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How to undo the damage of sitting all day | The Gray Area

wiredgorilla — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 12:00:16 +0000

We’ve all heard that “sitting is the new smoking,” but the research behind that phrase goes much deeper. How bad is sitting for you really?

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In this episode guest host Bryan Walsh is joined by Manoush Zomorodi — host of NPR’s TED Radio Hour and author of Body Electric — to explore how our sedentary, screen-filled lives are reshaping our physical health from the neck down. Manoush shares findings from her own clinical trial, where she partnered with scientists to determine the minimum amount of movement the human body actually needs to function.

Whether you’re a desk jockey or a parent concerned about screen time, this conversation offers a practical, science-backed approach to reclaiming your physical health in a digital world.

00:00 Intro
01:57 The hidden cost of sitting
09:13 Kinking your body and brain
17:23 The active couch potato trap
21:18 What screens are doing to your eyes
27:53 Shifting our relationship with technology
32:41 One minute of movement in practice

Guest Host: Bryan Walsh, Senior writer, Coefficient Giving
Guest: Manoush Zomorodi, Host, TED Radio Hour and author of Body Electric.

We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at thegrayarea@vox.com or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show.

And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. New episodes drop every Monday and Friday.

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‘Layer upon layer of miracles’: How Nepal flood survivors were rescued from tunnel

wiredgorilla — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 08:23:05 +0000

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Tessa Wong

Asia Digital Reporter

2 hours ago

A tunnelling expert involved in the rescue operation at a blocked Nepalese hydropower tunnel has described to the BBC how they managed to reach survivors.

Arnold Dix has been advising Nepal’s hydropower authorities on how to dig through the blocked tunnel to Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station, which was one of several stations hit by last week’s massive flash flood on the Nepal-Tibet border.

“It’s like layer upon layer of miracles” that they found two men on Friday, he said, given the multiple challenges that they faced.

The first hurdle was to locate the entrance to the tunnel, in a landscape rendered nearly unrecognisable by the flood that has so far killed 1,300 people.

“I’ve never known a rescue operation where you had to look for an entrance of a tunnel that was previously up the hill, that was now underground. You can imagine the enormity of the avalanche, it completely buried the entrance,” said Dix, who is the president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association.

Using engineering techniques, old topographic maps, satellite imagery of the area after the disaster, video footage from helicopters and “anything else we could find on the surface of the mountain such as power poles”, Dix and his team triangulated the likely position of the entrance and started digging.

They found it – but the next challenge was to locate the survivors.

“We knew they would be up ahead, but we didn’t know where exactly. So you just have to start digging in the right direction. And you listen out if you can hear anybody,” he said.

Rescuers had to get through a tunnel blocked entirely by mud and rocks – some bigger than cars – and had to use explosives to clear the way, something they would “normally never do because of the risk of blowing up people [trapped in the tunnel] and blowing ourselves up,” Dix said.

He credited the Nepalese army for doing “a wonderful job” in managing the explosions with precision to ensure they would not destabilise the tunnel.

At the same time, they discovered it was still full of water.

Using excavators and pumping machines, Nepalese rescuers dug a series of trenches from the tunnel all the way to the river outside, so they could drain the water.

Nepalese Prime Minister’s Office

Finally, they had to dig a passageway, “a tiny tunnel the size of a person”, through the debris at the top of the tunnel.

The advantage of this location “is that you can use the original tunnel’s roof as your little tunnel’s roof. Also, it mitigates risk of flooding,” Dix explained.

In the early hours of Friday morning, rescuers heard what they thought could be voices.

According to local reports, they called out “don’t worry, we’re here to rescue you” – and heard back a faint “okay”.

Shortly after that, they pulled out Sanjaya Shah and Kabir Maharjan, alive.

But with dozens of people still thought to be trapped inside the tunnel, the work is far from over.

Rescuers heading to ‘Goldilocks zone’

Dix estimated that they had dug about 60m from the entrance by now, and they would need to dig another 150m more to reach the hydropower station located deep inside the mountain.

Rescuers are hoping that the debris from the flood did not reach the station, because if it did, “there would be all kinds of complications – anybody in the station could have been hit by rocks and mud or it could be flooded”.

The team on the ground are still facing significant dangers.

“Up ahead, even now, we might run into water which would drown the people tunnelling,” Dix said. “And we also have the risk of another flood outside happening, so water could come from behind. So there’s the risk of facing water on both ends.”

But, buoyed by Friday’s successful rescue, the team is now hopeful it will reach more survivors in time.

“It’s a big relief, that we are on the right track. And it gives us renewed energy that our thinking [on how to conduct the rescue] works… we have never done something like this before.”

Dix said they are now heading towards what he called the “Goldilocks zone” which would be “more friendly to life”.

This zone is at the uppermost level of the hydropower station where there is some space where survivors may be located.

“We got two people out. If we were playing at a casino, some might say it’s time to walk away, but we say game on, time to take on the house.”

Nepalese Prime Minister’s Office

Australia is eyeing a world-first ‘fair and reasonable’ test for data collection and privacy

wiredgorilla — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 04:06:37 +0000

On Monday, the Australian government released draft legislation for the next big overhaul of the Privacy Act.

The Privacy Amendment (Personal Data Protection) Bill 2026 is now out for public comment, together with a consultation paper. It is the second instalment (or “tranche”) of privacy reform , and it is the one that matters most.

The bill contains dozens of new measures, such as stronger consent requirements and a “right to be forgotten”, but at its heart is a world-first test that could bypass many loopholes companies use to justify what they do with personal data.

How we got here

The Privacy Act was introduced in 1988, before the web, smartphones, and social media. The Attorney-General’s Department spent three years reviewing it and reported in 2023 with more than 100 proposals for change. The government agreed with most of them, at least in principle.

The first tranche of reforms became law in late 2024. These created a new right to sue for serious invasions of privacy. This “statutory tort” (a wrong you can take to court), tackled doxxing, and promised a children’s online privacy code.

Tranche one also included a requirement for privacy policies to disclose whether they use automated decision-making systems to make decisions that could reasonably be expected to significantly affect an individual’s rights or interests. This will come into effect in December.

This new bill is the main course of the reforms. It contains around 40 measures that, if enacted, will change how every business and government agency covered by the act handles our personal information.

What’s in it?

The bill modernises the basic building blocks. “Personal information” will cover any information that relates to a person who can be identified, even without a name. A nickname, a device identifier or a pattern of behaviour can be enough. Inferences that artificial intelligence (AI) draws about you will count as “collected” information, just like details you type into a form.

The list of “sensitive information” (the category that requires your consent to collect) will grow. It now includes precise location-tracking data. That means information from a device that pins you down to within 500 metres and follows you over time.

Consent to data collection gets an upgrade. It must be voluntary, informed, current, specific and unambiguous. Pre-ticked boxes and design tricks will not cut it.

There are other headline items. Companies will need your consent before they trade your personal information. Large digital platforms (those with A$500 million in revenue or 2.5 million Australian users a month) will have to delete your data on request, with some exceptions. This means a “right to be forgotten” for the first time in Australia. Also, data breaches will need to be reported to the regulator within 72 hours.

The big idea is “fair and reasonable”

The centrepiece of the draft legislation is deceptively simple. An organisation can only collect, use or disclose your personal information if doing so is “fair and reasonable” in the circumstances.

This test is unique to Australia. Europe’s privacy law asks whether an organisation has a legal basis for processing data. The United States mostly relies on notice and consent, which in practice means clicking “I agree” to terms nobody reads.

The Australian test asks a different question: even if you ticked the box, was the data practice itself fair?

That is the crucial point. Businesses cannot consent their way around it. A privacy policy buried in legal jargon will not save a practice that an ordinary person would never expect.

The bill lists the factors that matter. They include what a reasonable person would expect, whether the organisation is transparent about what it is doing, and whether it could achieve its purpose with less data.

An organisation must also consider whether the person has a genuine choice, and weigh the risk of harm against the benefits. Where children’s information is involved, the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration.

In effect, this shifts the burden of privacy protection from individuals onto organisations, moving Australia towards a digital duty of care in which those who profit from our data must actively look after the people it relates to.

What about smart glasses?

The government is openly worried about wearable technology. Smart glasses and earbuds with cameras and microphones can record people discreetly in public. The consultation paper asks whether the reforms go far enough to deal with this kind of technology.

The bill helps in several ways. Video, audio and AI-generated inferences captured by smart glasses will clearly be personal information. Collecting biometric templates (such as mathematical maps of faces used for recognition) will also need consent. Companies deploying these devices will have to show their data handling is fair and reasonable.

There is a gap, though. The Privacy Act generally does not allow an individual to take legal action. This is despite the 2023 review recommending that the act should provide a private right of action, and the government accepting this recommendation in principle.

If a stranger films you with their glasses at a cafe, your main remedy is the statutory tort from the first tranche of reforms, and few people know it exists. It is also expensive to litigate. The consultation paper asks what else might be needed.

What happens next

The exposure draft is open for comment until September 18, and the final bill will follow once the feedback is in.

Expect a fight. Business groups will worry about uncertainty in the fair and reasonable test, and privacy advocates will push for it to have teeth.

The direction, however, is clear. Australia is betting that fairness, not fine print, should decide what happens to our personal information.

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