Research Preview: Nature Magazine – July 13, 2023

Volume 619 Issue 7969

nature Magazine -July 13, 2023 issue: Usually, sea urchins procure blades of seagrass or small pieces of rubble to help them blend in with the sea floor, but the fire urchin (Asthenosoma varium) on the cover has instead appropriated the remnants of a blue plastic bag and is entangled in a discarded fishing line stuck on a reef.

How ancient monkeys rode the waves to the Americas — and survived

Artist’s reconstruction of the primate Ashaninkacebus.

Analysis suggests that three types of primate made the transoceanic journey to South America from Africa millions of years ago.

Some of the first primates to reach South America might have been tiny, insect-loving monkeys that had been swept out to sea.

Great bolts of lightning foretell Earth-warming clouds

Trieste Lightning.

Coverage of wispy cirrus clouds is linked to episodes of electrical activity.

Lightning is typically seen when imposing cumulonimbus clouds fill the sky. But new research shows that these bolts of electricity can also be used to forecast thin and wispy clouds that warm the world by reflecting heat back to the surface.

Retirement Plans: How To Retire Better Financially

Wall Street Journal (July 12, 2023) – Many retirees say they regret not focusing on more than just saving money to live out their post-working years. WSJ personal-finance reporter Veronica Dagher joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss.

Video timeline: 0:00 Difficulty mapping a retirement plan 1:01 What retirees wish they did differently 2:38 Relationships and retirement 4:43 Message for future retirees

Travel & Design: Dwell Magazine – July/Aug 2023

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Dwell – July/August 2023 issue: The Travel Issue: Destination Homes From Bhutan to the Beach; Perfect Perches: High-Design Hiking Cabins in the Italian Alps…

How Airstream Became an American Icon

How Airstream Became an American Icon

Tracing the unconventional route of the all-aluminum trailer that’s an emblem of road trips and 20th-century style.

By Angela Serratore 

In the Shenandoah Valley, a Mountain Home Channels the Spirit of the Aegean

In the Shenandoah Valley, a Mountain Home Channels the Spirit of the Aegean

Architecture firm Schaum/Shieh designed a white home with walls that play with light and shadow for a retired professor and a playwright.

By Samuel Medina – a day ago

Swiss Views: Riding The Brienz Rothorn Railway

Sylvia Michel Photography (July 12, 2023) – The Brienz Rothorn Railway is a tourist rack railway in Switzerland, which climbs from Brienz, at the eastern end of Lake Brienz, to the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn.

Video timeline: 0:00 Starting our journey in @brienzamsee 0:20 @brienzrothornbahn8299 is taking us through the village 0:50 Steam train with different Locomotives 1:09 Geldried 1:25 Planalp Middle station 2:36 Arrival at Brienzer Rothorn 2:58 Meeting the Ibexes 4:01 Ibex Knowledge 5:00 Sunrise 5:27 Ibexes again 7:07 Going down again with @brienzrothornbahn

The railway is 7.6 kilometres long, is built to 800 mm gauge, and uses the Abt double lamella rack system. 

Previews: Country Life Magazine – July 12, 2023

Country Life Magazine – July 12, 2023 issue: A look at the birds everyone should see once in their life, why poets make the best naturalists, plus tartan, trout and Alan Titchmarsh.

The perfect 10

From peregrine falcon to puffin and starling to skylark, Stephen Moss selects 10 birds that we simply must see in our lifetimes

Rebels and romantics with a cause

Tartan is one of Scotland’s most recognisable exports—follow the thread from Highland dress to punk fashion with Mary Miers

To the end of Wales

Fiona Reynolds explores the crashing breakers and jagged coastline of the Llŷn Peninsula

For succour and relief

Roger Bowdler visits the Royal Hospital Chelsea, London SW3, a monument to the extraordinary talents of Sir Christopher Wren

First, catch your trout

There is no finer riverside feast than freshly caught brown trout. Tom Parker Bowles is hooked

We will not plunder music of his dower

Mark Cocker says John Clare’s lyrical works resonate today more than ever—230 years after the peasant poet’s birth

Travel: Walking Tour Of Island Of Páros, Greece

Tourister Films (July 12, 2023) – Páros, island, one of the  Cyclades  (Modern Greek: Kykládes) in the Aegean Sea, Greece, separated from  Náxos  (Náchos) on the east by a channel 4 miles (6 km) wide. It  constitutes  a dímos (municipality) in the South Aegean (Nótio Aigaío)  periféreia (region).

On a bay on the northwest lies the capital, Páros (or Paroikía), occupying the site of the ancient and medieval capital. The small harbour is excelled by that of Náousa on the north side. White, semitransparent Parian marble (Paria Marmara), used for sculpture and quarried from subterranean pits on the north side of Mount Marpessa, was the chief source of wealth for ancient Páros. Several of the marble tunnels have survived.

Páros shared the early Bronze Age culture of the Cyclades. Traditionally it was first colonized by Arcadians and then by Ionians. In the 7th century BCE Parian colonies were sent to Thasos and to Parium on the Sea of Marmara and in 385 to the island of Pharos (Hvar, Croatia) in the Adriatic.

News: Zelensky Critical Of NATO Uncertainty, Finland ‘Far-Right’ Racism Scandal

The Globalist Podcast, Wednesday, July 12, 2023: Monocle’s team in Vilnius tells us why Volodymyr Zelensky is critical of NATO.

Plus, the Finnish government’s racism scandal, the latest business news and how the Portuguese government is encouraging young people to pick up more books.

The New York Times – Wednesday, July 12, 2023

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NATO Says It Will Invite Ukraine Some Day, Resisting Calls to Act Soon

Leaders of the NATO member countries at the group’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Tuesday.

The alliance firmed up its plans to include Ukraine eventually, but gave no timetable, siding with President Biden and frustrating some East European members.

Dirty Socks and Rotting Bodies: What Russians Left Behind in the Trenches

Ukrainian soldiers this month making their way through Novodarivka, a village formerly occupied by Russian forces.

As Ukrainian troops inch forward in the counteroffensive, they are occupying positions abandoned by enemy troops. Says one: “It’s not very pleasant.”

Vermont Floods Show Limits of America’s Efforts to Adapt to Climate Change

The lack of a comprehensive national rainfall database and current flood maps hampers the ability to prepare for storms intensified by climate change.

Heat Down Below Is Making the Ground Shift Under Chicago

Basements and train tunnels constantly leak heat, causing the land to sink and straining building foundations. Scientists call it “underground climate change.”