The Artist Who Collaborates with Ants
On her first trek through the rain forest, in 2000, the artist Catherine Chalmers noticed movement on the ground near her feet. It was a parade of thousands of leaf-cutter ants. “There’s these perfectly cleaned pathways that the ants make and maintain, and they carry bright-green leaves,” Chalmers told me recently. “And so you saw this ribbon, almost like a drawing. Green, flickering, because light shimmers on them. I didn’t know they existed. And it was really, really beautiful.” Chalmers wanted to work with the ants, but didn’t know how. “I’m interested in that place where nature meets culture,” she said. The more complicated the interface, the better: around this time, she was exploring humans’ relationship with cockroaches. But, by comparison, the ants seemed almost too natural to work with artistically. “They’re of the forest,” she said. “We think of them as the other.” What would it mean to make art about our relationship with such creatures? Continued here |
Chris Hipkins becomes NZ's new prime minister - there are two ways it can go from here
Following the surprise resignation of Jacinda Ardern on January 19, the New Zealand Labour Party already has a new leader: Chris Hipkins. The handover from Ardern to Hipkins has been achieved with the same efficiency as the handover from Andrew Little to Ardern in 2017. But will it be as successful? Hipkins entered parliament in 2008 – along with Ardern. Under Ardern’s leadership, he held ministerial portfolios in education, police and public services, and was Leader of the House. Continued here |
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If you have small ears, these headphones will stay put while you run
When you’re running, you’re constantly in motion — and you need your headphones to stay in place while you move. The best running headphones for small ears have a secure fit and come in wireless and wired styles, so you can pick the design that works best for you. Importantly, they’re also sweatproof or water-resistant for durability. Getting headphones with the right fit for your ear depends on your personal preference, and you have a few options to choose from. Wireless earbuds are placed directly into your ears, and all of the ones on this list feature a variety of ear tip sizes for snug positioning while you run. However, they may get dislodged or slip out of your ear due to sweat, so earbuds with an over-the-ear hook or neckband can help them stay in place. And if you don’t want to place headphones in your ears, you can go with a pair of bone conduction headphones that have an open ear design and send sound waves through your cheekbones. These leave your ears open to ambient sound, which can be good if you’re running outdoors and want to hear your surroundings, but not if you want to focus on your music or podcast. Or you could try a pair of cushioned over-ear headphones. These can be noise-canceling and comfortable, just make sure they have a snug fit and don’t slip or fall as you run. All of these options connect to a device via Bluetooth and need to be charged to work, but another choice can be a pair of in-ear wired headphones. This means dealing with wires that can get in your way while you run, but also means you don’t have to charge or pair them before you go out. Continued here |
A Local Paper Sounded the Alarm on George Santos. Nobody Listened
Most Americans learned about Representative George Santos’s pattern of extraordinary fabrications in a New York Times report after he won election to Congress, but a local newspaper called the North Shore Leader had sounded the alarm months earlier. The New Yorker staff writer Clare Malone took a trip to Long Island to find out how the story began. “We heard story after story after story about him doing bizarre things,” the Leader’s publisher, Grant Lally, says. “Santos would tell one lie to one person, another lie to another person, and we would hear from both of those people, [and] compare notes.” Plus, the staff writer Michael Schulman discusses why the Academy Awards remain relevant; and we visit the ninety-four-year-old Broadway composer Charles Strouse, who is preparing his archive for the Library of Congress. Strouse’s music for “Annie” made it the gateway drug into musical theatre for generations of kids. Clare Malone speaks with the publisher and the managing editor of the North Shore Leader, the local newspaper that first exposed George Santos’s lies. Why was he elected anyway? Continued here |
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45 genius solutions to your stupid problems around the house
I'm a science fiction fan, and we’re living in the 21st century. I was always led to expect that by now there would be robots or androids available to handle all the stupid problems around the house, so we humans could focus on picking out space suits, mastering techno-babble, and learning to pilot our flying cars. But here we are, still struggling with issues like mosquitoes in the bedroom, drafts underneath the door, rotting produce, and sock drawers in chaos. It's all good, though. I don't think I want to live in a universe where there is no shopping — and shopping is what makes it possible to solve all of those conflicts. So, after boldly going where no AI can, I found 45 solutions to different household issues — and they're all on Amazon. Continued here |
How the 'tripledemic' is restricting cold and flu medicine supplies - and what to do if you're affected
This winter has been one of the worst on record for the NHS. Ambulance and A&E waiting times are at all-time highs, and many are struggling to access emergency treatment. Patients are now reporting difficulties accessing certain over-the-counter medicines used to treat colds and flu from pharmacies and high-street outlets. While medicine shortages have been a common phenomenon in previous years, they have often been the result of supply chain issues due to global events, such as the pandemic or the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But these aren’t the same reasons people are reporting when experiencing shortages of non-prescription, over-the-counter products. Continued here |
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Power cuts in South Africa: trend to get off the grid is gathering pace, but total independence is still a way off
University of Johannesburg provides support as an endorsing partner of The Conversation AFRICA. South Africans have been battered by power shortages for several years. These have worsened to the point that towards the end of 2022 the country’s electricity utility, Eskom, had only half of its power generation capacity operational. Continued here |
Cornwall space launch: why the environmental cost of rocket launches is large even when they fail
A recent UK mission to launch satellites into space from Spaceport Cornwall in the west of England failed to deliver the satellites to orbit. But the rocket, LauncherOne, succeeded in releasing hazardous pollutants to the middle and upper layers of the atmosphere where many will remain for years. The mission kickstarted a new era of UK-based rocket launches and is part of the space sector’s global growth. The number of launches increased steeply from 102 in 2019 to a record 178 in 2022. This growth is expected to continue. For example, US stock exchange Nasdaq has forecast the sector will be worth US$1.4 trillion (£1.1 trillion) by 2030. Continued here |
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Football club collapses in lower leagues: how to avoid them for the good of the community
The future of Southend United Football Club hangs in the balance. A petition by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to have the club wound up over unpaid tax liabilities has just been adjourned by the high court until March. The court had previously granted one stay of execution from November to January, but agreed another after being persuaded by lawyers for the fifth-tier club that it may yet clear its debts. It comes shortly after Scunthorpe United, another club from the same division, received a similar winding-up petition earlier this month. Both clubs are around 120 years old and were in recent times playing football in the Championship, English football’s second tier: Southend in 2007 and Scunthorpe in 2013. Continued here |
Speaker Kevin McCarthy: how backroom deals have put controversial Republicans into key roles
When California Representative Kevin McCarthy finally earned the speaker’s gavel earlier this month after an unprecedented 15 rounds of votes on the House floor, it required a slew of backdoor deals. McCarthy was tight-lipped about all the concessions he had to make to win. But now with his doling out of all-important committee assignments, the details of that horse-trading are rapidly coming into view. The hotly contested assignments involve two of the most radioactive Republicans on Capitol Hill. New York Representative George Santos has been tapped for the House small business and science committees, and Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for the House homeland security committee. Both backed McCarthy’s speaker bid from the outset. But there’s plenty of speculation that their support hinged on receiving choice appointments. Continued here |
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Jacinda Ardern: the 'politics of kindness' is a lasting legacy
Jacinda Ardern became prime minister of New Zealand in 2017, the same year Donald Trump took power in the US. They could not have been more different: in age and sex, in politics, and in style. Where Trump’s brash, shoot-from-the-hip tweets sparked outrage, Ardern’s human and empathetic approach sought to strike a conciliatory tone. Nowhere was this more evident than with her response to the Christchurch terrorist attacks when she said, “they are us”, embracing the immigrant and refugee communities targeted. Ardern showed the power of a different kind of leadership, but what will her legacy be? When we talk about leadership in my gender politics classes at the University of Bath one name above all others comes up in discussions: Jacinda Ardern. Ask my students which inspirational political leaders they see in the world today, and Ardern always tops the polls. Ask if they can remember any of New Zealand’s former prime ministers before her and there’s silence. Continued here |
Nuclear-powered robots could hunt for aliens on icy Solar System moons
In the coming years, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will send two robotic missions to explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. These are none other than NASA’s Europa Clipper and the ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), which will launch in 2024, and 2023 (respectively). Once they arrive by the 2030s, they will study Europa’s surface with a series of flybys to determine if its interior ocean could support life. These will be the first astrobiology missions to an icy moon in the outer Solar System, collectively known as “Ocean Worlds.” One of the many challenges for these missions is how to mine through the thick icy crusts and obtain samples from the interior ocean for analysis. According to a proposal by Dr. Theresa Benyo (a physicist and the principal investigator of the lattice confinement fusion project at NASA’s Glenn Research Center), a possible solution is to use a special reactor that relies on fission and fusion reactions. This proposal was selected for Phase I development by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which includes a $12,500 grant. Continued here |
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House Speaker McCarthy's powers are still strong - but he'll be fighting against new rules that could prevent anything from getting done
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is already facing the limits of his power. A single member of the House – from the far-right Freedom Caucus to a progressive on the far left, or any member in between – can threaten his speakership. And at least one Democrat already is promising to do just that. The threat is to use a procedure – the motion to vacate the chair – which is a way of firing the speaker. Its power, though, is not necessarily that a member can successfully use it to oust McCarthy, but that it can be repeatedly used to stall his agenda. Continued here |
You need to play the most chill fantasy sim on Xbox Game Pass ASAP
Fate is convenient. We use it to explain why we fall in love or talk about our future. The idea that things are “meant to be” is attractive in a world that is, in reality, ruled by chaos. We love it in our video games, too. How many titles have you played where you were THE CHOSEN ONE? It makes for easy exposition to say you’re the hero in a world full of NPCs. But NPCs have lives too. What’s their story like? Medieval Dynasty from Toplitz Productions gives players a glimpse of what life is like for the poop-shovelers on the side of the road as the heroes race by. A clever and accessible survival sim, it puts you in the role of a very average man tasked with a very average mission: starting over. Continued here |
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Deep-sea mining could power a clean energy future -- but there's a cost
As companies race to expand renewable energy and the batteries to store it, finding sufficient amounts of rare earth metals to build the technology is no easy feat. That’s leading mining companies to take a closer look at a largely unexplored frontier — the deep ocean seabed. A wealth of these metals can be found in manganese nodules that look like cobblestones scattered across wide areas of deep ocean seabed. But the fragile ecosystems deep in the oceans are little understood, and the mining codes to sustainably mine these areas are in their infancy. Continued here |
7 Easy Tricks Emotionally Intelligent People Use to Stop Being Awkward and Get What They Want Believe me, some of us need all the help we can get. Continued here |
Nigeria's 2023 presidential election: 10 factors that could affect the outcome
As Nigerians inch closer to the February 2023 presidential election, the seventh since the current wave of liberal democracy formally started in 1999, there are at least 10 key issues that are likely to drive and determine the outcome. Political scientist, Jideofor Adibe, explores them all. Four of the 18 presidential candidates in the election, regarded as the front runners, come from the three dominant ethnic groups in the country: Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo. Continued here |
Plague study complicates a commonly held belief about the Black Death
The Black Death ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1353, killing millions. Plague outbreaks in Europe then continued until the 19th century. One of the most commonly recited facts about the plague in Europe was that it was spread by rats. In some parts of the world, the bacterium that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, maintains a long-term presence in wild rodents and their fleas. This is called an animal “reservoir.” Continued here |
Jacinda Ardern's resignation shows that women still face an uphill battle in politics - an expert on female leaders answers 5 key questions
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Jan. 19, 2023, that she will soon resign from office. “I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice,” Ardern said. Ardern was 37 when she was elected prime minister in 2017, and is the youngest female head of government to have served in any country. During her tenure, Ardern oversaw the country’s strict COVID-19 response and also dealt with other crises like the Christchurch mosque shooting in 2019. Continued here |
Google's CEO Just Announced 12,000 Layoffs, and This 1 Little Word Mattered Most. (It's a Lesson Worth Learning) "I have some difficult news to share." Continued here |
Warren Buffett Says the Ultimate Test of a Life Well Lived Boils Down to 1 Simple Principle How big is your bank account? In the end, it really doesn't matter. Continued here |
Tripledemic: How viruses may outcompete each other
Three years into the pandemic, Covid-19 is still going strong, causing wave after wave as case numbers soar, subside, then ascend again. But this past autumn saw something new — or rather, something old: the return of the flu. Plus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) — a virus that makes few headlines in normal years — ignited in its own surge, creating a “tripledemic.” The surges in these old foes were particularly striking because flu and RSV all but disappeared during the first two winters of the pandemic. Even more surprising, one particular version of the flu may have gone extinct during the early Covid pandemic. The World Health Organization’s surveillance program has not definitively detected the B/Yamagata flu strain since March 2020. “I don’t think anyone is going to stick their neck out and say it’s gone just yet,” says Richard Webby, Ph.D., a virologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. But, he adds, “we hope it got squeezed out.” Such an extinction would be a super rare event, Webby says. Continued here |
Why eating at work is important - even the odd slice of cake
When England’s Food Standards Agency boss Susan Jebb recently compared eating cake at work to passive smoking, office cubicle walls across the land quivered. She told The Times: If nobody brought in cakes into the office, I would not eat cakes in the day, but because people do bring cakes in, I eat them. Now, OK, I have made a choice, but people were making a choice to go into a smoky pub. Continued here |
Can spicy foods cure colds? A neuroscientist reveals the encouraging truth
For centuries, capsaicin — the natural compound responsible for the kick in spicy food — has been used as a health remedy. It’s been applied to wounds and used as anesthesia. It’s appealing to think that a few glugs of hot sauce are all it takes to cure a cold — at least to those who enjoy chugging hot sauce — but in reality, it’s more of a band-aid than a cure. Continued here |
HBO's 'Last of Us' gets one thing wrong about its zombie apocalypse
Can the cordyceps fungus really infect humans and cause a global pandemic? Experts weigh in on The Last of Us. A global disease outbreak is on everyone’s minds right now— and not just because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Continued here |
Tigers in South Africa: a farming industry exists - often for their body parts
A tiger escaped from a residence and roamed the countryside outside Johannesburg, South Africa, for four days this month. It attacked a man and killed several animals, and was eventually shot by the authorities. Tigers aren’t native to South Africa and are considered an alien species. Its escape highlights the country’s controversial commercial captive breeding industry and the key role South Africa plays in the international big cat trade. Tigers are being intensively farmed for tourism, hunting, and commercial trade in live individuals and in their body parts. Moina Spooner, assistant editor at The Conversation Africa, asked Neil D'Cruze and Angie Elwin to share their insights into the industry. Continued here |
Pompeii's House of the Vettii reopens: a reminder that Roman sexuality was far more complex than simply gay or straight
As Pompeii’s House of the Vettii finally reopens after a long process of restoration, news outlets appear to be struggling with how to report on the Roman sex cultures so well recorded in the ruins of the city. The Metro opened with the headline “Lavish Pompeii home that doubled as a brothel has some interesting wall art”, while the Guardian highlighted the fresco of Priapus, the god of fertility (depicted weighing his oversized penis on a scale with bags of coins) as well as the erotic frescoes found next to the kitchen. Continued here |
Democracies don't just bounce back after dictatorships - Argentina's Oscar contender shows what justice afterward looks like
When the director and the star of “Argentina, 1985” stepped on stage to accept a 2023 Golden Globe Award, the title of the film may not have meant much to many Americans in the audience. But for Argentines, 1985 is pivotal: the year leaders of its most recent dictatorship went on trial. Santiago Mitre’s film details the complex judicial process against members of the military junta, which helped secure Argentina’s democratic future after years of repression that killed tens of thousands of people. The story illustrates how justice is built by both top-down and bottom-up forces, as ordinary people’s work for human rights turns them into heroes. Continued here |
This Simple Change to How You Speak Makes What You Say 20 Percent More Memorable, Research Shows
Experiments prove that we "listen" with our eyes as well as our ears.Continued here
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