Argentina joins a small group of Latin American and Caribbean countries that have legalized elective abortion, including Uruguay, Cuba and Guyana.

in mid-November. Fernández, who was elected in late 2019, has been vocal about legalizing abortion during his presidency and says he will sign the measure.

"Today we are a better society that expands rights to women and guarantees public health," Fernández wrote after the legislation passed.

In 2018 and 2020, people backing the legalization have sported green clothing and often held or worn green bandannas — a visual that has become linked with the movement.

Despite being largely illegal throughout the region, about 5.4 million abortions occurred annually in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2015 and 2019, the Guttmacher Institute reported.

"Not one woman that I have been in a cell with said, 'I am regretting that I did this, I regret that I'm here.' We will continue to fight and speak and raise our voices... Do you understand the strength I am talking about?"

"I think it does not just undermine our credibility, but our ability to promote democratic values, to promote democracy, to be what we have always claimed to be and more often than not acted on,"

Still, the women of Belarus are looking to the U.S. for support and have high hopes for President-elect Joe Biden.

She said the people of Belarus are ready to sacrifice and are sending "a May Day message to the world now."

"A basic rule of democracy is that after elections there are winners and losers," Merkel said. "Both have their part to play with decency and responsibility so that democracy itself remains secure.

"Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress," Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain tweeted. "The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power."

He noted that for generations, American democracy has inspired millions of people, including him.

I have no doubt that American democracy will prevail — it always has."

"Everyone saw what a populist did to his country and damaged his country's reputation in the international arena."

"While people in Palestine & in many other places in the world are struggling to achieve democracy, there are those in the US who are actively sabotaging theirs,"

"this assumption about people outside of the 'First World' — that they lived really different lives, the assumption they were poor, they should be happy to eat every day. As if we don't have the same value as humans."

"I think it's a very antiquated and offensive term."

"There is no 'Third World.' There were the oppressed and the oppressors,"

The oppressors, he says, often took resources from the countries they colonized

Yet as Wednesday's events made clear, "Third World" is often the first term that pops into Westerners' minds when they try to characterize less well-off, troubled countries.

The idea of a world divided into three domains dates back to the 1950s when the Cold War was just starting. It was Western capitalism versus Soviet socialism

The "First World" consisted of the U.S., Western Europe and their allies. The "Second World" was the so-called communist bloc: the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and friends. The remaining nations, which aligned with neither group, were assigned to the "Third World."

"That's the 'Fourth World,' " Farmer says, referring to parts of the United States and other wealthy nations where health and economic problems loom large.

Because many countries in the Third World were impoverished, the term came to be used to refer to countries where poverty is rampant, where health care is inadequate, and where democracy does not flourish.

Who is to say which part of the world is "first"? Plus, the Soviet Union doesn't even exist anymore.

And it's not like the "First World" is the best world in every way. It has pockets of deep urban and rural poverty,

"Although the phrase was widely used, it was never clear whether it was a clear category of analysis, or simply a convenient and rather vague label for an imprecise collection of states in the second half of the 20th century and some of the common problems that they faced,"

"Being called a 'developing country' gives me a chance to improve." He hopes that one day India will go "a few steps beyond what 'developed countries' have achieved."

"I dislike the term 'developing world' because it assumes a hierarchy between countries"

"It paints a picture of Western societies as ideal but there are many social problems in these societies as well. It also perpetuates stereotypes about people who come from the so-called 'developing world' as backward, lazy, ignorant, irresponsible."

There are extremely wealthy people in poor countries, for example. Kenya has slums and neighborhoods where real estate prices rival any nation. It's part of a growing trend of income inequality around the world, Over notes.

So income levels tell you something — but not everything. Over would like to see classifications based on a combination of income and equality.

According to the police procedures, if people are protesting, there is a way you handle it — but if now they overrun — overrun, for instance, a police station — you will have to stop it by using lethal fire. Rioting and attacking civilians and attacking property, it is something that we cannot accept.

[Ugandans] don't have to work hard. Now, that's a big struggle, which these know-it-all from [the] outside don't know, because in other parts of the world, people are pressured to work either by the environment, which is hostile, or by competition between man and man. But here, fools can survive.

It actually showed the lack of seriousness of those who [say] that you just go, just [leave power].

Yes, we are committed to the freedom of the press, but see, the press, especially the Western press, is arrogant. You don't want to learn; you know it all. Then you come on and impose your ignorance on our society.

How can we continue dealing with these arrogant ignoramuses? So if they change their attitude from arrogance to inquisitiveness and investigation, I'm very happy.

flawed firearms forensics have led to exonerations in the past.

In 2013 a Mississippi man's life was spared hours before his scheduled execution after the FBI said experts had overstated the science. In a note sent to the district attorney in that case, the bureau clarified that "the science regarding firearms examinations does not permit examiner testimony that a specific gun fired a specific bullet to the exclusion of all other guns in the world."

Puracal says using NIBIN as an investigative tool is less problematic than using it in court, but she still takes issue with its use.

That's because a NIBIN match, she says, can lead to cognitive bias in the investigators — a kind of tunnel vision.

Wilbon said they found three loaded guns in the car. No one had the required conceal-carry permits, and the people in the car had outstanding warrants.In the past the investigation may have ended with three people arrested and the guns placed in an evidence locker. But, because the Portland police have this new equipment, the casings were immediately entered into NIBIN. And because the Seattle police also use NIBIN, the ATF database indicated a match to shootings in Seattle.

Abbott’s new blood test may serve as an objective tool to help doctors triage TBI patients, because it relies on molecular signatures in the blood rather than on murkier clues, such as patient interviews.

often use a series of screening questionnaires, physical examinations and CT scans to take pictures of the brain in order to evaluate TBI. However, experts agree these techniques aren’t perfect and there is no objective way to reliably evaluate TBI.

Aside from reducing health care costs, it can save people from unnecessary radiation that has been shown to increase the risk of cancer.

Despite the benefits, experts agree that physicians cannot rely entirely on this diagnostic test, stating it will only serve to supplement clinical judgment.

"The game-changing innovation of having a tool like this is that, as it becomes more widely used, I believe we will identify more people with TBI that’s more subtle, that could be life-altering."

The risk of every cause of death – including heart disease, cancer, stroke, renal failure – increased from isolation.

One of the reasons people can suffer in social isolation is because personal relationships can help us cope with stress,

“For instance: the ongoing uncertainty of what’s going on right now in the world, your body’s response to that may differ. Depending on the extent to which you feel like you have the resources you need to cope with that. And that in large part may be dependent on whether or not you feel like you have others in your life you can rely on.

“We have evolved to be social creatures. For all the history of humanity, people have been in family structures, people have been in groups, we’re evolved to kind of crave and rely on that interaction with other human beings,”

“So when we don’t have that it’s a huge void in the way that we go about being human. This is something that has been kind of hard-wired into who we are as beings.”

people do at least have a wealth of options to stay connected. Texting, video calling or even the phone could potentially help avert the sense of isolation or loneliness, Khullar said.

By the mid-19th century, nerves were inevitably compared to telegraph wires and the brain to a completely electrical system.

We understand many more things today about the brain’s neurons and how they operate together, but we still lack the faintest beginning of a clue as to why and how they produce your awareness that you are reading this sentence.

What will be the next grand metaphor about the brain? Impossible to say, because we need to wait for the next world-changing technology.

“Metaphors shape our ideas in ways that are not always helpful.”

Henry balked at that idea, citing extensive testing and brain scans that supported the diagnosis of mental illness.“You can’t fake brain scans that show the brain damage,” she said.

cited defense experts who alleged Montgomery suffered from depression, borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

pseudocyesis in which a woman’s false belief she is pregnant triggers hormonal and physical changes as if she was actually pregnant.

Montgomery also experiences delusions and hallucinations, believing God spoke with her through connect-the-dot puzzles, the judge said, citing defense experts.

Ms. Montgomery’s current mental state is so divorced from reality that she cannot rationally understand the government’s rationale for her execution,” the judge said.

The government has acknowledged Montgomery’s mental issues but disputes that she can’t comprehend that she is scheduled for execution for killing another person because of them.

we somehow link abstract number representations in the brain with movement in space.

“When people are looking at scenes they have encountered before, their eyes are frequently drawn to information they have already seen, even when they have no conscious memory of it,”

those who were allowed to move their eyes spontaneously during recall performed significantly better than those who fixed on the cross.

participants who were told to fix their gaze in the corner of the screen in which objects had appeared earlier performed better than those told to fix their gaze in another corner.

which comes first: whether thinking of a particular number causes changes in eye position, or whether the eye position influences our mental activity.

One recent study showed – maybe worryingly – that eye-tracking can be exploited to influence the moral decisions we take.

“We think of persuasive people as good talkers, but maybe they’re also observing the decision-making process,”

“Maybe good salespeople can spot the exact moment you’re wavering towards a certain choice, and then offer you a discount or change their pitch.”

eye movements can both reflect and influence higher mental functions such as memory and decision-making

This knowledge may give us ways of improving our mental functions – but it also leaves us vulnerable to subtle manipulation by other people.

“The eyes are like a window into our thought processes, and we just don’t appreciate how much information might be leaking out of them,

how Twitchell's crimes challenge this new way of thinking that totally exonerates pop culture from contributing to real-life violence.

In 2008, he had been completing a Dexter-inspired film production when police charged him with a missing man's murder and an attack on another. An unimaginable court case then revealed all: the filmmaker had re-enacted his horror script in real-life.

This didn't seem like a case of insanity, mental illness or a drug-induced psychosis. Twitchell was a married father with no history of violence or criminal convictions before he transformed seemingly overnight into a would-be serial killer.

We just need to distinguish what it really means to be inspired rather than who is responsible.

Like other tragedies before it, this finger-pointing stems from an intense need to find tangible explanations for horrific violence when the answers can be far more layered, far more complex.

Millions around the world are now watching. The uncomfortable truth remains that so is Mark Twitchell and many others who are like him.

This could stigmatise many highly engaged people for whom gaming is one of their main hobbies.

concerns about gaming addiction might reflect a moral panic instead of solid science.

there is no consensus on the definition of video game addiction, the essential symptoms or indicators, or the core features of the mental health condition.

What is currently missing is a body of studies where scientists preregister their methods and hypotheses prior to collecting data samples online.

we believe rigorous scientific research into gaming addiction is essential.

I see addiction as an attitude or self-concept that grows and crystallises with experience, often initiated by difficulties in childhood or adolescence. Indeed, addiction is in some ways like a disease, but that’s only half the story.

Many take comfort in the disease label, because it helps them make sense of how difficult it is to quit. But for others, the disease label isn’t just wrong, it’s repugnant – it’s a rationale for helplessness and an obstacle to healing.

“I am not diseased… I don’t have a disease. I had past traumas, environmental factors and learned behaviours… I feel I have learned new things… new skills opened up… new pathways that were underdeveloped.”

Several studies have shown that a belief in the disease concept of addiction increases the probability of relapse.

If we can acknowledge that addiction is like a disease in some ways and very much unlike a disease in other ways, maybe we can stop trying to label it and pay more attention to the best means for overcoming it.

Current treatments effectively relieve cravings in the clinic, but not when addicts return to their usual environment

This process – called 'extinction' – forms the basis of cue exposure therapy, in which addicts are repeatedly exposed to drug-associated cues and prevented from responding to them in the usual way of using the drug.

It combines cue exposure with manipulation of a process called memory reconsolidation, in which information is retrieved from long-term storage and then reactivated so that it can be strengthened.

"We did the extinction training during reconsolidation, and what seems to have happened is that we somehow updated the old fear memory,"

also manipulates reconsolidation of addicts' memories of past drug use to weaken their habitual responses to paraphernalia and other drug-related stimuli.

so it remains to be seem whether the procedure will be effective in preventing cravings outside of the clinical setting.

show that the proportion of participants who were able to solve the toughest problems for the first time after receiving their designated stimulation, were higher for those receiving negative stimulation at 32%, compared to just 5% for positive and sham stimulation.

suppression of activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex helps to override constraints in thinking learned from experience.

negative stimulation resulted in participants becoming less able to tackle one of the other types of matchstick problem – suggesting that the electrical currents had impaired participants’ working memory.

it is possible that people may turn to tDCS for creative inspiration, in the same way that people turn to drugs or alcohol.”

It would be beneficial to think ‘what exactly do I need to be creative on this task’ rather than how to improve creativity in general,”

“When the [dorsolateral prefrontal cortex] was ‘cooled down’, the brain seems to have stopped applying old rules, and been more successful at finding new rules

technology could be exploited by consumers.

the negative stimulation would not boost efforts in cases where individuals need to keep track of a number of different things at the same time.

the study also offers insights into how to boost creativity without a thinking cap.

And there are so very many pastes to choose from. But most of these are produced by one of the three companies that dominate the market: Crest (20%), Colgate (21%) and Sensodyne (12%).

That said, the next five companies account for 30%: Honda, Nissan, Subaru, Hyundai and Kia. Here at least there seems to be some pretty robust competition, not least from overseas.

Companies get big by winning customers, and they win customers by providing a good product and/or service, which is the whole point of consumer markets.

Big companies dominate consumption. This is not a bad thing in itself.

consumers are often unaware that they are choosing between two products owned by the same company.

The problem comes if success leads to incumbency, with large, powerful companies able to use their power to shape regulations to suit them, rather than assist their competitors.

Being market-friendly is not the same thing as being business-friendly

so long as regulators remain faithful to consumers, rather than the companies serving them.

Some of the most common types of illusory percepts are those that affect the impression of size, length or distance.

As visual processing needs to be both rapid and generally accurate, the brain constantly uses shortcuts and makes assumptions about the world that can, in some cases, be misleading.

These illusions are the result of visual processes shaped by evolution. Using that process may have been once beneficial (or still is), but it also allows our brains to be tricked.

if animals are tricked by the same illusions, then perhaps revealing why a different evolutionary path leads to the same visual process might help us understand why evolution favours this development.

Great bowerbirds could be the ultimate illusory artists. For example, their males construct forced perspective illusions to make them more attractive to mates.

When a male has two smaller clawed males on either side of him he is more attractive to a female (because he looks relatively larger) than if he was surrounded by two larger clawed males.

This effect is known as the Ebbinghaus illusion (see image), and suggests that males may easily manipulate their perceived attractiveness by surrounding themselves with less attractive rivals.

Deceptions of the senses are the truths of perception.

Visual illusions (and those in the non-visual senses) are a crucial tool for determining what perceptual assumptions animals make about the world around them.

Old Farmer’s Almanac predictions are based on solar activity and prevailing weather

newer rivals have a formula combining solar and lunar activity and the movements of the planets.

Whatever happens, it is likely that successes will be remembered and failures ignored.

This human tendency, known as confirmation bias, may do more to keep almanacs in business than the reliability of their secret formulae.

“In their study, they found that some of these gene variants were significantly more associated with being trans women, and not just being male. That doesn’t establish causality, and it is just an association. And in fact, its a weak association,”

genetic markers are not assumed to be the only factor in what shapes something like gender.

When publishing material that supports the idea that there is a biological element to gender identity, scientists, policy makers and the general public are less inclined to listen to trans activists.

Trans activists seek to educate people on their fundamental human right to experiment with dress, movement, identity and presentation.

“The way that science, technology and science is progressing can be incredibly dangerous in regards to things like eugenics.”

Until 2013, trans people in Sweden were required to undergo sterilization before they could access gender-affirming treatment.

Given the rising accessibility of gene testing, this sort of research can easily be weaponised as justification for sterilisation, persecution or the abortion of fetuses with these genes.

It also further troubles the tenuous relationship that the scientific and medical community have with the trans community.

Fostering the notion of a genetic factor to gender dysphoria threatens to further complicate trans people’s access to appropriate care.

it takes away their right to self determination and the right to bodily autonomy in regards to gender expression and creativity.”

raises questions about the repeated and unchecked power discrepancies between science, medicine and the trans and gender diverse community.