Psychedelic hedgehogs, purple pineapples, living strawberries—welcome to the magical world of nudibranchs
As the Southwest dries, can a city notorious for excess find a way to survive with less and less water?
Modern Athens savors its connections to antiquity—while reappraising its past
Copper-containing ‘nanoclusters’ form glasses with an orderly structure and unusual properties.
The operation’s early success has made researchers hopeful that clinical trials for xenotransplanted organs will start soon.
The Simons Observatory will search for signs of gravitational waves that originated from the Big Bang.
Times Literary Supplement (April 3, 2024): The ‘The Art Issue’ features ‘Miss Lonelyhearts’ – Tom Seymour Evans: Carson McCullers’s unruly life; Violence and Climate Change; Posing for John Singer Sargent and Huckleberry Jim – Mark Twain’s escaped slave wrests control of his story…
Carson McCullers: a novelist of the marginalized and ‘those struggling to understand who they are’
Mark Twain’s escaped slave wrests control of his story
Percival Everett’s wry, provocative novel on the publishing world brought to the screen
By Colin Grant
The Guardian Weekly (April 5, 2024) – The new issue features ‘Lone Star’ – Have the UN vote and questions about its conduct in Gaza left Israel isolated?; Liz Truss bids for political resurrection; Will IS strike again?; Nick Cave’s devilish change of direction…
Islamic State has stalled in Iraq and Syria but officials believe it has been planning new attacks on the west for years, reports Jason Burke; while Angelique Chrisafis writes that France’s interior minister has met intelligence services to assess the terrorist threat to the country ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games
Nusantara is billed as a state-of-the-art capital city that will coexist with nature – but not all residents of Borneo’s Balikpapan Bay are happy, find. By Rebecca Ratcliffe and Richaldo Hariandja
Liz Truss trashed the economy as Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister. But she is back, launching a new conservative movement and spreading her ideology across the world. You just can’t keep a bad politician down, argues David Runciman
In the past nine years, Nick Cave has lost two sons – an experience he explores in a deeply personal new ceramics project. He discusses mercy, forgiveness, making and meaning with Simon Hattenstone
A new wave of Indigenous architects are behind a series of stunning buildings embracing tribal identity in Aotearoa New Zealand, Oliver Wainwright discovers
Country Life Magazine – April 3, 2024: The latest issue features:
The reawakening of Nature has inspired artists from Botticelli to David Hockney and beyond. Michael Prodger revels in the artistic beauty of the season
Few can match the twists and turns of Adrian Fisher’s stellar career. Deborah Nicholls-Lee meets the maze designer behind the chilling climax of Saltburn
Poet Laureate Simon Armitage celebrates an annual explosion of pink and white blossom with excerpts from his new book
Kate Green on how Sir Joseph Banks sowed the seeds of Kew
In the second of two articles, John Goodall puts the spotlight on the superb school buildings of Lancing College, West Sussex
Discover why a thunderous start to the month suggests a good harvest as Lia Leendertz delves into the weather lore of spring
Green is the natural choice for a kitchen, as Amelia Thorpe and Arabella Youens discover
Caroline Donald marvels at the rapid transformation of the charming seven-acre garden at Charlton Farm in Wiltshire
Melanie Johnson puts British asparagus — a verdant harbinger of spring — back on the menu
The president of the Army Bene-volent Fund chooses a wonderful depiction of the Battle of Waterloo
Carla Carlisle attempts to sort the tragedy from the farce in the baffling world of modern politics
Matthew Dennison charts the rise and fall of fashion label Biba
Mesmerising opals are having a moment — Hetty Lintell dives in
150 years of the Impressionists
Literary Review – April 2, 2024: The latest issue features ‘From Bebop to Britpop’; Legends of Orkney; A Garden of One’s Own and Writing Doomsday…
By JOHN KEAY
Meena Danishmal asks if Seneca’s account of the good life is really practical.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the adjective ‘stoical’ means “resembling a Stoic in austerity, indifference, fortitude, repression of feeling and the like”. This gives us some idea of what it is like to be a Stoic. Indeed, the key teaching, arguably the fundamental point, of Stoicism, is that we should focus on controlling the things that are under our control, such as our thoughts, emotions, and actions, whilst accepting those things we cannot control, such as most things that are happening in the world. How did they get there?
To consider this question let’s look at the ideas of the Roman philosopher and statesman Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (4 BCE-65 CE). As a top advisor to the paranoid and murderous Emperor Nero, he probably found Stoicism a particularly practical guide to life.
As a Stoic, Seneca believed the soul (Latin: anima or animus) to be a finer form of matter than the body; but matter it is. It was also described as a spark of the fire which had consumed the original matter. With such an understanding of the soul, where does the soul reside within the body? Stoics provided a rather simple answer: everywhere. The soul was considered to be a vital force that animates the whole body. The soul was also the source of reason, virtue, and moral character, which is what Stoic philosophy is built upon, as the rational soul guides individuals towards living in accordance with nature.
For us to understand this concept further, it’s vital to grasp the Stoic conception of reality. Stoics see the universe as interconnected and interwoven, and this unified cosmos as governed by rational principles. Within this holistic perspective, the soul is seen as part of the divine rational order of the universe. This understanding forms the basis of Stoic ethics, which emphasises the importance of cultivating reason and virtue in all aspects of life. This encouragement to align thoughts, actions, and desires with principles of reason, is a way for the soul to flourish.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (March 30, 2024):
A new, high-tech approach called ECPR can restart more hearts and save more lives. Why aren’t more hospitals embracing it?
By Helen Ouyang
Greg Hayes, an emergency first responder in Chanhassen, Minn., was picking up takeout sushi when a 911 call came in: A 61-year-old had stopped breathing at home. Hayes and his team jumped in their ambulance and were soon pulling up in front of a suburban two-story house, where paramedics and other first responders were also arriving. All of them grabbed their equipment and raced through the open garage to find a man, gray and still, on the living-room floor with his wife and stepdaughter nearby.
We want to hear from you for a New York Times Magazine feature about how this transition can affect marriages and long-term relationships.
When people think about stages of life that can strain relationships, they often reflect on the first sleepless years of child rearing or the phase of parenting that involves rebellious teens. Retirement, typically anticipated as a time of relaxation, might not come to mind, but this transition away from work can also be stressful, coinciding with reinventions and re-evaluations that can cause couples to suddenly experience new tensions. It can also be a time of renewed connection and relationship growth. Often, it’s both at once.
Artificial intelligence holds huge promise in health care. But it also faces massive barriers
Better diagnoses. Personalised support for patients. Faster drug discovery. Greater efficiency. Artificial intelligence (ai) is generating excitement and hyperbole everywhere, but in the field of health care it has the potential to be transformational. In Europe analysts predict that deploying ai could save hundreds of thousands of lives each year; in America, they say, it could also save money, shaving $200bn-360bn from overall annual medical spending, now $4.5trn a year (or 17% of gdp). From smart stethoscopes and robot surgeons to the analysis of large data sets or the ability to chat to a medical ai with a human face, opportunities abound.
After the energy crisis, Europe faces surging Chinese imports and the threat of Trump tariffs
Ukraine must prepare
Melting ice sheets do more than raise sea levels
Boomers Daily 