of just information and you can be blamed for it criminally is certainly unconstitutional and would certainly chill speech," says Greg Gonzalez legislative counsel at the Foundation For Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) "We understand that there are times where information can be used for nefarious means but there are already laws on the books that can be used to go after criminals." though it seems likely that it will face a legal challenge should it be signed into law Get our news on your inbox! Suscribe x MercoPress, en Español Montevideo, May 5th 2025 - 23:39 UTC A Constitutional complaint was filed against Peru's Attorney General Juan Carlos Villena for irregularities in charges he filed against President Dina Boluarte The move will shield the head of state under investigation for corruption and has a meager 5% positive image  The case against Villena was submitted by private citizen Jhon Carlos Lopez Goicochea for an alleged constitutional infringement in the so-called Rolexgate scandal in which the head of state was pictured wearing pricy watches believed to be above her financial possibilities given her lifetime earnings as a civil servant before becoming Vice President Villena contends Boluarte accepted the watches from Ayacucho Governor Wilfredo Oscorima in exchange for budget allocations Lopez Goicochea argued that the prosecutor's actions violated Article 117 of the Constitution which states that the President of the Republic cannot be charged with common or complex crimes while in office and clearly specifies that only treason to the homeland hindering elections and the functioning of electoral bodies merit a legal remedy in full fraudulent disregard of his main function of defending the legality of the constitutional precepts formulates a constitutional accusation against the President for a common crime contravening the spirit of the constitutional precept mentioned above A fact that constitutes a fraudulent act on the part of the highest representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office in an evident and manifest constitutional infraction,” read Lopez Goicochea's submission which also claimed that Villena committed prevarication The case is now for the Constitutional Court (TC) to decide whether a president can be investigated without violating the Constitution Villena filed a constitutional complaint for bribery against Boluarte in the Rolexgate case after the preliminary investigation was completed by May 17 There is consensus that Congress cannot approve the constitutional accusation at least until the end of Boluarte's term Justice Minister Eduardo Arana urged Congress to move forward with a constitutional accusation against the Attorney General Congress disqualified Zoraida Ávalos for her failure to proceed against former President Pedro Castillo Terrones for alleged acts of corruption in his government claiming that heads of state could be investigated while in office Commenting for this story is now closed.If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page The Trump administration is desperate to avoid judicial review The IGO Anti-Boycott Act would dramatically expand U.S The House quietly postponed a vote after running into unexpected Republican opposition Plus: A listener asks if we're finally defunding NPR and PBS The Bureau of Prisons is struggling to staff the prisons it currently operates Reopening Alcatraz would be unrealistic and redundant Trump's new imperialism makes neither economic nor geopolitical sense As climate and equity proposals lose steam activist investors are targeting junk food and alcohol in the name of corporate responsibility and the tricky problem of cutting spending through the executive branch Eric Brakey and Andrew Heaton debate whether libertarians should prioritize building local liberty-focused societies like the Free State Project or focus on reforming the federal government The budget proposal calls for gutting federal energy funding and environmental justice initiatives The White House budget plan says the agency's failure to prove it was not complicit in a possible lab leak shows it's "too big and unfocused." A Supreme Court case could determine whether Americans own their digital data—or whether the government can take that information without a warrant Laurel Libby made a post criticizing trans women in women's sports Her refusal to apologize has cost Libby her right to speak on the House floor and vote on legislation Even when they are less patently ridiculous the metrics of success favored by government officials make little sense Trump's comment about how "dolls" will "cost a couple of bucks more" is the latest in a long trend of nationalist conservatives disparaging affordable stuff Bondi said the president's drug policy prevented the deaths of 75 percent of Americans A new executive order would keep the Corporation for Public Broadcasting alive while telling it to cut off the two biggest public broadcasting networks A training slideshow reveals how deluded American leaders continue to be about the Iraq War The legislature is advancing three bills that will trample on private property rights and give natural gas a leg up in the Lone Star State The latest installment of the MCU is a movie about superhero has-beens fighting a depressive episode and podcasts sent right to your inbox in a daily afternoon email Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent | Est The California Environmental Quality Act has created a regulatory nightmare Campus protests against Israel have revived debates over the limits of First Amendment protections Commercial genius Alphonse Mucha's ads helped sell everything from soap to Champagne The Trump-appointed judge found that the administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act "exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain HD Video Download In this week's The Reason Roundtable, editors Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Peter Suderman welcome special guest Tim Carney to the show The panelists discuss Joe Biden's commutations of 37 out of 40 federal death row sentences before unpacking the latest on the traditional end-of-year struggle in Congress to pass a spending deal 00:39 - Joe Biden commutes federal death row sentences 06:41 - Congress scrambles to pass spending deal 29:32 - Weekly listener question 36:12 - Will Trump administration policies be more family-friendly 48:59 - This week's cultural recommendations Send your questions to roundtable@reason.com Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name Audio production by Ian Keyser Assistant production by Hunt Beaty Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve Matt Welch is an editor at large at Reason Katherine Mangu-Ward is editor in chief of Reason to the Netherlands for the ATP 500 Rotterdam 2025 The draw for the tournament will take place this Saturday and the Spanish player will begin his matches on Tuesday or Wednesday having several days to acclimatize to the court and playing conditions of the Dutch tournament Carlos will travel with Samuel López as the head coach while Juan Carlos Ferrero will stay in Villena having been present during the training sessions conducted by the Murcian player at the Academy since his return from Australia The Spanish tennis player has had a cold in recent years but is fully ready to pursue a new title This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Alcaraz viaja a Rotterdam sin Ferrero tras un bloque de entrenamientos en Villena There are just two days left in Reason's annual Webathon, the one week a year when we ask our online readers to support our award-winning journalism with fully tax-deductible donations (go here to make yours!) The challenge grant of $30,000 from Daniel Shuchman has now been met and we are happy to announce a new challenge grant of $25,000 from Kerry and Helen Welsh. That means every dollar you donate turns into two until this new challenge grant is reached with the weirdest presidential race in U.S including the incumbent dropping out via X (come on and one of the most spectacular political comebacks ever And next year will almost certainly be an even wilder ride as Donald Trump promises to whittle down the reach of the government even as he pushes tariffs and mass deportation But maybe the biggest story of 2024—and 2025, too—is something that runs roughshod over and around government: bitcoin, which recently cracked the $100,000 mark and gained a whole new aura of respectability. Reason has been covering this digital gold since its inception and our coverage exemplifies our principled Earlier this year, major investment firms like BlackRock and Fidelity started hawking their own bitcoin ETFs and politicians such as Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming (a Reason Interview subject) gained new traction calling for a strategic bitcoin reserve Reason has been lauding bitcoin's challenge to "state-controlled money" from the beginning: Through the Soho Forum we sponsored a debate in 2018 between bitcoin bear Peter Schiff and bitcoin bull Erik Voorhees that has pulled over 1 million views and remains a great introduction to why this alternative asset is going to be around for the long haul (and why it threatens the establishment): Senegalese app developer Fodé Diop explained how bitcoin-enabled smartphones might help developing nations break free of what he calls "monetary colonialism": Our coverage of bitcoin—like our coverage of everything—isn't uncritical boosterism, of course. Just a few weeks ago, staffer Katarina Hall reported on her unsuccessful attempts to use bitcoin in El Salvador the first country to adopt it alongside the U.S And our resident song parodist Remy not only mocked Dogecoin he had fun at the expense of tech bros with "Bitcoin Billionaire," a rap that has generated over 1.6 million views: All of this is to say: If you find bitcoin and cryptocurrencies interesting—and if you've made some gains from them in this rally—think about supporting Reason we've been talking about ways to make the world better all without necessarily dragging government or politics into the matter development on that front in a very long time Donate now and help make 2025 a fantastic year for Reason's journalism—and our ability to bank however we want Nick Gillespie is an editor at large at Reason and host of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie. Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. EXCLUSIVE: A language barrier between artist and client led to disaster for a New York City man who can’t get the offending ink lasered off due to the moles covering his back I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A New York City man got a full-back tattoo he claims the artist botched so badly, it put him into therapy to deal with the trauma according to a lawsuit obtained by The Independent When 30-year-old Samvel Sarhsian decided to get tattooed, he chose Inked NYC, a famed shop on the West Side of Manhattan. The parlor has inked everyone from 50 Cent to Post Malone to Nick Cannon and is an offshoot of a national magazine called But instead of the top-shelf backpiece he was expecting Sarhsian’s lawsuit says half his torso wound up covered in “a patchy image with blurred features and notably distorted facial elements.” In the suit further making a hash of things by “overlooking the natural curvature of Plaintiff’s spine.” getting the offending piece lasered off “poses significant health risks” for Sarhsian making the procedure more complicated and potentially dangerous.” “[My client] is very distressed about it,” Sarhsian’s attorney said his back has become a source of humiliation and ridicule from his friends who say the tattoo — for which Sarhsian said he paid $7,500 —looks like it was done in a “basement” somewhere When Sarhsian first saw what had been done to his back “The tattoo is nothing like what I was promised,” he told The Independent “It looks nothing like what they said it would look like.” Inked president Don Hellinger told The Independent he was unaware that Sarhsian had filed suit until being contacted on Monday for comment but we will do our best to reach an agreement with this gentleman,” Hellinger said responded to Sarhsian’s allegations after this article was published telling The Independent that Sarhsian was “experiencing significant discomfort” while getting inked making it “challenging” for Villena to work He also said Sarhsian gave up before the job was finished and that the result “does not accurately reflect the standard of my professional artistry.” Sarhsian arrived at Inked NYC for an appointment with well-known South American tattooist Gian Villena who was in town from São Paulo and doing a residency at the shop and Sarhsian put down a $500 deposit to secure his spot He showed up at Inked NYC’s 22nd Street location around noon and sat down with Villena to discuss the tattoo he wanted and Sarhsian “lacked sufficient proficiency in English to effectively communicate,” the lawsuit contends the Inked NYC studio manager “facilitated” the conversation between them about the details of Sarhsian’s desired ink who said he lived in Ukraine as a child and can speak the language Sarhsian was given a legal release form to sign “Instead of meticulously hand-drawing the high-quality image Villena used automatic lines through digital means likely with a standard iPad program like Procreate… Villena applied a sketch with random lines some unrelated to the original composition and significant blurring due to the image transformation technique used by Villena.” Sarhsian at one point looked at his back in the mirror He surveyed the employees at Inked NYC about the allegedly shoddy work but everyone there “assured him that Villena was a skilled artist and encouraged him to trust the process,” according to the suit which the lawsuit says “was of low and unworkmanlike quality.” including mirroring the image horizontally and overlooking the natural curvature of Plaintiff’s spine,” the suit states Villena deviated from the agreed-upon proportions and his work lacked the necessary contrast to highlight the image’s form.” Villena’s “prolonged work with a very light pigment further resulted in Plaintiff experiencing skin trauma.” Hellinger said on Monday that he was under the impression Sarhsian still had several sessions to go before the tattoo would be completed Sarhsian conceded he abandoned the project before the piece was done but claims he requested a different artist finish the job but was rebuffed Sarhsian claims the shop stopped returning his calls altogether As a result of Villena’s “reckless and negligent actions,” Sarhsian suffered severe emotional distress and psychological trauma “for which he was and is being treated,” according to the lawsuit and gets “severe headaches,” the suit states Plaintiff has been unable to overcome the fear of receiving tattoo work.” Villena told The Independent that he has received multiple awards for his work but thagt it is impossible to complete an entire back tattoo in one session He said his process normally includes “thorough consultations to understand the client’s vision,” and that he takes “great care in creating unique the premature termination of this session resulted in an incomplete tattoo which doesn’t showcase my level of skill and dedication,” Villena said In Sarhsian’s case, the suit says Inked NYC handed him over to a tattoo artist — Villena — who had not been “sufficiently instructed, trained, and supervised to properly perform his duties.” The tattoo Sarhsian was given, according to the lawsuit, constitutes “misconduct of an egregious nature that exceeds all bounds usually tolerated by a civilized society.” Inked NYC and Villena now have 20 days to file a response to Sarhsian’s allegations. This article was updated on October 9, 2024 to include Villena’s response. lawsuit says","description":"EXCLUSIVE: A language barrier between artist and client led to disaster for a New York City man Mission Statement: to assist the integration of foreign residents living in Spain and this is never more accurate than when you establish yourself as a foreign resident in a new country Being able to quickly familiarise yourself with the culture and customs can help ease the transition during a challenging time This is why Euro Weekly News makes it our mission to provide you with a free news resource in English that covers both regional and national Spanish news – anything that we feel you will benefit from knowing as you integrate into your new community and live your best life in Spain you can forget about translating articles from Spanish into awkward English that probably don’t make much sense Let us be your convenient and essential guide to all things that will likely affect you as a foreign resident living in Spain Villena’s Department of Tourism has formally requested the Valencian Government to designate Villena as a Relevant Tourist Municipality of the Valencian Community The aim is to position the city among the region’s most attractive destinations This initiative would enhance the city’s visibility and promotion through the Ministry’s channels while providing better access to funding and subsidies to bolster the local tourism sector The request is supported by a significant increase in hotel capacity which has grown by 56 per cent from 2021 to 2023 Currently, Villena boasts 331 hotel places This growth spans various accommodation types including an increase in hotels and hostels from 56 to 83 places and a doubling of tourist apartment options from 83 to 162 The number of camping spots has remained steady at 38 The Council emphasises that Villena meets the necessary criteria for this regional classification due to its established tourist offerings stated that the increase in hotel places has prompted the request for this new classification which would not only enhance the municipality’s prestige within the regional tourism landscape but also increase the financial aid provided by the Valencian Community Tourist Board to support tourism-related activities As of now, there are 64 municipalities classified as tourist destinations in the Valencian Community including 18 categorised as of Relevance and Excellence Villena currently holds the status of Tourist Municipality of Singularity Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox Euro Weekly News is the leading English language newspaper in Spain by delivering news with a social conscience we are proud to be the voice for the expat communities who now call Spain home With around half a million print readers a week and over 1.5 million web views per month EWN has the biggest readership of any English language newspaper in Spain The paper prints over 150 news stories a week with many hundreds more on the web – no one else even comes close Our publication has won numerous awards over the last 25 years including Best Free Newspaper of the Year (Premios AEEPP) Company of the Year (Costa del Sol Business Awards) and Collaboration with Foreigners honours (Mijas Town Hall) All of this comes at ZERO cost to our readers All our print and online content always has been and always will be FREE OF CHARGE Download our media pack in either English or Spanish as many as 100 million Americans could live in a state where they can be reported to a "bias response hotline" for a wide range of protected speech While states claim that these reporting mechanisms don't punish people for non-criminal speech acts many also claim to attempt to stop hateful speech incidents "before they occur." we sometimes contact the offending party and try to do training so that it doesn't happen again," Saterria Kersey a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations Oregon's Bias Response hotline encourages citizens to report not only hate crimes but also "non-criminal hostile expression motivated in part or whole by" someone's protected identity These incidents can include "hate speech," "displaying hateful symbols or flags," and "telling or sharing offensive 'jokes' about someone's identity." What happens when someone calls this hotline The Free Beacon called the hotline and reported a fictional incident—a man identifying himself as a Muslim said that he felt "targeted" by his neighbor's Israeli flag a hotline operator had logged the display in a 'state database,' referred to it as a 'warning sign,' and suggested installing security cameras in case the situation 'escalates,'" Sibarium writes 'as a victim of a bias incident,' he could apply for taxpayer-funded therapy through the state's Crime Victims Compensation Program which covers counseling costs for bias incidents as well as crimes." Even though nothing criminal had allegedly occurred—or even something that could be fairly described as objectively offensive—the operator nonetheless treated the report with immense gravity we go with whatever the victim is experiencing," the operator said during the call "And if your sense is that this is based on discrimination against your faith or your country of origin…that's how I would document it." while many states use their reporting systems to direct callers to state-funded counseling services many also use these hotlines as a kind of "predictive policing," tracking reported speech incidents and using them "as data points that are used to predict hate crimes." While states say they don't punish reported individuals—and often don't keep their names stored—for alleged "hate speech," it's likely that these hotlines don't explicitly violate free speech rights it's not hard to see how such wide-ranging bias response hotlines could end up chilling protected speech bias reporting systems fundamentally undermine these principles — and now seriously threaten the First Amendment rights of…ordinary citizens." antialcohol activists made two sweeping arguments for making liquor sales illegal doing so was necessary to uphold public morals alcohol bans were necessary for public health From pandemic lockdowns to vaping bans to transparently silly soda size limits so much of American politics today can be understood as a long-tail outgrowth of the Prohibitionist movement a joint project of self-certain moralists and public health nannies who believe that the surest way to improve the character and vitality of a nation is by telling other people what to do—or not do "telling other people what to do or not do" turns out to mean "legally restricting them from doing it." In the prohibitionist mindset Not only because we support individual choice in just about everything—though we do—but because legal prohibitions turn out to be inefficient with unintended consequences that make the world worse for everyone you help us stand athwart prohibitionist movements Something else happens when you donate to Reason right now:Your donations will be matched We're still working on that generous matching grant from Reason Foundation Chair Gerry Ohrstrom It's like ordering a double shot and getting it for the price of one and black market control of the liquor industry It also had less obvious consequences, like reducing patent innovation since closing saloons made it more difficult for thinkers and entrepreneurs to gather and share ideas Even seemingly modest restrictions had unintended consequences: When a New York state law restricted certain alcohol sales to hotel bars in the name of public morality, saloons rushed to turn old storage spaces into hastily renovated "hotel rooms." To pay for the conversions many of those rooms were used as brothels—not exactly what the restrictionists were hoping for Today's alcohol prohibitionists are less likely to try to ban alcohol. But they do want to increase taxes on liquor and require more onerous paperwork for brewers and distillers Why in the world is the federal government worried about the health effects of cherries Because nannies and neo-prohibitionists are always looking for a new target but sometimes I like to combine cherries with alcohol Your donations help Reason keep the neo-prohibitionists at bay Give us your money so we can all keep drinking booze with cherries But there are still more battles to be won—in the arena of public opinion and at the voting booth Support Reason to keep up the fight against the forces of prohibition. We can't let the nanny state win. Take advantage of that incredible matching grant! Click here to donate now Villena’s municipal register grew by 900 people allowing the city’s population to exceed 35,000 inhabitants Villena’s Councillor for Finance, Juan José Olivares, stated that this record population figure reflects the city’s “good functioning,” which has attracted significant investments from large companies that have established operations in Villena over the past three years The population has risen from 34,144 on January 1 marking one of the highest population figures in the last 20 years This growth has occurred despite a decrease in the immigrant population accounting for 5.5 per cent of the total population Mayor Fulgencio Cerdán also highlighted the low unemployment rate one of the lowest in major cities within the Alicante province The mayor attributed Villena’s attractiveness to its thriving business sector where existing companies have expanded and new industries have arrived from other regions He described Villena as “a land of opportunities From the mayor’s perspective, “Villena has a promising future and the potential to create a better collective future.” With a likely ban on the short-video app TikTok looming creators seem split between denial and pure panic "Fascist countries ban apps. Fascist countries ban websites. Fascist countries ban apps and websites under the guise of threats to national security," said one popular creator in a video with more than 11 million views "When every other country knows it's about suppressing the free speech of its citizens." "We are literally not going to lose TikTok because it's either going to be pushed back, or it's going to be accepted as not banned because of that hearing," said another creator earlier this week I do not think it's going to be banned at all TikTok, owned by Chinese startup ByteDance, has long been the source of controversy and banning attempts. The extremely popular app has been cited as sparking everything from eating disorders to Hamas sympathies among users the most recent move to ban the app has largely been justified by national security concerns tied to TikTok's Chinese ownership In April, President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, requiring ByteDance to either sell the app or face a ban. The ban would directly punish app carriers like Apple and Google, as well as internet carriers. According to The New York Times TikTok would probably not be removed from users' phones with app stores barred from updating or distributing the app TikTok has so far faced defeat in its attempts to fight the sell-or-ban law arguing that it has a First Amendment right to curate content as it wishes the Supreme Court heard arguments over the ban and is widely expected to uphold the law forcing TikTok to either be sold or banned in the U.S "Never before has Congress taken the extraordinary step of effectively banning a platform for communication, let alone one used by half the country," the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a First Amendment advocacy group, wrote in a December press release following an earlier legal defeat for the app "The First Amendment requires an explanation of why such a dramatic restriction of the right to speak and receive information is necessary and compelling evidence to support it With no relief in sight—other than some nebulous claims from President-elect Donald Trump to intervene and stop the ban—some TikTok users have moved to RedNote an app similar to TikTok and also owned by a Chinese company translates to "Little Red Book," referencing the infamous collection of sayings by Chinese Communist dictator Mao Zedong A Florida ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana failed to hit the supermajority threshold required to pass dealing a high-profile defeat to the most well-funded legalization campaign in U.S Although a majority of voters—57 percent, with 95 percent of votes counted—voted yes for Florida's Amendment 3 the initiative to legalize adult recreational marijuana fell short of the 60 percent required to amend the state constitution Miami-Dade County rejected the amendment 51–48 percent For now, Florida will continue to arrest and prosecute thousands of people a year for marijuana possession. The Tampa Bay Times reports that prosecutors filed more than 16,000 charges against people for possession of small amounts of marijuana last year Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and a constellation of allied political action groups opposed Amendment 3, falsely claiming in press conferences and advertisements that it would forbid lawmakers from regulating public consumption and would lead to New York–style dysfunction. (Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, however, endorsed Amendment 3.) Amendment 3 would have legalized recreational marijuana allowing adults 21 and older to possess up to three ounces of marijuana and five grams of concentrated THC Only companies already licensed to sell medical marijuana would have been allowed to sell recreational marijuana at first Those same companies, mostly large multi-state marijuana corporations, spent more than $90 million on the Yes on Amendment 3 campaign making it the most well-funded legalization drive in U.S "This is clearly one of Big Marijuana's biggest defeats yet," Kevin Sabet, president of the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said in a press release "Floridians have dealt a remarkable blow to one of the largest commercial marijuana companies in the U.S The restricted market that Amendment 3 would create led to criticisms—fair ones—that it was a naked money-grab for the select companies that already had medical marijuana licenses many legalization advocates saw Amendment 3 as preferable to a status quo that results in thousands of arrests and prosecutions a year for marijuana use and possession Meanwhile, the Miami Herald recently reported that the state's lightly regulated hemp shops are selling black market marijuana labeled as hemp what a victory for prohibitionists concerned about public health In this week's The Reason Roundtable, editors Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Peter Suderman chime in on the latest developments in Donald Trump's cabinet appointments and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) 04:58 - Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) takes shape 49:31 - This week's cultural recommendations "Thank You, Fred Smith," by Ryan Young "Fred Smith: 'The Alternative To Innovation Is Not Stability. It's Stagnation,'" by Nick Gillespie "Bullish on DOGE," by Liz Wolfe "DOGE Can Succeed by Scaling Back Its Ambitions," by Brian Riedl "Incoming FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's Beef With NewsGuard Is Legally Dubious and Empirically Shaky," by Jacob Sullum "The New FCC Chairman's Agenda Contradicts Conservative Principles," by Jacob Sullum "Trump's Pick To Run the FCC Wants To Restrict the Editorial Discretion of Social Media Platforms," by Jacob Sullum "We Don't Need RFK Jr. To 'Make America Healthy Again,'" by Kelvey Vander Hart "Five Phony Public Health Scares," by Ronald Bailey "'Impurifying our precious bodily fluids': Fear of fluoridation takes a left turn," by Ronald Bailey "No, DOJ Shouldn't Investigate Tulsi Gabbard for 'False Russian Propaganda,'" by Robby Soave "It Will Be a Beautiful Day When the Air Force Bombs All the Schools Having Bake Sales," by Nick Gillespie "Tulsi Gabbard Conspiracy Theories Go Mainstream as Hillary Clinton Accuses the Candidate of Being Groomed by Russia," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown "Hillary Clinton Says Donald Trump Is an Illegitimate President and Tulsi Gabbard Is a Russian Tool," by Robby Soave "Tulsi Gabbard's Great Moment From Last Night's Democratic Debate," by Nick Gillespie by Robby Soave "Gladiator II* Is a Lavish, Empty Spectacle," by Peter Suderman "Dispatch From Trump World: The Spirit of '24," by Nancy Rommelmann Reason Versus Audio production by Ian Keyser Assistant production by Hunt Beaty Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve seized photographs from an art exhibit in November after local politicians decried the images as pornographic from artist Sally Mann's 1992 collection Immediate Family depict intimate details of Mann's family life including several images of her young children nude the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas spoke out against the seizure arguing the images are non-sexualized works of art protected by the First Amendment "It's shameful that government officials would use the criminal legal process to censor art and expression," Adriana Piñon the legal director of the ACLU of Texas said in a Wednesday statement "This is a clear violation of the First Amendment and of the guardrails against abuse of the criminal justice system Artistic expression should not be subject to the whim and punishment of government officials' personal taste." Mann's photos were being exhibited at The Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth, as part of an exhibit called "Diaries of Home," which featured photographs from female and nonbinary artists that "probe preconceptions about domestic which are often considered feminine spheres." Intimate Family contains 13 photos depicting children in the nude Some of the images displayed at the museum included "depictions of Mann's daughter jumping onto a picnic table in a ballet pose Mann's daughter lying in bed with a stain from a nighttime accident and Mann's son with a melted popsicle running down his body," according to the ACLU's press release "The images of children reported in the media at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth are deeply disturbing," O'Hare posted on X in January including under the guise of 'art,' should never be tolerated I have full confidence in law enforcement to thoroughly investigate this matter and take appropriate action I will always be committed to protecting the most vulnerable members of society The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), and the ACLU of Texas teamed up to send a letter to the Fort Worth Police Department demanding that the investigation be stopped and the photos returned "The Supreme Court has expressly rejected the suggestion that every depiction of nudity appeals to the prurient interest Mann's images are not sexualized," the letter reads the images' meaning may be ambiguous or controversial there is no question they are intended to provoke thought and challenge viewers to engage with ideas The letter also highlighted the clearly censorious nature of the police's decision to remove the photos from the museum "It is hard to escape the conclusion that the Fort Worth Police Department seized the photos— removing them from the exhibit for the back half of its duration—at least in part to block their exhibition Seizing the works was not necessary to preserve them as evidence as the police could have easily accessed them online or photographed them in the museum And the seizure came on the heels of complaints about the art by local officials and politicians," the letter reads "Courts do not look kindly on bad-faith prosecutions that target artistic expression under the guise of combatting child pornography."  Thousands of revellers filled the streets of Villena for the annual Moors and Christians festival which took place over five days starting on September 4 This festival, declared a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest is one of the most participatory of its kind Villena’s festival features 14 troupes – seven representing the Moors and seven representing the Christians – who parade through the streets in colourful costumes and lively performances who cares for the horses that join the celebrations often riding on horseback herself during the fiestas She shared her passion for the tradition and its deeper meaning “I absolutely love taking part in the fiestas,” Sara said “Being a part of them brings me immense joy; it’s a true passion of mine especially when I am with my horses.” She joked that some people think the event is “just one big party,” but emphasised that it’s much more than that there’s a deep passion and enthusiasm for the festivals.” “It’s about the connection between people It’s a celebration of our culture and community spirit.” Sara, who runs the Club Hípico El Brujo riding stables in Sax, Alicante, was first inspired by the grandeur of the Moors and Christians processions in the neighbouring town of Elda where she rode with the Moors’ group Los Contrabandistas “That was a dream come true,” she recalls “I hope this tradition continues to thrive and lasts forever.” The origins of Villena’s Moors and Christians festival date back to the late 15th century when the Virgen de las Virtudes was proclaimed the patron of Villena and the protector from the plague Her image was placed in a shrine seven kilometres outside of the town and the townspeople vowed to visit the shrine twice a year – in March and September – to pay homage to the Virgin the Virgin’s image is brought into the town at the end of August to preside over the celebrations held in her honour In this week's The Reason Roundtable, editors Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Peter Suderman react to President Joe Biden's blanket pardon of his son Hunter Biden and President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Kash Patel for the role of FBI Director 04:47—President Joe Biden pardons Hunter Biden 23:14—Kash Patel nominated to lead the FBI 38:13—Weekly listener question 47:33—This week's cultural recommendations Upcoming Events: Reason Versus debate The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)—passed in 2017 during the first Trump administration—wasn't really a tax cut in practice It ended up functionally raising taxes on a lot of people While it did lower marginal income tax rates across the board reducing the top rate from 39.6 percent to 37 percent it also capped the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT) at $10,000 annually so the new cap hit taxpayers in high-tax states like New York where property taxes are frequently higher many people saw their tax bills increase because they could no longer fully deduct these expenses which moved its headquarters from Chicago to Miami Northeastern "tax refugees" have also settled in cities like Nashville the migration from blue states to red states could reshape the congressional map potentially giving red states more influence (Perhaps this was then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's long game.) The rationale behind capping the SALT deduction was that it would disproportionally benefit high-income earners in high-tax states—and it did the federal government was subsidizing the tax-and-spend policies of these states by shielding residents from the full impact of local tax increases the SALT deduction softened the blow for taxpayers and despite only modest adjustments to marginal tax rates it became the most consequential tax legislation since Ronald Reagan's Tax Reform Act of 1986 Last week, economist Stephen Moore, a member of Trump's current economic advisory transition team, told Bloomberg there is a consideration to increase the SALT write-off limit from $10,000 to $20,000 "would solve the problem for middle-class families in blue states" who got hammered by the TCJA cap on deductions an affluent household in New Jersey might pay $20,000 in property taxes alone plus another $10,000 or more in state income taxes For a household in the 24 percent marginal tax bracket the change would mean $2,400 in tax savings The proposal is laudable under humanitarian grounds but libertarians should oppose any policy that enables high-tax states to continue their heavy spending no high-tax state has reduced its tax rates in response to the SALT-driven migration and they likely won't until they face a full-scale drain of intellectual and economic capital This dynamic highlights the beauty of the American political system—the states compete for talent and resources It's difficult to oppose any proposal that lowers taxes Raising the SALT cap would only reward high-tax states for their fiscal irresponsibility while undermining the competitive pressures that drive reform and Miami are thriving as new hubs of innovation precisely because they've embraced freedom and pro-growth policies They've earned their success—and that's the lesson high-tax states need to learn Jared Dillian is the founder and principal of Jared Dillian Money Since its inception over a month ago, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has identified cost savings of $105 billion—which may be an overestimation DOGE has brought to light some (of the many) layers of wasteful spending within the federal government which includes the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office (LPO) The LPO was created in 2005 to finance high-risk, first-of-a-kind cleantech projects. Since its founding, the office has funded $43.9 billion worth of projects. While some of these have included eventual winners like Tesla, the program has mostly been marred by failed projects and wasteful spending—which permeates throughout the LPO today the Energy Department's Inspector General (I.G.) identified several violations of conflicts of interest which could give applicants an unfair advantage when applying for federal money concluded that the LPO "is administering more than $385 billion in new loan authority" without properly vetting In light of the report, the Energy Department has "paused all new loan actions," Jonathan Black, the agency's chief adviser for oversight, told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in February The Department of Energy was never supposed to be a bank DOGE might not be able to claw back committed LPO funding it could zero out the budget of a redundant program and prevent wasteful federal spending in the future Jeff Luse is a deputy managing editor at Reason Video footage of Phoenix police officers beating and tasing a deaf black man with cerebral palsy has led to an internal investigation and widespread media coverage—and it couldn't come at a worse time for the city This summer the Justice Department (DOJ) released a scathing report accusing the police department of systemically violating the civil rights of vulnerable residents Local TV news outlet ABC15 first published footage last week showing the violent arrest on August 19 of Tyron McAlpin who is now facing felony aggravated assault and resisting arrest charges as a result of the incident According to reports filed by the officers they were responding to a man trespassing at a Circle K That man told the officers he'd been assaulted by McAlpin Officers leaped out of their car and immediately began a physical confrontation with McAlpin In their incident reports and court testimony the two officers said McAlpin took a fighting stance and repeatedly punched them One of the officers claims McAlpin bit him on the wrist In June, the Justice Department released the findings of an investigation into civil rights abuses by the Phoenix Police Department That report concluded that the Phoenix police routinely use excessive force and illegally retaliate against residents The investigators documented incidents where Phoenix police fabricated incident reports needlessly used physical force and dangerous restraints illegally detained homeless people and destroyed their property and assaulted people for criticizing or filming them Among the report's findings was that Phoenix police officers "use unreasonable force to rapidly dominate encounters often within the first few moments of an encounter." The Justice Department is pushing the city to enter into a court-enforced consent decree to overhaul its policing practices But it will be harder to make the argument that Phoenix can police itself when videos of arrests like McAlpin's are coming out "It's hard for me to see how the city can come out and say with [a] straight face that it is meeting the DOJ report head-on when this man is being charged with assault on police officers for this incident," Jesse Showalter Arizona civil rights groups and disability advocates are calling for the charges against McAlpin to be dropped "Disgust is probably the best way I can say it," Sarah Tyree, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Arizona conference, told KNXV "It's just another stark reminder of where we are." The Phoenix Police Department launched an internal review of the incident on August 30 and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced that she is personally reviewing the case as well because it "merits additional scrutiny." Not everyone thinks the charges against McAlpin's deserve a closer look "While some in the media are making this incident about race and discrimination it is really about 2 police officers in full Phoenix Police uniform driving fully marked police cars coming under immediate attack by someone who was alleged to have committed a crime," Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA) President Darrell Kriplean said in a statement to local media "Our officers have the right to defend themselves against attack by utilizing reasonable and necessary force based on the circumstances presented at the time In the body cam footage of McAlpin's arrest McAlpin's girlfriend arrives on the scene and can be heard telling officers "Don't even bother with that ho," a female officer says None of the incident reports filed by officers mention McAlpin's disabilities The Justice Department will have its hands full According to a new investigation from The Marshall Project hospitals are giving women drugs during labor and then reporting them to child welfare services when they later test positive for those same drugs These cases are one of the more maddening side effects of an out-of-control drug war combined with strict mandatory reporting laws which began in the 1980s and spread rapidly during the opioid epidemic was intended in part to help identify babies who might experience withdrawal symptoms and need extra medical care," writes The Marshall Project reporter Shoshana Walter "Federal law requires hospitals to alert child welfare agencies anytime such babies are born."  The problem is that these pee-in-a-cup tests are frequently inaccurate and vulnerable to false positives. One 2022 study cited by Walter found that 91 percent of women given fentanyl in their epidurals tested positive for it later a simple lack of due diligence played a major role "doctors and social workers did not review patient medications to find the cause of a positive test providers suspected a medication they prescribed could be the culprit but reported patients to authorities anyway," Walter writes One woman Walter spoke to was reported to child welfare services soon after she gave birth to a stillborn daughter She had tested positive for benzodiazepine—the same drug she was given before her emergency C-section Another woman was given morphine to ease her pain during childbirth and was reported to child welfare services after her baby's first bowel movement tested positive for opiates—even though the morphine was noted in her medical records and a drug test she took shortly before she went into labor showed no drugs in her system After another woman tested positive for meth her four children—including a newborn—were taken from her and kept in first care for 11 days They weren't returned until another drug test showed that the positive test was triggered by a heartburn medication she had been given at the hospital "Hospitals often lack policies requiring providers to review a patient's records to see what medications they received before reporting them to authorities Mandatory reporting laws protect doctors from liability for reports made 'in good faith'" even if they turn out to be wrong," Walter writes "Some hospitals require social workers to automatically file a report for any positive test," hospitals are required by law to alert child welfare agencies about a positive test or a potential exposure to the baby," Walter adds "But not a single state requires hospitals to confirm test results before reporting them." a federal appeals court dealt a major blow to the Internet Archive—one of the largest online repositories of free books and software—in a copyright case with significant implications for publishers The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that found the Internet Archive's huge digitized lending library of copyrighted books was
not covered by the "fair use" doctrine and infringed on the rights of publishers Agreeing with the Archive's interpretation of fair use "would significantly narrow—if not entirely eviscerate—copyright owners' exclusive right to prepare derivative works," the 2nd Circuit ruled "Were we to approve [Internet Archive's] use of the works there would be little reason for consumers or libraries to pay publishers for content they could access for free." president of the Association of American Publishers said in a press release that the Archive "attempted to do what no one had done before which was to call unauthorized distribution of entire books 'lending' without permission." The Internet Archive is a nonprofit with a mission "to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge," with an online collection of 44 million books and texts It also operates a digital lending library called the Open Library The Archive owns a physical copy of every book in the Open Library Except for a period during the COVID-19 pandemic the Archive has allowed only one digital copy of a book to be checked out at a time—a one-to-one owned-to-loaned ratio A federal court ruled against the Internet Archive in March 2023 and the nonprofit appealed the decision to the 2nd Circuit last September The Archive argued that its Open Library was protected by fair use doctrine and that scanning the books was a transformative use of the material done in the public interest "Our take is that it's absurd that the Internet Archive is allowed to mail me a physical book it owns. The physical publishers can't stop that. But [the Archive] can't give me the same content in digital form," Cara Gagliano, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing the Archive in court, told KQED in San Francisco The 2nd Circuit rejected that argument almost entirely holding that the Archive's digitization didn't improve the efficiency of lending; that it didn't constitute transformative works but rather "derivative" works; and that it directly competed with publishers by offering free versions of their entire product libraries and consumers may reap some short-term benefits from access to free digital books but what are the long-term consequences?" the court wrote "If authors and creators knew that their original works could be copied and disseminated for free there would be little motivation to produce new works." The 2nd Circuit's reasoning fundamentally misunderstood several issues at the heart of the case Publishers have steadily made
e-licenses for books more expensive and subject to more and more frequent renewals making it difficult for libraries to afford extensive online catalogs an out-of-print 1974 nonfiction book detailing the deadly misadventures of federal narcotics agents.) While the rest of the internet becomes noticeably worse and more obnoxious—a process the author Cory Doctorow memorably calls "enshittification"—the Archive remains an example of the radical digital freedom that the World Wide Web originally promised to users The 2nd Circuit's ruling is a gift to the "weary giants of flesh and steel," as John Perry Barlow's 1996 "Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" called the industries and governments trying to regulate the early internet The Internet Archive was founded the same year Barlow published his manifesto The nonprofit said in a press release that it was "reviewing the court's opinion and will continue to defend the rights of libraries to own There are more than 100,000 Americans on the waiting lists to receive an organ transplant and many of them will die without ever getting one At least some of those lives would be saved if the monopoly government contractors managing America's organ donation system weren't so bad at their jobs, argues Jennifer Erickson "Monopolies don't work and government-funded monopolies are even worse," says Erickson a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) on the newest episode of Why We Can't Have Nice Things And we've got to get to some real accountability." According to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania about 28,000 donatable organs are going uncollected each year from people who have died after agreeing to be organ donors one in every five kidneys is thrown away after being harvested Those missed opportunities mean longer waits on the transplant list, but it also means higher costs for taxpayers. Every Medicare patient who gets a new kidney this year will save taxpayers $250,000 in future dialysis costs the government contractors who are supposed to be doing the work of connecting donors with recipients keep dropping the ball There are 56 organ procurement organizations (OPOs) operating in exclusive territories around the country A 2019 study found that just six of them were collecting at least 50 percent of the available donated organs in their zones The federal monopoly contractor supposed to oversee those local monopolies has problems too A 2021 Department of Health and Human Services report concluded that the single-source contract for the United Network for Organ Sharing meant the organization had "little to no incentives" to improve its operations that's starting to change—but could even bolder reforms make more organs available to those in need Sally Satel a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (and the beneficiary of a kidney donation) joins the podcast to make a case for compensating donors—something that is currently forbidden by federal law "We shouldn't be blinded by that sentiment but blind to the point where we allow people to die because that's the only kind of system that we will permit." "Reforming Organ Donation in America," The Bridgespan Group When Altruism Isn't Enough: The Case for Compensating Kidney Donors "How To Stop Losing 17,000 Kidneys," by Santi Ruiz "UNOS Transplant Network Depends on Out-of-Date Technology," by Joseph Menn and Lenny Bernstein got rid of advanced classes in a bid to increase racial equity But instead of reducing achievement gaps between racial groups teachers are now sounding the alarm that the strategy is resulting in classrooms that serve neither struggling students nor high achievers According to a Boston Globe article by reporter Carey Goldberg several parents brought up similar concerns with the new policy—but say they were smeared as "racists" and "right-wingers." a group of three moms—all Democrats—started a petition to create a parental advisory panel for the school district The move was motivated by what one parent described as "ideology superseding student needs," following the school district's decision to place students in "multilevel classes." In these new classes students would learn together in the same classroom The school also decided to stop allowing advanced math students to skip a year to access higher-level classes The parents also shared concerns that the school's approach to race and identity issues "emphasized differences rather than commonalities." and inclusion (DEI) efforts that take race into account compromise academic excellence" and claimed that some petitioners "challenge the need for any activities related to micro-aggressions "The mothers and their allies found themselves portrayed online and in public as dog-whistling bigots doing the bidding of right-wing national groups Social media comments painted their side as 'racism cloaked as academic excellence' and 'right-wing activism cloaked as parental concern,'" Goldberg wrote a speaker compared those who supported the petition to "white women who helped perpetuate segregation and white supremacy." Teachers themselves are now openly criticizing multilevel classes arguing that it isn't serving students' needs "Our surveys of the staff showed that 61 percent of the 31 respondents in STEM classes believed that multilevel classes were 'not at all beneficial' for students (the lowest rating) and only one respondent answered on the 'beneficial' end of the rating scale," Newton teacher Ryan Normandin wrote in a Boston Globe opinion article in December "Classes may appear more diverse with all students mixed in one room but no data have been presented to suggest these classes are actually helping Black "I've heard about multilevel classes from many, many parents over the last three years, and the feedback has been consistently negative," School Committee member Rajeev Parlikar said in November  "I actually have not heard from a single parent who thought their child benefited from being in a multilevel class." the district is now working on reinstating leveled classes truly three innocent moms just trying to get conversations going," one of the moms originally involved in the petition told Goldberg The three used to joke that if they had indeed been funded by right-wing groups You are currently accessing WatersTechnology.com via your Enterprise account If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team Phone: 1+44 (0)870 240 8859 Email: customerservices@incisivemedia.com Leer esto en Español, haga clic aquí. and the world as they knew it was a couple weeks shy of ending watching as the novel coronavirus turned much of mainland China into a ghost town and quietly hoped the chaos unfolding across the Pacific would not reach the same fever pitch on the Eastern side a building of in-betweens and contradictions Half co-working space and half party venue achieved through a synthesis of metal industrial details and rustic woodgrain to be attended by a couple dozen friends and family and one dog It would be a celebration of everything to come for the newlyweds and their guests on top of which sat a scattered pile of small wooden chips The friends signed their names onto the blank pieces painted white and gold—a substitute for a guestbook and an emblem of the couple’s formerly long-distance relationship that had spanned New Jersey to California “Our adventure begins,” the frame read near the chip slot With the threat of a new and potentially deadly virus looming over the day like the sun the wedding had been planned in a handful of weeks and the day was no less stressful for the bride The sight of her friends who had gathered on short notice brought her some ease had arrived at the shindig wearing a blue and white sequined gown Julia and Sandra had met through their alma mater a selective public college that’s part of the City University of New York system Julia was heading the risk management committee within the school’s Finance and Economics Society at the time Sandra joined the group Julia would introduce Sandra in 2019 to Farah who was involved in finance and STEM programs at Fordham University Julia’s wedding day was their first and only interaction with Sandra a tender person who worked hard and played just as hard But when tragic news of her untimely death would break two years later those strangers remembered her from her speech no video or audio record of Sandra’s wedding speech exists Sandra told the room that she was so happy for her dear friend and that she hoped she would find a love like Julia’s to call her own someday Glasses clinked together in a chorus of agreement As it became clear that a new virus would profoundly alter life as we knew it a native of Peru and a naturalized American citizen made the snap decision to move back to her hometown of Piura and be with her family only days after Julia’s wedding A State Department official confirmed the death of a US citizen in Ecuador occurred in October 2022 and said the organization is “closely monitoring local authorities’ investigations.” Shortly after her murder, Sandra’s family enlisted the services of a local attorney, Paola Floreano, to help find and bring Rosales to justice. But progress—if any was made—was slow, and Floreano did not show up to three scheduled interviews with WatersTechnology. So this summer, nearly a year after Sandra’s death, the family made the decision to start over from scratch, enlisting the help of Santiago Escobar a founding partner at Escobar Associated Lawyers When he received the case, it was classed as a homicide rather than a femicide, which is a crime defined by the killing of a woman based on her gender. According to the Danish Development Research Network, a woman in Ecuador is killed on the basis of her gender every 28 hours and it wasn’t until 2014 that the country criminalized this type of murder Broadly, femicides are characterized by at least one of four attributes set by the United Nations: stereotyped gender roles unequal power relations between women and men the burden of proof in a femicide case is higher than in a homicide case that Sandra’s relationship with her accused killer suffered from a power imbalance that ultimately and directly led to her killing “I’m saddened that it has taken this long to get to where we are now,” Escobar tells WatersTechnology through a translator “Because if everything that is happening right now would have happened before Knowing that Rosales could be anywhere in the world, the new legal team had a week-long deadline to rebuild the case. Escobar began seeking a Red Notice from Interpol which requests that law enforcement worldwide help in efforts to locate and provisionally arrest a wanted person After he worked with Ecuador’s attorney general to make the case for submitting a Red Notice request to the France-based Interpol—Escobar had to build a strong enough case that Rosales had fled the country and is still abroad—he received the approval for a Red Notice to be issued by the international police organization in mid-August he will stand before a tribunal of three judges Escobar and Sandra’s family are seeking a sentence of 34 years and six months—one year more than the age Sandra should have been this year Dorchen Leidholdt is an activist and leader in the movement to end violence against women around the world she has served as the director of the Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services at the Sanctuary for Families in New York City and she is the founder of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women an international NGO opposing human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls The formula goes like this: the FBI opens its own investigation while the State Department works to provide consular assistance to family members This is the case whether the citizen is born on American soil or not nor coworkers have been contacted by anyone from the FBI to date despite their many phone calls and emails to the intelligence agency Multiple attempts by WatersTechnology to reach the FBI’s criminal justice departments were also unsuccessful and it’s unclear whether a case number has ever been assigned to Sandra Villena’s murder by the nation’s principal federal law enforcement agency “That’s the way the protocol should be followed I would be concerned that there is a lesser standard of protection provided to this victim and a lesser degree of support to the family of this victim,” Leidholdt says “Would this have happened if she had not been a naturalized American citizen but someone who had been born in the United States?” and she spent her evenings enthusiastically poring over homework to the point of neglecting her toys (and chores) speaking with WatersTechnology through Rosa Peru hosted a singing contest that saw more than 300 entrants Seven were chosen to advance to the next round who happened to be a couple years younger than the contest’s minimum age requirement After fudging her age to compete in the first place she could no longer hide her pre-teen status and was eliminated “You did this not because you wanted to be popular or famous,” her father “but to prove to yourself that you could do it.” She decided to stay when she fell in love at 19 and got married but the union lasted only a handful of years alone in a new country and barely an adult but reminded her of the reason she was there: to become a professional and to secure the best life possible for herself She received her degree in economics from Baruch and began her first financial role at Broadridge in 2016 as a product manager in the brokerage processing services division She left in 2017 to join CJC as a market data engineer It was there that she developed an affinity for engineering and had planned to pursue another degree in the discipline In her career and her professional relationships But she wasn’t a drone—she was just as well known for her ability to dish out a great restaurant recommendation for any cuisine or travel suggestion for any destination in a moment “It’s an ineffable experience,” Tofte says They had said goodbye to each other on a Friday which had carried the assurance of saying hello again on Monday when Tofte still had not heard anything from Sandra you would say maybe something happened—maybe they lost their cell or something like that According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence more than 10 million adults experience domestic violence annually the World Health Organization estimates that 1 in 3 women have been subjected to either physical or sexual violence The statistics convey the gravity of an urgent human rights issue consequences of how abuse shapes its victims and those around them Of the women introduced so far in this story had been quietly trapped in her own abusive relationship The pair initially forged a collegial relationship and they worked well enough together to place as finalists in the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association’s Regional Case Study Competition that year no one suspected anything was wrong with Julia they deemed it either impolite or unimportant to mention it a physical altercation with her former partner landed her in the hospital in 2018 She confided in the hospital’s social worker if you don’t find a way to leave this situation you’re going to die,” the social worker said to her Before domestic abuse moved from an abstract concept to a bitter reality for Julia she didn’t understand why or how women in these kinds of relationships stayed with their abusers the ability to plan and execute in the long term the largest victim services nonprofit in the US whom Julia had come to know as considerate and fiercely empathetic danced all night in the city until last calls It was in the front row of a Saturday class in econometrics at Baruch that Sandra met Carlos Martinez a mild-mannered and bespectacled fellow South American who had exchanged his home country of Colombia for New York and a job at State Street She was impossible not to notice—seated in the front row with a tape recorder and a hand that couldn’t stay out of the air she never missed a note and always asked a question asking whether she could share the recording with them Carlos was almost too afraid to join the scrum figuring she might be annoyed by yet another request to share her notes he meekly asked her the favor and gave his email address Carlos had been going through a rough patch with his mental health who had come out of left field in his life Over the best ramen bowls one can find in Koreatown and between the meditation classes in Midtown that she had dragged Carlos to more than once She picked me up from who I was and changed me,” he says they had been planning the next trip they would take “Friendship transcends death,” Carlos says “You become a good person when you’re right next to someone like her and it’s always the same thing: I became a better person when I was with her.” “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it does it make a sound?” is a question with an unsatisfying answer whether you approach it scientifically or philosophically is just vibration that must be perceived through the senses to be interpreted The question is really whether the vibration does a tree that’s never viewed by an eye exist Perhaps the question has the wrong focus; perhaps it’s better to ask whether it has an impact Sandra Villena can neither be seen nor heard in the same way you can look at a tree or hear a crash But her existence and its evidence are everywhere And she continues to write and process her grief through micro poems now resides with Sandra’s mother and keeps vigil at her side Her father made the decision not to tell his mother Sandra’s grandmother with whom she was extremely close about her death due to her declining health A gaping hole runs through the middle of their family like the undereducated and under-resourced society that allows women like Sandra to fall through cracks that shouldn’t exist When Julia was in the process of leaving her former relationship she consulted her workplace—her financial security would be in question during the transitional period and she wanted to be able to count on her employer for protection—where she says she was treated with contempt and left with the feeling that she was too much to handle “They treated me as a liability at that point,” she says but treated me as if they wanted me out of there and said some pretty terrible things to me.” The exchange etched a stark contrast between the reality of reporting abuse at work and the corporate emails routinely sent around every Women’s History Month or Domestic Violence Awareness Day (October 20 in NYC) and her friends were robbed of the future they’d all envisioned together Farah had been preparing a photo book of wedding photos for Julia that she had been saving to share the next time the group all got together It felt certain that we’d have each other in our lives—that we’d have time,” Farah says forces you to ask whether it’s better to prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised or assume the best Time is the reason Farah never printed the book and it’s the reason Sandra and Farah were just a bit late to the wedding women account for nearly half the national workforce but hold only 27% of STEM roles to be sure—8% of STEM workers were women in 1970—but progress had come at a glacial pace that the number of women seeking higher tech education is growing there remains a host of workplace challenges for women—things researchers call “male defaults” The traditional workplace—whether in an office or hybrid—is set up to be more friendly to men than women it’s not uncommon to hold work meetings or schedule calls as early as 7 a.m particularly when workers’ time zones conflict work obligations such as these are particularly difficult for mothers with young children to navigate Where do you go for company outings?” Zheng says but these are invisible things that people take for granted.” And while more female representation and thoughtful accommodation have become mainstream workplace issues—particularly with the advent of socially responsible investing—there remains a taboo that most employers still don’t want to touch: domestic violence Zheng compiled all the empirical research that studied the effectiveness of gender equality practices in the workplace Despite the large number of women that will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes she found very few employer-led support programs for victims The lone exception she found was cosmetics companies such as Avon and L’Oreal “It’s something that should be talked about more Female issue—don’t talk to me about it in our workplace But it’s so real,” Zheng says of the natural hormonal stage that affects middle-aged women and all sorts of relevant workplace issues.” “And I wonder whether domestic violence is such a female issue that it’s less likely to be included But it’s so crucial because those are the people who need the most help.” For women stuck in violent home environments the place they spend 40 hours or more per week could be and should be a refuge Special thanks to Rosa Loza for her help coordinating several interviews with Sandra's family and friends across time zones and language barriers Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our 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Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4) If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4) an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5 If you don’t have a WatersTechnology account © Infopro Digital Risk (IP) Limited (2025) Published by Infopro Digital Services Limited Companies are registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09232733 & 04699701 To use this feature you will need an individual account Alternatively you can request an individual account here Earlier this week, Laura Helmuth resigned as editor in chief of Scientific American, the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. "I've decided to leave Scientific American after an exciting 4.5 years as editor in chief," she wrote on Bluesky "I'm going to take some time to think about what comes next (and go birdwatching) but for now I'd like to share a very small sample of the work I've been so proud to support (thread)." Helmuth may in fact have been itching to spend more time bird watching—who wouldn't be?—but it seems likely that her departure was precipitated by a bilious Bluesky rant she posted after Donald Trump was reelected of being "full of fucking fascists," complained about how sexist and racist her home state of Indiana was "Fuck them to the moon and back," she said of the dumb high school bullies supposedly celebrating Trump's victory Whether or not Helmuth's resignation was voluntary it should go without saying that a few bad social media posts should not end someone's job If that were the whole story here—an otherwise well-performing editor was ousted over a few bad posts—this would arguably be a case of "cancel culture," or whatever we're calling it these days But Helmuth's posts were symptoms of a much larger problem with her reign as editor They accurately reflected the political agenda she brought with her when she came on as EiC at SciAm—a political agenda that has turned the once-respected magazine into a frequent laughingstock SciAm still acts like the leading popular science magazine it used to be—a magazine that I received in print form every month during my childhood But increasingly, during Helmuth's tenure, SciAm seemed a bit more like a marketing firm dedicated to churning out borderline-unreadable press releases for the day's social justice cause du jour. In the process, SciAm played a small but important role in the self-immolation of scientific authority—a terrible event whose fallout we'll be living with for a long time and only someone lacking in basic education about stats—someone who definitely shouldn't be writing about the subject for a top magazine—could make such a claim You probably think I'm trolling or being trolled There's no way that actual sentence got published in Scientific American I found SciAm's coverage to not just be stupid (JEDI) or insulting or uncharitable (the Wilson story) Rather than cover these important developments Scientific American has hermetically sealed itself and its readers inside a comforting delusional cocoon in which we know youth gender medicine works and only bigots and ignoramuses suggest otherwise SciAm simply took what certain activist groups were saying about these treatments and repeated it effectively laundering medical misinformation and providing it with the imprimatur of a highly regarded science magazine This was a chronic problem at Scientific American. One article, to which I wrote a rebuttal for my newsletter contained countless errors and misinterpretations: Most importantly it falsely claimed that there is solid evidence youth gender medicine ameliorates adolescent suicidality when we absolutely do not know that to any degree of certainty every article SciAm published on this subject during Helmuth's tenure followed the exact same playbook of reciting activist claims — often long after they'd been debunked Some of these articles might have done serious damage to the public's understanding of this issue. For example, SciAm ran a response to the Cass Review written by a pair of writers who were somehow able to issue a searing critique of the review despite having clearly never read it They wrote that the document's problems "help explain why the Cass recommendations differ from previous academic reviews and expert guidance from major medical organisations such as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and the American Academy of Pediatrics." But part of the Cass Review's remit was to evaluate the strength of these exact pieces of expert guidance—the Cass Review explicitly explains why the WPATH and AAP guidelines are weak and untrustworthy Anyone who read the document would have understood that but the Cass Review argued that the WPATH and AAP guidelines were shoddily constructed and SciAm published a response accusing the Cass Review of differing from the WPATH and AAP guidelines That's the sort of error that can only occur in the context of lax editorial standards married to ideological certitude The crisis of expert authority has many causes But one of them is experts mortgaging their own credibility When magazines like Scientific American are run by ideologues like Helmuth it only makes it more difficult to defend the institution of science itself from relentless attack This lack of trust absolutely contributes to the sorts of dunderheaded reactionary populism presently threatening America and much of Europe If experts aren't to be trusted, charlatans and cranks will step into the vacuum. To mangle a line from Archer Scientific American can right the ship by simply hiring an editor who cares more about science than progressive political goals That doesn't mean the editor needs to be apolitical or that there's no role for SciAm to chime in on social justice issues in an informed manner with the requisite level of humility and caution It simply means that Scientific American needs to get back to its roots—explaining the universe's wonders to its readers not lecturing them about how society should be ordered or distorting politically inconvenient findings Jesse Singal writes the newsletter Singal-Minded, which often touches on social-science topics. He also cohosts the podcast Blocked and Reported and is the author of The Quick Fix: Why Fad Science Can't Cure Our Social Ills About  .  Contact  .  Donation A recent study published in the journal Prehistory Works indicates that two items within the renowned Villena Treasure were crafted using meteoric iron titled “Meteoritic Iron in the Villena Treasure?” was conducted by researchers from the National Archaeological Museum the Diriyah Gate Development Authority (Saudi Arabia) The collection includes intricately crafted bowls The enigma surrounding its lack of connection to nearby archaeological sites has fueled scientific debates for decades drawing a comparative reference to the global composition of the Mundrabilla meteorite which fell to Earth less than a million years ago “The available data suggest that the cap and bracelet are the first two pieces attributable to meteoritic iron in the Iberian Peninsula which is compatible with a chronology from the Late Bronze Age prior to the start of widespread terrestrial iron production,” states the study authors This revelation challenges the conventional understanding of metalworking during the Bronze Age distinguished by its iron-nickel alloy composition with a nickel content greater than 5% by weight was the sole source of iron before the advent of iron smelting The recent study not only identifies the extraterrestrial origin of the iron components but also places the ensemble firmly in the Late Bronze Age researchers from the National Archaeological Museum “It was made in the Late Bronze Age and with iron from a meteorite.” kept in a secure showcase at the local archaeological museum remains a testament to the advanced metalworking skills of ancient Iberian civilizations The analysis has raised questions about the skilled artisans who crafted these objects and the source of the meteorite material and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()) Learn how to describe the purpose of the image (opens in a new tab) Leave empty if the image is purely decorative