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A new technology can pinpoint victims of intimate partner violence four years earlier than other detection systems and with 80% accuracy. The Automated Intimate Partner Violence Risk Support System (AIRS) utilizes clinical history and radiologic data to pinpoint patients seen in the emergency room who may be at a risk for intimate partner violence (IPV). Developed over the past five years, AIRS has been rolled out to the Brigham and Womens Hospitals Emergency Rooms in Boston as well as surrounding primary care sites. Currently, the tool has been validated at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center and is being evaluated by the Alameda Health System for its role in clinical workflow. Data labeling quality is a huge concernnot just with intimate partner violence care, but in machine learning for healthcare and machine learning, broadly speaking, says cofounder Irene Chen. Our hope is that with training, clinicians can be taught how to spot intimate partner violencewe are hoping to find a set of cleaner labels. AIRS is an AI-based program that is run on the Electronic Health Record data. It takes an individual patients EHR dataincluding past radiographic imaging results and patient clinical historyand uses an algorithm to evaluate a patients risk for and severity of IPV. This is followed by a “silent study” where the algorithm makes recommendations for patient care for patients who have been labeled as victims. Both the radiological data and the patient clinical histories have been revealing for Chen and her cofounder Bharti Khurana. For instance, Chen shared that many victims of intimate partner violence who were detected through AIRS had experienced a broken ulna (a bone in the forearm), a defensive injury. When questioned, they had lied that they had fallen down but did not have the instinct to catch themselves, which is more likely to lead to a broken wrist rather than a broken ulna. Ulna fractures signaled an attack by someone from above and were a strong indicator of IPV. AIRS clinical data comes from three sources: patient diagnosis codes (usually intended for billing purposes), whether patients opt-in to hospital resources correlated with IPV (including social workers or legal assistance), and direct interviewing of clinicians to incorporate into the algorithm for AIRS. That latter data source can often prove to be most challenging as many physiciansdespite their years of trainingare not taught to spot IPV. This gap in training is significant: A May 2024 study published in Nature found that only 25% of IPV cases are correctly diagnosed, underscoring the need for more systematic detection methods like AIRS. Suzanne Freitag, director of the Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery Service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, who has decades of experience treating victims of IPV, cautions against treating AI as a magic font of knowledge that can replace a clinician’s training. While she believes in the pattern recognizing power of AIRS that is a hallmark of radiology, Freitag remains cautious about using patient clinical history as a ground truth for IPV diagnosis. I try to be careful not to stereotype because domestic violence happens to people of all ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, sexualities, and education levels, Freitag says. Chen and Khurana, for their part, believe that AI can eliminate implicit biases to provide a clearer diagnosis for IPV victimization. The two first connected in February 2020, Khurana saw Chen (then a PhD candidate in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT) deliver a talk on algorithmic bias in medicine at Harvard; shortly afterward, Khuranaan radiology professor at Harvard Medical Schoolapproached Chen to discuss collaborating to apply machine learning to intimate partner violence detection. Five years and one $3.2 million National Institutes of Health grant later, Chen and Khurana have not only built and validated AIRS but are now working to expand its implementation across multiple hospital networks. Social work staff have also been crucial to the implementation of AIRS at Brigham and Womens Hospital, where Chen and Khurana have tapped into records from an existing program called Passageway. A free, voluntary, and confidential resource, Passageway allows patients afflicted by IPV to gain access to social workers and legal representation to seek help. Chenwhile not blinded by imperfections of implementing machine learning in clinical settingsfeels optimistic about AIRS implementation. She points to a 2023 study by the Pew Research Center which found that 38% of a sample of 10,000 Americans believed that AI would improve patient outcomes. While skepticism of AI is alive, Chen feels that it is important not to surrender to it. Annie Lewis OConnor, a nurse practitioner and founder of the Coordinated Approach to Resilience and Empowerment Clinic at Brigham, believes that clinicians and technology must work in tandem to care for patients experiencing intimate partner violence. OConnor, who assists in AIRS prediction model, appreciates its help in diagnosing IPV risk and severity as well as in assisting with clinical decision support. To understand the usability, feasibility, and application of AI and machine learning tools, we must be diligent in gathering evidence on outcomes from the use of such tools, OConnor writes in an email. [AI] is something that compliments and assists the clinician in the care and treatment of patients experiencing IPV.
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The Humane Society of the United States is going global. The nonprofit animal advocacy organization has officially rebranded as the Humane World for Animals to better communicate its existing, broader work. Beyond the local shelters it’s perhaps best known for, the group works on behalf of animals to combat wildlife trafficking, factory farms, and animal testing, among other causes, globally. The new name and look, which its sister organization Humane Society International also adopted, is an attempt to reflect that. Building a brand to communicate international advocacy The rebrand also follows existing international coordination among its former country- and region-based entities. As the Humane Society grew beyond the U.S., these entities were already working closely together, sharing resources, and collaborating on strategy, according to the organization. The switch to a single global brand better reflects how it operates today and “better encompasses our mission and global presence,” Humane World for Animals chief development and marketing officer Alison Corcoran tells Fast Company. “The name immediately conveys our organizations global impact and focus on animals, and it states what we strive to achievea more humane world,” Corcoran says. “It is both a name and a vision. With this evolved brand, were expressing who we are more clearly, compellingly and comprehensively.” Signifying the interconnected relationships of a more humane world From top: The new logo vs. the old [Image: courtesy Humane World for Animals] The group’s previous logo, which it’s had since 2006, used silhouettes of animals to create a map of the continental U.S. The new logo simplifies that concept. The silhouettes of just five, easily identifiable animals are arranged into a globe to communicate the organization’s worldwide mission. Its name is spelled out in big, easy-to-read sans-serif type. “Working with the Humane World for Animals, we always knew the new logo needed to celebrate the brands advocacy for animals across the sky, land and sea,” says Brendán Murphy, global creative director at Lippincott, the agency that worked on developing group’s new name, logo, and brand positioning. “To evoke this message, we evolved the original mark, taking a core set of animals from the original logo and redrawing them to create an emotional connection and drive impact.” The use of interlocking animals in motion, he says, “speak to the dynamic animal ecosystem and our interconnected relationships across the animal kingdom.” Developing a multimodal pattern Lippincott worked alongside the entertainment marketing agency FlyteVu and the production company Nexus Studios for the rebrand rollout, which included billboards in Australia, Canada, India, the U.K., and U.S., television and audio ads, a social media campaign. Sia performs on Jimmy Kimmel Live! [Photo: courtesy Humane World for Animals] The animal silhouette concept has applications outside the logo as well. A repeat pattern of the animal silhouettes, designed by FlyteVu, appeared as the background of an outdoor ad that a tiger’s paw appeared to rip away to reveal messages. Sia wore a dress with the pattern for an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this month, where she performed a cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill,” which soundtracks a new public service announcement for the Humane World for Animals. The new streamlined branding and name for Humane World for Animals keeps the ever-important emotional resonance of the previous visual identity intact, but recontextualizes it to communicate a mission that’s more than just animal shelters, and bigger than just one country.
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E-Commerce
On February 15, protestors swarmed in front of Tesla stores and charging stations in dozens of cities across the U.S., armed with posters reading, No one voted for Musk, Go steal data on Mars, and more. Today, federal workers will head to Tesla storesalong with other locations, including a SpaceX site and federal buildingsto protest cuts to vital services and mass layoffs. More protests at Tesla will follow this weekend, all aimed at Musks work to control swaths of the government with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Its one way to target Elon Musk where hes most vulnerable: Teslas car sales are dropping, and his political work is pushing consumers away from the brand. Meanwhile, most of Musks wealth is tied up in Tesla stock. We need to hold Elon Musk accountable, says Saqib Bhatti, cofounder and executive director of the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE), a nonprofit that is helping support the national protests. We think if Musk is going to wreak havoc on our communities, then he cant expect business as usual in showrooms. People participate in a “Tesla Takedown” protest against Elon Musk outside a Tesla showroom in Seattle, on February 15, 2025. [Photo: Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images] DOGE, led by Musk, has helped push thousands of federal workers out of critical jobs, from the FDA and the CDC to the FAA. (The layoffs also included workers responsible for the country’s arsenal of nuclear weapons, though the government then scrambled to attempt to rehire them.) Musk also deleted the humanitarian agency USAID, stopping lifesaving medicine en route and abandoning aid workers in chaos. DOGE paralyzed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which has saved consumers roughly $21 billion since it was founded in 2011; the agency also had a plan to save consumers another $15 billion a year in overdraft fees. DOGE workers reportedly accessed sensitive taxpayer data at the Treasury Department, and the team now wants to get even more from the IRS. The list goes on. All this work likely breaks multiple laws, and lawsuits are underway. But protestors say that citizens need to do more now. I think its been disheartening to see the sense of resignation and despair from the people who are supposed to be leading the resistancethe Democrats in Congress, says Bhatti. Were getting out there and saying, Heres whats happening, heres what this means, heres what you can do about it. Because we know that people can fight back. We know from other countries that when people take on fascist, corporate takeover of the government, they can turn the tide back. A Tesla drives past protesters gathering in front of City Hall in Long Beach, California, on Monday, February 17, for the nationwide “Not My President’s Day” protest. [Photo: Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images] On the website TeslaTakedown, citizens keep planning new demonstrations. For protesters, standing in front of Tesla stores is partly a way to bring more attention to the havoc that DOGE is wreaking in D.C. But if it meaningfully pushes Tesla sales down even further, it’s also a logical way to put more pressure on Musk. Musk has already damaged Tesla’s brandand the company’s EV sales were already dropping as other automakers keep rolling out new electric models, giving consumers have more options. In Norway, where Teslas have been incredibly popular in the past, sales dropped nearly 38% the past month. In Spain, they fell 75%. Even Tesla fans who run Tesla-focused websites have started selling off their own cars. Sales are slumping in California. And though Tesla stock shot up after the election, it’s down by a third since then. A Motley Fool analyst suggests that it could potentially drop by another 50%, or more.
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E-Commerce
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