Tag Archives: Artificial Intelligence

Research Preview: Science Magazine-February 2, 2024

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Science Magazine – January 25, 2024: The new issue features ‘In Hot Water’ – How will El Niño change in a warmer world?; Herbivore impacts don’t depend on species origin; Reconstructing histories of sign language and more…

Degradation trumps mutations in cancer

Redirecting targeted proteins for degradation can overcome acquired drug resistance

Sustainability limits needed for CO2 removal

The true climate mitigation challenge is revealed by considering sustainability impacts

Politics: The Guardian Weekly – February 2, 2024

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The Guardian Weekly (February 1, 2024) – The new issue features ‘Party Crasher’ – Is Trump more vulnerable than he seems?; Israel, the ICJ ruling and The West; Europe’s Big Bad Wolves and more….

It had all seemed like business as usual for Donald Trump in the aftermath of last week’s New Hampshire Republican primaries, where he scored a comfortable victory over his only remaining challenger, Nikki Haley. And yet … was there something in his subsequent outburst towards Haley that suggested all was not well in Trumpworld?

Barring the mother of all reversals, Trump will soon be confirmed as the Republican presidential nominee. But, as David Smith and Jonathan Freedland outline in this week’s big story, Trump remains a deeply polarising figure in American politics, not least within his own party.

And his petulant irritation at Haley over her refusal to concede the race was a visible reminder to American floating voters of the unhinged personality that lurks beneath the orange veneer, something his campaign team will be desperate to avoid more of.

“The shadow of Trump is long, and his return seems closer than ever,” explains illustrator Alberto Miranda on his cover art for this week’s Guardian Weekly. “He is a controversial figure with a dangerous side and, at the same time, has an utterly comical aspect. That’s why we wanted to portray his influence in the Republican party in an almost grotesque manner.”

Research Preview: Nature Magazine- February 1, 2024

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Volume 626 Issue 7997

Nature Magazine – January 31, 2024: The latest issue cover features ‘Significant Otters’ – How restored top predators helped slow down coastal damage; Hijacked neurons boost cancer’s ability to grow and spread; Mechanical process yields flexible fibers for wearable electronics…

How does chronic stress harm the gut? New clues emerge

A bacterium in the intestines of stressed mice interferes with cells that protect against pathogens.

How cancer hijacks the nervous system to grow and spread

A new wave of research is unpicking the relationship between cancer and neurons — and looking for ways to stop the crosstalk.

The clever system that gave Roman wines an amber colour and nutty aroma

Wine-fermentation jars used in Georgia today hint at the properties of ancient vintages.

Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – Feb 2, 2024

Times Literary Supplement (January 31 2024): The latest issue features ‘Back to Nature’ – The counterculture begins with Thoreau; Enlightenment dimmed; The secret state and the IRA; Homosexuality in early modern Europe and A family haunting….

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine- February 5, 2024

A family shares a meal to celebrate Lunar New Year.

The New Yorker (January 29, 2024): The new issue‘s cover features Sarula Bao’s “Lunar New Year” – The artist depicts the joys of gathering with loved ones, around a table of good food

The Rural Ski Slope Caught Up in an International Scam

When the scheme became public Vermonts governor said “We all feel betrayed.”

A federal program promised to bring foreign investment to remote parts of the country. It soon became rife with fraud.

By Sheelah Kolhatkar

As the general manager of the Jay Peak ski resort, Bill Stenger rose most days around 6 a.m. and arrived at the slopes before seven. He’d check in with his head snowmaker and the ski-patrol staff, visit the two hotels on the property, and chat with the maintenance workers, the lift operators, the food-and-beverage manager, and the ski-school instructors—a kind of management through constant motion. Stenger is seventy-five, with white hair, wire-rimmed reading glasses, and a sturdy physique that makes him look built for fuzzy sweaters. 

The Perverse Policies That Fuel Wildfires

We thought we could master nature, but we were playing with fire.

By Elizabeth Kolbert

Ukraine’s Democracy in Darkness

A photo-illustration of Zelensky and the Ukrainian parliament.

With elections postponed and no end to the war with Russia in sight, Volodymyr Zelensky and his political allies are becoming like the officials they once promised to root out: entrenched.

By Masha Gessen

The New York Times Book Review – January 28, 2024

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THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (January 26, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Ukraine’s Leading Man’ – In “The Showman”, Simon Shuster makes the case that Volodymyr Zelensky’s past as an entertainer helps him on the world stage…

Volodymyr Zelensky’s Greatest Performance

A photograph of reporters in a conference hall gathered around a long desk, listening to Zelensky addressing them from a flat panel TV at the end of the desk. Some of them are wielding boom mics and large cameras. Others are typing at the desk.

In “The Showman,” the journalist Simon Shuster trails the entertainer-turned-wartime president as he rallies the world for support.

By David Kortava

THE SHOWMAN: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky, by Simon Shuster


Nine months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in 2022, the Time magazine correspondent Simon Shuster caught a ride on a presidential train that few, if any, journalists had seen from the inside. In a private carriage, with the blinds drawn, Volodymyr Zelensky was fueling up on coffee during a trip to the frontline. He’d been reading about Winston Churchill, but with Shuster he’d sooner discuss another key World War II figure: Charlie Chaplin.

“He used the weapon of information during the Second World War to fight against fascism,” Zelensky said. “There were these people, these artists, who helped society. And their influence was often stronger than artillery.”

Mightier — and Meaner — Than the Sword

Emily Cockayne’s “Penning Poison,” a history of anonymous letters, reveals the ways we’ve been torturing one another, verbally, for centuries.

The Rise and Fall and Rise of San Francisco

Two books — “The Longest Minute,” by Matthew J. Davenport, and “Portal,” by John King — examine the City by the Bay’s resiliency from very different angles.

The Economist Magazine – January 27, 2024 Preview

How the border could cost Biden the election

The Economist Magazine (January 25, 2024): The latest issue features How the border could cost Biden the election; Could AI transform the emerging world?; Saving coffee from climate change and Why you shouldn’t retire…

How the border could cost Biden the election

Could AI transform the emerging world?

AI holds tantalising promise for the emerging world

Saving coffee from climate change

A warming planet threatens the world’s favourite drug

Britain’s nuclear plans

The government has yet another plan for a nuclear renaissance

Why you shouldn’t retire

Pleasure cruises, golf and tracing the family tree are not that fulfilling

Research Preview: Science Magazine -January 26, 2024

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Science Magazine – January 25, 2024: The new issue features ‘Pump It Up’ – Pushing water uphill to store green energy…

How giant ‘water batteries’ could make green power reliable

For times when wind and solar fall short, some utilities are turning to an old technology called pumped storage hydropower

A ghostly quasiparticle rooted in a century-old Italian mystery could unlock quantum computing’s potential

Before he disappeared, Ettore Majorana made a strange prediction. Researchers are still hunting for the truth about him—and his namesake particles

Politics: The Guardian Weekly – January 26, 2024

The Guardian Weekly (January 25, 2024) – The new issue features ‘True Colours’ – What the AFD really wants for Germany; The fading hopes for Middle East Peace; Trump’s victory and DeSantis’s doomed campaign…

Events in the Middle East continue to unfold at a bewildering pace, with pockets of conflict opening up across the region. Diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour rounds up a week of flashpoints and assesses increasingly slim hopes for controlling the situation. And Oliver Holmes provides a revealing profile of Yemen, one of the most unchanging and least visited countries in the Middle East.

The Weekly went to press before news of Donald Trump’s victory in the New Hampshire Republican primary on Tuesday night, but you can catch up with all the latest Guardian coverage and reaction here. In the magazine, David Smith delivers a postmortem on Ron DeSantis’s doomed campaign, while Jonathan Freedland argues that Trump’s march to the White House can still be stopped.

Our long-read features take somewhat divergent paths this week. First, Charlotte Edwardes meets Gary Lineker, the former England footballer turned TV presenter whose penchant for regularly airing his liberal worldviews has made him public enemy No 1 for Britain’s anti-woke brigade.

Then, Chananya Groner unearths a remarkable story of factionalism and messianic fervour within New York’s Hasidic Jewish community, stretching back 30 years, which led to secret tunnels recently being discovered beneath a Brooklyn synagogue.

And in Culture, Charlotte Higgins meets the classical musicians Dalia Stasevska and Joshua Bell, who are resurrecting a long-forgotten Ukrainian concerto as a gesture of defiance to Russia.

Finally, we’re on the lookout for your best photographs of the world around us. For a chance for your picture to feature in the magazine, send us your best shot, telling us where you were in the world when you took it and why the scene resonated with you at that particular time.

Research Preview: Nature Magazine- January 25, 2024

Volume 625 Issue 7996

Nature Magazine – January 24, 2024: The latest issue cover features ‘Brain Drain’ – A hub for the outflow of Cerebrospinal Fluid…

A quantum fix makes e-commerce more tamper-resistant

Light pulses with specific quantum properties could be harnessed to send digital ‘contracts’ between buyer and seller.

How an exercise habit paves the way for injured muscles to heal

Mice that work out regularly have higher levels of a molecule that promotes muscle regeneration than sedentary mice do.

Flexible geothermal power makes it easier to harness Earth’s inner heat

Next-generation plants that respond to demand could be key to making a low-carbon energy source more economically appealing.