THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (November 30, 2024): The 12.1.24 Issue features Susan Dominus on an I.V.F. mix-up; Amir Ahmadi Arian on the director Mohammad Rasoulof; Francesca Mari on deadly superbugs bred by modern warfare; and more.
An I.V.F. Mix-Up, a Shocking Discovery and an Unbearable Choice
Two couples in California discovered they were raising each other’s genetic children. Should they switch their girls?
Modern Warfare Is Breeding Deadly Superbugs. Why?
Researchers are trying to understand why resistant pathogens are so prevalent in the war-torn nations of the Middle East.
The Guardian Weekly (November 28, 2024): The new issue features last week’s escalation of Nato ballistic missile activity, in which UK and US-made missiles were launched into Russia for the first time, brought a predictably cold response from Vladimir Putin – who loosened Moscow’s nuclear doctrines and promised more attacks with a new, experimental ballistic missile.
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Spotlight | Does lame duck Biden have time to Trump-proof democracy? The outgoing US president may only have weeks left in the White House, but activists say he can secure civil liberties, accelerate spending on climate and healthcare, and spare death row prisoners. David Smith reports
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Science | My weird, emotional week with an AI pet Casio says Moflin can develop its own personality and build a rapport with its owner – and it doesn’t need food, exercise or a litter tray. But is it essentially comforting or alienating? Justin McCurry finds out
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Feature | Are we right to strive to save the world’s tiniest babies? Doctors are pushing the limits of science and human biology to save more extremely premature babies than ever before. But when so few survive, are we putting them through needless suffering? By Sophie McBain
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Opinion | A social media ban is in everyone’s interests – not just kids under 16 Van Badham on why she resents being excluded from protection against monetised fear, anger and toxicity
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Culture | A road trip like no other: an epic drive on the Autobahn Fifty years after electronic pioneers Kraftwerk released a 23-minute song about a road – and changed pop music for ever – Tim Jonze hits the highways of Düsseldorf and Hamburg in search of its futuristic brilliance
Donald Trump and the Republican Party had a triumphant Election Day, gaining ground in all parts of the country and among almost all voting sectors. He won all seven of the ballyhooed swing states, by comfortable margins except in the blue-wall states of Wisconsin (where his margin of victory was 0.9%), Michigan (1.4%), and Pennsylvania (1.8%). Still, he won all three blue-wall states twice—in 2024 as in 2016—something no Republican had managed since Ronald Reagan. Trump regains office alongside a Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives, too, the trifecta of what political scientists call “undivided government,” not enjoyed by Republicans since the first two years of his own first term.
The Fundamental Problem with R.F.K., Jr.,’s Nomination to H.H.S.
Kennedy has many bad ideas. Yet the irony of our political moment is that his more reasonable positions are the ones that could sink his candidacy. By Dhruv Khullar
How Old Age Was Reborn
“The Golden Girls” reframed senior life as being about socializing and sex. But did the cultural narrative of advanced age as continued youth twist the dial too far? By Daniel Immerwahr
How to Make Fuel (or Booze) from Thin Air
Air Company, a startup that has used water and carbon dioxide to make vodka and to power automobiles, taste-tests its product and discusses getting Elon Musk’s business. By Adam Iscoe
DW Euromaxx (November 23, 2024): Prague – a city straight out of a fairytale, with its cobblestone streets, iconic red rooftops, and famed Czech beer. But beyond the picture-perfect image, what is life really like in the capital of the Czech Republic?
CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:46 Living arrangements 02:36 Getting around 03:18 Roza’s work as a greenfluencer 04:56 Cost of living 05:37 Studying in Prague 06:24 Social life
Is it still as magical for locals as it is for tourists? We follow 21-year-old student Rozárie to find out.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (November 2, 2024): The 11.24.24 Issue features Philip Montgomery on two weeks in the life of Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County before, during and after the election; Emily Bazelon on how the abortion rights movement won in many states in the election; Tomas Weber on how Ozempic is turning people off from eating junk food; and more.
Facing an eight-year prison sentence, Mohammad Rasoulof had to make the most difficult decision of his life. We spent two weeks there before and after the election to understand what’s driving these changes.
Smithsonian Magazine (November 21, 2024) –The latest issue features ‘The Hidden History of Bermuda’ – New archaeological finds are reshaping our views of early colonial life in the Americas…
What excavations in Bermuda are revealing about one of Britain’s first settlements in the Americas—and the surprising ways it shaped the New World. By Andrew Lawler. Photographs by Nicola Muirhead
The untold story of Matilda Gage, the freethinker who inspired her son-in-law L. Frank Baum’s classic novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. By Evan I. Schwartz
NEW HUMANIST MAGAZINE – WINTER 2024/2025 ISSUE: The new issue features ‘Our Cyborg Future?’
The new age of the cyborg?
Neurobiologist and journalist Moheb Costandi explores the rapidly-developing world of brain-computer interfaces. For some people, these devices are already transforming lives – but the technology is quickly overtaking the ethics.
A dangerous calculation
Peter Ward unpicks the dark philosophy of the tech billionaires and how it is infiltrating some of our most powerful organisations.
There’s a product for that
A recent film, The Substance, explored the growing pressure on all of us – particularly women – to modify our bodies, not only through make-up and cosmetic procedures but also through digital filters. Clare Chambers, professor of political philosophy at the University of Cambridge, talks to us about the power of resistance and allowing our bodies to be “good enough”.
New life in the veins
Peter Salmon recounts the bizarre history of blood transfusion – and why the super-rich remain fascinated by its possibilities.
Existentialist crises might more commonly be associated with some who seek out religion, rather than with those religions themselves, but that’s where the Church of England has found itself in recent days.
The resignation of Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, followed a damning report into the church’s shameful failures over the serial child abuser John Smyth, which detailed even more disturbing details of cover-ups by some senior clergy.
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Spotlight | Trump’s shock-and-awe team A flurry of controversial and extremist picks for Trump’s administration has provoked criticism and made heads spin. David Smith reports from Washington
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Science | The inverse link between cancer and dementia Scientists have long been aware of a curious connection between these common and feared diseases. At last, a clearer picture is emerging, writes Theres Lüthi
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Feature | Kernels of hope During the siege of Leningrad, botanists in charge of an irreplaceable seed collection, the first of its kind, had to protect it from fire, rodents – and hunger. By Simon Parkin
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Opinion | Seven lessons from a long-serving economics editor From Thatcher to Trump and Brexit, the Guardian’s outgoing economics editor, Larry Elliott, reflects on his 28 years in the role.
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Culture | Faking history Film and TV have a slippery relationship with the truth when it comes to historical epics. Simon Usborne meets the experts whose advice goes unheeded
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious