Cheddar speaks with two Congresswomen about what, if anything, will move the needle on gun reform after the Parkland school shooting. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) says she's inspired to see so many young people speaking out about gun violence, but she's skeptical any meaningful legislation can pass under the current administration. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) is also skeptical about the prospects of gun reform under the Trump administration, but she's doing what she can to make it happen. Immediately after the Parkland shooting, Maloney introduced a bill in Congress that would make it harder for people with mental health issues to buy guns. Maloney says the gun laws we have in place now are "so lax and so stupid."
In tech news, Apple is reportedly working on new AirPods. The new features will include an updated chip, the ability to call for Siri without touching the earphones, and improved Bluetooth connectivity. The new model is expected out later this year. And Apple is working on another AirPod update for the following year. Those AirPods will allegedly be water resistant.
Twitter alienated conservatives by accidentally freezing their accounts. On Tuesday night, the social media company quietly locked thousands of accounts in an attempt to purge suspected bots from operating on the platform. In the process, Twitter locked accounts of right-wing commentators like Richard Spencer. Angry conservatives began calling the incident "Twitter Lockout." The company defended its actions, saying "we enforce our rules without political bias."
Plus, we're joined by Olympic luger Chris Mazdzer who recently became the first American to medal in the men's singles luge event. He tells Cheddar about what was going through his head as he won the medal at the Winter Olympics. He says he is grateful to all the athletes who came before him in luging and helped paved the way for his success. After his Olympic career is over, Mazdzer says he wants to pursue a career in financial planning. This inspiration stems from seeing how much money his friends and family spent on making their Olympic dreams come true.
Umbilical cord blood banking platform Anja Health raised $4.5 million dollars in a seed round led by Seven Seven Six, a venture capital firm founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Anja Health offers a personalized, doctor-backed cord blood bank, which lets new parents freeze stem cells from their child's umbilical cord so they can be used to treat diseases in the future. It's a process Anja has called 'Hollywood's best-kept secret,' as celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Serena Williams, and more have all banked their umbilical cord blood. Kathryn Cross, the founder of Anja Health, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Catching you up on what you missed in today's news. Elon Musk has increased his commitment to purchase Twitter to $33.5 billion, Apple is raising its hourly wages for retail stores to compete for talent, and Roblox has announced that it will be partnering with the medically prescribed video game ‘Endeavor’ to help treat patients with ADHD.
After learning that the suspect in the Uvalde school shooting posted about his intentions on Facebook, activists are urging social networks to make changes. Lena Derhally, a licensed psychotherapist and author of "The Facebook Narcissist," joined Cheddar News to discuss the role social media plays in school shootings. "They're not really invested in taking down hateful content," she said about social platforms."In regards to the shooting, it was 15 minutes before that actual threat. It would be pretty hard for a social media company to trace that threat that quickly. But what they can do better is take down threats and hateful content much faster and more than they're doing now."
Esper Bionics CEO Dima Gazda breaks down how they're creating a mind-controlled bionic hand that guest smarter the more you use it, and what this innovation means for the future of the prosthetics industry.
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: Brightseed Co-Founder breaks down what plant bioactives are, and how they're using the latest technology to study human's biological connections with plants; Esper Bionics CEO breaks down how they re creating a mind-controlled bionic hand that guest smarter the more you use it; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Capturing A Black Hole In Our Milky Way.'
