Research Preview: Science Magazine – April 21, 2023

Science | AAAS

Science Magazine – April 21, 2023 issue:

“It’s just mind boggling.” More than 19,000 undersea volcanoes discovered

Sonar mapping image of underwater seamounts including 4776-meter-tall Pao Pao Seamount
The 4776-meter-tall Pao Pao Seamount (right) in the South Pacific Ocean has been mapped by sonar. Many others haven’t.

New seamount maps could aid in studies of ecology, plate tectonics, and ocean mixing

Sleeping deep

Although northern elephant seals do sleep on land, like the one pictured here in California, they can also sleep while diving to 300 meters underwater.PHOTO: RACHEL HOLSER, NMFS 23188

Sleep is essential, but not all mammals live in environments where long periods of time asleep are possible. Marine mammals encounter especially challenging conditions for sleep when they are at sea. 

Architecture: A Walking Tour Of New Orleans

Architectural Digest (April 20, 2033): Today on AD, architect Robby Cangelosi leads us on an insightful walking tour of New Orleans, exploring the fascinating history of its neighborhoods and buildings from its origins to the present day.

Travel: France’s Most Beautiful Hiking Paths

FRANCE 24 (April 20, 2023) – Of the 370 long-distance hiking paths that criss-cross the French countryside, some in particular stand out. In Finistère, on the Atlantic, the Chemin du Pouldu merges with the Brittany coast. Its contrasts of green and blue have inspired many artists, such as French painter Paul Gauguin.

Down in the Cévennes, Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson gave his name to the Chemin Stevenson, where you can still come across donkeys. As for the route to Santiago de Compostela, one of the oldest long-distance hiking paths in France, it contains delights for the eyes and the soul.

The New York Review Of Books – May 11, 2023

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The New York Review of Books – May 11, 2023 issue: The Art Issue features Fintan O’Toole on the return of the Trump circus, Susan Tallman on why Piranesi still speaks to us, Joshua Leifer on democracy deferred in Israel, Ingrid D. Rowland on recycling antiquity, and Julian Bell on Adam Elsheimer’s oceanic immensity.

Seeing Baya Anew

The Yellow Curtains; painting by Baya
Bachir Mahieddine/Institut du Monde Arabe, ParisBaya: The Yellow Curtains, 1947

An exhibition of the Algerian painter’s work liberates it from the political symbolism of late colonialism.

In November 1947 a fifteen-year-old prodigy from colonial Algeria named Baya, described variously as Kabyle, Berber, Muslim, and Arab, exhibited her gouaches and clay sculptures at the Parisian gallery of the art dealer Aimé Maeght. Yves Chataigneau, the French governor of Algeria, and Si Kaddour Benghabrit, the rector of the Paris Mosque, were the sponsors of the exhibition, and the opening attracted some of the most influential cultural figures of postwar Paris: the writers Albert Camus, François Mauriac, and André Breton; the painters Henri Matisse and Georges Braque; the designer Christian “Bebè” Bérard.

The Perpetual Provocateur

Architectural Fantasy with a Colossal Façade; drawing by Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Architectural Fantasy with a Colossal Façade, circa 1743–1745; Morgan Library and Museum, New York

For generations, Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s prints of Roman views defined the popular image of the Eternal City. A profusion of new exhibitions and publications shows why he still speaks to us.

Also in the issue: Jacqueline Rose on C. P. Taylor’s final play, Colin B. Bailey on the Impressionists’ decorations, Wendy Doniger on Bengali tales from the mangrove forests, Christopher Benfey on the Black American potters of the nineteenth century, Jed Perl on high-tech high art, poems by Sasha Debevec-McKenney, Mosab Abu Toha, and Cyrus Console, and much more.

Previews: The Economist Magazine – April 22, 2023

This week's cover | The Economist

The Economist – April 22, 2023 issue: This week’s worldwide cover considers the rapid progress being made by artificial intelligence (ai). The technology is arousing a mixture of fear and excitement. The key to regulating it is to balance its promise with an assessment of its risks—and to be ready to adapt.

Large, creative AI models will transform lives and labour markets

They bring enormous promise and peril. But how do they work?

Is the worst now over for America’s banks?

In order to assess the damage, we look at three financial institutions

In Sudan and beyond, the trend towards global peace has been reversed

Conflicts are growing longer. Blame complexity, criminality and climate change

The Arts: Insights Of The ‘Louvre Looks’ Film Series

The twelfth film was conceived by artist Bianca Bondi. In her video, she undertook to convey the sense of timelessness and existence beyond time that is the very fabric of the Louvre.

Musée du Louvre (April 20, 2023) – As part of its contemporary programs, the Louvre has invited twenty young creative figures to present their take on the museum in the form of a 3:30 min film.

The “Louvre Looks” initiative brings together creatives under forty – whether they come from the visual arts, poetry, film, experimental music, or fashion. They created new films in the palace itself and thus reconnect with the past of the Louvre – which hosted artist studios even before it became a museum.

These films go live every Thursday on YouTube. Over the course of twenty weeks, you will be given the opportunity to discover many fresh insights into the Louvre.

The tenth film was conceived by painter, performer, and musician Eliza Douglas. She assembled images released by visitors on their Instagram feed to give a polyphonic image of the museum’s lives through its audiences – your Louvre.

Travel: A Walking Tour Of Verona In Northern Italy

Tourister (April 20, 2023) – The historic city of Verona was founded in the 1st century B.C. It particularly flourished under the rule of the Scaliger family in the 13th and 14th centuries and as part of the Republic of Venice from the 15th to 18th centuries. Verona has preserved a remarkable number of monuments from antiquity, the medieval and Renaissance periods, and represents an outstanding example of a military stronghold.

News: Sudan Cease-Fires Failing, Brazil’s Lula ‘Pro-Russia’ Stance Angers West

The Globalist, April 20, 2023: The latest in Sudan, where thousands are fleeing intense fighting in Khartoum, Europe frets about the Brazilian president’s stance on Russia, and why trust in religion is floundering in Japan.

Plus: Ukraine’s finance minister on the country’s path to recovery, and the latest film news.

Front Page: The New York Times — April 20, 2023

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India Is Passing China in Population. Can Its Economy Ever Do the Same?

An auto rickshaw factory in Aurangabad, India, on Tuesday.
CREDITATUL LOKE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

India has a young, vast work force that is expanding as China’s ages and shrinks. But the country’s immense size also lays bare its enormous challenges.

Supreme Court Delays Decision on Abortion Pill, Preserving Access for Now

A federal judge in Texas recently declared that the F.D.A.’s approval of an abortion pill, mifepristone, was invalid.
CREDITANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES

The drug will remain widely available as the justices extended their deadline to Friday on whether to uphold the F.D.A.’s approval of the pill.

3 Nuclear Superpowers, Rather Than 2, Usher In a New Strategic Era

China is on track to massively expand its nuclear arsenal, just as Russia suspends the last major arms control treaty. It augurs a new world in which Beijing, Moscow and Washington will likely be atomic peers.

Sudan’s Generals Dined With Peace Negotiators, Then Started a War

What led the two generals, recently allies, to turn their forces on each other — devastating a country of 45 million people?