Tag Archives: Artificial Intelligence

Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – April 19, 2024

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Times Literary Supplement (April 17, 2024): The latest issue features ‘A Heavy Reckoning’ – Shakespeare and War’; Judgment at Tokyo; Iranian women in revolt; Memoirs of a sociopath and A Chilean masterpiece…

Previews: Country Life Magazine – April 17, 2024

Country Life Magazine – April 16, 2024: The latest issue features:

Where the wild things are

Archibald Thorburn’s talent for capturing the essence and atmosphere of Nature set him apart from his contemporaries, as Charles Harris discovers

A (crab) apple a day

The mainstay of jam and jelly may have been the fruit that tempted Adam and Eve, suggests Ian Morton

The sound of centuries past

From theorbo to the viola da gamba, ancient musical instruments hold a fascination for a growing number of today’s players, finds Henrietta Bredin

Smart Thinking

James Alexander-Sinclair visits a home near Godalming, Surrey, where a blank canvas has been transformed into a beautiful, functional garden

The legacy

Sir John Soane’s acrimonious fall out with his favourite sons was their loss and the nation’s gain, declares Agnes Stamp

A hungry heart

Holly Black examines the stellar career of Wassily Kandinsky, who pioneered two major artistic movements in turbulent times

Arts & antiques

Carla Passino meets ‘ice queen’ Polly Townsend, who spent five fascinating weeks as an artist-in-residence in Antarctica

Christopher Price’s favourite painting

The Rare Breeds Survival Trust CEO selects a magical work that celebrates food production as well as the wonder of nature

From royal favourite to stranger’s heir

John Goodall charts the rise of Stansted Park, West Sussex, from medieval hunting lodge to spectacular country house

Too divine

A quartet of actresses take the plaudits from Michael Billington in leading roles ranging from Charlotte Brontë to Sarah Siddons

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – April 22, 2024

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The New Yorker (April 15, 2024): The new issue‘s cover features Ana Juan’s “Clickbait” – The artist captures the mesmerizing—and distracting—glow of modern entertainment.

Can the World Be Simulated?

Video-game engines were designed to closely mimic the mechanics of the real world. They’re now used for movies, TV shows, architecture, military trainings, virtual reality, and the metaverse.

Are Flying Cars Finally Here?

They have long been a symbol of a future that never came. Now a variety of companies are building them—or something close.

By Gideon Lewis-Kraus

The New York Times Book Review – April 14, 2024

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THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (April 12, 2024): The latest issue features  the cold-sweat-inducing premise of the two books on our cover this week, Annie Jacobsen’s “Nuclear War” and Sarah Scoles’s “Countdown.” 

Let’s Say Someone Did Drop the Bomb. Then What?

In “Nuclear War” and “Countdown,” Annie Jacobsen and Sarah Scoles talk to the people whose job it is to prepare for atomic conflict.

The Culture Warriors Are Coming for You Smart People

In Lionel Shriver’s new novel, judging intelligence and competence is a form of bigotry.

Doris Kearns Goodwin Wasn’t Competing With Her Husband

Richard Goodwin, an adviser to presidents, “was more interested in shaping history,” she says, “and I in figuring out how history was shaped.” Their bond is at the heart of her new book, “An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s.”

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – April 11, 2024

Volume 628 Issue 8007

Nature Magazine – April 11, 2024: The latest issue cover features the environmental challenges now facing insect populations, with climate change emerging as a key factor whose influence has potentially been underestimated

Green space near home has an antidepressant effect

People who had the most vegetation near their residences were the least likely to report depression and anxiety.

Advanced CRISPR system fixes a deadly mutation in cells

Applying a ‘base editor’ allows cells to crank out increased levels of a vital metabolic enzyme.

Baseball-sized hail in Spain began with a heatwave at sea

Climate change is partly to blame for a storm that pounded Girona province with record-breaking hailstones.

Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – April 12, 2024

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Times Literary Supplement (April 10, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Man Into Marble’ – Corin Throsby and Kathryn Sutherland on the real Byron; Anthony Burgess on music; Left in charge at the palazzo; Revolutionary Russia; A shorter Long Day’s Journey and What is lyric verse?…

The New York Times Book Review – April 7, 2024

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THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (April 5, 2024): The latest issue features Stephen King’s first novel, “Carrie,” published 50 years ago. The Book Review editors weren’t sure what to do with it, so they handed it to their mystery columnist, Newgate Callendar. He called it “brilliant” but conceded, “Maybe, strictly speaking, it is not a mystery.” Still, he added, “That this is a first novel is amazing. King writes with the kind of surety normally associated only with veteran writers.”

Stephen King’s First Book Is 50 Years Old, and Still Horrifyingly Relevant

This photo still life shows a hardcover edition of “Carrie” on a brown shag carpet, next to an orange rotary-dial telephone and a section of chair caning with an analog clock balanced on top. The wall behind them is paneled wood.

“Carrie” was published in 1974. Margaret Atwood explains its enduring appeal.

By Margaret Atwood

Stephen King’s “Carrie” burst upon an astonished world in 1974. It made King’s career. It has sold millions, made millions, inspired four films and passed from generation to generation. It was, and continues to be, a phenomenon.

“Carrie” was King’s first published novel. He started it as a men’s magazine piece, which was peculiar in itself: What made him think that a bunch of guys intent (as King puts it) on looking at pictures of cheerleaders who had somehow forgotten to put their underpants on would be riveted by an opening scene featuring gobs of menstrual blood? This is, to put it mildly, not the world’s sexiest topic, and especially not for young men. Failing to convince himself, King scrunched up the few pages he’d written and tossed them into the garbage.

How Stephen King Got Under Their Skin

As “Carrie” turns 50, George R.R. Martin, Sissy Spacek, Tom Hanks, the Archbishop of Canterbury and others recall the powerful impact the writer’s work has had on their lives.

This is a photo-illustration with a movie still of blood-covered Carrie, from the Stephen King novel, at its center.

In the late ’70s the image of Carrie covered in blood at the high school dance was already part of the national narrative — in a fun way. Struggling to afford the rent and the diapers while navigating those first years of a creative journey in the big city, I had not seen the movie nor read the book. Then a copy of “The Stand” was being gobbled up by our gang — read in a fever pitch on every subway ride and first thing in the morning. Once done, the copy was passed along to the next pair of eyes and promptly devoured.

Research Preview: Science Magazine – April 5, 2024

Current Issue Cover

Science Magazine – April 4, 2024: The new issue features ‘Lucy At 50’ – Fifty years ago in Ethiopia, paleoanthropologists unearthed the 3.2-million-year-old skeleton known as “Lucy” and transformed our views of humanity’s origins.

LUCY’S WORLD

Was Lucy the mother of us all? Fifty years after her discovery, the 3.2-million-year-old skeleton has rivals

Intelligent textiles are looking bright

Flexible fiber electronics couple with the human body for wireless tactile sensing

First page of PDF

The Economist Magazine – April 6, 2024 Preview

China’s risky reboot

The Economist Magazine (April 4, 2024): The latest issue features China’s risky reboot; Trump and nuclear deterrence; Latin America’s right-wingers; Why India’s elite love Modi and more…

Xi Jinping’s misguided plan to escape economic stagnation

It will disappoint China’s people and anger the rest of the world

Central banks have spent down their credibility

That will make inflation trickier to handle in future

Beware a world without American power

Donald Trump’s threat to dump allies would risk a nuclear free-for-all

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – April 4, 2024

Volume 628 Issue 8006

Nature Magazine – April 3, 2024: The latest issue cover features ‘Close Connections’ – Atlas reveals vast network of host-microbiome interactions…

A glowing glass transmits X-rays with ease

Copper-containing ‘nanoclusters’ form glasses with an orderly structure and unusual properties.

First pig kidney transplant in a person: what it means for the future

The operation’s early success has made researchers hopeful that clinical trials for xenotransplanted organs will start soon.

‘Best view ever’: observatory will map Big Bang’s afterglow in new detail

The Simons Observatory will search for signs of gravitational waves that originated from the Big Bang.