MONOCLE RADIO (January 10, 2025): Foreign ministers descend on Rome to align on the bloc’s future relations with Syria. Plus, Nicolás Maduro is inaugurated in Venezuela for the third time despite a widespread belief that he stole the election. Then: how to save the rave.
Monthly Archives: January 2025
The New York Times —- Friday, January 10, 2025
In the Palisades, an Evacuation Disaster Was Years in the Making
Some Pacific Palisades residents said the community had long asked for more detailed fire preparation plans. When a fire raged through the community this week, gridlock ensued.
‘It Was Biblical’: Ash and Flame Upend Life in Southern California
Wind-whipped wildfire blew through communities of every socioeconomic status and stripe, merging, psychically if not physically, into a kind of mega-catastrophe.
Carole Wilbourn, Who Put Cats on the Couch, Dies at 84
When cats bite or scratch, they’re trying to tell you something. Ms. Wilbourn, a cat therapist, was a pioneer in the art of listening to them.
Science Magazine —- January 10, 2025 Issue
SCIENCE MAGAZINE (January 9, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Not Skipping Meals’ – A narrow diet not responsible for extinction of short-faced kangaroos…
Fish could personalize cancer treatments
The first clinical trial of zebrafish embryos acting as cancer “avatars” will start soon
‘Good boring’: How Bluesky is shaping scientists’ discourse
The fast-growing platform may be more equitable than X, but gives scientists a smaller stage
Dogs sniff out truffles—in the name of science
Their keen noses are helping researchers uncover the diversity of the Pacific Northwest’s underground fungi
How a neurotransmitter drives brainwashing during sleep
Pulsating blood vessels push fluid into and out of the brains of slumbering mice
The New Statesman Magazine – Jan 11, 2025
THE NEW STATESMAN (Janaury 9, 2025): The latest issue features ‘The Great Power Gap’ – Why the decline of China, Russia and the U.S. will unleash a new age of anarchy…
The edge of anarchy
Donald Trump’s second term will hasten American decline, at a time when Russia and China are also in crisis. By Robert D Kaplan
The year ahead: Russia is on course to win the war in Ukraine
How did we get here? By Wolfgang Münchau
The year ahead: Will the Musk-Trump bromance endure?
Now the common enemy, the Democratic Party, has been vanquished, their interests may diverge.By Katie Stallard
The Economist Magazine – January 11, 2025 Preview
THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE (January 9, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Donald the Deporter‘….
Donald the Deporter
Could a man who makes ugly promises of mass expulsion actually fix America’s immigration system?
The capitalist revolution Africa needs
The world’s poorest continent should embrace its least fashionable idea
How Labour is failing England’s schools
It is fiddling with what works and not yet dealing with what doesn’t
Get tough with Russian sabotage
Russian-linked attacks on undersea infrastructure are rising
Plastic surgery a go-go
Young customers in developing countries propel a boom in plastic surgery
Oldies behaving badly
Why people over the age of 55 are the new problem generation
News: Future U.S. Military Aid To Ukraine, Lebanon President Election Crisis
MONOCLE RADIO (January 9, 2025): As US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin heads to Ramstein Air Base for the final time, Emma Nelson explores what the future of the country’s support for Ukraine will be.
Plus: can Lebanon overcome its presidential crisis? And are Parisian police really putting on their sirens to get home for their aperitifs?
The New York Times —- Thursday, January 9, 2025
California Wildfires Threaten Insurers Already Teetering From Climate Shocks
Companies started pulling back from the state as earlier fires made it harder to turn a profit. Experts warn the exodus could grow.
‘Here We Go Again’: Trump’s Territorial Ambitions Rattle a Weary World
A distant era of global politics, when nations scrambled to grab territory, suddenly seems less distant.
A Legacy From Carter That Democrats Would Prefer to Escape
For decades, Republicans have reveled in invoking Jimmy Carter’s name to deride Democrats as weak — mockery that has influenced the way Democrats present themselves to voters.
A ‘Business-Friendly’ Lawyer’s Rise From Lobbyist to Attorney General Pick
Pam Bondi, whom President-elect Donald J. Trump intends to nominate as attorney general, received trips and donations funded by those seeking favors from her Florida office.
Science: Nature Magazine – January 9, 2025 Preview
NATURE MAGAZINE (January 8, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Skin Deep’ – How the crocodile’s head got its scales…
This digital-memory device keeps its cool even at 600 °C
A battery-like technology uses a metal called tantalum to create an equivalent of digital 0s and 1s.
Fancy birds decorate nests with a natural pattern: snakeskin
The use of shed skins might help to ward off predators, experiments suggest.
A blood test detects aged cells
Proteins could serve as biomarkers for senescent cells, which have stopped dividing but have not yet died.
That Christmas jumper is a marvel of complicated physics
Models and experiments demonstrate what happens when a knitted fabric is deformed.
MIT Technology Review – January/February 2025
MIT Technology Review (January 8, 2025): The latest issue features ’10 Breakthrough Technologies’ – Fast-learning robots, next-gen jet fuel, new HIV protection meds, the largest camera ever built to document the cosmos, and more. Plus: digital twins, high-tech fisheries, and the AI Hype Index.
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2025
What will really matter in the long run? That’s the question we tackle each year as we compile this annual list.
AI means the end of internet search as we’ve known it
Despite fewer clicks, copyright fights, and sometimes iffy answers, AI could unlock new ways to summon all the world’s knowledge.
AI is changing how we study bird migration
After decades of frustration, machine-learning tools are unlocking a treasure trove of acoustic data for ecologists.
Will we ever trust robots?
If most robots still need remote human operators to be safe and effective, why should we welcome them into our homes?
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