📌 Helene Aftermath, Hearts In Space, More

Emergency food and water were airlifted Monday into remote North Carolina towns cut off by tropical storm Helene.

The shifting hurricane-storm devastated the western part of the state, killing over 100 in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. The death toll is expected to rise once rescue teams reach isolated towns and emergency telecommunications assets come online.

North Carolina saw some 300 roads close, and over 7,000 people registered for US Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance. Officials said the National Guard flew 1,000 tons of food and water to remote areas by plane and helicopter.

People were stranded without running water, and 1.8 million homes and businesses remained without power on Monday, according to the website Poweroutage.us.

President Joe Biden, attributing the storm's devastation to climate change, said he would visit North Carolina on Wednesday and Georgia and Florida soon after. He may also ask Congress to return to Washington for a special session to pass supplemental aid funding.

Bioengineered heart tissue samples sent to the International Space Station found that heart cells "really don't fare well in space.”

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University examined over 30 days how low gravity impacts the cells' strength of contraction, known as twitch forces, and any irregular beating patterns.

Identical samples on Earth were also monitored. The results were concerning but not surprising — the hearts beat with about half the strength of the control samples on Earth.

Previous studies have found that astronauts returning to Earth exhibit reduced heart muscle function and irregular heartbeats, known as arrhythmias.

Space-bound tissue showed increased inflammation and oxidative damage, resembling changes similar to heart disease. The cells’ powerhouse, mitochondria, grew larger and rounder, likely leading to weaker heart cell contractions and an overall decline in cellular health.

The scientists intend to gather more data to identify how the damage occurs molecularly and find ways to keep astronauts safe during long spaceflight missions.

Doctors Without Borders treated over 25,000 victims of sexual violence in the Congo last year.

The group said that most victims were treated in displacement camps near Goma, the capital of Congo’s eastern province of North Kivu.

Eastern Congo has struggled with armed violence as over 120 armed groups fight for power, land and valuable mineral resources while others try to defend their communities.

Some armed groups have been accused of mass killings, rapes and other human rights violations. The violence has displaced some 6 million people in the east.

Congo alleges neighboring Rwanda has been involved in aggression and war crimes in the region. It accuses Rwanda of giving military backing to the M23 rebel armed group. Rwanda denies the allegation.

“Armed men in and around displacement sites explains this explosion of sexual violence [and] the inadequacy of the humanitarian response and the inhumane living conditions in these sites fuel the phenomenon,” Doctors Without Borders said.

Google is investing 36 billion Thai baht ($1 billion) into Thailand to create a data center and expand the country’s cloud infrastructure.

The move marks a ramp-up of Google’s expansion in Asia. It puts artificial intelligence at the center of its international push as it faces intense competition from Microsoft and OpenAI.

Data centers are the backbone of today’s digital economy, fueling the rise of cloud computing technology, which enables access to storage, computing and analytics services via the Internet.

Thailand’s digital economy is the second-largest in Southeast Asia and is expected to reach $50 billion by 2025, Google, Temasek and Bain & Company said in a 2023 report by e-Conomy SEA.

California has passed a law to extend consumer privacy protection to brainwave data gathered by implants or wearable devices.

Governor Gavin Newsom (above) over the weekend signed into law a bill amending the California Consumer Privacy Act to classify “neural data” as protected personal information.

Neurorights Foundation medical director Sean Pauzauskie called the California law "an enormous victory" for patients suffering from mental health disorders as well as for consumers simply looking to enhance their lives with new technologies.

California is the second state after Colorado to extend data protection to brainwaves. The potential for devices to tap into how people feel or think has raised concerns that they could be used to manipulate feelings or thoughts.

NeuroRights Foundation general counsel Jared Genser said the California law sends "a clear signal to the fast-growing neurotechnology industry" to protect people's mental privacy, arguing for a national brainwave data privacy law.

The NeuroRights Foundation predicts the collection of larger sets of brain data. “Generative artificial intelligence will continue accelerating the ability to accurately decode these scans."

Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas are officially on strike after the clock struck midnight with no new labor deal in hand.

Thirty-six East and Gulf coast ports shut down as 45,000 union workers walked off the job after labor negotiations stalled between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX).

The ILA strike is the first at these ports since 1977. Some economists estimate the economy could lose up to $5 billion daily if imports and exports are blocked. This strike could dictate whether many small — and medium-sized businesses and farmers turn a profit or lose money this year.

Experts emphasize the importance of the strike's duration, noting that each day could take three to five days to clear the backlog and resume normal operations.

The Biden administration plans to refrain from invoking the Taft-Hartley Act, which allows the federal government to seek a court injunction so that both parties can continue negotiations during an 80-day cooling-off period. Instead, it is encouraging continued negotiations and monitoring supply chain disruptions.

The strike affects many imports, including produce, cars, machinery parts, clothing, pharmaceuticals, holiday goods, and seafood, potentially causing shortages and price increases.

Customs officers were shocked when checking a plane passenger’s carry-on luggage, discovering a 10-foot albino Burmese python.

A man going through security at Tashkent airport in Uzbekistan was instructed to open his carry-on luggage. He unzipped it to reveal the snake curled up asleep inside. The man was promptly arrested.

The snake was handed over to the Tashkent Zoo, where specialists have assessed its condition as healthy. In 2022, two women took smuggling animals to a different level. An X-ray screening of their luggage at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi

International Airport revealed 50 chameleons, 35 turtles, 20 snakes, two porcupines, and two armadillos. Two iguanas were dead, and the other reptiles showed symptoms of dehydration.