An anonymous reader shares a report: In a landmark move, Illinois state lawmakers have passed a bill banning AI from acting as a standalone therapist and placing firm guardrails on how mental health professionals can use AI to support care. Governor JB Pritzker signed the bill into law on Aug. 1.

The legislation, dubbed the Wellness and Oversight for Psychological Resources Act, was introduced by Rep. Bob Morgan and makes one thing clear: only licensed professionals can deliver therapeutic or psychotherapeutic services to another human being. [...] Under the new state law, mental health providers are barred from using AI to independently make therapeutic decisions, interact directly with clients, or create treatment plans -- unless a licensed professional has reviewed and approved it. The law also closes a loophole that allows unlicensed persons to advertise themselves as "therapists."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The U.S. Coast Guard determined the implosion of the Titan submersible that killed five people while traveling to the wreckage of the Titanic was a preventable disaster caused by OceanGate Expeditions's inability to meet safety and engineering standards. WSJ: A 335-page report [PDF] detailing a two-year inquiry from the U.S. Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigation found the company that owned and operated the Titan failed to follow maintenance and inspection protocols for the deep-sea submersible.

OceanGate avoided regulatory review and managed the submersible outside of standard protocols "by strategically creating and exploiting regulatory confusion and oversight challenges," the report said. The Coast Guard opened its highest-level investigation into the event in June 2023, shortly after the implosion occurred. "There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators who are exploring new concepts outside of the existing regulatory framework," Jason Neubauer, the chair of the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation for the Titan submersible, said in a statement.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

For years, whistle-blowers have warned that fake results are sneaking into the scientific literature at an increasing pace. A new statistical analysis backs up the concern. From a report: A team of researchers found evidence of shady organizations churning out fake or low-quality studies on an industrial scale. And their output is rising fast, threatening the integrity of many fields.

"If these trends are not stopped, science is going to be destroyed," said LuÃs A. Nunes Amaral, a data scientist at Northwestern University and an author of the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday. Science has made huge advances over the past few centuries only because new generations of scientists could read about the accomplishments of previous ones. Each time a new paper is published, other scientists can explore the findings and think about how to make their own discoveries. Fake scientific papers produced by commercial "paper mills" are doubling every year and a half, according to the report. Northwestern University researchers examined over one million papers and identified networks of fraudulent studies sold to scientists seeking to pad their publication records. The team estimates the actual scope of fraud may be 100 times greater than currently detected cases. Paper mills charge hundreds to thousands of dollars for fake authorship and often target specific research fields like microRNA cancer studies.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Kimi Antonelli finally managed to score on European soil, grabbing a hard-fought 10th place at the Hungaroring despite starting from 15th on the grid. His weekend had been made difficult by a mistake in Qualifying, but he drove a faultless race in Budapest to make it two Mercedes cars in the top 10.

The Panama Playlists is a collection of the Spotify accounts of celebrities, politicians, and journalists (JD Vance, Pam Bondi, Marc Andreessen, etc). “The Panama Papers revealed hidden bank accounts. This reveals hidden tastes.”

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Cory Doctorow is coming out with a book on enshittification in the fall: Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It.

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Het Openbaar Ministerie stelt mailen weer in het vooruitzicht, maar advocaten ondervinden nog altijd „grote hinder” van de IT-problemen. „Het OM is gehackt door de Russen, dus we zijn gedwongen om meer met de post te doen.”

Although we’re familiar with numerous birds displaying bright blue hues, from the aptly named blue jays to indigo buntings to various species of heron, this color in avians’ feathers is actually a trick of physics. While hues like red and yellow are produced from pigments, blue results from the way light interacts with molecules inherent to the structure of the feathers. And it’s this delightful, elusive luster that lends itself so well to Kate MccGwire’s striking sculptures.

Next month, MccGwire (previously) opens a solo exhibition at the Djanogly Gallery at Lakeside Arts titled Quiver, surveying two decades of the artist’s work with ethically sourced feathers. Striking, framed wall pieces meet undulating specimens in freestanding vitrines and large-scale, site-specific installations. The vintage glass cases and domes nod to the 19th-century fascination with taxidermied trophy animals that adorned museum walls and grand private homes.

Working from a converted Dutch barge in West London, MccGwire’s studio mirrors her interest in nature. Like water, her compositions shimmer in the light and appear to swirl and roil, whether pool-like in frames or serpentine and encased in glass. Plumbing the inherent tensions between themes of beauty and revulsion, life and death, and wildness and captivity, the artist encourages us to consider our emotional and ever-evolving relationship with nature.

Quiver runs from September 20 to January 4 in Nottingham. If you’re in Sag Harbor, you can also see MccGwire’s work in The Ark at The Church, curated by Eric Fischl, which continues through September 1. And a piece is also included in Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses, which runs through August 10 at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore before traveling to the Kunsthal, Rotterdam, where it opens on September 27. Find more on the MccGwire’s website and Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article ‘Quiver’ Surveys Twenty Years of Striking Feather Sculptures by Kate MccGwire appeared first on Colossal.

Social

Uttarkashi, in de Noordwest Indiase Himalaya (maps). Tot nu toe officieel (slechts) vier doden, maar op de bovenstaande video alleen al zien we er minstens 10 het leven laten. Er zijn 50 mensen vermist opgegeven en zo'n 15 tot 20 mensen geëvacueerd. Schuld van klimaatverandering overigens, aldus de NOS. Veel meer beeld na de breek.

Social

Overlevenden en reddingsacties

SocialSocial

@aadschippers
Een emmer water naast de printer, to let it drown. Better safe than sorry
@touaregtweet