--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Tuesday, August 10th. I'm Duarte Giraldino. And I'm Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Shemitah Basu: Parents and students are preparing to go back to school, just as the Delta variant is driving a surge in COVID-19 cases. The vaccine rollout among eligible kids has been slow. Of people 12 to 17 years old, only 43 percent have gotten their first doses. And now many public health experts are asking, what's it going to take to get more children vaccinated?
--:-- Riley Griffin: I spoke with experts who were frustrated by the way that some people have dismissed the danger of COVID-19 for children. If you know that, for example, 45,000 children have been hospitalized since last August, or that those who develop asymptomatic infections can later suffer from a deadly inflammatory condition, and 350 children have died. This is a rate that's higher than mortality figures with other diseases we already vaccinate against.
--:-- Susie Ring: Beyond their individual health, scientists say getting people under 18 vaccinated is crucial to slowing the spread of COVID-19. One way to speed things up would be to mandate students get COVID vaccinations. Every state already does this for chickenpox, polio and other diseases. And it works. The last known case of polio in the U.S. was in 1979.
--:-- Riley Griffin: As I point out, vaccine mandates have a long history and they've held up in court. In 1855, Massachusetts became the very first state to pass a law ordering schoolchildren to get the smallpox vaccine. And similar measures were put into place around the U.S. over following years, in and out of classrooms.
--:-- Susie Ring: This all culminated in a landmark Supreme Court case in 1905 that ruled that states have the authority to require vaccinations as a necessary measure to protect public health and that individual freedoms weren't quote unquote absolute. But so far states and school boards have been reluctant to put mandates in place.
--:-- Shemitah Basu: Polling shows that support for mandatory vaccinations is growing in America but it still a divisive issue That puts schools in the position of trying to persuade parents, hoping they'll support the shots that protect their kids and the whole community.
--:-- Kim Masters: The latest UN climate report paints a bleak and, let's be frank, scary picture of our planet's future if we don't drastically change our behavior. But experts argue we shouldn't give in to this climate despair, at least not yet.
--:-- The Washington Post: The Washington Post says this report gives us some reasons to be hopeful. It says it's not too late for us to do something. The researchers found increases in temperature and growing environmental extremes are directly related to the amount of greenhouse gases that humans release into the atmosphere. And that means that we at least have the opportunity to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
--:-- Vox: The science is clear. At this point, it's impossible for us to avoid every single one of these effects. Many people, they're already experiencing them. But any reduction in emissions could make the world a more habitable place than it would be if we do nothing.
--:-- Shemitah Basu: So if you're thinking, what can I, as an individual person, do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Well, there are things tied to personal choices. Things like eating less meat or deciding to become a bike commuter. And Vox says that's all great and fine, but to make a serious dent in our emissions, it's not just about individual sacrifice.
--:-- Vox: The key is to think communally and for the long term. That's because, as Vox frames it, we're going to be much more effective if we collectively apply pressure to the biggest actors, corporations and governments. This article, it also cites one study that found 100 companies are responsible for 70 percent of carbon emissions since 1988. And Vox points out, only governments have the authority to make the major improvements to infrastructure that could significantly reduce emissions.
--:-- Kim Masters: To quote this reporter putting pressure on elected officials is one of the most important collective actions people can take One expert tells Vox working with others toward a common goal can also help alleviate some feelings of despair She says realizing it's not just your fight to carry can relieve some of that anxiety about the future and can even feel fulfilling.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Disney and Scarlett Johansson are locked in a legal battle that could affect the future of how big name actors get paid for movies. What typically happens is an A-list actor earns bonuses based on how well the movie does at the box office. But with the pandemic accelerating the shift away from theaters and toward online streaming services, that model could be going kaput.
--:-- Kim Masters: Which has actors like Scarlett Johansson saying, so where's my money? This lawsuit between a huge movie star and a huge movie studio, it hints at bigger changes in the film industry. In success with a giant movie, you could be talking about a nine-figure payday. You know, Robert Downey Jr. famously made $100 million-something for one of the Marvel movies. So what you were doing in those days was betting on yourself, basically.
--:-- Kim Masters: You were saying, I'm going to defer and count on this thing being a huge hit, and then I get a huge payday. That's what Johansson was counting on when her movie Black Widow came out last month. But Disney decided to make the movie available on its streaming service at the same time it hit theaters. And Johansson is arguing that's a breach of her contract.
--:-- Kim Masters: Masters told us in a growing number of future deals, compensation may not be tied to performance numbers. She says studios with streaming services are starting to move to a different model. Here's your upfront fee. We're going to assume that the movie does well or even very well, but that's what you get. Even if this is the biggest thing ever, that's your payment. That is something that a lot of people are pushing back against.
--:-- Kim Masters: You know, they are not going to get those windfall paydays in that scenario. Some people in the industry, they're concerned. Jason Blum who is producer of a lot of big movies the Purge series Get Out Black Klansman he just took a huge flat payment to make three Exorcist movies which he admits is hypocritical because he believes that the quality of movies the commitment, the passion that people bring to movies is better when they feel like they have some skin in the game.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But to be clear, Johansson isn't fighting for a change in pay structure that's going to affect the film crew or minor actors. This ultimately comes down to who should get the biggest slices of the pie. Big studios versus big name actors.
--:-- Kim Masters: Humans are getting one step closer to Mars, at least theoretically. NASA is looking for four willing participants to test a simulation of life on Mars for one year. They're hoping to just get a better sense of what living on the red planet might look like in the future.
--:-- Kim Masters: Four lucky people are going to be paid to live in a 3D printed 1,700 square foot module. It's going to be called Mars Dune Alpha. It's in Houston, but the people who get selected are going to be pretending they're on Mars. Each person is going to have a private room. They'll share a kitchen, two bathrooms, and a little space to grow crops.
--:-- Kim Masters: Yeah, the idea is that NASA wants to understand what challenges their future Mars explorers might face, not just physically, but mentally, too. These simulation crew members are going to be expected to perform experiments, troubleshoot equipment problems, and they're going to have little communication with the outside world.
--:-- Kim Masters: Now, if living in a Mars simulation sounds like fun to you, the agency spells out what it's looking for. To get into this program, you need to be between 30 and 55 years old. And you'll need experience in a STEM field or training as a pilot. Oh, and no dietary restrictions allowed. You have to eat the space food.
--:-- Shemitah Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And while you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
