NPR News Now reports: Day 1 at Democratic Convention featured speech by Michele Obama, weather advisory for excessive heat in the West, and other top news.
“Monocle 24 – The Urbanist” Fernando Augusto Pacheco takes the plunge into one of Zürich’s lakeside public baths.
Badis are essentially public “baths” or “swimming areas”, where you can come to swim in the lake or the river, and then cool off on the wooden docks or grass, grab something to eat or drink, socialize and pass the hours reading, sleeping, tanning or just enjoying the sun. Most badis in Zürich cost 8 Francs to enter, though some are free.
Bloomberg Businessweek talks with Jim Rowley, Chief Executive Officer at Crunch Fitness discusses how gyms can safely reopen amid the pandemic.
Crunch Fitness is a chain of over 300 franchised fitness clubs located in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Axios Today reports: Democrats are going ahead with a mostly virtual convention, starting tonight. But how TV networks will cover the event, and how the millions of American voters watching it will react is still up in the air.
Guests: Axios’ Margaret Talev, Jonathan Swan, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.
The Economist Magazine presents a selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, Xi Jinping is reinventing state capitalism (10:20), Belarus’s sham election (14:25), and the decline of the office romance.
DW Radio News 24/7 reports: Recently arrested Hong Kong media CEO Jimmy Lai vow that pro-democracy protests against China will continue, Belarus protests, and WHO reports 300,000 new Covid-19 cases in last 24 hours.
Rarely does a work of history contain startling implications for the present, but in The People, No Thomas Frank pulls off that explosive effect by showing us that everything we think we know about populism is wrong. Today “populism” is seen as a frightening thing, a term pundits use to describe the racist philosophy of Donald Trump and European extremists. But this is a mistake.
The real story of populism is an account of enlightenment and liberation; it is the story of American democracy itself, of its ever-widening promise of a decent life for all. Taking us from the tumultuous 1890s, when the radical left-wing Populist Party―the biggest mass movement in American history―fought Gilded Age plutocrats to the reformers’ great triumphs under Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, Frank reminds us how much we owe to the populist ethos. Frank also shows that elitist groups have reliably detested populism, lashing out at working-class concerns. The anti-populist vituperations by the Washington centrists of today are only the latest expression.
Frank pummels the elites, revisits the movement’s provocative politics, and declares true populism to be the language of promise and optimism. The People, No is a ringing affirmation of a movement that, Frank shows us, is not the problem of our times, but the solution for what ails us.
NPR News Now reports: Congress and the White House battle over a new stimulus bill, UAE in talks to normalize relations with Israel, Afghanistan and Taliban prisoners, and other world news.
NPR Up First reports: Facebook is launching a tool to help users register to vote. Kamala Harris’ ethnicity will be important to voters of color. And, Thai students protest the military’s involvement in Thai politics.
This week’s Nature Podcast looks at: Triggering swarming behaviour in locusts, antibody therapies as a bridge to Covid-19 vaccine, and new insights into how humans synchronize.
In this episode:
01:56 Understanding swarming behaviour
Swarms of migratory locusts regularly devastate crops across the world, but why these swarms form has been a mystery. Now, a team of researchers have identified a compound that causes solitary locusts to come together in their billions – a finding that could have practical applications for preventing this behaviour. Research article: Guo et al.; News & Views: Catching plague locusts with their own scent
08:48 Coronapod
We discuss the role that monoclonal antibodies may have as therapeutics to treat COVID-19. Although promising, there are numerous hurdles to overcome before these drugs can be used. News: Antibody therapies could be a bridge to a coronavirus vaccine — but will the world benefit?
15:30 Research Highlights
A satellite’s fecal find reveals that Antarctica’s emperor penguin population is much larger than previously thought, and changing how genes are named to avoid Excel’s autocorrect. Research Highlight: Satellites find penguins by following the poo; Research article: Bruford et al.
17:49 An out-of-sync arts project
A collaborative art-science project featuring a network of connected violinists has given new insights into how humans synchronize. Research article: Shahal et al.
23:51 Briefing Chat
We take a look at some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time we find out about the odd immune system of the anglerfish, and the beetle that can pass through a frog’s digestive system without coming to harm. Wired: The Anglerfish Deleted Its Immune System to Fuse With Its Mate; Research paper: Sugiura
Boomers Daily 