Category Archives: Deep Mind
The joy and melancholy of booze blend in this deep, rich film – Sydney Morning Herald
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Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) has hit a deep mid-life crisis. He and his wife (Maria Bonnevie) rarely talk, and their two boys are sullen. His students think hes crap because he is: a history teacher who has forgotten he used to love history. His students even call a meeting to tell him how disappointing he is (this is Denmark, after all).
His friend, Nikolaj (Magnus Millang), who teaches psychology, has problems of his own two young children who wet the bed at night. Unfortunately, they sleep in the same bed as their parents. Peter (Lars Ranthe), the music teacher, would love to have a family but cant talk to women. And Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen), sports master, is lonesome, cranky and burnt out.
They make a pact: they will keep their alcohol level constant at .05 but follow Hemingways rules: no drinking after 8pm or on weekends. Their lives immediately take a turn for the better. Martin rediscovers his mojo, and his students respond with enthusiasm. Tommy becomes kinder and more tolerant of his young athletes (the pissants, he calls them). Peter finds his music teaching becomes more passionate and committed. Lets up the daily dose to .10, they agree, to see if they might function at an even higher level.
There is some quiet comedy about all this but the film never breaks into the open plains of mirth. Thats because it has a deep and rich lode of melancholy to mine. The reasons for this are quite personal, and not spelled out on screen, except in the films final dedication: to Ida.
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Thomas Vinterberg wrote a play about alcohol some years ago while working at a theatre in Vienna. He had reshaped it with input from his daughter who told him stories about the drinking culture of young Danes. Ida was to play the lead characters daughter. Four days into filming, she was killed in a car accident. The film was literally made through the veil of the directors grief. He reshaped it again to explore both the highs and lows of alcohol, its place in Danish culture, and much more and that excursion beyond mere alcohol is where the gold is.
The film has a strange kind of grace, a sense of weight, made more powerful by Mikkelsens haunting performance. At first, drinking reawakens Martins spirit and rekindles his honesty, then it exposes the cracks in his marriage. In vino veritas can become destructive.
The Danish title is Druk, which refers to binge-drinking. Bender might have been a more literal English title, although Another Round still carries some joy, a sense of the conviviality of drinking.
Vinterberg chooses not to lecture and that will be controversial. With all the destruction and misery that follows alcohol abuse, some will want a clear denunciation. Vinterberg shows plenty of downsides, as these four men lose control of the experiment, but he keeps returning to the example of Winston Churchill, who never met a drink he didnt like. Hitler, Martin reminds his class, was a teetotaller. There is a funny montage at one point of world leaders in their cups in public: Yeltsin dancing, Brezhnev blotto, Sarkozy slurring.
The images remind us that drinking makes us all stupid, some of the time. And at other times, it makes us happy, eloquent, bold, sometimes even brilliant. Vinterberg takes a nuanced view, in other words. This is most definitely a glass half full.
Paul Byrnes is a film critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
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The joy and melancholy of booze blend in this deep, rich film - Sydney Morning Herald
Healthcare Ventures Has Launched a Venture Capital Fund, Dedicated to Digital Health – Yahoo Finance
As a specialist digital health fund, Sydney based Healthcare Ventures will invest in early stage and growth companies transforming healthcare via digital health technologies.
The investment strategy focuses primarily on Australian companies going global, led by visionary founders, that are redefining how healthcare is provided and consumed whilst delivering better outcomes for all.
The Healthcare Ventures team brings investment, medical and digital health expertise to the table. All are entrepreneurs in their own rights:
Partnership and Fund Manager Board
Roger Allen AM Chairman and pioneer of Australias venture capital industry is a renowned active early-stage investor and director. Roger has had heavy involvement in several very successful ASX listed digital health companies, including Volpara Health and the recently listed, Doctor Care Anywhere.
Dr Louise Schaper Australias pre-eminent digital health evangelist and CEO of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health.
Darren Heathcote - Experienced adviser and investor in healthcare.
Dr Bronwyn King AO - Radiation Oncologist and founder and CEO of Tobacco Free Portfolios.
They are joined by an esteemed Advisory Board:
Grahame Grieve the Father of FHIR, advisor to governments, vendors and care providers globally, head of the global FHIR community and is on the list of 15 Health IT Standards and Interoperability Rockstars to Know.
Dr Amandeep Hansra General Practitioner, angel investor, advisor and strategist, Ex CEO Telstra Readycare and founder of Creative Careers in Medicine, a community of over 10,000 doctors and co-founder of Australian Medical Angels with over 300 active health tech angel investors.
Adj A/Prof David Rowlands One of Australias most senior health informaticians with extensive international experience.
Dr Arran Schlosberg Medical doctor, software engineer, and co-founding CTO with deep technical expertise and international experience in the healthcare industry, including at HealthMatch, Google, and DeepMind.
"The digitally enabled transformation of healthcare across the globe is happening at a phenomenal pace, accelerated by COVID19 and the resulting focus on data and technologies for advanced individual and population health. We see this as providing significant opportunity for a specialist fund and specialist team focussed on digital health investment," said Dr Schaper.
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"In 2020, digital health start-ups in the USA attracted a record US$14 billion of investment capital, in the largest funding year on record. Australia is rich with brilliant innovators and yet funding is only starting to see traction. Healthcare Ventures aims to rectify that."
Launching the fund, Allen said "I have been working with and invested in a number of talented health professionals and am seeing continuous deal-flow of innovations coming from the medical community. This shouldnt come as a great surprise given our best and brightest have been going into medicine but what has changed is a strong entrepreneurship mindset and the ability to transform practises through digitisation. I believe the best way to handle this dealflow is to have a dedicated team and specialist fund led by health professionals supported by strong investment and technical capabilities. The fund will be a relatively small fund and will seek to partner and co invest with many more generalised VC funds both in Australia and overseas.
Focussing on technology, Healthcare Ventures will pay close attention to innovations in fields such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality/virtual reality, large scale data, advanced diagnostics, health IOT and telehealth," said Allen.
"We acknowledge that investing in healthcare is challenging, as you need to have intimate knowledge of workplace practises and that means being able to both understand and navigate the many nuanced challenges these health professionals face every day," said Darren Heathcote. "We took great care, over a considerable amount of time, to build a partnership and advisory board that would provide us with the necessary expertise, such that today, we have a dedicated, specialist team of medical and digital health led professionals and investment experts, able to assist our portfolio companies to execute on the opportunities," said Heathcote.
"Healthcare Ventures aim to commercialise innovation from the health sector, advance the growth of local industry and the export of Australian innovation and entrepreneurship to the world. Worldwide, we see in increasing demand for digital transformation in healthcare. Australias technical expertise has long established itself as an influential and effective provider of innovative solutions for many sectors and we believe Australias reputation for high standards and rigorous regulatory oversight sets us apart," said Dr Schaper.
Healthcare Ventures initial raising activities have already attracted attention from investors globally.
The fund first closing is expected in the first half of 2021.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210207005001/en/
Contacts
For further comments or information please contact Darren Heathcote, Managing Partner, Healthcare Ventures on +61 418 256 951 e: darren@healthcareventures.vc
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Healthcare Ventures Has Launched a Venture Capital Fund, Dedicated to Digital Health - Yahoo Finance
Bill McLaughlin dug deep to transform Chambersburg from the inside out – Herald-Mail Media
Editors note: Each Sunday, The Herald-Mail publishes A Life Remembered. Each story in this continuing series takes a look back through the eyes of family, friends, co-workers and others at a member of the community who died recently. Todays A Life Remembered is about Bill McLaughlin, who died Saturday, Jan. 23, at age 71.
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. Bill McLaughlin didnt grow up in Chambersburg, but he spent much of his life improving the town for future generations.
Through his more than two decades on Chambersburg Borough Council and his roles with local development organizations, he helped guide the town through changing times.
McLaughlin died Saturday, Jan. 23, at age 71 after a battle with COVID-19. He left behind his wife of nearly 50 years, Sue, two sons, a cherished daughter-in-law and a young granddaughter, among other family members.
Bill was a unique individual, said Mike Ross, a friend and colleague of more than 30 years. He was witty, he was insightful on political and community issues, and he was passionate about Chambersburg. He was not native to Chambersburg, but he embraced the community for the 40-plus years he lived here.
Born May 1, 1949, McLaughlin grew up near Philadelphia.
He arrived in Chambersburg in the 1970s, armed with a bachelors degree in hotel and restaurant management from Penn State.
He began his career managing restaurants in the area. He went on to spend time as the food service director at Fulton County Medical Center and Chambersburg Hospital.
McLaughlin spent most of his career as a real estate broker. He was involved in the sale of the Penn Hall Junior College campus on Philadelphia Avenue, which is now a Menno Haven retirement community, as well as the development of the Nicholson Square neighborhood, according to his obituary.
In 1992, McLaughlin began his 24-year run on Chambersburg Borough Council. He spent 10 of those years as council president, and 10 as chairman of the finance committee. In these roles, he had a hand in projects that have made the Chambersburg area what it is today.
These include the Chambers 5 Business Park on the southern end of town and the business district in the Norland Avenue corridor on the other end. Farm fields at the turn of the century, the areas now employ thousands of people, produce millions in tax revenue and help to attract more people and companies to the region.
There was a lot of development during his tenure, said Ross, the president of the Franklin County Area Development Corporation. Norland Avenue, Walker Road, (Interstate 81) exit 17 development. He looked at ways to secure investment in the borough, and I think he was highly successful with that.
Asked about projects in which McLaughlin played a key role, several people pointed to the boroughs wastewater treatment plant.
The $39 million facility opened in late 2017, the result of a multiyear effort involving the borough, and Guilford, Greene and Hamilton townships. The comprehensive upgrade increased capacity and enhanced treatment processes with environmental impact in mind.
McLaughlin was also vital in securing the project to upgrade sewer lines, according to Ross.
Not enough people get remembered for trying to improve the infrastructure of the community, but he realized that was a real need for the borough to serve its residents and accommodate additional growth, he said.
Jeffrey Stonehill, Chambersburg borough manager, said McLaughlin advocated for utility services in the borough. The borough is the only municipality in the state that provides electric, water, natural gas, trash, sanitary sewer, storm sewer and parking.
A friend to all
McLaughlin was known for his charisma and for effectively communicating with anyone, no matter their differences.
Bill was incredibly kind to me when I was a newly elected councilwoman in 2000, and I would sometimes disagree with him and do things that drove him nuts ... but he never, ever did anything to try to undermine me. I always knew where I stood with him, and we laughed a hell of a lot, Sharon Bigler, who sat with McLaughlin on borough council for 15 years, wrote in a tribute on Facebook. Bigler and a reporter were unable to connect for an interview.
McLaughlin was not shy about sharing his opinions, but he would do so in a constructive way, Ross said.
He editorialized on issues he thought were important. Sometimes it was a perspective that at the time others may not have agreed with. But he was respectful of those who may have a differing viewpoint, he said. That, I think, made him effective.
David Keller, chairman of the Franklin County Board of Commissioners, said he always admired how McLaughlin wasnt afraid to speak his mind. He said McLaughlin was passionate about public service.
Because he knew a lot of people and knew not only how things worked but how to make them work for him, McLaughlin was the person to go to for advice or for help with an issue, friend Bill Gindlesperger said.
His expertise coupled with the drive to do the right thing, it made him a very key member of our community, he said.
A keen reader, especially of books about history, McLaughlin was armed with obscure facts and details. Ross said anyone playing Trivial Pursuit would want him on their team.
Who knows the names of all the popes during the Renaissance? In fact, it wouldnt surprise me if he knew the name of every pope beginning with St. Peter. He simply had a knack for knowing quirky facts, Ross said.
But more than his work as a public servant or anything else, McLaughlin loved his family. He often gushed about his loved ones, especially granddaughter Alina, Gindlesperger said.
When you started talking to him about (his family), the sun and the moon came out, Gindlesperger said. He was just so proud of them and loved them so much.
He worked to do the right thing
As part of his effort to make Chambersburg better for residents and businesses, McLaughlin joined community boards and worked to attract talent to town. Over the years, he served on the boards of directors of the Franklin County Area Development Corporation, Downtown Chambersburg Inc. and the boroughs Elm Street Advisory Committee, as well as the Chambersburg Exchange Club.
A colleague on borough council since 1994, Allen Coffman emphasized his term as president of the Pennsylvania Municipal League, which works to strengthen, empower and advocate for effective local government, according to its website.
Richard Schuettler, the executive president of the organization, called McLaughlin a historic leader. President in 2000-01, he was the first person who was not a city official to hold the role.
Due to Bills tireless efforts and leadership, League membership grew to a historic level and has continued to the present. Bill was a tremendous advocate for the League but also municipal government throughout the Commonwealth. His legacy is intact. Our heartfelt condolences to Sue and the McLaughlin family, Schuettler said in an email.
McLaughlin worked closely with the two borough managers during his tenure. Stonehill, the borough manager since 2010, said it was McLaughlin who invited him to apply for the job.
He was a friend and mentor, and I will miss him very much, he said.
McLaughlin also sought out other roles in local government. Since leaving borough council at the end of his sixth term in 2015, McLaughlin ran unsuccessfully for Franklin County prothonotary that year and for Chambersburg mayor in 2017.
In announcing his mayoral campaign, McLaughlin said: I am running because I feel there are things I can do as mayor that are being left undone. Im not an ideologue. I get along with people on either side. The mayor can serve as a force to bring people together.
A victim of COVID-19
Several friends and former colleagues shared that McLaughlin was battling COVID-19 for a few weeks before his death.
I thought if anyone could have survived, it would have been Bill, but it just wasnt meant to be, Bigler said in her Facebook post.
Gindlesperger said McLaughlin was the ninth person he knew personally to die of the coronavirus or of a pre-existing condition worsened by it.
(Bill McLaughlins death) leaves a hole in our lives. Theres enough holes in your life when you get to be 75 ... now you couple that with people passing away from COVID and its just dangerous.
Helping a landmark
McLaughlin had recently been working to help a historic community theater battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
My most recent conversation with him was in December, Ross said. He came in to see me. He was ... very interested in trying to raise funds in support of The Capitol Theatre.
McLaughlin was a member of the theaters board of directors. His family requested in his obituary that, instead of sending flowers, mourners donate to The Capitol Theatre Center. Donation information is available at thecapitoltheatre.org.
A service celebrating McLaughlins life was being planned for a later date.
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Bill McLaughlin dug deep to transform Chambersburg from the inside out - Herald-Mail Media
SURVIVING THE PANDEMIC: Keep your mind fit too! – Keyser Mineral Daily News Tribune
Mineral Daily News-Tribune
By Barbara High
Tribune Staff Writer
KEYSER - As we reach the year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have been staying in place at their homes for quite some time.
Many are working from home, and have severely limited their travel time.
Now more than ever it is important to take care of ourselves and our health. For most, when they hear health, they think only of physical health. Yet mental heath is also very important. Experts suggest that our mental health and physical health are closely related, with one affecting the other.
Yet how do we care for our mental health? It is not like we can put our mind on a treadmill, although it may feel at times that its on one.
Caring for your mental health can be easy in many ways. Some people find themselves stressed or experience high levels of anxiety during this time of year. All you hear on social media or the news is pandemic talk and turmoil amid elections. Take this opportunity to unplug, as you will, from the stressors. Turn off the television, log out of social media sites. Its hard to not let the stress get to you if that is all youre seeing. Too much exposure to the negative is never a good thing, so take a break.
Negative energy tends to attract negative energy. So try and focus on the positives that you see. Although we may find this hard at times, there is always something to be grateful for. A positive mindset is half the battle won.
Make sure to set some time aside to take care of yourself daily. You can meditate, do some deep breathing, or do a facial; as long as you carve out time to make yourself a priority to do things you enjoy.
Some people tend to have a harder time to focus on themselves. Many find that the stress or anxiety is overwhelming. It is harder for the mind to come out of those feelings. There are several coping techniques that you can try to help combat these issues.
Doing controlled breathing exercises is one of the many ways for you to focus and relax the mind and body. Your breath affects your whole body. Breathing exercises are a good way to relax, reduce tension, and relieve stress. Breathing exercises are easy to learn and use. You can do them whenever you want, and you don't need any special tools or equipment to do them.
According to Michigan Medicine, one simple exercise is belly breathing.
Belly breathing
Belly breathing is easy to do and very relaxing. Try this basic exercise anytime you need to relax or relieve stress.
1. Sit or lie flat in a comfortable position.
2. Put one hand on your belly just below your ribs and the other hand on your chest.
3. Take a deep breath in through your nose, and let your belly push your hand out. Your chest should not move.
4. Breathe out through pursed lips as if you were whistling. Feel the hand on your belly go in, and use it to push all the air out.
5. Do this breathing 3 to 10 times. Take your time with each breath.
6. Notice how you feel at the end of the exercise.
With anxiety being at an all-time high for many people right now, deep breathing is a great way to to fight it. Most people take short shallow breaths into their lungs. This quick short breathing is a breeding ground for anxiety and panic attacks. Taking deeper breaths into you lungs is a great way to help you relieve some of your anxiety. Taking a deep breath of air into your lungs and exhaling slowly helps to slow the mind and relax the body.
There are several breathing techniques you can try and examples are available online.
Meditation is another way to help relieve stress and anxiety. Meditation is also easy to do and requires no special equipment. Its an easy to do, even if you have never done it before. To start learning meditation all you have to do is begin with a quiet place.
Sit or lie comfortably, if you sit you can use a pillow to cushion you on the floor. Close your eyes, and breathe naturally. Push all thoughts from your mind, and simply focus on the breaths that you take. If a thought enters your mind, simply push it out. Sit there till you can begin to feel your body relax. There is no set time amount to do. Just simply continue until you feel yourself in control and relaxed.
You can try several different types of meditation and can find guides to help you on many medical sites online.
There are many different coping techniques available and the key is to find the best one for you that works. Some are simple little things that you can do to try and keep your self in a healthy place. Making time for yourself, doing physical exercise, spending time with friends by phone or video chat, laughing as much as possible, reading, or simply doing things you enjoy.
Your mental health is very important and should not be overlooked. Taking care of yourself is not simply about body, but also the soul.
Make sure to do all you can to keep your mental health on the right track during the pandemic, and keep these ideas with you for life for a more relaxed and stress free mind.
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SURVIVING THE PANDEMIC: Keep your mind fit too! - Keyser Mineral Daily News Tribune
The little things, big mind games – Winchester Sun – Winchester Sun
Greetings, my fellow inquisitive gumshoe cinephiles of Winchester!
Human nature can be quite dark. Turn on the news, read the paper, surf the web, and you will find our days are full of greed, death, deception, and mystery. Does that make life bad? No, its just a bit more challenging to navigate through the waters of each day when your moral compass is in constant need of calibration.
Being led astray is a constant fear for parents with their children, but adults are led astray as well. Lust, greed and ambition lead adults astray every day, no matter if they are upstanding citizens or not. The dangers of the streets, the mind, and the heart can be seen in todays film, The Little Things (2021).
The Little Things is an American neo-noir crime thriller set in early 1990s Los Angeles, where we are introduced to security guard Joe Deacon (Denzel Training Day Washington), a former LAPD homicide detective who retreated from his badge and family after his last case on a track of a serial killer took a terrible turn and went cold. Deacon is now a shell of a man he once was, weathered from living in deep regret, remorse, and his troubled past when he meets a young, ambitious detective, Jim Baxter (Rami Bohemian Rhapsody Malek). Baxter is pursuing a killer of his own when meeting Deacon, and the two share a connection. Deacon takes on a role of mentor to the young Baxter due to the similarities of elements with the current and cold cases as they chase the prime suspect, true crime enthusiast and creepy neighborhood appliance repairman Albert Sparma, (Jared Dallas Buyers Club Leto).
The Little Things was written and directed by John Lee Hancock, who is known for his family friendly and uplifting films The Rookie (2002), The Blind Side (2009), and Saving Mr. Banks (2013) rather than exploring the dark recesses of our minds and nature. Penned close to thirty years ago, the Little Things sat on a shelf just waiting to be greenlit and released. This couldnt have come at a better time, and the numbers do not lie. Since COVID-19 and quarantine have become part of our everyday lexicon, mystery films, crime documentaries and whodunits have been favorites on every streaming service minus Disney+ unless you are big into animated yarns about kidnapped toymakers, then The Great Mouse Detective (1986) is sure to please.
The Little Things is dark tale that focuses more on the relationship of the two detectives and the downside of obsession to ambition. It is easy for all of us to become blind by our actions when pursuing truth and doing the right thing but in the wrong way. When our ambition becomes the sole vision in all we do, we lose sight of everything else, which in turn could result in everything being lost. Its about the little things which we all take for granted such as family, friendship and the fact that most of us wake up every day and have done so for years. When you think about it, those little things are the most important things that make our lives extraordinarily big.
Stay safe out there and have a film-tastic day!
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The little things, big mind games - Winchester Sun - Winchester Sun
10 African venture and startup predictions for 2021 – How we made it in Africa – How we made it in Africa
By Eliot Pence
The Covid-19 pandemic has upended the African continent, and at the same time accelerated major innovative breakthroughs, including in talent marketplace businesses, pay-as-you-go platforms, and decentralised finance (DeFi). There is reason, therefore, to be hopeful in 2021. What follows is a top 1o list of predictions some more speculative than others on Africas growing startup and venture sector for the year ahead.
1. Early investing explodes. With nearly 10 trillion dollars of stimulus money entering the US economy and trillions more around the world, investors will be looking anywhere for yield, including in frontier markets and early stage investing. Investing will also be driven by a growing group of super angels, fresh from the tech initial public offerings (IPO) craze in 2020, who form their own solo general partners, crypto funds, rolling funds, and angel syndicates all of whom have dramatically different risk appetites. Adding to this is a series of strategic exits in Africa Paystack to Stripe; DPO Group to the United Arab Emirates Network International; Sendwave App to WorldRemit which have started to define what the continents exit multiples are, helping institutional and accredited investors cover the continent with more interest.
2. Healthcare advances, but not the way you think. In November, Googles DeepMind announced it had solved a 50-year problem: mapping the shape of proteins, which allows vaccines to be created and trialled faster than ever before. In 2021, scientists will begin to develop a new generation of vaccines using DeepMinds AlphaFold technology. This will have implications for dozens of neglected tropical diseases across the African continent. The Gates Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will push grant financing to get these clinical trial and distribution organisations off the ground through startups like LifestoresNG.
3. SpaceXs Starlink redefines everything. Despite the oft-repeated story of Africas digital revolution, the continent remains largely unconnected and captive to a few dozen internet service providers and a number of mobile operators that provide 4G coverage. (Internet connection rates range from less than 10% in Somalia to around 60% in South Africa.) They chronically underdeliver, offering limited bandwidth at high costs. Starlink lets African companies truly go remote. Getting around captured regulators and setting up a distribution, installation, and support network wont be easy, but if anyone can do it, its probably Elon Musk. Almost overnight, Starlink will change how over a billion people connect to the world.
4. Software eats the last mile. Logistics marketplace startups such as Kobo360, Lori Systems, the app Trella, and the new Salesforce-backed Angaza have transformed how manufacturers send money and how consumers afford items by giving consumers layaway and pay-as-you-go financing options. Expect greater merging between logistics and pay-as-you-go platforms in 2021 as the continent looks to make real the promises on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement.
5. Global investors are attracted by DeFi bull run. Throughout the 2000s, journalists endlessly cited seven out of 10 of the fastest-growing economies in the world are in Africa. In the 2020s, they will cite three out of 10 of the biggest users of crypto are in Africa. The widespread adoption of crypto, and its parent, DeFi, is driving investment in the region by global investors with deep pockets from Asian entrepreneurs looking to grow exports into Africa to Western crypto evangelists that are calling for the end of centralised finance. Interestingly, the single greatest driver of DeFi on the continent is retail use by small traders transacting with East Asia. Even though Africa constitutes a small portion of global volume on aggregate, its retail (i.e., consumer) use is a larger share of activity than any other region.
6. African states build out defence industries. African states have long aspired to build a defence industry, but export controls and limited capacity have prevented them from doing so. The inevitable shift to additive manufacturing by companies like RelativitySpace is bringing down the cost of designing and developing dual-use technologies, like drones, rockets, advanced robotics, and artificially intelligent sensor systems. The commodification of these technologies now makes the industry fundable by venture and private equity funds (not just the state). Space is even easier to get to: you can now send cargo to low Earth orbit for $2,600/kg! As countries like Turkey, China and Russia look for export markets for their national defence contractors, new collaborations will be struck with local partners in Egypt, Angola, South Africa, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. Watch companies like Dragonfly Aerospace and Aerobotics.
7. GPT3 creates the new call centre. OpenAIs natural language platform, GPT3, isnt just a simple tool for generating fun tweets; it will create a new industry in frontier markets. The new call centre will be a GPT3 centre except rather than fielding calls from irate customers, these places will be content generation production facilities. Marketing professionals, content managers, and search engine optimisers in the West who are paid six-figure salaries to manage how companies engage with key audiences will be outsourced to content generation centres in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa that pair affordable graduates from African universities with GPT3 carefully curating, editing, and managing the artificial intelligence platform. In the longer term, Netflix, Disney, and GetSpectrum which combined have spent nearly $50 billion on content creation this year will contract with these centres to develop higher-value content like scripts and screenplays.
8. Plaid for Africa emerges. Plaid is a US-based startup that enables financial services apps, like Venmo, to speak with online banks, like Bank of America. As consumers increasingly use financial services apps in Africa, software that connects new fintech with old fintech will be key. What Paystack was to Stripe, Nigerian startup Mono HQ will be to Plaid in 2021. Fintech is by far the fastest-growing sector in African venture capitalism; the combination of slow-moving banks, ignorant regulators, and savvy consumers is a blessing for innovators. Until now, the focus for many entrepreneurs has been on leapfrogging the old institutions: neobanks (internet-only financial institutions), quasi-credit/lending platforms, or crypto exchanges. A more immediate opportunity is simply creating a single application programming interface (API) a set of protocols that the old and new institutions can talk through. Borrowing directly from Plaid, Mono has a head start on creating an open financial data system on the continent.
9. E-commerce explosion attracts strategic buyers. Stripes acquisition of Paystack during the pandemic points to a rapidly maturing financial services and e-commerce market. In 2020, online commerce in Africa grew 75% faster than the global average (even if that was from a low base). Since fintech companies need small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) to adopt their platform, they will want to seed the e-commerce ecosystem wherever its growing. Companies like Jumia, accused of fraud and shorted by Wall Street research firm Citron, proved to the market in 2020 that they can reduce operating costs and seed the broader continental e-commerce ecosystem. Fintech/e-commerce mergers could be a 2021 theme for Africas increasingly interconnected consumers.
10. Rise in remote work focuses attention on outsource developers like Andela. Turning the page on what has been a challenging past 18 months with layoffs and office closures, Andelas developer training academies will benefit from a world where staffing and development need not be on prem. Building on its acquisition of Skillbridge, Toptal the world leader in connecting businesses with software engineers could see Andela as an interesting opportunity to expand its talent marketplace business in the worlds fastest growing market.
Eliot Pence is a senior associate (non-resident) with the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
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10 African venture and startup predictions for 2021 - How we made it in Africa - How we made it in Africa
The Recovery Room: News beyond the pandemic February 5 – Medical News Today
The coronavirus pandemic dominated the headlines and our daily lives for most of the past year. Medical News Today have covered this fast-moving, complex story with live updates on the latest news, interviews with experts, and an ongoing investigation into the deep racial disparities that COVID-19 has helped unmask.
However, this has not stopped us from publishing hundreds of fascinating stories on a myriad of other topics.
We have a varied selection of articles this week, beginning with news of the latest findings from the worlds largest ongoing study into nutrition. We also look back at phrenology, the once-popular, now discredited study of how the shape of the skull determines personality and behavior.
Next, we share our instantly popular new article on the best time to take fish oil, and delve deep into the brain with news of a discovery that links the mind and gut in a new and unexpected way.
We also look at how giving mice tiny doses of LSD improves their sociability, why it is that exercising your muscles has the power to reduce chronic inflammation, and evidence for the benefits of afternoon napping from a new study in China.
We highlight this research below, along with other recent stories that you may have missed amid all the COVID-19 fervor.
This week, MNT reported on the latest findings from a decade-long nutritional study with 171,000 participants. NutriNet-Sant was the first internet-based study of its kind and is now the largest ongoing nutrition study in the world.
In this article, we look at what NutriNet-Sant says about the role of ultra-processed food in chronic diseases, the benefits of eating organic food, and how food scoring system emerged from the research. Most recently, researchers have tracked how dietary habits have changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Learn more here.
The latest article in MNTs Curiosities of Medical History series looks back at phrenology, the long-discredited pseudoscience that related the shape of a persons skull to the inner workings of their mind.
Author Maria Cohut, Ph.D., considers the origins of phrenology in the 18th century together with its racist and sexist implications. However, one of the core ideas of phrenology that different areas of the brain support different mental functions has survived as a key tenet of modern neuroscience. Click below to read this fascinating article.
Learn more here.
We prepare the Recovery Room by looking back at popular articles from the past week and often find that some articles are immediately popular, attracting tens of thousands of visits in a matter of hours. Our new guide to when and how to consume fish oil is a great example of this, with close to 67,000 sessions since Tuesday.
Our editors explain that it is not so much a matter of when you take fish oil but what you consume with it. Timing fish oil consumption to coincide with a meal that contains dietary fat is the best approach.
This popular article looks at why that might be, the recommended daily dosages, the many potential health benefits, and the possible side effects.
Learn more here.
There was news this week of the discovery of both a new type of nerve cell and a new channel of communication it supports between gut bacteria and the brain.
The new study identified a previously unknown astrocyte a star-shaped type of neuron in mice that actively protects against inflammation. Not only that, but the level of protection increases in response to a molecular signal from bacteria in the gut.
Previously, it was thought that astrocytes all behaved in the same way. However, new techniques pioneered by the researchers for the study have enabled identification of different types with distinct roles in the brain.
This article looks in more detail at the technique and its implications. For example, blocking the signals that promote astrocyte activity may eventually offer a treatment for certain brain tumors.
Learn more here.
We reported on another equally fascinating and cutting-edge example of research in mice this week. Scientists used optogenetics to track microscopic changes in neurons to shed light on why small doses of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) boost social interaction behaviors in mice.
Some people believe microdosing with LSD can improve their mental well-being, intellectual performance, and emotional state without significant alteration of consciousness.
This new research reveals a possible mechanism for this by discovering the involvement of the 5-HT2 receptor in the brain. This discovery could lead to new treatments for mental health issues that affect a persons social behavior.
Learn more here.
Maintaining a moderate weight could help preserve brain structure in people who are already experiencing mild Alzheimers disease dementia. This was one of the key findings in new research MNT reported this week, on the links between obesity and Alzheimers.
However, the researchers also found that having obesity early in life may lead to negative consequences by worsening the cognitive decline that can occur in later years.
This insight could help clinicians catch the symptoms of mild cognitive impairment earlier and allow earlier, more effective intervention.
Learn more here.
Researchers threw a simulated tailgate party in the name of medical science, and MNT covered the results. The study aimed to investigate the impact of binge eating and drinking on the body.
This was a small study with 18 male participants, all with overweight or obesity. The researchers found a range of responses to overconsumption, with one potential explanation being the amount of carbohydrates individuals ate. High carbohydrate consumption may have a greater impact on liver fat than alcohol in some people.
For a full account of the study, its findings, and its limitations, click below.
Learn more here.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recently released their latest scientific statement, with a focus on the importance of mental health to heart health and overall well-being.
The statement evaluated 128 studies relating to the association between psychological wellness and cardiovascular health. The authors conclude that, to ensure the best outcomes, healthcare professionals need to address the mental wellness of the patient in tandem with the physical conditions affecting the body.
MNTs coverage of the statement looks at consequences of poor psychological health, treatments and interventions that can improve it, and the difficulty of establishing firm links between mind, body, and heart using the available data.
Learn more here.
Long-lasting, or chronic, inflammation is known to increase the risk of many diseases that affect older people. This week, MNT reported on new research that found that chronic inflammation can be naturally reduced by exercising the muscles and that it is the muscles themselves that cause this effect.
The researchers used lab-grown muscle doused with interferon-gamma, an immune signaling molecule that promotes inflammation. Exercising the muscle tissue specimens with tiny electrical currents encouraged muscle growth and reduced the wasting and weakening effects of interferon-gamma.
This discovery points the way to new treatments for chronic inflammation and also indicates that lab-grown muscle could be a useful platform to investigate other disease mechanisms and treatments.
Learn more here.
Finally this week, theres good news for people who like to rest their eyes in the latter part of the day. Researchers in China have found a clear association between brief afternoon naps and stronger cognitive function.
As well as looking at psychological measures, the researchers alsotested each participants blood for levels of cholesterol and triglyceride fatty acids. These levels were found to be higher in nappers, although not at a level that is thought to impair cognitive function.
On the contrary, the researchers claim that short afternoon naps lead to an 84% decrease in the chances of developing Alzheimers. To learn more about the study, perhaps before testing the results of the research for yourself, click below.
Learn more here.
We hope this article offers a taste of the stories that we cover atMNT. Well be back with a new selection next week.
We publish hundreds of new stories and features every month. Here are some upcoming articles that may pique our readers interests:
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The Recovery Room: News beyond the pandemic February 5 - Medical News Today
AI in Healthcare Market Detailed Insights on Upcoming Trends 2020-2030 | DeepMind Technologies Limited, IBM Corporation, Intel Corp – The Courier
AI in HealthcareOverview:
Thelatest report studies the AI in HealthcareMarket in detail and presents comprehensive forecasts regarding the markets growth trajectory in the coming years 2020 to 2030. The research report on the global market offers a detailed look at some of the key elements of the overall market. This report study analyzes and researches the regions such as Asia Pacific, South America, and the Middle East & Africa.
The study has collectively presented refined data characterized by market valuation, SWOT analysis, market participants, regional segmentation, and revenue forecasts, enabling stakeholders to make logical business decisions. The market is anticipated to have the potential to witness flourishing growth with high revenue CAGR valuation. A deep-dive analysis of the business scenario across the various regions and a review of the competitive dynamics covers a major portion of the study as it is pivotal in drafting future courses of action. Individual assessment of the various industry segmentation, inclusive of their market share and growth rate are highlighted.
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The main manufacturers covered in this report:
Nuance Communications, Inc., DeepMind Technologies Limited, IBM Corporation, Intel Corporation and Microsoft and NVIDIA Corporation.
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The report is a ready-to-refer guide to comprehend the valuation of theAI in Healthcare market, besides also focusing on volumetric returns likely to incur in the futuristic timeline. Volumetric returns of theAI in Healthcare market have been gauged at both regional and global levels, followed by pricing formats of each of the segments, through the forecast span, 2020-30. The report clearly mentions the volumetric returns of the market focusing on historical developments between 2014-19, to perceive futuristic Astonishing possibilities by 2020-27.
AI in Healthcare Market report has used a top-down and bottom-up approach to make a complete report on the AI in Healthcare market. Further, it has used reliable data from trusted sources to evaluate and validate the size of the entire market along with its sub-markets. Various qualitative, as well as quantitative research, has been conducted to analyze the AI in Healthcare market thoroughly.
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The report provides the impact of COVID-19 on the AI in Healthcare market along with its impact on the overall industry and economy of the world. Further, it adds changes in consumer buying behavior as it impacts majorly on market growth and sales. Distributors and traders on marketing strategy analysis focusing on region-wise needs in a covid-19 pandemic is also added in the market report. The last segment of the COVID-19 impact chapter includes recovery and major changes opted by major players involved in the AI in Healthcare market.
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The report provides an in-depth analysis of theAI in Healthcaremarket. The fetches data in a complex environment where various technologies of automation, mobility, cloud, AI, and others are coupled to offer innovative solutions that help in business decision making. By analyzing various customer data and business growth enablers, enterprises are expected to grow during the forecast period. The report discusses the market size in terms of component, deployment type, industry, and region. Furthermore, the report provides details about the major challenges impacting the market growth.
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AI in Healthcare Market Detailed Insights on Upcoming Trends 2020-2030 | DeepMind Technologies Limited, IBM Corporation, Intel Corp - The Courier
5 simple desk yoga poses to calm your mind and relieve tension while working from home – Insider – INSIDER
Most of us could benefit from doing more yoga, but if you struggle to find the time, desk yoga could be the solution.
While chair yoga (a more accessible, inclusive form of the practice) and stretching at your desk aren't new concepts, desk yoga is currently proving more beneficial than ever, both for body and mind, for the swathes of people around the world who have been working from home.
Chair yoga is usually pitched to seniors, but London-based yoga teacher and founder of The Yeh Yoga Co. Emily Harding believes it's something we should all be doing, and reframing the practice as "desk yoga" has seen increasing interest from frazzled employees.
Harding has been offering desk yoga for two years, and originally came up with the idea through working with big corporations whose employees felt like they weren't able to fit classic yoga into their day. With desk yoga, you don't need to go anywhere, don't need to change, and don't need much time.
Read more: Asos is facing backlash from yoga teachers who say its models are performing poses incorrectly and dangerously in product images
It helps with posture, relieves tension in the neck and shoulders, reduces eye strain which in turn can ease headaches, and helps people feel connected to themselves, calmer, and less anxious by focusing on the breath, according to Harding.
"Yoga isn't just about practicing on a mat in your leggings," she told Insider, adding that she wants to combat the stereotype that "yoga is only for thin, flexible, white women."
"Yoga has been around for thousands of years. It's about freeing yourself from the suffering of your mind which doesn't just pop up when you step on four corners of the mat, it's in your whole life," Harding said.
Hardingtalked Insider through five easy poses (that only require pulling your chair back from your desk) and how to perform them correctly, whatever your ability, from your home office.
See the rest here:
5 simple desk yoga poses to calm your mind and relieve tension while working from home - Insider - INSIDER
Bliss: From one reality to the other, trippy mind-bender keeps us guessing – Chicago Sun-Times
I have a picture in my head of a place. I dont know if its real. Owen Wilsons Greg in Bliss.
In the metaphysical journey that is Bliss, there comes a time when one almost expects Agent Smith from The Matrix to pop in looking for Mr. Anderson, or perhaps McCabe from Vanilla Sky to find our hero on a rooftop and tell him, Mortality as home entertainment this cannot be the future, can it? because we are deep down the rabbit hole and constantly trying to figure out whats real and whats not real in this trippy and entertaining mind-bender from writer-director Mike Cahill.
Bliss: 3 out of 4
You cant help but think of The Matrix and Vanilla Sky (or its precursor, the 1997 Spanish film Abre los ojos) and even The Fisher King as this Amazon Prime Video feature starts off in the real world and then takes us on a fantastical journey in which were pretty sure well, almost sure, well, maybe not entirely sure about which universe is authentic and which exists only in the imagination.
Owen Wilson reminds us he can do so much more than play the preternaturally laidback aging hippie type with an impressively layered performance as Greg, a middle-aged, divorced father who is an executive of some sort at a large company but spends his days ignoring calls, dodging meetings and creating elaborate drawings depicting an idyllic home that looks positively heavenly. Almost too good to be true. Its not entirely clear how long this has been going on, but if Greg thinks hes fooling his co-workers, hes dead wrong and when hes told the big boss wants to see him, it looks like the end of the road for Greg.
Things go sideways in a big way during that meeting with the boss, and at this early point Bliss has the look and feel of a gritty, grounded thriller about a man unraveling, in the vein of Falling Down. Greg finds himself on the street and connecting with an exotically strange and seemingly unhinged woman named Isabel (Salma Hayek in a terrifically theatrical performance), who bears an uncanny resemblance to one of Gregs sketches. How can this be? Isabel tells Greg its proof theyre living in a manufactured world, and nothing they see none of the people, none of the buildings, nothing at all is really there. Its all part of some grand experiment, and only Greg and Isabel can see through it!
Something like that.
You see all these people outside? Isabel says to Greg. Theyre not real. That sounds crazy, of course, but then Isabel starts teaching Greg some mind-blowing tricks, e.g., how to light a candle from across the room simply by pointing at it and wishing it to be so.
Nesta Cooper delivers strong work as Gregs daughter Emily, who is about to graduate high school and is understandably worried about her father yet even as Emilys very existence seems to offer proof Isabels claims are the rantings of a madwoman, Isabel has Gregs head spinning with her explanations of how Emily isnt real, shes just part of the illusion. Greg was never married and he doesnt have children and he never worked at that company; all of those elements are simply part of the SIMS stuff.
Its all madness until theres a startling revelation indicating Isabel might not be so crazy after all, and the Shangri-La envisioned by Greg in his drawings might actually be the real world. Bliss is a strikingly impressive visual feast, as we toggle back and forth between the stark and oppressively gray world where Greg and Isabel are two oddball characters living under a viaduct and the brightly colored and futuristic nirvana where theyre like the grown-up Homecoming Queen and King of a futuristic, advanced community where virtual reality co-mingles with reality.
Im a little disoriented, Greg says at one point, and its the understatement of his lifetime. To the very end, we can feel Gregs sadness when his world seems to be crumbling, his exhilaration when he believes hes found a new and spectacularly beautiful reality, and his heartbreaking confusion when he has to choose between two worlds a choice that might not really be his to make.
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Bliss: From one reality to the other, trippy mind-bender keeps us guessing - Chicago Sun-Times