All posts by She Seeks Serene

My Journey of Reimagining Life, Love and Education

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE- AUGUST 2, 2026

Current cover

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: The 8.2.26 Issue features Daniel Bergner on sibling therapy; Elisabeth Zerofsky on the Heritage Foundation crackup; Benoit Denizet-Lewis on Bill Maher; and more.

Larry Ellison Bet It All on the A.I. Boom. Will He Be the Face of the A.I. Bubble?

Inside the 81-year-old billionaire’s risky, debt-fueled scramble to transform his data empire into an A.I. juggernaut.

In Trump’s Economy, Job Gains Go to Women. That’s Not an Entirely Good Thing.

Despite the administration’s best attempts, the diminishing status of many American jobs is driving a spike in women’s employment. By Noam Scheiber

Inflammation Keeps Us Alive. It’s Also Making Us Sick.

The discovery that chronic inflammation is a cause of myriad illnesses could be this century’s biggest medical breakthrough. By Kim Tingley

Five Takeaways From the Times Investigation Into Larry Ellison’s A.I. Gamble

The billionaire’s company took on ominous loads of debt to build data centers around the world. The implications go far beyond Oracle. By Jonathan MahlerJim Rutenberg and Kirsten Grind

THE NEW YORK TIMES – SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2026

Trump’s Polling Numbers Hit a New Low. Don’t Expect Him to Change Course.

Barely a third of Americans approve of President Trump’s handling of the job, putting him at historic depths.

Progress Toward Deal Led Trump to Call Off Strikes, He Says

President Trump offered no specifics on any such diplomatic breakthrough, a claim he has made before to justify backing off threatened attacks.

As Cease-Fire Teetered, Iran Plotted a Wider War With Aid of Its Proxies

During a fleeting truce, Iranians covertly devised a plan to raise the war’s costs for President Trump if U.S. forces attacked anew.

Israel Says It Killed Several Hezbollah Members on Key Lebanon Hilltop

On Venezuela’s Coast, Life Is Reduced to Survival and Burial

More than a month after the earthquakes, the coastal region of La Guaira — once Venezuela’s main gateway — is completely unrecognizable.

BARRON’S MAGAZINE – AUGUST 3, 2026 PREVIEW

BARRON’S MAGAZINE: The latest issue features…GLP-1s aren’t just for obesity anymore, and sales are exploding. Sizing up the winners.

Here Comes the Next Wave of GLP-1s. They’ll Treat a Lot More Than Obesity.

This blockbuster class of drugs is shattering all sales records. Which stock will do better—Eli Lilly or Novo Nordisk?

Nasdaq Records Worst July Since 2006

Despite Friday’s gains, the index wasn’t able to finish the month higher.

Treasuries Get Whacked by Japan’s Big Yen Fix


Warsh Weighs Fewer Fed Meetings, Report Says


Nvidia Is the World’s Most Valuable Company Again

SpaceX Stock Just Hit a Record Low

THE NEW YORK TIMES – SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2026

In Iran, the U.S. Appears Headed for a Strategic Defeat, Allies Fear

With none of President Trump’s aims accomplished and the Strait of Hormuz closed, U.S. allies see dysfunction and vulnerability from the war.

Kuwait Says It Downed Iranian Drones as Mideast Braces for Possible Escalation

Russian Missiles Kill 9 in Kyiv After Trump Backs Off Air-Defense Pledge

Ukraine’s supply of Patriot missile interceptors is dwindling, and on Friday, President Trump backed away from his promise to let Ukraine make them itself.

Ukraine Is Making Inroads Into Once-Hostile Territory: MAGA

Ukraine and its supporters have invested in trying to undo the skepticism of the country’s war effort harbored by President Trump and his MAGA movement.

The U.S. Deported Him to Jail in Russia. Then He Escaped.

Facing a long prison sentence or a forced trip to the front line of a war he opposes, Artyom Vovchenko believed it was worth taking a risk.

Trump’s Fixation on Arctic Ships Led to Billions in No-Bid Contracts

The president decided to buy 11 polar icebreakers after a game of golf with Finland’s president. Experts say it’s far from clear the United States needs so many.

SCIENCE MAGAZINE ———– JULY 30, 2026 PREVIEW

SCIENCE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Biotic Bridge’ – Mexican “holding pen” shaped asymmetrical mammal migrations….

A 10-million-year biogeographic holding pen primed the Great American Biotic Interchange

For millions of years after the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, South America was disconnected from other landforms, a time period that has been referred to as its “splendid isolation.” This isolation allowed for the evolution of mammals with distinctive features, including xenarthrans, sprassodont carnivores, and notoungulates. The formation of the Panamanian land bridge facilitated connection of North and South American faunas, with a bias from north to south. Tseng et al. looked at fossils from low latitudes in México and found that northern mammals accumulated in the region before the connection (see the Perspective by McGuire and Williams). This allowed for more rapid dispersal south and further supports that the land bridge first formed during the Pliocene rather than the Miocene.

How black holes get hitched

Analyses of hundreds of collisions find black holes pair up in at least three ways

AI’s top startups are barely publishing their research

More than half of AI “unicorns” have never published a paper or preprint

Ancient DNA shows how smallpox got to the Americas

“ Landmark” paper finds European contact introduced the disease

When mammals crossed between continents

The Great American Biotic Interchange informs the dynamics of modern species invasions

THE NEW YORK TIMES – FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2026

Iran Says It Targeted U.S. Military in Kuwait With Drones

The Kuwaiti military said that it had detected and destroyed multiple drones in its airspace since dawn. The U.S. military did not immediately report any attacks.

Europe Is Caught Between Low Gas Reserves and Rising Prices From Iran War

Across Europe, reserves of natural gas for use in the winter months are lagging, meaning higher prices for households and businesses.

Defying Trump, Cornyn Uses His Lame-Duck Power

Senator John Cornyn dug in his heels on Todd Blanche’s nomination, demanding modifications to President Trump’s immunity settlement with the I.R.S.

The MAGA Media Machine Is Fracturing

Once united in support of President Trump, right-wing influencers are embroiled in feuds and losing viewers, creating a problem for Republicans in the midterm elections.

Tens of Thousands Crossed Into Spanish Territory, Officials Say

As many as 60,000 people were estimated to have surged from Morocco into Ceuta, the small exclave at the center of a crisis for Spain’s pro-immigration government.

THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE – AUGUST 1, 2026 PREVIEW

THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘The global currency beef’ – Lessons from 40 years of the Big Mac Index

What the Big Mac index reveals about a global currency beef

It highlights economic problems—and helps explain how to solve them

It is past time to upgrade to post-quantum encryption

When the quantum breakthrough comes, data being harvested today will be exposed

China is testing America’s defence lines in Asia

The allies must work to strengthen themselves, but also to strengthen America’s commitment

Europe’s fires are just the start

They are not a new normal. But worse can nonetheless be expected

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS – AUGUST 20, 2026

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features

Artful Weaving

The most authentic thing about Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey is its densely braided narrative, but its tormented hero sounds like the heroes of Christopher Nolan movies.

Whose Party?

As Democratic Socialists rack up primary victories, the moderate wing of the Democratic Party looks increasingly out of touch.

Trump’s Constitutional Dictatorship

Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s inside account of the Trump administration portrays a president with a vast appetite for power but who repeatedly backs down when the costs of his actions become too high.

Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan

Out of the Rubble

In novels written immediately after World War II, Wolfgang Koeppen mined the conscience of Germany.

Pigeons on the Grass by Wolfgang Koeppen, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann

The Hothouse by Wolfgang Koeppen, translated from the German and with an afterword by Michael Hofmann, with an introduction by Pankaj Mishra

Death in Rome by Wolfgang Koeppen, translated from the German and with an afterword by Michael Hofmann, with an introduction by Joshua Cohen

THE NEW YORK TIMES – THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2026

Markets Challenge Warsh’s Approach to Taming Inflation

Kevin Warsh has made controlling inflation his top priority as Federal Reserve chairman. But a hesitancy to embrace the prospects of higher rates has set off a backlash.

U.S. Economy Grew More Slowly in the Second Quarter

Gross domestic product grew at a 1.5 percent annual rate over the past three months, as war in the Middle East shook energy prices and supply chains.

Mideast Teeters on Brink of Expanded War as Iran and U.S. Resume Attacks

Egypt said it had come under attack from an unidentified drone. Earlier, Saudi Arabia acknowledged direct involvement in the war for the first time.

Trump Encounters a More Determined Iran as War Widens

The U.S. is again exchanging strikes with Iran, just days after President Trump appeared to reject plans to escalate.

Poland’s Leader Says Russian Missile May Have Struck Its Territory During Ukraine Attack

Russian missiles have briefly entered Polish airspace in the past. Investigators have yet to definitively identify the object that struck Poland overnight.

Russia Hits Ukraine With Missiles and Drones, Killing at Least 8

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that a family of five had been killed in the latest in a series of large-scale aerial assaults by Moscow.

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY —- JULY 31, 2026 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘Bugs in the System’ – How India’s Cockroach Movement Undermined Modi….

The news agenda has been so dominated for many months by a few big stories about perennial global hotspots and the biggest figures on the international stage, that one could accuse journalists of missing what was happening outside the US, Middle East or Ukraine. But as our south-east Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, explains for this week’s big story, the rapid rise and sudden explosion on to the streets of India’s Cockroach Janta party took everyone – especially Narendra Modi’s government – by surprise.

What began as a satirical protest when the chief justice of India compared the country’s unemployed youth to cockroaches has damaged prime minister Modi’s image as a “strongman” leader and loosened his grip over the media. But as Hannah explains, it’s not just that the joke has “legs” and strong visuals; young people want a viable future and change.

Spotlight | ‘Smoke covered the sun’
Angelique Chrisafis hears from people evacuated from France’s Gironde region near Bordeaux as southern Europe battles wildfires, the spread and ferocity of which have shocked everyone

Spotlight | Blue horizons for Gaza’s children
Sea pools made out of sandbags and rubble are part of Amjed Tantesh’s project to give traumatised children a brief respite from war, reports his niece and our Gaza reporter Seham Tantesh

Feature | A Hiroshima journey from anger to peace
Simon Hattenstone meets Koko Kondo, who survived the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and hears about the publication of her father’s long-forgotten diary written in the aftermath of that horrific day in 1945

Opinion | Andy Burnham’s ticket to major change
The UK prime minister’s first policy announcement on cut-price bus fares signals more than a cheap gimmick, says Jonathan Freedland

Culture | John Carpenter interview
The uncompromising film director talks to Steve Rose about his shock and horror Hollywood career and his new music album