They’re a couple: JWST is first to spot pair of mysterious ‘Y dwarfs’
Two extremely cool examples of ‘failed stars’ called brown dwarfs are found orbiting each other.
Research Preview: Nature Magazine – May 11, 2023
Category Archives: Reviews
Politics: The Guardian Weekly – May 12, 2023
The Guardian Weekly (May 12, 2023) – The name Geof frey Hinton was little known outside the tech industry until last week, when the so-called “godfather of AI” gave an interview after leaving Google in which he warned that machine learning is leading us into uncharted territory.
So is now the time to get properly frightened about the capabilities unleashed by machine learning? Technology writer John Naughton in this week’s big story says an unequivocal yes as he explores a worrying near future, and what prompted Hinton to speak out.
Britain spent last weekend watching avidly or determinedly avoiding the exuberant display of ancient ceremony around the coronation of King Charles III. Our coverage takes a fondly amused look at all the pageantry, personalities and gold braid with Rachel Cooke, while columnist Nesrine Malik unpicks the game of divide and rule, display and disguise through which the institution hangs on to popular support. We also visit Belize to find out how arguments about reparations for slavery are linked to its relationship to the British crown.
Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – May 12, 2023
Times Literary Supplement (May 12, 2023) – This week’s @TheTLS, features Peter Thonemann on The Triumph of the West; @joemoransblog on imagination; @michaelscaines on The Motive and the Cue; @DrAliceKelly on graphic novelizations of Gatsby; @helenlpgordon on stones; @rinireg on surveillance – and more.
Tours: Historic Gardens Of Wightwick Manor, UK
This means the garden design extends into the house, where visitors can see flowers such as roses used as motifs for interiors and artworks. Watch this video to discover how politics has also left its mark on the gardens that are still enjoyed by visitors today. You’ll see architectural artefacts from the Houses of Parliament and a tree planted by Clement Richard Attlee, the Labour Prime Minster who served from 1945 to 1951.
You’ll also learn about the history of the estate and its planting schemes and find out more about what the National Trust is doing to make the gardens more accessible for visitors.
Opinion: A World In Fiscal Fantasy, Can Turkey Sack Erdogan, King Charles III
The Economist ‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (May8 , 2023) – Three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, governments are living in a fiscal fantasyland, why Turkey is holding the most important election this year (11:02) and the coronation of King Charles III (17:30).
Design: A Tour Of Löyly Public Sauna In Helsinki
Perched on the city’s rugged coastline, architects Anu Puustinen and Ville Hara designed Löyly to resemble a rock formation on the shore. Sustainability and community are at the heart of this unique space – using only FSC-certified materials to create a unifying holistic environment for current and future generations.
- Director: Meg Sutton
- Director of Photography: Hannu Pyyhtiä
Emissions: The Problem With NYC’s Skyscrapers
Local Law 97
Buildings account for approximately two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions in New York City and Mayor de Blasio has pledged to address these emissions as part of his plan to make the city carbon neutral by 2050.
Local Law 97 is one of the most ambitious plans for reducing emissions in the nation. Local Law 97 was included in the Climate Mobilization Act, passed by the City Council in April 2019 as part of the Mayor’s New York City Green New Deal.
Under this groundbreaking law, most buildings over 25,000 square feet will be required to meet new energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions limits by 2024, with stricter limits coming into effect in 2030. The goal is to reduce the emissions produced by the city’s largest buildings 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050. The law also established the Local Law 97 Advisory Board and Climate Working Groups to advise the city on how best to meet these aggressive sustainability goals.
Local Law 97 generally covers, with some exceptions:
- Buildings that exceed 25,000 gross square feet;
- Two or more buildings on the same tax lot that together exceed 50,000 square feet;
- Two or more buildings owned by a condo association that are governed by the same board of managers and that together exceed 50,000 square feet.
Art: ‘Picasso Sculptor – Matter and Body’ In Spain
Picasso Sculptor. Matter and Body
08/05/2023 to 09/09/2023
Picasso’s sculptures were seemingly overshadowed by his paintings and played a secondary role in his prolific artistic career. The first exhibition devoted chiefly to them did not take place until 1967, at the Tate Gallery in London, and until then his three-dimensional work had barely received any critical attention. However, sculpture was not a secondary concern for Picasso but a form of expression on a par with painting. According to Pierre Daix, ‘he was at least as great a sculptor as he was a painter, and for him these two aspects of his work were always complementary, for he had discovered very early on that the switching from one to the other enabled him to determine precisely what painting is and what sculpture is’.
Preview: London Review Of Books — May 18, 2023
Julian Bell at the Rijksmuseum
In London, I had taken A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal for a dependable rest point on strolls around the National Gallery. In Amsterdam, relocated to join 27 other Vermeers in the Rijksmuseum exhibition, its strangeness re-emerged. This canvas, executed towards the end of Vermeer’s relatively brief career (some four years, perhaps, before he died aged 43 in 1675), commits to a tactic he had earlier only toyed with: to set an internal picture as a wholly self-contained block within his own composition, uninterrupted by foreground forms.
Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – May 15, 2023
Notes from Prince Harry’s Ghostwriter
Collaborating on his memoir, “Spare,” meant spending hours together on Zoom, meeting his inner circle, and gaining a new perspective on the tabloids.
The Filmmakers Who Voyaged Inside the Body
For more than a decade, two “recovering” anthropologists have brought documentary closer to the human experience. Now they’ve made the camera part of our flesh and blood.
The Critics
- Books – Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Perilous Power of RespectabilityWe revere the man and revile the strategy, but King knew what he was doing.By Kelefa Sanneh
- Books – Briefly Noted“Nothing Stays Put,” “Still Life with Bones,” “Stealing,” and “Hit Parade of Tears.”
- Books – BuzzFeed, Gawker, and the Casualties of the Traffic WarsBen Smith’s new book shows how the race for clicks spawned—then strangled—the new media.By Nathan Heller
- Musical Events – Yo-Yo Ma Goes Underground with the Louisville OrchestraTeddy Abrams, the ensemble’s music director, has created a work about Mammoth Cave—and staged the piece inside its reverberating walls.By Alex Ross
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