Why thousands of Swedes have microchipped themselves

The country's early-adopter culture has embraced the chips' ability to speed up users' daily routines and make their lives more convenient by replacing their ID cards and badges, business cards and more.

Alice Goldfarb/NPR When schools stop hitting kids, they stop hitting one another, a study finds Corporal punishments for kids, such as spankings, are still prevalent in many countries, but new research involving 400,000 kids shows about 70 percent less fighting among boys and 40 percent less among girls in countries that drop it. But it also found that for males in particular, any reduction may be lost if corporal punishment is still permitted in the home. Podcast Recommendation NPR and Michigan Radio's New Podcast, Believed Believed tells the story of survivors who won justice against former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar, who sexually abused patients for more than 20 years. The podcast is not only an intimate look at how a team of women — a detective, a prosecutor, and an army of survivors — won justice, but also an unnerving exploration of how even well-meaning adults can fail to believe. The timely mini-series documents the survivors of one of the largest serial sexual abuse cases in U.S. history finding their power during an important cultural moment. Subscribe to Believed Black Sea MAP/EEF Expeditions A mile beneath the Black Sea, scientists found dozens of stunningly preserved shipwrecks — including the oldest ever The pitch-black seabed is so deep that there's little available oxygen to fuel decomposition. The 2,400-year-old trading vessel that scientists are most awed by had previously only been known by depictions on ancient pottery. Radiocarbon-dated to roughly 400 B.C., the trading vessel plied the waves in the days of Plato and Sophocles. James Brooks/AP 'The chip basically solves my problems': Implanted technology is making wallets obsolete in Sweden The Scandinavians have been moving much more quickly toward a cashless society than the United States has, and they generally trust their homegrown companies to protect their data. So for thousands of them, putting all of their ID and access cards on an injected microchip and linking it to their financial and social media accounts doesn't seem so crazy. But some concerns, especially around possible future collection of health data, are being raised. Ruth Tam/WAMU D.C. police say they're trying to save people from illegal guns, but their tactics leave some feeling even more threatened In D.C.'s most violent neighborhoods, officers frequently stop pedestrians and pull cars over, searching for illegal guns, confiscating five times as many per capita as the NYPD. But an investigation by WAMU and the Investigative Reporting Workshop found 40 percent of arrests in these cases get dismissed. Meanwhile, the searches are perceived as harassment by those most targeted and are damaging police-citizen relations. You received this message because you're subscribed to our Best of NPR emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002