Category Archives: Previews

Magazines, Podcasts, Previews, Research, Reviews, Science

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – July 6, 2023

July 5, 2023 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

nature Magazine -July 6, 2023 issue: Shape shifters – DNA origami allows useful supramolecular structures to be created from templates. But the process has its limitations, with most structures confined to two configurations: folded or unfolded.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/05xMUBHwffsMOYP95KpCUQ

Fungi bacon and insect burgers: a guide to the proteins of the future

Stylised illustration showing a shop display of alternative protein products with signs saying 'New' and 'Try today'.

Humanity needs to eat less meat. Here are seven alternatives.

Would you eat a burger enriched with mealworms? Fake bacon sliced from a mass of fermented fungi? Milk proteins extruded by microbes? Maybe you already have. Dozens of companies are now banking on these alternatives to animal protein becoming a regular part of your diet.

Mini-antibodies given mighty powers can stave off influenza

Complexes formed from ‘nanobodies’ and an antiviral drug halt infection in its tracks.

A dynamic duo comprising an antiviral drug joined to an antibody fragment provides strong protection against the two main types of influenza that infect humans, according to research in mice.

Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Culture: Country Life Magazine – July 5, 2023

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Country Life Magazine – July 5, 2023 issue: The seashore as artistic inspiration, from Constable’s wild skies to Gormley’s lonely figures; Puffins -the parrots of the sea; A history of mermaids, and more…

A shore thing – Michael Prodger examines the seashore as artistic inspiration, from Constable’s wild skies to Gormley’s lonely figures

Meet the parrots of the sea – The colourful puffin inspires amused adoration in everyone, but the big-beaked birds have a tough side, finds Ian Morton

Tripping the light fintastic – Sinister sirens who lure sailors to their deaths or beautiful beings who drag men from watery graves? Carla Passino combs history for mention of mermaids

Arts & Literature, Books, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Books: Literary Review Magazine – July 2023

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Literary Review – July 2023 Issue: Brushes with the Dutch Golden Age; @LauraCummingArt’s ‘Thunderclap’ – a remarkable experiment in form as well as a richly satisfying extended meditation on art, life and death’; Bismarck’s Great Gamble; Eden by Thames – The Infinite City: Utopian Dreams on the Streets of London…

Conspiracy Theory of Everything

Post-Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World: Amazon.co.uk: James Ball: 9781785902147: Books

The Other Pandemic: How QAnon Contaminated the World By James Ball

Back in the mists of time, great idealism surrounded social media. There was a sense that global interconnection would shift us into a more egalitarian and democratic age. How time makes fools of us all.

Blast from the Past

Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art & Life & Sudden Death By Laura Cumming

As a teenager with an interest in art, growing up on London’s Old Kent Road with a father whose mantra was ‘God gave you legs to walk’ (he didn’t believe in God but he did believe in walking), I often found myself on Sunday afternoons walking to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. I remember distinctly the day I discovered the Dutch painters. It wasn’t Rembrandt or Vermeer who caught my eye, but Hendrick Avercamp and, especially, Pieter de Hooch.

Culture, Magazines, Previews, Reviews, Society, Tourism, Travel

CULTURE: FRANCE-AMÉRIQUE MAGAZINE – JULY/AUG 2023

July 1, 2023 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

France-Amérique Magazine – July/August 2023 – The issue celebrates Bastille Day, a look at La Marseillaise in New York City; why the 1789 Revolution still carries so much weight in contemporary French culture; a profile of French food design pioneer Anna Polonsky; and learn all about the Great Chartreuse Shortage of 2023…

ANNA POLONSKY – The French Food Design Pioneer

Born in Paris and based in New York City, the founder of the Polonsky & Friends studio combines her passions for design and cuisine by creating visual identities for restaurants and food brands.

LA MARSEILLAISE – A Taste of Free France in Manhattan

Where could you have once danced to accordion music, met fellow French comrades-in-arms, and even bumped into Marlene Dietrich, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jean Gabin? All the Free French soldiers who passed through New York City during World War II would have pointed you toward La Marseillaise, on Second Avenue.

SARAH BERNHARDT – A Scandalous French Superstar in America

Having completed nine tours of the United States during her career, actress Sarah Bernhardt was probably the most famous French woman in America at the time. An exhibition in Paris is currently celebrating the thespian, who passed away a century ago this year.

Financial, Investing, Magazines, Previews, Retirement, Reviews

Finance Preview: Barron’s Magazine – July 3, 2023

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BARRON’S MAGAZINE – JULY 3, 2023 ISSUE – The Ten Best Income Investments; Time to buy Real Estate Stocks; Automation is the Future, and more…

The Market Hates Real Estate Stocks. It’s Time to Buy.

A steep slide in commercial real estate has put the sector on sale. Where to find 6% yields and growth.

The 10 Best Income Plays for the Second Half of the Year

The 60/40 portfolio isn’t dead. From utilities to junk bonds and energy pipelines, we offer ways investors can get high yields and appreciation.

There’s a New Way to Watch TV. It’s Already More Popular Than HBO.

FAST channels have brought back old-school TV channel guides—and plenty of advertising. But the shows are free and incredibly varied. Media execs are taking note.

Automation Is the Future. Buy Rockwell Stock.

Rockwell Automation’s shares should earn a higher valuation as investors begin to consider it for what it really is—a tech company.

Arts & Literature, Books, Newspapers, Previews, Reviews

The New York Times Book Review — July 2, 2023

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THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW – JULY 2, 2023: The entire issue is devoted to literature in translation – reviews of translated books (by Javier Marías, Seamus Heaney, Natalia Ginzburg…); Daniel Hahn’s essay about translating picture books; Emily Wilson’s look at “Iliad” translations over the years, culminating with her own; a By the Book interview with the translator Jennifer Croft; and lots more.

Exit Hector, Again and Again: How Different Translators Reveal the ‘Iliad’ Anew

An 1878 illustration of the meeting between Hector and Andromache, based on a design by John Flaxman.

Over the years, some 100 people have translated the entire “Iliad” into English. The latest of them, Emily Wilson, explains what different approaches to one key scene say about the original, and the translators.

Jennifer Croft Knows a Good Translation When She Reads One

This illustration shows Jennifer Croft with long, straight blond hair and bangs. She’s wearing a shoulderless top that crosses at her neck, with variously colored stripes.

“There has to be chemistry,” says the writer and prolific translator, whose second book will come out next year. “You don’t need prior knowledge of, say, Iceland or Icelandic in order to appreciate Victoria Cribb’s translation of Sjón.”

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Previews, Reviews, Society

Preview: New York Times Magazine – July 2, 2023

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THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (July 2, 2023) –

In this week’s cover story, Lynsey Addario takes us to a Ukrainian town where an 11-year-old is navigating a childhood transformed by war. Plus, a profile of the Christian pop star Marcos Witt and an investigation into how federal law targets thousands of women on anti-addiction medications.

A Boy’s Life on the Front Lines

In a Ukrainian town, an 11-year-old navigates a childhood transformed by war.

In a town near the Eastern front lines of the Donbas region of Ukraine, an 11-year-old boy named Yegor’s days were as predictable as they could be, given the unpredictability of war.

A.I. and TV Ads Were Made for Each Other

A photo collage of frames from AI-generated spoof advertisements, showing people drinking orange juice and beer and eating pizza. Close examination of the images reveal some strange visual distortions.

A string of uncanny videos show what generative A.I. and advertising have in common: They chew up the cultural subconscious and spit it back at us.

By Mac Schwerin

Even if I didn’t work in advertising, I would be a connoisseur of commercials. You’re probably one, too. Think of all the tropes you’ve ingested over the years — the forest-green hatchbacks conquering rugged Western landscapes, the miles of mozzarella stretched by major pizza chains. These are the images that let you know what kind of pitch you’re watching, so you won’t be confused when the brand shows up.

Arts & Literature, Culture, History, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Arts/Culture: Humanities Magazine – Summer 2023

June 30, 2023 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Humanities Magazine – Summer 2023 Issue

Red Map, Blue Map

In the 1970s and ’80s, geographer Ken Martis mapped every congressional district and color-coded them by political party, going all the way back to the first Congress.

Where Johnny Cash Came From

The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land.

Hell’s Searing Gaze

A traveling exhibition explores the underworld

In the captivating survey “Comparative Hell: Arts of Asian Underworlds,” the damned are boiled alive. Writhing in pain, they are skewered, mauled by dogs, and devoured by ink-black birds. But the show is dotted throughout by charming reprieves: a lush jade-green garden, creamy-white blossoms, and whirling clouds. This is a hell that delights as much as it punishes.

Magazines, Podcasts, Previews, Research, Reviews, Science

Research Preview: Science Magazine – June 30, 2023

June 30, 2023 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Science Magazine – June 30, 2023 issue: Vapor from liquid nitrogen wafts over a rat kidney awaiting a groundbreaking preservation method at the University of Minnesota. Scientists there have learned how to cool the organ to –150°C and rewarm it while minimizing freezing damage, enabling it to work after being transplanted.

Long-sought hum of gravitational waves from giant black holes heard for first time

illustration of pulsar on gravitational waves from supermassive black holes.

Subtle shifts in stellar signals reveal pervasive waves from mergers of giant black ho

Frozen in time

Scientists are learning how to cryopreserve living tissues, organs, and even whole organisms, then bring them back to life

Arts & Literature, Books, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

The New York Review Of Books – July 20, 2023

June 29, 2023 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

The New York Review of Books – July 20, 2023 issue: The Fiction Issue features Adam Thirlwell on Emmanuel Carrère, Carolina Miranda on contemporary Caribbean art, Darryl Pinckney on a new reissue of a classic of American vernacular literature, Fintan O’Toole on Mike Pence’s pallid pomp, Daniel Mendelsohn on Bob Gottlieb, and more.

The Trouble with Truth

Adam Thirlwell

Emmanuel Carrère’s new book, Yoga, has been the subject of gossipy debate about its veracity, but it is seductively open about its own anxiety as a work of fiction.

Life Made Light

Ruth Bernard Yeazell

Johannes Vermeer, one of the most intimate and quiet of artists, who is celebrated for the silence and light of his paintings, has become, paradoxically, a crowd-pleaser.

Johannes Vermeer: Faith, Light and Reflection by Gregor J.M. Weber

Vermeer and the Art of Love by Aneta Georgievska-Shine