December 20, 2022 - Ukraine war: Russia only hurts itself with its inflammatory discourse on Kazakhstan

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Ukraine war: Russia only hurts itself with its inflammatory discourse on Kazakhstan It has been a turbulent year in Russian-Kazakh relations. Russia’s oil rich neighbour, which straddles central Asia and eastern Europe, started the year by asking for Russia’s help in restoring stability after protests erupted in its major cities. But Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has affected their relationship. The president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has refused to recognise Russia’s annexation of territory in Ukraine, distancing his country from its long-time ally. Continued here

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Gen Z beauty brands can use 'friendly' chatbots to boost body image as well as sales, research shows Some members of “generation Z” – people born after 1996, the oldest of whom are turning 26 in 2022 – spend hundreds of pounds per year on beauty products. In fact, gen Z members are often more willing to spend on beauty and skincare products than previous generations. Cosmetics brands often use cutting-edge technology to sell their wares. Companies such as Mac, Sephora and L’Oréal all use tech including artificial intelligence, augmented reality and data analytics to help customers discover and choose new makeup these days. Continued here

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Prescription poop could be the future of medicine A recent FDA approval is likely only the start of a promising future for prescription poop. Insulin, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, poop. You likely don’t think of the latter as medicinal, but there are good reasons to think that’s about to change. Last month, the FDA approved a fecal-based treatment for the first time. The drug, Rebyota, is approved for people with reoccurring bacterial infections of Clostridium difficile. C. diff. causes diarrhea and inflammation of the colon; it’s responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in the United States each year. Continued here

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Pets can get colds too - here's how to keep them safe Jacqueline Boyd is affiliated with The Kennel Club (UK) through membership, as Chair of the Activities Health and Welfare Subgroup, member of the Dog Health Group and Chair of the Heelwork to Music Working Party. Jacqueline also writes, consults and coaches on canine matters on an independent basis, in addition to her academic role. With winter comes cold and flu season, making coughs and sneezes rife. But it isn’t just humans who get struck down by these seasonal illnesses – our pets can too. Continued here

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Even if Jan. 6 referrals turn into criminal charges - or convictions - Trump will still be able to run in 2024 and serve as president if elected The criminal referral of Donald Trump to the Department of Justice by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack is largely symbolic – the panel itself has no power to prosecute any individual. Nonetheless, the recommendation that Trump be investigated for four potential crimes – obstructing an official proceeding; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make a false statement; and inciting, assisting or aiding or comforting an insurrection – raises the prospect of an indictment, or even a conviction, of the former president. Continued here

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Too many Maori and Asian people are drowning - can better cultural understanding reverse the trend? With summer here, families and tourists will flock to New Zealand’s beaches, rivers and lakes to paddle, swim, surf, fish, boat and kayak. But despite our love of the water, New Zealanders have a terrible record of drowning deaths. Last summer was the worst year for drownings in a decade. Our ten-year average beach and coastal drowning rate is 44% per capita higher than Australia’s. According to Water Safety NZ chief executive Daniel Gerrard, “Drowning is the leading cause of recreational death and the third-highest cause of accidental death.” Continued here

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Children Were Losing Their Indian Roots. She Started a Toy Company to Reconnect Them Avani Modi Sarkar explains how she found a niche--and thriving--market in the toy industry. Continued here

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London Underground polluted with particles small enough to enter the human bloodstream -- new research The London Underground is key to the functioning of England’s capital city. Roughly 2 million people use it each day. But it is polluted with small particulate matter from heavy metals, including iron oxide, that may be damaging to human health. These particles range in size, but so-called PM2.5 particles are typically less than two and a half micrometres (2,500 nanometres) in diameter and can cause asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases and neurological problems. If it was classified as an outdoor environment, concentrations of particulate matter on the underground would exceed the air quality limits set by the World Health Organisation. Continued here

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'The Witcher: Blood Origin' is a bafflingly bad omen for the Netflix franchise The Witcher: Blood Origin is a dissatisfying prequel that foreshadows a disastrous future for the Netflix franchise. “Remember me,” one Elf stubbornly declares in The Witcher: Blood Origin before she rips a dagger from her heart, bleeding herself out instead of staying humble. Continued here

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How to Fix Broken Meetings Before They Even Start Answer these 3 questions to make your meetings sing. Continued here

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How AI Is Improving Data Management Data management is crucial for creating an environment where data can be useful across the entire organization. Effective data management minimizes the problems that stem from bad data, such as added friction, poor predictions, and even simple inaccessibility, ideally before they occur. Managing data, though, is a labor-intensive activity: It involves cleaning, extracting, integrating, cataloging, labeling, and organizing data, and defining and performing the many data-related tasks that often lead to frustration among both data scientists and employees without “data” in their titles. Artificial intelligence has been applied successfully in thousands of ways, but one of the less visible and less dramatic ones is in improving data management. There are five common data management areas where we see AI playing important roles: Continued here

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That Feeling When Have So Many Things to Do You Can't Do Any of Them? Psychologists Have a Name for It and a Solution  When your to-do list is so scary you cant do any of it, thats called "overwhelm freeze." Psychology has a solution. Continued here

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What's program-related investment? A management scholar explains one way that foundations support charities without giving money away for good Most U.S. foundations seek to preserve the money that funds their grants and operations for the long term. They accomplish this by not giving away more money than they earn as returns on the assets held in their endowments. By law, foundations must give away or spend on their operations a total of at least 5% of what they hold in endowments every year. In practice, foundations spend more than that on their total grants and expenses – around 8% of their assets in 2018, for example. Continued here

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Why is astronomy a science but astrology is not? Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Both astrology and astronomy are in the business of making predictions. The theories of astrology claim that the positions of the planets and the stars influence who you are and what happens to you: your job, your personality and your romantic partner. Astrologers make these predictions based on the positions of the planets at the time of your birth. Continued here

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Seeking a Path to Enlightenment (or Cheese) Personal History by David Sedaris: after thirty years together, sleeping is the new having sex. © 2022 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices Continued here

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Elon Musk Named Most Exhausting Person of 2022 NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—Recognizing him for his “relentless contributions to the weariness of humanity,” Time has named Elon Musk the Most Exhausting Person of 2022. In bestowing the title on Musk, Time cited the Twitter C.E.O.’s “nonstop but fruitless efforts to fill the yawning chasm of his soul by seeking the attention of indifferent strangers.” Continued here

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Be More Productive, Accomplished and Fulfilled, Starting Today: Like Warren Buffett, Embrace Einstein's Law of Focus According to Einstein, what you decide not to do can make all the difference.Continued here S7 All Great Leaders Are Great Storytellers. Here's The Formula For Great Storytelling Stories unite people. As a leader, it is your job to be a great storyteller and bring your team together. Continued here S12 Detectorists: Why a metal-detecting show became a global hit The Danebury Metal Detecting Club is not an exclusive organisation. On the contrary, new members are welcomed with open arms. Yet it remains a small group. There's club president Terry Seymour, probably one of the leading experts on the buttons of North West Essex. There's Louise, who can be pretty loud, and her girlfriend Varde, usually very quiet. There's "young" Hugh (actually in his 30s), sarcastic Russell – and Andy and Lance. The latter two, old friends who regularly go detecting together, are the focus of the beloved, Bafta-winning BBC comedy Detectorists. We've followed their ups and downs for three six-episode series and a Christmas special. Now, after a five-year gap, they are returning for another festive special which, its writer, director and star Mackenzie Crook tells BBC Culture, will probably be the final instalment. Continued here S16 The lenses of fishes' eyes record their lifetime exposure to toxic mercury, new research finds PhD Candidate in Environmental Biology, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry Mercury pollution is a global threat to human health, especially to unborn babies and young children. Exposure to methylmercury, a type that forms when mercury washes into lakes and streams, can harm children’s brain development and cause symptoms including speech impairment and muscle weakness in adults who consume seafood as their main food source. Methylmercury also threatens health and reproduction in fish and other wildlife. Continued here S48 Girl, gone: Vikki Wakefield's twisty thriller explores every parent's worst nightmare Vikki Wakefield’s first foray into adult fiction begins with every parent’s worst-case scenario: single mum Abbie is at a busy outdoor market with her six-year-old, Sarah, when her daughter disappears. Sarah is suspected abducted, and despite all the police resources, there are no leads on her disappearance. Abbie is left to pick up the pieces of her life and carry on. In the very first chapter, we recognise this narrator as one who has survived the worst and lives with an absence of answers: Continued here S19 Why ambulance workers in England and Wales are going on strike Emergency service workers are set to strike on December 21 2022, to demand better pay. The strike action is happening as the UK is witnessing the worst ambulance handover delays on record. Thousands of patients are having to wait outside A&Es up and down the country in the back of ambulances, as backlogs are cleared. A parliamentary inquiry was launched in September 2022, amid media reports of “appalling waits” for ambulances – up to 40 hours long – and lives left at risk on a daily basis. Adrian Boyle, the head of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, recently told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that this is forcing ambulances to be “wards on wheels” and could cause excess deaths in England. Continued here S8 Planning to Win Your Next Negotiation 3 planning strategies to use beyond your gut and intuition. Continued here S9 American Airlines Announced a Controversial Change. It’s a Lesson In Taking Care of Your Best Customers Change the way you reward your customers. Continued here S13 How the Transcontinental railroad forever changed the US "You can almost feel the pain it took," said Roland Hsu, standing inside the train tunnels along Donner Summit in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. Jagged and bumpy, the walls of the tunnel hardly resemble underpasses made by modern-day machinery. Instead, in the 1860s, teams of Chinese labourers blasted through the granite and painstakingly hand-chiselled 15 shafts through the Sierra Nevada so that the first transcontinental railroad could whisk passengers 1,800 miles from Sacramento, California, to Omaha, Nebraska, cutting travel times from six months to just six days and forever transforming the nation. Continued here S42 What the criminal referral of Trump means - a constitutional law expert explains the Jan. 6 committee action After 18 months investigating, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol held its final public meeting on Dec. 19, 2022. The panel recommended that the U.S. Department of Justice bring criminal charges against former President Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. The House committee recommended that the Justice Department pursue four main charges against Trump – obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to make a false statement and inciting or assisting an insurrection. The committee also recommended that the House Ethics Committee sanction four Republican members of Congress who refused the committee’s subpoena requests to provide information about the events of Jan. 6. Continued here S43 Should we move our loved one with dementia into a nursing home? 6 things to consider when making this tough decision Almost 400,000 Australians are living with dementia. A million or more family members and friends care for and support them. About two-thirds of people with dementia live in the community. Deciding to move a loved one into a nursing home is an incredibly difficult one. I found it difficult and stressful considering this move for my own loved one, even with 20 years of experience in dementia and aged care. Sometimes the decision has to be made quickly, such as when the person is in hospital. Sometimes the decision takes much longer and is made over months, or even years. Continued here S67 The Latest Political Humiliation for Donald Trump The House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, formally recommended to the Justice Department on Monday that former President Donald Trump be criminally prosecuted. The committee accused him of violating four federal laws: inciting insurrection, obstructing an act of Congress, conspiring to defraud the United States, and conspiring to make a false statement. The committee’s action is unprecedented. No President in American history has ever before been referred by Congress for criminal prosecution. In a hundred-and-fifty-four-page executive summary of its findings, the committee said that Trump—more than any other individual—was responsible for the storming of the Capitol by a violent mob that tried to disrupt the certification of his defeat in the 2020 election.“The central cause of Jan. 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed,” the report states. “None of the events of Jan. 6th would have happened without him.” Continued here S65 Bookforum and a Bleak Year for Literary Magazines On Monday at noon, the literary review Bookforum tweeted out its own death notice: the current issue would regretfully “be the magazine’s last.” No other explanation was given for the sudden shuttering, but, the week before, it was announced that Bookforum’s parent publication, the monthly art-world bible Artforum, had been sold to Penske Media Corporation. Penske, or P.M.C., is a conglomerate that includes everything from Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter to the art magazines ARTnews and Art in America. According to Brooke Jaffe, a P.M.C. vice-president, the company’s purchase agreement included only Artforum, and any decision related to Bookforum’s closure “is unrelated to Penske Media.” But acquiring the art magazine without its scrappier literary offspring seems to have secured Bookforum’s demise. As Kate Koza, the associate publisher of Artforum, told me, “The publication of Bookforum was no longer financially possible without Artforum’s income and efficiencies.” (Full disclosure: I consulted for ARTnews in 2020.) What is certain is that a vital bellwether of book culture has been lost. Bookforum began publishing in 1994 and remained dynamic and influential right up until its closure. For a certain segment of readers, each new issue’s table of contents was an exciting event, bringing reviews that drove literary conversation and provided a panorama of the season in book publishing. Among the standout pieces that come to my mind are Max Read’s review on Twitter and the death drive, Charlotte Shane’s deep-reading of Maggie Nelson, Nikil Saval’s exploration of American utopianism, and Vivian Gornick’s vivisection of James Salter. “Bookforum was in one of its primes,” the literary critic Christian Lorentzen, who was a regular contributor, told me. Comparing the publication with more mainstream outlets such as the Times Book Review and The New York Review of Books, he added, “From the start, it was more open to avant-garde literature, poetry, crossovers with the art world, and theory-inflected nonfiction.” (The magazine’s former editors declined to comment on the record.) Continued here S66 The Agony and the Ecstasy of Argentina’s World Cup Victory Why did we have to suffer like this? Argentina, playing with aplomb, dominated the World Cup final against a tired and uninspired France for almost eighty of the match's first ninety minutes. Argentina had scored twice. There seemed to be no doubt that Lionel Messi, a national hero and one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, would lift the Cup, completing an incredible journey started some three decades ago in Rosario, Argentina, when he played his first real game, at the age of four. This was to be the triumphant conclusion to the magical saga of his career. In the eightieth minute, however, an exhausted Argentinean defender found no better way to stop a French forward than to foul him, thus granting France a penalty kick that the French superstar Kylian Mbappé dutifully converted. A doubt caught Argentineans on and off the field: what if the story ended badly? Ninety-five seconds after Mbappé's first goal, he scored another, forcing the game into thirty minutes of extra time that would settle whether Argentina could overcome what was starting to look like a curse. Continued here S41 5 steps for tackling Canada's long-term care crisis: It starts with valuing the well-being of workers Canada’s long-term care sector was hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rapidly climbing patient deaths, a lack of safety provisions coupled with already-precarious employment and difficult working conditions took its toll on the mental health of health-care workers. Yet, wellness in the long-term care sector is rarely discussed. Distress due to difficult working conditions is often dismissed as a part of the job description. Workers are expected to “suck it up” and manage their own emotions on their own time. Continued here S10 The Transparency Problem in Corporate Philanthropy Despite increasing demands by employees, investors, and communities for environmental, social, and governance transparency, philanthropy remains an often overlooked and almost entirely opaque sphere of corporate activity. This is no small issue: In 2021, corporate giving in the U.S. alone is estimated to have exceeded $21 billion. To explore the dimensions of this problem and understand the use of disclosures in corporate philanthropy more broadly, I studied transparency in the philanthropic foundations of Fortune 100 companies. These foundations are only the tip of the iceberg in corporate giving, but they are indicative of the state of philanthropic transparency across the business world. The research revealed the difficulties that leaders and stakeholders face in trying to gauge the efficacy of giving, ensure accountability for it, and capture the full value it may offer to both the givers and recipients of corporate largesse. Sixty-seven Fortune 100 companies operate active private foundations. In 2019, their combined grants approached $2.3 billion, which was directed to a variety of causes, including health and social services, community and economic development, education, civic and public affairs, arts and culture, the environment, and disaster relief. Continued here S25 His Dark Materials: how the small-screen adaptation deals with the novel's big ideas In its concluding season, the BBC adaptation of His Dark Materials approaches a moment of danger. A story that began with the intimate world building of parallel Oxfords must now take on the fate of the entire multiverse. Season three begins with our protagonist Lyra (Dafne Keen) lying in a stupor, drugged by her mother, Marisa Coulter (Ruth Wilson). She is in the eye of a storm of cosmic proportions, as the Magisterium (authoritarian representatives of a false divinity) try to track her down before her friend Will (Amir Wilson) can. And before her father, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy), incites a dimension-spanning revolution. Continued here S68 The Climate Changed Fast This Year, and Institutions Responded The progress, or lack of it, in the climate fight is measured in an observatory on the shoulder of Mauna Loa, in Hawaii, the largest volcano in the world. That is where, in 1958, the scientist Charles Keeling set up a carbon-dioxide detector, which immediately started documenting the steady upward climb of CO2 in the atmosphere, as we burned ever more coal, gas. and oil. As 2022 began, that amount has risen to more than four hundred and fifteen parts per million, or more than fifty-per-cent higher than when the Industrial Revolution began. It should come as no real surprise, then, that there was havoc across much of the planet in the months that followed. The world as a whole didn’t reach a record-high temperature, because the Pacific Ocean remains locked in a cooling La Niña cycle. But that wasn’t enough to prevent almost literally incredible outbreaks of heat in place after place around the globe. And unlike 2021’s worst heat wave, which centered over the Pacific Northwest and the interior of British Columbia, this year’s came where most of the world’s people live. Continued here S29 Time is arrested in Gail Jones' beautiful new novel of war and art, Salonika Burning The first pages of Gail Jones’ beautiful new novel, Salonika Burning, offer a vision. The image is of a city on fire, watched by soldiers at a distance who despite, or perhaps because of, their familiarity with devastation, are transfixed “with indecent pleasure” by the sight. There is a perverse beauty in obliteration that the soldiers intuit. The novel partly turns on this tension as it grapples with how to represent loss and the absurdity of “humans and beasts, crisscrossing the globe so that men could line up to slaughter each other”. Continued here S61 Twitter has been important for disability activism - that's being lost under Elon Musk Before purchasing Twitter, Elon Musk said that a public platform for free speech is a “societal imperative for a functioning democracy”. As part of this, he claimed that Twitter being “maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilisation”. It has become apparent, however, that disabled people and their access requirements do not feature in Musk’s vision for an inclusive platform. In Musk’s radical restructuring of the company (primarily through mass layoffs), Twitter’s accessibility team has been obliterated. There is no evidence that accessibility roles have moved into other areas of the company. Continued here S64 America!: Hallmark Launches New Line of True-Crime Christmas Specials Follow @newyorkercartoons on Instagram and sign up for the Daily Humor newsletter for more funny stuff. © 2022 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices Continued here S5 How This Company is Bringing Lab-Grown Meat to Market SciFi Foods may have cracked the code on commercially viable, cruelty-free burgers. Continued here S6 How Can You Be Sure A Leader Has What It Takes to Motivate People? It Comes Down to Doing These 4 Things The best leaders display the practices that consistently inspire and motivate people at the core of their being. Continued here S15 5 wintry books to read during long nights Winter solstice brings the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s a great night to spend reading. I’ve taught English and creative writing in snowy Binghamton, New York, for more than 40 years – reading, writing, reviewing and judging books all the while – so it’s never hard for me to find something to read. Only to choose. Continued here S52 View from The Hill: Rudd is highly qualified for Washington, but might find the diplomatic corset constricting In appointing Kevin Rudd as ambassador to the United States, Anthony Albanese is sending someone with all the qualifications, and more, for what is a highly demanding diplomatic job in extremely uncertain times. Twice prime minister, and a former foreign minister, Rudd has the special advantage of being a leading authority not just on China but on that country’s leader, when China’s assertiveness is the biggest story in our region. This year he received a doctorate from Oxford for a thesis on the worldview of President Xi Jinping. Continued here S57 Modern slavery: UK's focus on 'genuine' victims has failed survivors since the 1800s PhD Candidate, Centre for Multidisciplinary Gender Studies, University of Cambridge The exploitation of tens of thousands of people through modern slavery is a human rights crisis. There are an estimated 130,000 people currently living in modern slavery in the UK alone. Continued here S27 Six ways to reduce loneliness this Christmas - from a psychologist Snowmen, tables groaning with food and families having a wonderful time together – these are the images that probably pop into your head when you think of Christmas. In reality, feelings of loneliness are amplified for many over Christmas. The parties and socialising in the lead up to the big day are swiftly followed by a lingering emptiness as as offices, schools and shops close for the festive season. It can feel like the whole world is caught up in a universal experience of Christmas that we are excluded from. Continued here S45 90% of young people had financial troubles in 2022, and 27% used 'buy now, pay later' services Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services have dramatically changed the landscape of personal lending, largely by being easy to access and not charging interest – thus avoiding national credit laws. In the 2021-22 financial year, according to data from the Reserve Bank of Australia, the number of active BNPL accounts in Australia rose from 5 million to 7 million. Collectively, these users spent A$16 billion, about 37% more than the previous years (and about 2% of all card purchases). Continued here S24 Is the global housing market about to crash? Maître de Conférences en Finance, Université Côte d'Azur, IAE Nice - Université Côte d'Azur Amid all the current geopolitical conflicts and economic events, investors are watching the real estate market with bated breath. If recent headlines around the world are anything to go by, they are right to do so. With prices down by 15% from their peak, Sweden’s housing market is said to be in “free fall”. Germany’s could nosedive by 25% from peak to trough. Meanwhile, the foundations of the world’s most expensive market, in Hong Kong, are starting to wobble. Continued here S35 A story of legends, families and capitalism: a candid history of the Christmas tree The Christmas tree is a modern invention. It is a largely secular symbol, having no basis in the Bible. There are many trees in the Bible, from the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life in Genesis to the reference to Christ’s cross as a “tree” in Acts. But there is no Christmas tree. The same is true of ancient, pagan sources. While it might be tempting to draw connections between the Christmas tree and pagan gods and festivals, such as the Egyptian god Ra and the Roman festival Saturnalia, the Christmas tree as we know it is completely unrelated. Continued here S26 How the 2022 World Cup has highlighted the complexities of corporate activism Nations and players, and even a number of French cities have criticised Fifa’s decision to award the 2022 men’s football World Cup hosting duties to Qatar. But when a company does the same, it can run the risk of being accused of “greenwashing” or even “wokewashing” – that is, taking an inauthentic stand on a cause to benefit sales. Some companies have been openly critical of the host country. But, for many companies, the money to be made from TV rights, merchandising and corporate sponsorship still makes the association worthwhile. Continued here S33 With COVID on the rise again, here are some simple steps to help us socialise safely during the holidays New Zealand’s third wave of COVID infections will likely reach its peak during the holiday period and stretch well into 2023. The risk of infection is now the highest since June 2022 and continues to rise, driven by new, immune-evasive variants and the social mixing that comes with reduced pandemic controls, end-of-year events and holidays. Continued here S18 Sports journalist Grant Wahl died of an aortic aneurysm -- here's what it is American journalist Grant Wahl, who died while reporting on a match during the 2022 Qatar World Cup, is said to have suffered from a ruptured aortic aneurysm. This happens when bulging in the aorta (the main blood vessel that supplies oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the body) ruptures. Although the exact aneurysm Grant suffered is relatively uncommon, it is very dangerous if not caught in an early stage when it can be managed. Our blood vessels fall into three main categories: arteries, capillaries and veins. The arteries take oxygenated blood from the heart and deliver it throughout the body, running through capillaries in the tissues and then passing into veins to return it to the heart. Continued here S60 The history of four festive sweets - from familiar favourites to the downright dangerous ’Tis the season when supermarket shelves fill with selection boxes and tubs of chocolates that shrink a little more with each passing year. But despite Christmas “shrinkflation”, our festive love of sweets has endured for hundreds of years and shows no sign of abating. From cards and crackers to ghost stories by the fire, we often think of the Victorians as having invented Christmas as we know it. Indeed Victoria, like many of her subjects, was partial to Christmas sweets. Continued here S50 What is air turbulence? You probably know the feeling: you’re sitting on a plane, happily cruising through the sky, when suddenly the seat-belt light comes on and things get a little bumpy. Most of the time, turbulence leads to nothing worse than momentary jitters or perhaps a spilled cup of coffee. In rare cases, passengers or flight attendants might end up with some injuries. Continued here S56 Christmas films: there might be some truth to stories about hometown romances, according to research The festive season seems to be a good time for love, or so many Christmas films would have us believe. One incredibly popular trope is “the return” – where the main character, usually with a successful career in the city, returns to their hometown for the festive period. In their rustic homely surroundings, they come to realise that their life as a singleton in the city has been a sham, fall in love with some kind-hearted local hero or an old flame, et voilà – we have the magic of Christmas! Continued here S34 Bring a plate! What to take to Christmas lunch that looks impressive (but won't break the bank) Amy Kirkegaard works for The University of Queensland. She is a member of Dietitians Australia. Emily Burch works for The University of Queensland. She is a member of Dietitians Australia. Continued here S37 In Danielle Smith's fantasy Alberta, Indigenous struggle is twisted to suit settlers What do a notorious Ku Klux Klan writer, right-wing libertarianism, the Cherokee Trail of Tears and the “lost cause” of the American Confederacy have to do with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s recent controversial statements on Indigenous matters? Smith was recently forced to backpedal on comments conflating the ugly history of the Indian Act with Alberta’s treatment by Ottawa. Continued here S59 Why do people feel lonely at Christmas? Here's what the research says Christmas is said to be a time for connecting with friends, family and having fun. But it can also be time of loneliness. Indeed, the results of a 2018 survey looking at loneliness during Christmas time in the UK revealed that 17% of people felt more lonely over the festive period. Loneliness is a subjective emotion, where we feel our social relationships are insufficient, particularly when compared to our peers. Christmas, with its images and expectations of gift-giving, socialising and excess can often be a time when our own relationships or connections are put under the spotlight. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy if the period doesn’t match up to perceived ideas of what our lives should look like at Christmas. Continued here S28 Young people around the world can save democracy -- but they need our help A photograph recently circulated on social media purportedly showing two Chinese professors in Shanghai standing between a squad of police officers and students protesting the government’s zero-COVID policies. That morning, when I met my class for the course I teach on political repression, a Chinese student remarked: Continued here S55 Christmas in wartime: how Britain coped with the 'bleak midwinter' of 1942 On Christmas Eve 1942, the Manchester Guardian recalled that the first world war had only lasted four Christmases. Now, Hitler’s war also had “four to its discredit, each one more austere than its predecessor”. Christmas 1942 would be a sadly pared-back affair. Cards were tiny and printed on thin card. Wrapping paper was not available. Festive food and drink was in desperately short supply. In November, British forces had defeated the Germans at El Alamein. The presence of growing numbers of American GIs in Britain and resolute Red Army resistance at Stalingrad made it apparent that Allied victory must, eventually, come. Continued here S53 Small loans: microcredit means more people can borrow money - but more scrutiny is also needed Executive Dean Designate: College of Business & Economics, University of Johannesburg University of Johannesburg provides support as an endorsing partner of The Conversation AFRICA. Continued here S46 A recipe for trustworthy journalism I could write at great length about it, but instead we’ve made a little cooking video to explain what we do. We’re going to be doing more with video in 2023, as well as working on podcasts, Instagram and Mastodon, without compromising our commitment to clearly written articles. Your support is a key ingredient to make sure we can do this, and reach more people in more media. For the cost of a dinner out, you can sustain this vital public service. Continued here S47 Australia has a plan to fix its school teacher shortage. Will it work? All year, we have heard reports of a “crisis” in Australian schools, thanks to a shortage of teachers around the country. Federal education department modelling shows there will be a high school teacher shortfall of about 4,000 by 2025. In August, Education Minister Jason Clare and his state and territory colleagues met and agreed this was a huge problem. Their big, set-piece policy response is a new plan for the “national teacher workforce”. Continued here S30 How closely monitoring households' energy data can unleash their solar outputs and (possibly) make them more money Richard Bean is a past employee of Redback Technologies (a company related to Luceo Energy) and is a participant in their employee share option plan. Almost one in three Australian households have solar panels on their roofs. Most are motivated by rising electricity prices and environmental concerns. Continued here S36 How Gen Z is using social media in Iran's Women, Life, Freedom movement Doctoral Student, Feminist and Gender Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa Iran’s attorney general recently indicated that the country’s morality police had been disbanded after protests calling for the country’s hijab mandate to be lifted. However, the government has not confirmed the attorney general’s remarks and local media have reported that he was “misinterpreted.” Continued here S54 Nigeria's economy in 2022: winners and losers At the start of 2022, Nigerians hoped that, with less than two years to the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the government would ramp up its efforts to reduce poverty and unemployment. In his 2022 new year message to Nigerians, Buhari was effusive about his intention to secure the country and address its socio-economic challenges. Continued here S39 Mauna Loa eruption in Hawaii: How to stay safe while visiting volcanoes On Nov. 27, the Big Island of Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano — the largest active volcano in the world — erupted for the first time in 38 years. This eruption was very special because Mauna Loa historically erupts very frequently, every six years on average. It took me two attempts to finally get a glimpse of the eruption. My first attempt on Dec. 3 was thwarted because of low visibility, caused by clouds covering the volcano, and a lack of parking availability on side roads. Some of the side roads were temporarily converted to one-way streets to divert traffic away from the busy, but orderly, main highway near the volcano summit. Continued here S31 Can we ethically justify harming animals for research? There are several schools of thought Neuralink, the biotechnology company co-founded by Elon Musk, has been accused of animal cruelty and is under federal investigation in the United States for potential animal welfare violations. The company has tested its brain-implant technology in animals including monkeys, sheep and pigs. Whistleblowers allege it has killed about 1,500 animals since 2018. Continued here S32 50 years after Gough Whitlam established diplomatic relations with China, what has changed? In the annals of Australian foreign policy, it is arguable that no moment in history has been as significant as December 21 1972. With the possible exception of the ANZUS Treaty of 1951, no other document matches the formal agreement establishing full diplomatic relations between Australia and China 50 years ago this week. In the maelstrom of events in the meantime, it is easy to forget where we were in 1972, and where we are now in relation to the emerging dominant power in our region. Continued here S49 The historic COP15 outcome is an imperfect game-changer for saving nature. Here's why Australia did us proud James Fitzsimons is Director of Conservation and Science with The Nature Conservancy Australia, is a Councillor of the Biodiversity Council and a Board member of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance Rebecca Spindler is Executive Manager for Science and Conservation at Bush Heritage Australia, is a Councillor of the Biodiversity Council and a member of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Advisory Committee. Continued here S58 From discovering insulin to unearthing a double agent, our pick of Insights long reads in 2022 From toxic career rivalries and abandoned spies to the future of Africa’s lions and David Bowie’s environmental credentials, Insights long reads have covered them all in 2022. Read more: Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia – a three-part series to read and listen to Continued here S51 The Morrison government spent a record amount on taxpayer-funded advertising, new data reveal The federal government is a big spender in the advertising world, regularly spending more than major companies such as McDonald’s, Telstra and Coles. New data released on Friday by the Department of Finance shows that in the lead-up to the May 2022 election, the Coalition government’s advertising spend skyrocketed yet again. The past financial year was the biggest year on record for taxpayer-funded advertising. The previous federal government spent A$339 million on taxpayer-funded advertising campaigns in 2021-22, well above the 25-year average of about $200 million a year. Continued here S38 5,700 years of sea-level change in Micronesia hint at humans arriving much earlier than we thought Sea levels in Micronesia rose much faster over the past 5,000 years than previously thought, according to our new study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This sea-level rise is shown by the accumulation of mangrove sediments on the islands of Pohnpei and Kosrae. The finding may change how we think about when people migrated into Remote Oceania, and where they might have voyaged from. Continued here Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Followers Blog Archive ►  2024 (35) ►  May (1) ►  April (4) ►  March (2) ►  February (10) ►  January (18) ►  2023 (834) ►  December (20) ►  November (54) ►  October (44) ►  September (108) ►  August (91) ►  July (29) ►  June (68) ►  May (104) ►  April (33) ►  March (30) ►  February (99) ►  January (154) ▼  2022 (208) ▼  December (117) January 1, 2023 - This Scientist Fled a Deadly Wil... 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