The weekend’s top news stories, with Georgina Godwin and regular Monocle 24 contributor Stephen Dalziel. Plus: a check-in from the Balkans.
Audio
Neuroscience: Ardem Patapoutian On Human Sense Of Touch (Podcast)
Morning News: Looming U.S. Foreclosures, Dutch Slavery Exhibit, Marmite
America’s pandemic-driven measures granting relief on mortgages and rent arrears will soon expire, and millions of people are in danger of losing their homes.
The Netherlands’ history of slavery is often overlooked; a new exhibition goes to great lengths to confront it. And how Marmite’s love-it-or-hate-it reputation represents an unlikely marketing coup.
Science: Metabolic Health Markers & Obesity, Type 1 Diabetes, “Bone Rooms”
First this week, Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the paradox of metabolically healthy obesity. They chat about the latest research into the relationships between markers of metabolic health—such as glucose or cholesterol levels in the blood—and obesity. They aren’t as tied as you might think.
Next, Colin Dayan, professor of clinical diabetes and metabolism at Cardiff University and senior clinical researcher at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford, joins Sarah to discuss his contribution to a special issue on type 1 diabetes. In his review, Colin and colleagues lay out research into how type 1 diabetes can be detected early, delayed, and maybe even one day prevented. Finally, in the first of a six-patrt series of book interviews on race and science, guest host Angela Saini talks with author and professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Samuel Redman, about his book Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums. The two discuss the legacy of human bone collecting and racism in museums today.
Morning News: Balkans Travel, China Nuclear Arsenal, U.S. Travel Ban
We discuss the creation of a “mini-Schengen” common-travel area in the Balkans. Plus: we analyse what the expansion of China’s nuclear arsenal means for the rest of the world and why the US is persevering with its travel ban on most foreign citizens.
Science: 890 Million-Year-Old Sponge, Caffeinated Bees, Greenland Glaciers
Researchers debate whether an ancient fossil is the oldest animal yet discovered, and a new way to eavesdrop on glaciers.
In this episode:
01:04 Early sponge
This week in Nature, a researcher claims to have found a fossil sponge from 890-million-years-ago. If confirmed, this would be more than 300-million-years older than the earliest uncontested animal fossils but not all palaeontologists are convinced.
Research Article: Turner
10:13 Research Highlights
A caffeine buzz appears to improve bees’ memory, and reconstructing an Iron Age man’s final meal.
Research Highlight: A caffeine buzz gives bees flower power
Research Highlight: The guts of a ‘bog body’ reveal sacrificed man’s final meal
12:34 Eavesdropping on a glacier’s base
We hear about one researcher’s unorthodox attempt to listen in to the seismic-whisper at the foot of a Greenland glacier – a method that might reveal more about conditions under these enormous blocks of ice.
Research Article: Podolskiy et al.
Morning News: U.S.-India Relations, Russia And Afghanistan, Tokyo 2021
We discuss what’s on the agenda as US secretary of state Antony Blinken arrives in India. We then get the lowdown on Russia’s recent talks with the Taliban and assess the Kremlin’s intentions in the region.
Plus: the latest action from Tokyo 2020.
Morning News: Crisis In Tunisia, Vatican Trial, Climate-Changed Wine
The president has sacked the prime minister and suspended parliament. It is clear that the country needed a shake-up in its hidebound politics—but is this the right way?
A sprawling trial starting today involving the most senior Catholic-church official ever indicted is sure to cast light on the Vatican’s murky finances. And how climate change is already changing winemaking.
Morning News: World Economies Amid Covid, Tokyo 2021 Medal Count
A.M. Edition for July 26. WSJ’s Paul Hannon examines where world economies stand amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the highly contagious Delta variant.
Wall Street traders prepare for a long list of corporate earnings this week. American swimmers win medals at the Tokyo Olympics. And, a push for government-funded diapers.
Sunday Morning: News And Stories From Zurich, London and Greece
Emma Nelson covers the weekend’s biggest and most interesting news stories with Latika Bourke, Charles Hecker, Eemeli Isoaho, Matt Wolf and Monocle’s Europe editor at large Ed Stocker.
