Research Preview: Science Magazine – Oct 20, 2023

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Science Magazine – October 20, 2023: The new issue features Copious Cicadas – Mass emergence alters food webs; A giant European telescope rises as U.S. rivals await rescue; Probe of Alzheimer’s studies finds ‘egregious misconduct’, and more…

A giant European telescope rises as U.S. rivals await rescue

ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) under construction at sunrise in the Chilean Atacama Desert.
In August, the Sun rose behind the Extremely Large Telescope, under construction in Chile.

Past the halfway point, Extremely Large Telescope prepares to receive first mirrors

A web of steel girders is rising from the flattened summit of Cerro Armazones, 3000 meters above sea level in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The dome it will support will be vast—with a footprint as big as a soccer field and almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty— and unexpectedly nimble: It will smoothly rotate on rails as a giant telescope inside tracks stars through the night.

Probe of Alzheimer’s studies finds ‘egregious misconduct’

Co-developer of biotech’s drug couldn’t supply original data

U.S. hands out $7 billion for hydrogen hubs

Gas could replace fossil fuels and fight climate change—if it is made cleanly

Reviews: The 2024 Pebble Flow Electric RV Trailer

CNET (October 19, 2023) – The Pebble Flow electric trailer boosts towing efficiency, parks itself with remote robotics and can even power your house in an emergency thanks to its big battery and electric motors.

Video timeline: 00:00 Pebble Flow RV 00:10 Development of the Pebble Flow 00:48 Dual Electric Motors 01:36 App-controlled Remote Parking 02:02 45 Kilowatt-hour Battery 02:31 Magic Hitch 03:10 Instant Camp Feature

Previews: History Today Magazine – November 2023

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HISTORY TODAY MAGAZINE (NOVEMBER 2023) – This issue features The murder John F. Kennedy 60 years on, the dirty secrets of medieval monks, what the Nazis learnt from the Beer Hall Putsch, Christianity’s bloody history in Japan, and deaf expression in Renaissance art.

What Killed Kennedy?

John F. Kennedy in the presidential limousine before his assassination on 22 November 1963. Kennedy’s wife Jacqueline sits next to him; Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, are in front. World History Archive/Alamy Stock Photo.

Was it the mob? A coup? Cuban dissidents? War hawks? 60 years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the theories are still debated. Do any of them hold up?

The Beer Hall Putsch: What Hitler Learnt

Adolf Hitler in Landsberg Prison following the Beer Hall Putsch, 1924. Shawshots/Alamy Stock Photo.

In the aftermath of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923, Hitler was in prison and the Nazi Party banned. But its failure taught him valuable lessons.

The Flies, Fleas and Rotting Flesh of Medieval Monks

Jakob von Wart taking his bath, from the Codex Manesse, Switzerland, c.1305-40. The Protected Art Archive/Alamy Stock Photo

Repulsive revelations of bodily infestations were viewed by some in medieval Europe as proof of sanctity. But for most, parasites were just plain disgusting.

‘Confinement’ by Jessica Cox review

A nursing mother in ‘The Third Class Carriage’ by Honoré Daumier, c. 1862-64. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

Confinement: The Hidden History of Maternal Bodies in Nineteenth-Century Britain by Jessica Cox looks at the engine of the Victorian population boom: motherhood.

Exposition: A Tour Of The ‘Paris+ Par Art Basel 2023’

ART VISION TV / C&B JOURNAL (October 19, 2023) – The inaugural edition of Paris+ par Art Basel brought together 156 premier galleries from 30 countries and territories – including 61 exhibitors with spaces in France – in a new flagship event that further amplifies Paris’s international standing as a cultural capital.

Paris+ par Art Basel Paris 2023

Paris+ par Art Basel Paris 2023

A strong line-up of galleries from France was joined by exhibitors from across Europe, Africa, Asia, North and South America, and the Middle East for a global showcase of the highest quality. Reaching beyond the Grand Palais Éphémère, the fair presented an active cultural program from morning to night, all week, and throughout the city, through a robust program of collaborations with Paris’s cultural institutions and its city-wide sector Sites.

Previews: The Economist Magazine – Oct 21, 2023

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The Economist Magazine (October 21, 2023): The latest issue features ‘Where will this end?’ – Only America can pull the Middle East back from the brink; Are American CEO’s overpaid?; The holes in export controls; Argentina’s radical option, and more….

The stakes could hardly be higher in the Israel-Gaza conflict

Only America can pull the Middle East back from the brink

America’s Republicans cannot agree on a speaker. Good

How the GOP could yet, inadvertently, further the national interest

Poland shows that populists can be beaten

A victory for the rule of law in the heart of Europe


Moon Missions: Launch Of The New ‘Lunar Economy’

Financial Times (October 18, 2023) – The rush back to the Moon has begun. The US and China are planning permanently crewed bases on the lunar surface. Billions of dollars in contracts are up for grabs as companies are launching ambitious new support projects, from growing food in space to a new lunar internet.

The FT’s Peggy Hollinger asks if the next great leap forward in space is a lunar economy?

#space #moon #spaceexploration

News: Gaza Protests & U.S. Aid Deal; Germany-Egypt Mediation, House Speaker

The Globalist Podcast (October 19, 2023) – Journalist Stefanie Glinski brings us the latest on the Israel-Hamas conflict from Jerusalem.

We also take a look at Olaf Scholz’s trip to Egypt and an attack on a synagogue in Berlin. University College Dublin’s Scott Lucas talks us through the chaos in Congress as Jim Jordan scrambles for enough support to be the next US House Speaker. Plus: Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to North Korea.

The New York Times — Thursday, October 19, 2023

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U.S. Says Israel Didn’t Cause Hospital Blast, as Biden Promises Aid to Gaza

President Biden, squinting and holding sunglasses in one hand, embraces Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, whose back is to the viewer.

President Biden backed Israel’s claim that a Gaza City explosion that killed hundreds, which Hamas blamed on Israel, had come from a failed rocket launch by an armed Palestinian group.

In Tel Aviv, Biden’s Embrace of Israel Came With a Gentle Warning

In a rare wartime visit, President Biden paired his support for Israel with a plea not to let overwhelming grief or anger drive the country to go too far.

After Writing an Anti-Israel Letter, Harvard Students Are Doxxed

A truck with a billboard displayed their names and photos, and critics put out do-not-hire lists. The students say it’s a campaign to shut them up.

A Sudden Blast, Then Carnage in a Hospital Courtyard

“We’ve never lived through a war this intense,” said a Palestinian journalist who captured the aftermath of the blast in Gaza that killed hundreds.

Adventure Travel: A Polar Passage By Sailing Yacht

Sony I Alpha Universe (October 18, 2023) – Go behind the scenes with Sony Artisan Renan Ozturk and writer Mark Synnott on an ocean expedition through the 8,000-mile Northwest Passage.

Video timeline: Chapters 0:00 – Introduction 3:00 – Weather & Ice 5:09 – Documenting the Journey 7:00 – Stuck in the Ice 10:00 – Finishing the Journey

Hear from Renan about the challenges they faced during their polar passage and how he balanced getting the content he needed while also staying safe and helping crew the boat.

Exhibitions: Vertigo Of Color – Matisse, Derain, & The Origins Of Fauvism

Study for "Luxe, calme et volupté" (Etude pour “Luxe, calme et volupté”), Henri Matisse  French, Oil on canvas
Study for “Luxe, calme et volupté” – Henri Matisse – 1904

Vertigo of Color: Matisse, Derain, and the Origins of Fauvism

October 13, 2023–January 21, 2024

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (October 18, 2023) – Over an intense nine weeks in the summer of 1905 in the modest fishing village of Collioure on the French Mediterranean, Henri Matisse and Andre Derain embarked on a partnership that led to a wholly new, radical artistic language later known as Fauvism.

The Port of Collioure (Le port de Collioure), André Derain  French, Oil on canvas
The Port of Collioure – André Derain – 1905

Their daring, energetic experiments with color, form, structure, and perspective changed the course of French painting; it marked an introduction to early modernism and introduced Matisse’s first important body of work in his long career.

View of Collioure (Vue de Collioure), Henri Matisse  French, Oil on paper mounted on board
View of Collioure – Henri Matisse – 1905

This exhibition, which is co-organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, emphasizes as never before the legacy of that summer and examines the paintings, drawings, and watercolors of Matisse and Derain through sixty-five works on loan from national and international museums, including Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou; National Galleries of Scotland; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York; as well as private collections.

Fishing Boats, Collioure (Bateaux, pêcheurs, Collioure), André Derain  French, Oil on canvas
Fishing Boats – André Derain – 1905

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