USA DAWN: NEWS AND UPDATES

Monday's doodle pays tribute to one of the pioneers in the disability rights movement.                                                                                     Google celebrated what would have been the 78th birthday of disability rights activities Ed Roberts on Monday with a new doodle. The artwork depicts the late activist giving a lecture. Roberts contracted polio at the age of 14 and was a paralyzed from the neck down. For the next 43 years, he used a wheelchair and had to sleep in an 800-pound iron lung at night. The activist, however, didn't let his disability stop him from pursuing dreams such as earning a college degree. Roberts became the first student with severe disabilities to attend the University of California at Berkeley, where...

He would have turned 160 today Today’s Google Doodle celebrates Austrian doctor, and father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, who developed a clinical method for treating mental issues. Born on May 6, 1856, Freud revolutionized the way we understand the mind, although his approach has generally been abandoned by psychiatrists. Freud famously held sexuality to be at the root of most pathologies of the human brain, placing much emphasis on the Oedipus complex. He also developed the idea of the subconscious mind, which Google picks up on for his birthday doodle. “A dimpled leather couch might be the typical visual associated with Freud and other therapists, but Doodler Kevin Laughlin instead created this iceberg,” Google explains. “With a vast hidden base, the iceberg references the murky depths of the unconscious mind. More importantly, the design draws our eye to the horizon, reminding us how the genius of Freud’s practice rests in the space between doctor and patient, ...

Urban planning legend and former Toronto resident Jane Jacobs would have turned 100 today. Her 1961 book,  The Death and Life of Great American Cities , remains one of the most influential works on urban planning. Jacobs, who died in 2006, made her name in the U.S. but lived in Toronto in the late 1960s. Through her writing and activism, she changed the way many of us think about the places we live. Google is celebrating Jacobs with a Google Doodle that appears on its home page today. Today CBC's  Metro Morning  spoke with Paul Bedford, a former chief planner for Toronto and a friend of Jacobs. He fondly recalled how the fiercely independent Jacobs was no fan of people in official positions, whether it be planners or academics. "She told me you're going to be the chief planner, not the chief bureaucrat, and there's a big difference." Bedford told host Matt Galloway. "She gave me the courage to frankly confro...

Earth Day has been observed on April 22 every year since 1969 Earth Day, observed annually on April 22 since it began in the late 1960s, is “the one day that transcends culture, language, and tradition,” Google says, explaining the significance of its series of Google Doodles celebrating our planet. In Friday’s Doodle, the ubiquitous Google logo morphs to depict, in turn, a polar bear in the tundra, a red fox in the forest, an elephant in the grasslands, a tortoise in the desert and an octopus in the ocean — with a different one appearing each time one visits the site’s homepage. “The vastness of Earth’s diversity makes it an intimidating topic, but in the end I chose to highlight Earth’s five major biomes,” doodler Sophie Diao said in a blog post. “On a day like this, we remember and celebrate our home in this great and stunning ecosystem.”