Germany Will Require All Petrol Stations To Provide Electric Car Charging

Speaking of Germany it will oblige all petrol stations to offer electric car charging to help remove refueling concerns and boost consumer demand for the vehicles as part of its 130 billion euro ($146 billion) economic recovery plan. From a report: The move could provide a significant boost to electric vehicle demand along with the broader stimulus plan which included taxes…

Scientists Find Brain Center That ‘Profoundly’ Shuts Down Pain

A research team from Duke University has found a small area of the brain in mice that can profoundly shut down pain. “It’s located in an area where few people would have thought to look for an anti-pain center, the amygdala, which is often considered the home of negative emotions and responses, like the fight or flight response and general anxiety,”…

Is Support Now Growing for a Universal Basic Income?

Economist Tyler Cowen and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov (now the chairman of the nonprofit Renew Democracy Initiative) co-authored an opinion piece this week in Bloomberg arguing that “a pandemic is providing a tragic preview of some of the conditions UBI was conceived to address.” Though they worry about the cost of such a program, “And, though there are some…

Andrew Yang’s Nonprofit Helps Fund Five-Year, $500-a-Month Basic Income Experiment

Working with the city of Hudson, New York and a local career center, Andrew Yang’s nonprofit, Humanity Forward will be giving 20 people a basic income of $500 a month for five years, in a collaboration called HudsonUP. Business Insider reports:
A spokesperson for HudsonUP said the 20 residents will be selected later in 2020, likely in the fall, and will begin…

Trump Threatens To Block Aid For US Post Office If It Does Not Raise Prices

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to block federal aid for the U.S. Postal Service unless it raises shipping rates for online companies like Amazon.com, prompting criticism that the move would hurt consumers relying more than usual on packages during the coronavirus outbreak. The president has long accused the post office of charging…

Multiple Banks Have Reported Outages As People Check For Coronavirus Stimulus Checks

Chase, Capital One, PNC Bank and others across the U.S. have reported outages with online and mobile banking Wednesday — the same day the coronavirus IRS stimulus checks are expected to hit bank accounts of those eligible. CNET reports: Banks including Chase, Capital One, PNC Bank, US Bank and Navy Federal, as well as the app Cash App have all reported…

Coronavirus: Worst Economic Crisis Since 1930s Depression, IMF Says

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: The coronavirus pandemic will turn global economic growth “sharply negative” this year, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. Kristalina Georgieva said the world faced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. She forecast that 2021 would only see a partial recovery. Ms Georgieva, the…

Massive US Coronavirus Stimulus Includes Research Dollars, Some Aid To Universities

sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine: The $2 trillion stimulus package that the U.S. Senate is working to approve today is aimed at helping the country cope with the massive impact of the coronavirus pandemic. But it also includes at least $1.25 billion for federal research agencies to support scientists trying to better understand coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition,…