Hong Kong protests: Leader Carrie Lam defiant on extradition plan
10 June 2019
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has said she will not scrap a controversial plan to allow extradition to mainland China, despite mass protests.
On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people rallied against the bill which critics fear allows China to target political opponents in the region.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, she insisted the law was necessary and said human rights safeguards were in place.
Chinese state media said “foreign forces” were behind the protests.
Organisers estimate that one million people took part in Sunday’s march, although police put the figure at 240,000 at its peak.
If the organisers’ estimate is confirmed as correct, it would be the largest demonstration in Hong Kong since the territory was handed over to China by the British in 1997.
Hands that see, eyes that feel?
Brain study reveals the mathematics of identifying objects
From a child snapping Legos together to a pickpocket plucking a wallet from your bag, our brains have a remarkable ability to spot new objects and figure out how to manipulate them. Scientists have long believed that the brain accomplishes this by methodically interpreting visual and textural cues, such as an object’s edges or boundaries. But a new study suggests that the human brain requires only a tiny bit of information, as well as its previous experience, to calculate a complete mental representation of a new object. These results help to explain the mental mathematics that enable us to easily know what a novel object looks like simply by touching it, or the way an object feels from sight alone.