The healthcare system in many countries, particularly in the United States, is often criticized for being inefficient, expensive, and inaccessible. One of the primary reasons for the shortcomings of healthcare is the rising cost of medical services and treatments.

Healthcare in the U.S. is notoriously expensive, with prices for basic services like doctor visits, hospital stays, and medications far exceeding those in other developed nations.

Noland Arbaugh, a quadriplegic, gained control of his body for the first time in January 2024 after undergoing a surgical implantation of “The Link”, a microchip, created by Elon Musk’s Neuralink Corp.

Now, as the technology degrades inside Arbaugh’s head, experts worry about decreased performance as the technology becomes rapidly outdated. 

Laurinda Bellinger, an engineer working at Blue Origin, a leading aerospace company located in Bellevue, led the students of Highline in a seminar about the predictions of aerospace in the future, including what various industries would appear and continue to grow. 

Bellinger came with informative visuals, comprehensive explanations, and allowed for an extensive Q&A at the end of the lecture.

The discussion of UFOs has recently focused on Guadalupe Island, a volcanic island that lies approximately 241 kilometers off the coast of Baja California.

Danny Sheehan, a Harvard lawyer and UFO disclosure advocate, suggests that this remote island might harbor an underwater alien base.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the fashion industry, bringing significant changes to design, production, and consumer experiences.

By analyzing a large amount of data, AI enables designers to predict trends, create personalized recommendations, and streamline supply chains, leading to more efficient and responsive fashion businesses.

NASA has achieved a significant milestone in its quest to return humans to the Moon with the recent green light for the Artemis II mission.

Scheduled for launch in 2025, this ambitious mission aims to send astronauts on a historic journey around the Moon, marking a pivotal moment in NASA’s broader Artemis initiative.

Following the success of the Artemis I uncrewed flight test conducted last year, the Artemis II mission is poised to carry a crew of four on a 10-day voyage. The astronauts will orbit the Moon while testing critical systems that are essential for future lunar exploration.

Bringing scientific light onto a quiet class of organisms, HBO’s “The Last of Us” warned us of an impending epidemic by the apocalyptic fungus: Cordyceps. Zombies have been explained to us by the media as lingering electrical impulses in the brainstem (The Walking Dead), a virus that takes over and consumes the human body (World War Z), and most recently: mushrooms. 

In the original 2013 action-adventure game, “The Last of Us” creatively avoided using the term zombie, opting for the term infected. It refers to a species of fungus, cordyceps, that infect a hosts’ brain and control them. When idle, infected lie still and allow the cordyceps to grow from them in an attempt to connect to other cordyceps.

For almost 16 years, Twitter stood as one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, but in October of 2022, a certain tech billionaire bought the platform and changed it forever.

Elon Musk needs little introduction in today’s day and age. CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and cofounder of PayPal and Neurolink, Musk is seen by many as a pioneer in the tech industry.

In a world where technology is changing the way we learn, Duolingo stands out as a shining example of innovation.

The app has harnessed the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to create a language-learning experience that is not only effective but also incredibly engaging. With over 500 million users worldwide, Duolingo is transforming the way we approach learning new languages.

In recent years, the impact that technology has had in the field of education has been a major deal. Ranging from different online learning platforms, to apps and online classrooms that has made it more accessible for students and educators to learn anywhere they want – without being physically present in the classroom. 

Technology has had its impact on students, teachers, and administrators from learning platforms, assessment strategy, and grading. It also produced fear of plagiarism, academic dishonesty, and downright cheating through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Dr. Eric Baer, a geologist serving as the Chair of Pure and Applied Science here at Highline College, led Highline students into the world of volcanoes, what makes them super, and what a disruption an eruption would cause at his Science Seminar hosted by the college earlier this month.

Baer has studied volcanology, the study of volcanoes, at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before coming to Highline. He’s researched volcanoes, specifically supervolcanoes, across Japan and the United States.  

On Oct. 8, in Stockholm, John Hopfield, of Princeton University, and Geoffrey Hinton, of the University of Toronto, were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking contributions to Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognized Hopefield and Hinton “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.”

Two American astronauts, sent into space for an eight-day mission by a Boeing Starliner, have been stuck for months on the International Space Station (ISS), as their craft was deemed too risky to safely make the return trip home.

On June 7, 2024, Boeing, in conjunction with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), launched the two American astronauts, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunni Williams, into space aboard Boeing’s ‘Starliner’ capsule. The mission: an eight day test of systems aboard Starliner, but this not-exactly-successful mission has turned into an eight-month detour around the planet for the pair.

With Artificial Intelligence (AI) evolving and becoming smarter, faster, and more integrated everyday, have you ever wondered if one day your job positioning might be at the risk of being replaced with AI resulting in you getting laid off?

In the article “AI Job Loss: Shocking Statistics Revealed”  by Daniel L., he revealed that in 2023, 37% of companies that are using AI saw workers lose jobs. It is expected that in 2024 there will be another 44% expected more AI-related job cuts.

Stanford Medicine has published a groundbreaking study that highlights the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) in skin cancer diagnosis.

Professor Eleni Linos, MD, leads the research, which illustrates how deep learning-powered AI can greatly improve the accuracy of skin cancer diagnoses, even for non-specialists, such as primary care physicians and medical students.

The search engine Google recently implemented an ‘AI Overview’ feature that is designed to summarize the search results of a user’s question. The AI Overview now pops up at the very top of the page with often unhelpful or factually incorrect information, replacing the typical links and data that used to make up this area.

Not only is the new feature distracting for many, the artificial intelligence has made a number of alarming mistakes during its debut month.

Pulling information from various sources on the internet means the AI is exposed to professional medical and news outlets, as well as user generated content on personal blogs, satirical websites, and social media. 

From plants and animals to fungi and bacteria, biodiversity is the remarkable variety of life on earth. Through its many forms and interactions, biodiversity performs valuable functions that support life itself, including humans. But as human activity is increasing the planet’s damage, we also face the risk of imbalanced ecosystems.

Biodiversity is the most complex system on our planet, as it provides plants, animals and humans with our most vital resources. It’s the sole responsibility of why we are here, and without it, there may be no future for humanity.

The company Boston Dynamics is the leader in the creation of dexterous robotics on a global scale. Their robots are revolutionary. Their robots can navigate. They can lift heavy objects. They can jump. But most importantly, they can dance.

Their first viral robot would be Atlas. Atlas is a hydraulic robot that stands on its own two feet. Atlas is a robot that walks, jogs, and jumps. With these abilities, Atlas is about to maneuver around. The power of Atlas’s hydraulics allows them to lift and throw objects, even to places above it. Atlas has dexterity, agility, and strength.

Virtual YouTubers (VTubers) are internet personalities who usually represent themselves through digital avatars. These avatars are typically in the style of anime. There are many different anime art styles and so there are consequently just as many styles for avatars.

These avatars have a few different methods with how they move. Most common would be Live2D. The most accessible are PNG-tubers. The most complicated of them are the 3D models. The avatars are controlled through either camera or trackers. Each of these methods has their pros and cons, it mainly comes down to preference.

The internet is as vast as our oceans. The possibilities with the internet are endless. That means it’s susceptible to websites slipping through the gaps, primarily ones that aren’t so honest and legitimate. These websites lead to digital piracy. They host shows, movies, and premium content.

Digital piracy can be found in every corner of the internet quite easily if you know where to look. Of course, these websites aren’t supposed to be available, but in order to take them down, the original owners would need to go through a lengthy legal process. Even when they do get shut down, even more will pop up in their place.

Have you ever felt that your desk is a tad bland? Is your workspace feeling a little empty? Worry no more! Even your peripherals can be exciting, it doesn’t have to be black or white, instead it could be a rainbow. The possibilities are endless.

A desktop should be personalized to reflect you. Most people think about the inside of the computer, for its performance. It’s understandable you would want your computer to be fast and efficient. However, most people overlook the aspect of comfort. The furthest extent the average person would possess would be a wrist rest and a mouse pad.

It’s springtime! Most know it to be the season of bloom, however to a quarter of the population it is known as the season of gloom. A season surrounded by sneezes, runny noses, and itchy eyes.

The spring brings about flowers, trees, and fruit. On the other hand, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, known primarily by a quarter of the population, its seasonal allergies. It is also known as “hay fever” and “allergic rhinitis”. The main cause of the fever is pollen, specifically tree pollen which kicks into high gear every early spring.

We are living in a digital age. With applications like TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and more, trends are constantly coming and going. Although the digital detox trend might be here to stay, as it has become an increasingly popular millennial movement.

A digital detox is no new treasured insight, at least not to Facebook users who in 2012 made a collective attempt to break free from the taunting notifications of the app for several weeks. Although this moment was named as “media refusal” or “social media rejectors,” it was nothing short of this modern day act of improving well-being.

Video games have existed for decades and have quickly become a source of entertainment for people of all ages across the globe. Unfortunately with popularity, comes an increased rise in commercialization. In the case of video games, this commercialization comes in the form of many things, but microtransactions are the most prevalent.

Microtransactions are small in-game purchases that give the player either cosmetics and/or other content like level up packages or, on rare occasions, loot. They cost actual money, and oftentimes use an in-game currency as a go between. (Note that I said small in-game purchases.)

A rare total solar eclipse captivated millions across North America on Monday, April 8. The celestial spectacle, which lasted just over two minutes in the path of totality, offered a breathtaking display of nature’s grandeur.

Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, casting its shadow onto our planet. There are three main types of solar eclipses: total, partial, and annular. Monday’s event was a total solar eclipse, the most dramatic of the three, occurring when the moon completely blocks the sun’s light.

In the modern era, our dependence on technology has transformed the very notion of privacy into a quaint relic of the past. With smartphones as constant companions, our lives are an open book, ready to be dissected and monetized by algorithms and corporations. 

Take for instance, a daily bus commute where you’re surrounded by a sea of screens, each one a window into someone’s digital soul. It’s truly a sight, watching as people surrender their privacy with every tap and swipe, all in the name of connectivity and convenience. Who needs personal space when you have Wi-Fi, right?

Artificial intelligence has been taking over seemingly every corner of the internet and free market. Airlines, search engines, and marketing firms are adopting it, and it seems like every service has a new AI feature to advertise. For the average consumer, is any of this even useful?

AI itself has been mainly behind the scenes for decades, whether it be a computer player in a video game or an algorithm of any kind. Its recent boom in popularity, however, was due to OpenAI’s Chat-GPT releasing in November 2022. Recent advances like these began the AI boom as we know it.

Decades ago, the topic of global warming lacked attention regarding basic research, funding, and societal interest. Today, the issue is increasingly gaining more awareness, as its impacts on our environment are becoming more prominent through sea-level rise, disastrous storms, increased drought, and even loss of species worldwide.

This world renowned debate first took place in the late 1980’s, where the issue was perceived as something that wouldn’t impact us for generations. Well, that day has come, and its effects on us as humans are evident in these strangely warmer temperatures, rapid weather changes, and especially poverty and displacement.

Do you ever look up in wonder, interested to know about all that fills the sky? Well, if you were to be paying attention at the right time and place you may be dazzled by a show put on by a mysterious space traveler – a comet.

Comets travel through the depths of space while continuing to intrigue and inspire scientists and skywatchers alike. Have you ever looked up at night and seen what you thought was a shooting star, but that star and its tail didn’t fade? You were probably witnessing a comet, which at times can be seen slowly moving across the sky.

With new tech capabilities constantly on the rise, there’s little we can’t do without electricity, a wifi connection, and a few simple swipes of a finger. Technology has improved the way we live our lives in a myriad of way, yet we would be remiss to ignore the wealth of problems it has brought along with it.

Technology makes our lives easier as it allows us to stay uninterruptedly connected to the world around us. Yet, with its advancement continuously evolving, our engagement with our smartphones, laptops, fitness trackers, and other home devices is evolving as well.

Hey there Highline scholars, do you know how your body absorbs calcium, one of the important minerals for our bones? Calcium is a large mineral present in our body – it helps in strengthening bones and teeth. And although it is difficult to break it down through the digestive system, it plays a vital role in blood clotting.

Calcium bioavailability refers to the amount of calcium in a food or supplement that is absorbable and available for use by the body. It can vary depending on several factors, including the source of calcium and the other components present in the diet or supplement.

Metaverse 2, a virtual reality realm, offers a diverse experience allowing exploration of open worlds, participation in gaming challenges, and attendance at music concerts. Engage with a community building new worlds, make friends, and delve into endless possibilities and fun.

Let’s explore some features it provides without a gaming PC, followed by what unfolds. Within the metaverse, you can virtually travel to different states and countries, like an adventure in London, England, or the Bahamas provides a unique and immersive VR vacation.