Education
How Good Is Your Sense of Direction?
Is it possible to guess the exact location of something just by looking at its address or cross streets? What if someone was to point out a landmark in the area, such as mountains, oceans, or a building? Or do you rely on your smartphone’s map to get you places?
Stephanie de Silva, a Chicago native, found that Chicago helped her get to where she wanted to be as a child. Streets included directional names like “West” or “North,” and they often met at neat right angles. Lake Michigan could even place her if all else fails.
Ms. de Silva, 23 years old, moved to London to study cognitive science. She couldn’t find a way to navigate to a restaurant just two blocks away from her home without a map on her smartphone. Streets were often confusing. Sometimes they seemed to go nowhere.
“I don’t think the cardinal directions exist here,” she said. “I’ve lived here for six months now, and I don’t know which direction I’m facing.”
Scientists in Ms. de Silva’s lab at University College London, along with colleagues in Britain and France, have now arrived at an explanation: People who grow up in predictable, gridlike cities like Chicago or New York seem to struggle to navigate as easily as those who come from more rural areas or more intricate cities.
Those findings, published in Nature, suggest that people’s childhood surroundings influence not only their health and well-being but also their ability to get around later in life. Much like language, navigation is a skill that appears to be most malleable when people’s brains are developing, the researchers concluded.
The authors hope the findings eventually lead to navigation-based tests to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. They said that sometimes memory problems can lead to getting lost earlier than the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers have developed virtual navigation tests for cognitive decline, but they can interpret the results only if they know what other factors influence people’s way-finding abilities.
Among the forces shaping people’s navigation skills, the study suggested, was what kind of places they experienced as a child.
“The environment matters,” said Hugo Spiers, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London and one of the study’s lead authors. “The environment we’re exposed to has a knock-on effect, into the 70s, on cognition.”
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Education
Four Fraternity Members Charged After a Pledge Is Set on Fire
Four fraternity members at San Diego State University are facing felony charges after a pledge was set on fire during a skit at a party last year, leaving him hospitalized for weeks with third-degree burns, prosecutors said Monday.
The fire happened on Feb. 17, 2024, when the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity held a large party at its house, despite being on probation, court documents show. While under probation, the fraternity was required to “demonstrate exemplary compliance with university policies,” according to the college’s guidelines.
Instead, prosecutors said, the fraternity members planned a skit during which a pledge would be set on fire.
After drinking alcohol in the presence of the fraternity president, Caden Cooper, 22, the three younger men — Christopher Serrano, 20, and Lars Larsen, 19, both pledges, and Lucas Cowling, 20 — then performed the skit, prosecutors said.
Mr. Larsen was set on fire and wounded, prosecutors said, forcing him to spend weeks in the hospital for treatment of third-degree burns covering 16 percent of his body, mostly on his legs.
The charges against Mr. Cooper, Mr. Cowling and Mr. Serrano include recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury; conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public; and violating the social host ordinance. If convicted of all the charges, they would face a sentence of probation up to seven years, two months in prison.
Mr. Larsen himself was charged. The San Diego County District Attorney’s office said that he, as well as Mr. Cooper and Mr. Cowling, also tried to lie to investigators in the case, deleted evidence on social media, and told other fraternity members to destroy evidence and not speak to anyone about what happened at the party.
All four men have pleaded not guilty.
Lawyers representing Mr. Cooper and Mr. Cowling did not immediately respond to messages requesting comment on Tuesday. Contact information for lawyers for Mr. Serrano and Mr. Larsen was not immediately available.
The four students were released on Monday, but the court ordered them not to participate in any fraternity parties, not to participate in any recruitment events for the fraternity, and to obey all laws, including those related to alcohol consumption.
The university said Tuesday that it would begin its own administrative investigation into the conduct of the students and the fraternity, now that the police investigation was complete.
After it confirmed the details, the dean of students office immediately put the Phi Kappa Psi chapter on interim suspension, which remains in effect, college officials confirmed on Tuesday.
Additional action was taken, but the office said it could not reveal specifics because of student privacy laws.
“The university prioritizes the health and safety of our campus community,” college officials said in a statement, “and has high expectations for how all members of the university community, including students, behave in the interest of individual and community safety and well-being.”
At least half a dozen fraternities at San Diego State University have been put on probation in the last two years, officials said.
Education
Video: Several Killed in Wisconsin School Shooting, Including Juvenile Suspect
new video loaded: Several Killed in Wisconsin School Shooting, Including Juvenile Suspect
transcript
transcript
Several Killed in Wisconsin School Shooting, Including Juvenile Suspect
The police responded to a shooting at a private Christian school in Madison, Wis., on Monday.
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Around 10:57 a.m., our officers were responding to a call of an active shooter at the Abundant Life Christian School here in Madison. When officers arrived, they found multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Officers located a juvenile who they believe was responsible for this deceased in the building. I’m feeling a little dismayed now, so close to Christmas. Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. These types of trauma don’t just go away.
Recent episodes in Guns & Gun Violence
Education
Video: Biden Apologizes for U.S. Mistreatment of Native American Children
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transcript
Biden Apologizes for U.S. Mistreatment of Native American Children
President Biden offered a formal apology on Friday on behalf of the U.S. government for the abuse of Native American children from the early 1800s to the late 1960s.
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The Federal government has never, never formally apologized for what happened until today. I formally apologize. It’s long, long, long overdue. Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make. I know no apology can or will make up for what was lost during the darkness of the federal boarding school policy. But today, we’re finally moving forward into the light.
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