Apple’s Plan to Catch Child Sex Abusers Angers Privacy Advocates

From a slum in the Philippines to the president’s office of a state university, education has defined the life of Astrid Tuminez. She is the first woman and person of color to be president of Utah Valley University. She rose from poverty to obtain graduate degrees at Harvard and MIT, work as a consultant on international peace for the US State Department, and spend years working on women’s empowerment as a university dean and Microsoft executive in Southeast Asia.

Zoologist and wildlife veterinarian Lucy Spelman has spent her career working with endangered animals. Part of that time, she was the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo, where her job included cleaning the teeth of tigers, for example. She’s the author of National Geographic’s new Animal Encyclopedia for Kids, and she advises that close encounters of different kinds—through art and zoos, in particular—are vital to conservation. (Segment produced by James Hoopes)

Apple caused a stir recently when it announced a new iPhone feature that would search people’s photos for images depicting child sexual abuse and report those to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Immediately, there was pushback about the privacy problems that the feature could introduce. Apple has now put the plan on hold. What are people so concerned about? If someone has photos like that on their device, don’t we want that reported to authorities? Laurin Weissinger lectures on cybersecurity and law at Tufts University. (Segment produced by Cole Cummings) (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, file)

One of the main rules of pandemic life has been to limit touch—handshaking and casual hugs are off-limits. University of Arizona communication professor Kory Floyd researches physical affection and he’s documented something he calls “touch hunger.” (Segment produced by James Hoopes)

One in four American adults has cut off contact with a family member. Often the rift is between a parent and an adult child, and usually, one or both of them are upset about the estrangement—and yet it’s stunningly common, based on Karl Pillemer’s research. Pillemer is a professor of human development and gerontology at Cornell University. He’s written a book about his research called “Fault Lines: Fractured Families and How to Mend Them.” (Segment produced by Sydney Jezik)

People who play a version of vocal charades do well identifying the correct answer. No matter what language they speak or whether they can read and write. Interesting, huh? Marcus Perlman, a professor of linguistics at the University of Birmingham in the UK, conducted this research. (Segment produced by Sam Faulconer)