Research Preview: Nature Magazine – August 22, 2024

Volume 632 Issue 8026

Nature Magazine – August 21, 2024: The latest issue featuresLonely Plants’ – Isolation in arid environments drives high levels of trait diversity…

The Amazon is relinquishing its carbon — for a surprising reason

Degradation of the Amazon’s tree canopy is the main culprit, although the complete clearance of portions of the forest contributes too.

Child with ultra-rare disease gets a treatment just for her

Therapy designed for one seems to have improved a young girl’s quality of life.

How to train your crocodile

Doctored toad carcasses teach crocs to avoid eating the toxin-producing cane toad.

Politics: The Guardian Weekly – August 23, 2024

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The Guardian Weekly (August 21, 2024) – The new issue features ‘Counter Punch’ – Can Ukraine’s big gamble in Kursk pay off?; Is Threads the new social media safe haven?; The festivals that went disastrously wrong…

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Spotlight | 40,000 deaths: another grim milestone for Gaza
As faltering ceasefire talks continued this week, Malak A Tantesh and Emma Graham-Harrison report on how the death toll given by Gaza’s health officials fails to tell the full story of Palestinian grief.

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Technology | Is Threads a new safe haven for those leaving X?
Elon Musk’s frequently inflammatory online remarks have left many seeking a less toxic alternative. James Ball explores whether Meta’s Instagram spin-off provides it.

3
Feature | Audrey Tang, the good hacker
The activist turned hacker is used to breaking boundaries as the world’s first minister for digital affairs. Now, she tells Simon Hattenstone, she wants the world to learn how to detoxify the internet.

4
Opinion | Caution needed over Kamala Harris’s flying start
The Democratic vice-president has enjoyed a spectacular launch to her presidential campaign. But, warns Jonathan Freedland, it is far too early to write off her rival Donald Trump.

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Culture | Snogs away! The crazy world of UK dating shows
There’s much to be gleaned about British culture from analysing its TV dating shows, finds Daisy Jones – and, it stands to reason, about other countries’ via theirs.

Ideas: Scientific American Magazine – September 2024

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Scientific American (August 21, 2024)The September 2024 issue featuresWhat Was It Like To Be A Dinosaur? – New insights into their senses, perceptions and behaviors…

What Was It Like to Be a Dinosaur?

Illustration depicting a t-rex

New fossils and analytical tools provide unprecedented insights into dinosaur sensory perception by Amy M. Balanoff, Daniel T. Ksepka

Alone Tyrannosaurus rexsniffs the humid Cretaceous air, scenting a herd of Triceratops grazing beyond the tree line. As the predator scans the floodplain, its vision suddenly snaps into focus. A single Triceratops has broken off from the herd and wandered within striking distance. Standing motionless, the T. rex formulates a plan of attack, anticipating the precise angle at which it must intersect its target before the Triceratops can regain the safety of the herd. The afternoon silence is shattered as the predator crashes though the low branches at the edge of the forest in hot pursuit.

T. rex has hunted Triceratops in so many books, games and movies that the encounter has become a cliché. But did a scene like this one ever unfold in real life? Would T. rex identify its prey by vision or by smell? Would the Triceratops be warned by a loudly cracking branch or remain oblivious because it was unable to locate the source of the sound? Could T. rex plan its attack like a cat, or would it lash out indiscriminately like a shark?

What If We Never Find Dark Matter?

The inside of a plant facility with gray and yellow equipment

Dark matter has turned out to be more elusive than physicists had hoped by Tracy R. Slatyer, Tim M. P. Tait

Can Pulling Carbon from Thin Air Slow Climate Change?

Alec Luhn

The End of the Lab Rat?

Rachel Nuwer

New Painkiller Could Bring Relief to Millions—Without Addiction Risk

Marla Broadfoot

Can Space and Time Exist as Two Shapes at Once? Mind-Bending Experiments Aim to Find Out

Nick Huggett, Carlo Rovelli

Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – Aug 23, 2024

Times Literary Supplement (August 21, 2024): The latest issue featuresAngels at her table’ – C.K. Stead and Kirsty Gunn on Janet Frame’s singular voice; Pat Barker and Mark Haddon’s modern myths; Rethinking incarceration; How art comes about; Sleep science; Hypochondria and literary reputations….

News: Israel-Hamas Peace Deal Eludes Acceptance, Democratic Convention

The Globalist Podcast (August 21, 2024): Israel appears open to a US-brokered peace deal with Hamas but will the latter get on board?

Also on the programme: our US editor, Christopher Lord, checks in from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Then: a potential takeover bid by Japanese supermarket brand 7-11 from a Canadian rival, Taiwan’s major semiconductor manufacturer breaks ground in Germany and the day’s papers. Plus: the latest in the world of theatre.

The New York Times — Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024

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Behind the Obama-Harris Friendship: A Key Endorsement and a Kindred Spirit

Kamala Harris’s decision to support Barack Obama in a 2008 primary race dominated by Hillary Clinton was a political risk. It paid off, and the former president never forgot it.

25 Years Ago, a Gay Student Sought Support. His School Turned to Tim Walz.

One student’s turbulent coming-out journey in the 1990s put Mr. Walz, then a football coach, at the center of gay rights in a Minnesota high school.

He Regulated Medical Devices. His Wife Represented Their Makers.

Ethics rules barred Dr. Jeffrey E. Shuren from working on matters involving clients of his wife’s law firm. But he did not always step aside.

Biden Approved Secret Nuclear Strategy Refocusing on Chinese Threat

In a classified document approved in March, the president ordered U.S. forces to prepare for possible coordinated nuclear confrontations with Russia, China and North Korea.