Scientists Have Glimpsed 59 New Exoplanets in Our Backyard

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Scientists Have Glimpsed 59 New Exoplanets in Our Backyard The hunt for habitable extrasolar planets continues! Thanks to dedicated missions like Kepler, TESS, and Hubble, the number of confirmed extrasolar planets has exploded in the past fifteen years (with 5,272 confirmed and counting!). At the same time, next-generation telescopes, spectrometers, and advanced imaging techniques now allow astronomers to study exoplanet atmospheres more closely. In short, the field is shifting from the process of discovery to characterization, allowing astronomers to more tightly constraint habitability. Continued here

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This Key Ability Helps Make Us Human — and We Still Don’t Completely Understand It You can easily picture yourself riding a bicycle across the sky, even though that’s not something that can happen. You can envision yourself doing something you’ve never done before – like water skiing – and maybe even imagine a better way to do it than anyone else. Imagination involves creating a mental image of something that is not present for your senses to detect or even something that isn’t out there in reality somewhere. Imagination is one of the key abilities that make us human. But where did it come from? Continued here

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'Scars Above' Review: A Sporadically Stunning Sci-Fi Adventure It looks like a bunch o’ flesh-eating worms may have ripped my captain to shreds, and the only way forward on this dangerous alien planet is to freeze an entire lake. Too bad my 3D-printed rifle only shoots Fire or Electricity. Oh, look! The drool of a giant, droopy booger monster hanging off a nearby cliff is freezing the water. Because this is the near future of Scars Above from developer Mad Head Games, our inquisitive hero Kate uses X-ray vision to investigate further: After analyzing the creature's brain, a secretion sack, and the rest of its innards, Kate deduces that its physiology manufactures an enzyme to break down local fauna and convert it into a cryogenic liquid. By analyzing the chemical compounds, she can 3D-print a new attachment for her sidearm that weaponizes the same reaction to shotgun-blast snowballs capable of freezing maggot-infested water — and even huge gorillas made of rocks. Continued here

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Resistance to mega-tourism is rising in the South Pacific - but will governments put words into action? With COVID-19 travel restrictions largely a thing of the past for Australian and New Zealand tourists, Pacific destinations are enjoying the return of visitors – albeit at a slower pace than in other parts of the world. Tourism in Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands was hit hard by the pandemic, but patience and resilience are starting to pay off. Foreign dollars are once again circulating in those small economies. Recently, Kiribati welcomed its first international cruise ship since 2020. Continued here

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One Overlooked Office Design Trick Could Make You Happier at Work The most recent results of the American Psychological Association’s Work and Well-being Survey reveal some interesting — and refreshing — trends: Nearly 71 percent of workers report their employers cared more about their mental health at the time of polling than before the Covid-19 pandemic. Well-being emerged as a priority for workers in general, with 81 percent of respondents saying they will prioritize organizations that support mental health the next time they apply for a new job. But just because employees want mental health support at work doesn’t mean their workplace meets the need. For example, when asked what would alleviate stress at work, respondents to a 2021 McKinsey survey said flexible schedules and hybrid work arrangements would help. Yet some companies want workers back in the office — as of February 2023, about half of American office spaces are filled for the first time since 2020. Continued here

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You Can Keep Your House Nice With A Lot Less Effort If You Use Any Of These Clever Things Maintaining your home is probably the last thing you want to do after a long day of work. (Personally, all I want to do is chill on the couch and watch television.) However, keeping your home nice doesn’t have to require effort — especially when you’re utilizing the clever products on this list. From drawer dividers to drywall repair kits, I’ve made sure that all of these items make it easy to keep your home looking great. Scroll for more. Continued here

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Play this card game to solve your team’s biggest problem Successful communication is at the heart of great teamwork, but words can mean different things to different people. We all tend to project our own biases onto commonly used words. Mary and David Sherwin — experts in team dynamics — have devised Teamwords, a collaborative card-based team-building system that cuts through differences to create consensus. Continued here

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Can Poppy Seeds Trigger a Positive Drug Test? An Addiction Specialist Has the Answer The U.S. Defense Department issued a memo on Feb. 17, 2023, warning service members to avoid eating poppy seeds because doing so may result in a positive urine test for the opiate codeine. Addiction and pain medicine specialist Gary Reisfield explains what affects the opiate content of poppy seeds and how they could influence drug tests. Poppy seeds come from a species of poppy plant called Papaver somniferum. “Somniferum” is Latin for “sleep-bringing,” which hints that it might contain opiates – powerful compounds that depress the central nervous system and can induce drowsiness and sleep. Continued here

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21 Years Ago, Nintendo Introduced Its Hungriest Hero — And Redefined Video Game Design With a name like “Game Boy,” it’s easy to see why so many people thought Nintendo’s first handheld gaming console was meant for children. That’s not to say that the handheld console was solely focused on kids, but a lot of its gaming library was. An ad from 1992 targeting both markets encouraged kids to “punish your father when he gets home” for taking their beloved device. Nintendo was internally skeptical about the Game Boy at its release, considering its drab shades of grey and bulky size. Nintendo Switch Online gained a number of Game Boy and Game Boy Advance titles in February 2023. Continued here

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Yiddishe Ribbenes (grilled Jewish ribs) A Michael Twitty recipe is always more than the ingredients and instructions written on the page. There's heart, soul and a sprinkling of dos pintele yid – a quintessential essence of Jewishness. That's why his recipe for Yiddishe Ribbenes goes well beyond its literal translation, "Jewish ribs".  "Yiddishe Ribbenes is first and foremost a product of my fever dream fusion," he said. "It sits at the intersection of possible and fantastical." Continued here

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Nigeria needs to take science more seriously - an agenda for the new president Nigerian Academy of Science provides support as a hosting partner of The Conversation AFRICA. Nigerians voted to elect a new president on 25 February and he will be sworn in on 29 May 2023. One of his responsibilities must be to lead the country in taking science more seriously. Science should be the fulcrum of Nigeria’s development. Continued here

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'Last of Us' Episode 8 Ending Explained: Why Did Ellie Kill [SPOILERS]? The newest character quickly changed in front of our eyes, but what exactly was he planning to do? From the very beginning, The Last of Us always had its fair share of complicated characters, and the HBO show adds even more. Episode 3 gave us a more in-depth look at Bill and Frank, and Episodes 4 and 5 introduced a brand new character in Kathleen. But in Episode 8, the series goes back to the source material with a very accurate portrait of the most confusing character in the game: David. Continued here

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We want and we fear emotions in our robots. Here's what science fiction can teach us about flashes of emotion from Bing Last month, Microsoft integrated its Bing search engine with Open AI’s GPT-4 chatbot, a large language model designed to interact with users in a conversational manner. Users interacting with Bing have reported flashes of emotion, ranging from sadness and existential angst through to depression and malice. The chatbot has even revealed its name: Sydney. Continued here

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How the push to end tobacco advertising in the 1970s could be used to curb gambling ads today If you think you are seeing a lot more gambling ads on television and online platforms, you are not imagining it. They are so common that high-profile AFL players have refused to participate in sponsored gambling. Online gambling companies are ploughing huge amounts of money into advertising, and for good reason. The ads work. While fewer people are gambling overall, online gambling is a booming industry. Continued here

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The most ingenious recycled homes In a handsome Edwardian house in south London, the bold kitchen's interior is literally made from kitchen rubbish. No slabs of pristine Carrera marble or granite in Mountain View. Instead, the work tops and cupboard doors had former lives as microwave meal trays, bottle tops and plastic chopping boards. It's the epitome of "waste-not-want-not" design, with recycled plastics given a new – more noble – role, and adding style. Mat Barnes of architecture and design studio CAN, and owner of Mountain View, was drawn to the graphic quality of recycling company Smile Plastics' bold panels made from kitchen packaging waste. "They're like exaggerated surreal marble," he tells BBC Culture. But his choice wasn't purely driven by environmental concerns. "We chose them for their aesthetic, we weren't compromising our look by going for something sustainable." Continued here

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Music, silence, love and power: the engrossing story of a child prodigy in the court of Louis XIV Honorary Fellow of the School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne This is how 15-year old Jean-Baptiste Forqueray (1699-1742) describes the music that his father Antoine (1672-1745) draws from the viol, aka viola da gamba. The same words could be applied to this novel, a brilliant read inventively devised by Adelaide’s Michael Meehan, but somewhat devilish to review. Continued here

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LGBTIQ+ migrants and asylum seekers in South Africa: major new study identifies a diverse, wide-spread community University of the Witwatersrand provides support as a hosting partner of The Conversation AFRICA. Since 1998, South Africa has recognised persecution based on gender and sexuality as legitimate grounds for asylum. This makes it the only African country to formally extend refugee protection to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI+) persons. Continued here

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Who is Joseph Kony? The altar boy who became Africa's most wanted man Eleven years ago, a documentary catapulted the name Joseph Kony onto the global stage. The controversial film Kony 2012 told the story of a Ugandan warlord whose forces are believed by the United Nations to be responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 people, the abduction of at least 20,000 children and the displacement of more than two million people. Though most of the world hadn’t heard of Kony before then, Ugandans knew and feared him. The founder of the Lord’s Resistance Army unleashed a wave of violence across northern Uganda for two decades. Continued here

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Generative AI like ChatGPT reveal deep-seated systemic issues beyond the tech industry ChatGPT has cast long shadows over the media as the latest form of disruptive technology. For some, ChatGPT is a harbinger of the end of academic and scientific integrity, and a threat to white collar jobs and our democratic institutions. How concerned should we be about generative artificial intelligence (AI)? The developers of ChatGPT describe it as “a model… which interacts in a conversational way” while also calling it a “horrible product” for its inconsistent results. Continued here

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Buildings used iron from sunken ships centuries ago. The use of recycled materials should be business as usual by now At Fremantle Prison in the 1850s, when metal was scarce, the prison gate and handrails were made from iron recovered from sunken ships. As I toured the prison recently, I reflected on how similar the situation was when COVID-19 disrupted building supply chains across Australia. The shortage of materials such as steel, which is still an issue, turned heads to using recycled steel, which would otherwise be exported overseas for full recovery. Do we really needed material shortages for the construction industry to get serious about using products with recycled content? When resources are depleted, does it only then mean it’s time to go sustainable? Continued here

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Total Eclipse of the Heart: The most epic song ever written One day in the summer of 1982, Canadian vocalist Rory Dodd was summoned to the Power Station recording studio in New York City to lend his vocals to a song, written and produced by his colleague and friend Jim Steinman for Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler. "Jesus! Where's the kitchen sink?" Dodd cried, when he heard the final, jaw-dropping mix of the track. The song was Total Eclipse of the Heart. Released 40 years ago in February 1983, this gothic aria became an unprecedented international success that pushed the boundaries of melodrama in pop music. It topped the UK charts, unseating Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, was an even bigger hit in the US, and soared to number one in several countries. Tyler was an unlikely candidate for this level of chart dominance, her career having flatlined since her 1977 hit It's a Heartache. Impressed by his work composing and producing the Meat Loaf opus Bat Out of Hell (1977), Tyler asked CBS Records for Steinman to collaborate with her on her next album. "The record company at the time thought I was mad," she tells BBC Culture. "They never in a million years thought that this would come off." But Steinman agreed to work with Tyler, hearing untapped potential in her voice, which he compared in its rasping power to Janis Joplin. He has described Total Eclipse of the Heart as a "fever song" about the darker, obsessive side of love and as "an exorcism you can dance to." Continued here

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When is it time to stop driving? Will mandatory assessments of older drivers make our roads safer? Australia is a nation of car owners with a rapidly ageing population. Drivers aged over 70 have nearly doubled in number in the past 20 years. The trend is the same for hospitalisations and fatalities due to crashes involving older drivers. Ageing itself is not a barrier to safe driving. Even so, our ability to drive safely can become compromised as we get older. It can be difficult to know what to do if you have concerns about someone’s driving. Continued here

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AI could take your job, but it can also help you score a new one with these simple tips It was once thought physical labour jobs would be the most at risk from the rise of artificial intelligence. But recent advances suggest we can expect disruption across a vast range of sectors, including knowledge-based industries. We certainly need to have conversations about how AI will change the future of work. But perhaps we should also look beyond fear and ask how it might bring opportunity. Continued here

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Sex and lies are used to sell vapes online. Even we were surprised at the marketing tactics we found It’s easy to buy vapes or e-cigarettes online. When we looked at websites selling them to buyers in Australia and New Zealand, we found a variety of slick, false or misleading marketing claims. We saw a range of products on sale – including several bundled together as “starter kits”. Most vaping liquid contained nicotine. There were price discounts, loyalty schemes and free delivery. Continued here

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The rise of the Gen Z side hustle Shola West, 22, works on the media-partnerships team at advertising firm OMD. She combines her full-time role with a part-time business: providing Gen Z career advice through freelance consultancy work.  West, who is based in London, says her employer is aware – and supportive – of her side hustle. “At my interview, they made it clear I was welcome to have my personal brand on the side. My CEO recently commented on my LinkedIn post saying what I’d done was brilliant, even though it had nothing to do with my full-time job,” she says. “Their openness means it doesn’t feel like a 9-to-5: it’s a job that works with my passions.” Continued here S2 Toya Boudy's Yakamein: A New Orleans' noodle soup While it's typically foods like gumbo, charbroiled oysters, po'boys and jambalaya that lure people to New Orleans, lesser known yakamein has been a hot bowl of local comfort for decades. In Baltimore, it's called yat gaw mein, known colloquially as "dirty yak", a brown gravy-based udon noodle dish often mixed with shrimp and found at Chinese takeouts. Throughout the Tidewater region of Virginia, restaurants make a ketchup-based version called yock. But in New Orleans, the dish's birthplace, yakamein is a street-food staple worthy of more attention. It's a delicious bowl, carry-out box or Styrofoam cup stuffed with spicy spaghetti steeped in beef or chicken broth, Worcestershire and soy sauce, ketchup, and sometimes, hot sauce. The soupy dish also has meat (usually beef, chicken, pork or seafood), is generously spiced with creole seasoning (a blend of paprika, salt, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper, oregano and thyme) served over spaghetti and garnished with green onions and a hard-boiled egg. Depending on preference, yakamein can be topped with a bit of extra hot sauce or ketchup for a finishing touch. Continued here S63 As Kenya's crops fail, a fight over GMOs rages the middle of its worst drought in 40 years. In the parched north of the country, rivers are running dry and millions of livestock have perished due to lack of food. Around 4.4 million Kenyans don’t have enough to eat, and the situation will worsen if the coming rainy season fails like the previous five. “I’ve never seen it so bad. There’s nothing in the farms, the drought is too harsh,” says Daniel Magondo, a cotton and maize farmer in central Kenya. Continued here S9 Family violence is literally making us sicker -- new study finds abuse increases risk of chronic illness More than 1,400 women from a nationally representative sample from the 2019 New Zealand family violence study He Koiora Matapopore told us about their experiences of intimate partner violence and their health. We asked them about chronic health problems (heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and asthma) as well as mental health conditions (depression, anxiety or substance abuse). We also asked women about their lifetime experiences of physical violence, sexual violence, psychological abuse, controlling behaviour and economic abuse by any partner. We used questions from the World Health Organization multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women – the international gold standard for measuring the prevalence of violence against women. Continued here S28 Russia's foreign minister got laughter, cheers and shrugs in India. Outrage over the war isn't universal Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made headlines over the weekend when his claim the Ukraine war was “launched against” Russia provoked laughter from the audience during a forum in India. But I was in the room and can report he also received applause and indifference. Understanding why can help explain the differences in views on the war between developing countries and the West. Continued here S36 You Need to Watch the Most Influential Post-Apocalyptic Thriller on Netflix ASAP Put three fingers in the air for the best in the young adult book adaptation biz to ever do it: The Hunger Games, Jennifer Lawrence’s star vehicle and the movie to officially launch Hollywood’s “plop teens in disturbing post-apocalyptic scenarios” craze. Netflix surprised fans by grabbing all four of the franchise’s films alongside a statement declaring, “May the odds be ever in your favor.” Have no idea what that famous line means? Then read on. Continued here S37 'Mandalorian' Season 3’s Dumbest Side-Quest Matters More Than You Think Your standard cult uses religious doctrine and dogma to isolate people and control them. Once a person is in, they begin to lose their individuality. The cult essentially “programs” a person with a set of rules, incentives, and punishments. This programming goes deep, and it’s hard to break free. Din Djarin has had a busy last few years. He adopted a son, slayed literal dragons, and accidentally became a prime candidate for the leadership of Mandalore. He’s grown as a person, but his cult upbringing still has a hold on him. In The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1, this “programming” is cleverly paralleled in IG-11. Continued here S64 HBO's The Last of Us episode 8 ruins one of the game's best villains New episodes of The Last of Us are premiering on HBO every Sunday night, and Ars' Kyle Orland (who's played the games) and Andrew Cunningham (who hasn't) will be talking about them here every Monday morning. While these recaps don't delve into every single plot point of the episode, there are obviously heavy spoilers contained within, so go watch the episode first if you want to go in fresh. Continued here S5 Grilled rack of California lamb with collard-almond pesto Tanya Holland opens her new cookbook, California Soul, with a clear definition of who she is, both as a person and as a chef: "I am Black and I am African American. I use these terms interchangeably. Both are accurate descriptors. My skin is dark brown and my ancestors are from the African diaspora. I live in California and am a Californian. I claim it all…" She continues, "As an African American woman, the contribution that my ancestors made to what Americans eat and how we eat is significant. No matter where we migrated from or end up, our food comes from within us and tells our story. I am contributing and this is my story. I have a California Soul." Continued here S16 Canada needs a strategic plan to safeguard consumers against counterfeit and pirated goods Counterfeiting is a chronic problem faced by Canadian consumers. According to Canadian manufacturersand exporters, counterfeiting — or the sale of products that purport to be something they are not — costs Canada between $20 billion and $30 billion annually. Canada is not the only country struggling with counterfeiting — the practice is prevalent in many other countries and across different industries. A 2017 World Health Organization study found that around 10 per cent of medicines sold in developing countries may be deceptively counterfeit. Continued here S4 Berbere-cured salmon with mustard seed and buckthorn "For me, it starts with the name," said chef Marcus Samuelsson, whose restaurant Hav & Mar recently debuted in New York City. Samuelsson, the James Beard Foundation award-winning chef and TV personality (featuring on Food Network's Chopped and Netflix's Iron Chef) behind Harlem's acclaimed Red Rooster and other restaurants worldwide, pays homage to his Swedish and Ethiopian heritage in this new endeavour.  Samuelsson was born in Ethiopia and raised on Smögen Island off the west coast of Sweden, eventually settling in New York City. "We all have different dualities. Mine is Swedish meets Ethiopian in New York," Samuelsson said. His cultural influences shaped his culinary path and inspired the name of his newest restaurant: Hav translates as "ocean" in Swedish and mar means "honey" in Amharic. "Mar means 'water' in so many Latin languages, too," he added. Continued here S45 Astronomers Find a Seemingly Impossible Exoplanet TOI-5205b’s existence stretches what we know about the disks in which these planets are born. As of this writing, almost 5,300 exoplanets spanning approximately 4,000 planetary systems have been confirmed to exist in our universe. With each new exoplanet discovery, scientists continue to learn more about planetary formation and evolution, which has already shaken our understanding of this process down to its very core. One such example is "Hot Jupiters," which are Jupiter-sized exoplanets, or larger, that orbit closer to their parent's stars than Mercury does to our own. This is in stark contrast to our own Solar System, which has rocky planets closer to our Sun and giant gas planets much farther out. Continued here S21 No, the Fukushima water release is not going to kill the Pacific Ocean Japanese authorities are preparing to release treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, nearly 12 years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. This will relieve pressure on more than 1,000 storage tanks, creating much-needed space for other vital remediation works. But the plan has attracted controversy. At first glance, releasing radioactive water into the ocean does sound like a terrible idea. Greenpeace feared the radioactivity released might change human DNA, China and South Korea expressed disquiet, while Pacific Island nations were concerned about further nuclear contamination of the Blue Pacific. One academic publication claimed the total global social welfare cost could exceed US$200 billion. Continued here S29 When is a nature reserve not a nature reserve? When it's already been burned and logged Australia has the world’s worst mammal extinction record, with nearly 40 native mammal species lost since European colonisation. By contrast, the United States has lost three. Last year, the federal Labor government made a welcome commitment to stop further extinctions. One essential tool to do this is protecting habitat in dedicated conservation reserves. Continued here S62 Apple has a secret project to help people with diabetes Apple is developing technology to build noninvasive blood glucose monitoring right into its smartwatches, according to a report from Bloomberg — freeing people with diabetes (PWD) from painful needle pricks to test their blood sugar levels and potentially helping people with pre-diabetes avoid developing the disease. The challenge: An estimated one in 10 Americans has diabetes. This means their bodies either don’t make insulin or can’t use it effectively to control the amount of glucose (a simple sugar) in their blood. Over time, chronically high blood sugar will damage the kidneys, heart, nerves, and eyes, leading to kidney and heart disease, as well as vision loss and even limb amputation. Continued here S52 The LastPass Hack Somehow Gets Worse Chinese hackers proved themselves to be as prolific and invasive as ever this week with new findings revealing that in February 2022, Beijing-backed hackers compromised the email server of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an intergovernmental body of 10 Southeast Asian countries. The security alert, first reported by WIRED, comes as China has escalated its hacking in the region amidst rising tensions. Meanwhile, with Russia facing economic sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has been trying to address gaps in its tech sector. Now, we've learned, it's scrambling to get a home-brewed Android phone off the ground this year. The National Computer Corporation company, a Russian IT giant, says it will somehow produce and sell 100,000 smartphones and tablets by the end of 2023. Though Android is an open-source platform, there are steps Google could take to restrict the license for the new Russian phone that could ultimately force the project to seek a different mobile operating system. Continued here S47 25 Years Ago, the Coen Brothers Redefined the Noir Movie — and Created a Subversive Icon The Dude abides. That’s become a Zen koan as much as a movie line, and so it’s open to a variety of interpretations. From a character who’s ascended to stoner-icon status, it can represent the laid-back attitude of taking life as it comes, remaining open to new experiences and relationships. That perspective has turned the Dude into a cult figure, someone to emulate and admire. There’s a darker way to view it, though, and the great thing about the Dude is that he — and the movie he stars in — contains multitudes. The Big Lebowski wasn’t initially a hit for filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, especially as a follow-up to their Oscar-winning Fargo. It received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed at the box office, but it’s since become a cultural touchstone, attaining a level of acclaim and adoration that goes beyond mere cult status. If it took a little time for audiences to fully appreciate The Big Lebowski, that may be because there are so many layers to appreciate. Continued here S27 Anyone can save a life, including kids. Here's why they should learn CPR and basic life support With over 26,000 cardiac arrests occurring every year in Australia and over 76% of them occurring in the home, some of our youngest Australians are learning how to help. Basic life support includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and using a portable defibrillator (AED) if required. These emergency procedures aim to save the lives of people in cardiac arrest. Continued here S8 A shocking moment in Oscars history, 50 years on What do you think of when you think of an Oscars controversy? The slip-up in 2017, when Warren Beatty accidentally announced La La Land as best picture instead of Moonlight, and had to course-correct? The 1974 streaker, followed by presenter David Niven's impeccably composed quip? Or perhaps the Will Smith slap heard around the world only last year? Infamous as they all are, none of those are likely to have caused quite the commotion that occurred on the evening of 27 March 1973, during the ceremony for the 45th annual Academy Awards. In a nutshell, what happened might be put down in two words: Sacheen Littlefeather. When the 26-year-old Native American activist came onstage to decline Marlon Brando's Oscar for best actor – awarded to him for his towering performance in The Godfather – it seems all hell broke loose. The persistent rumours, accusations, anecdotes and exaggerations have been pinballing around the media for half a century now: so perhaps it's best to begin with what is inarguable: what was televised that evening. Continued here S25 Labor slides in a federal Newspoll; NSW polls give Labor a modest lead Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A federal Newspoll, conducted March 1-4 from a sample of 1,530, gave Labor a 54-46 lead, a one-point gain for the Coalition since the previous Newspoll in early February. Primary votes were 37% Labor (down one), 35% Coalition (up one), 10% Greens (down one), 7% One Nation (up one) and 11% for all Others (steady). Continued here S35 Why Bringing Grey Wolves Back to Colorado Offers Surprising Benefits From sports to pop culture, there are few themes more appealing than a good comeback. They happen in nature, too: Even with the Earth losing species at a historic rate, some animals have defied the trend toward extinction and started refilling their old ecological niches. I’m a philosopher based in Montana and specialize in environmental ethics. For my new book, “Tenacious Beasts: Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We Think About Animals,” I spent three years looking at wildlife comebacks across North America and Europe and considering the lessons they offer. Continued here S23 A potted history of smoking, and how we're making the same mistakes with vaping When smoking first became popular we were told it was healthy, it was heavily marketed (including to young people) as being cool, and the time it took for us to learn otherwise was long, and came too late for many. Unfortunately, it seems history is repeating itself with vaping. Before the invention of machines to make cigarettes, they were hand-rolled – with an experienced roller making around 240 cigarettes an hour. When mechanisation arrived in the late nineteenth century, early machines could make 12,000 per hour. Eventually, they could churn out 1.2 million an hour. Continued here S34 Diana Ejaita’s “Cultivated” Another new season approaches. The sun rises a little earlier now. And even after a mild winter many of us find ourselves invigorated by the promise of ever-lengthening days. In her cover for the March 13, 2023 issue, Diana Ejaita uses blocks of shape and color to invoke our yearning for the abundance of spring. This is the artist's seventh cover for the magazine; soon she will move to Florence, with her young daughter, for a six-month artist-in-residence post at the Villa Romana. I talked to Ejaita about the spaces and climates that enable different modes of creation and about her dream to build a refuge where artistry can thrive. You're building an art space near Abeokuta, in Nigeria. How did you get the idea, and what do you hope it will be? Continued here S14 To improve drinking water quality in First Nation communities, a collaborative approach is important Recently the federal government announced its intention to fulfil its responsibility and fund the construction of a new drinking water pipeline between the Oneida Nation of the Thames and the Lake Huron Primary Water Supply System. A long-term drinking water advisory has been in effect on the Oneida Public Water System since 2019, affecting community homes and buildings. For this reason, the federal government’s announcement is hopeful news. Continued here S48 An Unexpected Side Effect of Many Medical Treatments — Trauma “I think the thing that's unique about [medical PTSD] is that it's different from purely external trauma. The ongoing threat is within the body, it’s something that we can't get away from.” The first thing Summer Ash remembers thinking after waking up in the hospital following her 2012 heart surgery is, “Fuck.” Continued here S13 Inclusive child care must support children with disabilities In 2022, we spent several months listening to parents of young children with support needs as part of our study about inclusive and equitable child care in British Columbia. Parents whose children have disabilities, complex health conditions or behavioural differences have been advocating for years for their children to have the opportunity to learn and play alongside their peers in early learning and child-care programs. Continued here S20 A neighbourhood 'war zone' and a garden-gate overdose sparked Judy Ryan's fight for Victoria's first safe injecting room Most of us don’t have people overdosing on drugs in our front garden. Judy Ryan did. In July 2016, Ryan found a young man slumped at her gate: one of her “regulars”, who often injected drugs in or around her Richmond property. You Talk, We Die describes her involvement, as an community activist, in the battle for Melbourne’s first safe injecting facility (and Australia’s second). Continued here S33 Are you a shark or a teddy? How understanding conflict styles can help you overcome fights with friends and family Reader in Education with Psychology and Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath For all the joy they bring, families and close friendships often involve conflict, betrayal, regret and resentment. Prince Harry’s recent memoir, Spare, is a reminder of the fact that the people closest to us often have the greatest power to hurt us. He describes power struggles, conflict, challenging family dynamics and decades of guilt, jealousy and resentment. Continued here S70 Fast and Pluribus: Impacts of a Globalizing McDonald's - JSTOR Daily The expansion of McDonald’s in the twentieth century brought the fast food chain to more than 100 countries. But how well did it integrate into its new home(s)? The connection between globalization and McDonald’s is a tale of scholarly metonymy. There’s no textual shortage of evidence that references the now-global fast food chain’s success in other countries, often linking it to themes of self-sufficiency, post-industrial stability, and democracy-formed capitalism. Continued here S19 What are the best conditions for life? Exploring the multiverse can help us find out Is our universe all there is, or could there be more? Is our universe just one of a countless multitude, all together in an all-encompassing multiverse? This might feel like speculation heaped upon speculation, but it’s not as crazy as you might think. Continued here S67 The Secret to Loving Winter When I was getting ready to leave my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, for college on the East Coast more than a decade ago, weather warnings came from everyone. “Get ready for that New England winter!” “I hope you have a big coat!” “Ooh, I hear it gets cold up there!” This cautioning from friends and neighbors confused me. In my 18 years in the Midwest, I’d experienced huge snowfalls, multiple stretches of subzero temperatures, and an ice storm that closed school for three blissful days. Winter to my midwestern self meant sledding on school-cafeteria trays and poking Duraflame logs while in my pajamas and sneaking an extra packet of Swiss Miss into my mug. The average winter temperature in Missouri is only 4 degrees warmer than that in Massachusetts; other midwestern states such as Minnesota and North Dakota reliably sink to 12 degrees Fahrenheit in the colder months. What changed in those thousand or so miles to make the season “brutal,” “punishing,” and worthy of such grave warnings? Continued here S50 Jeremy Bentham was consumed by creating a perfect prison. Here’s the result | Aeon Videos The British philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham was, for nearly two decades, consumed by how to construct the ideal building for institutional supervision – and in particular, a better prison. Published in 1791, Bentham’s plans for a ‘panopticon’ building (from the Greek for all-seeing) proposed what he believed to be a cheaper, more efficient and more humane alternative to the prisons of his time. While today the panopticon is more often thought of as a metaphor for power and surveillance than as a flawless prison layout, Bentham believed his proposal was highly practical, applicable ‘without exception, to all establishments whatsoever, in which … a number of persons are meant to be kept under inspection’. This short video from Myles Zhang, a PhD student specialising in US urban history at the University of Michigan, crafts a precise digital construction of a panopticon prison based on Bentham’s plans, with the design’s broader commentaries on punishment, power and surveillance sitting in the subtext. You can read more about Zhang’s project here. Continued here S56 These Are Our Favorite Cordless Vacuums If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED A cordless vacuum might not change your life, but it can make the housework easier. Not being tethered to the wall is freedom you didn't know you needed, letting you move from room to room without having to unplug and find a closer outlet. They're also generally lighter and take up less space than upright vacs, and they're great for getting under couches or coffee tables. Continued here S58 A Privacy Hero's Final Wish: An Institute to Redirect AI's Future About a week before the privacy and technology luminary Peter Eckersley unexpectedly died last September, he reached out to artificial intelligence entrepreneur Deger Turan. Eckersley wanted to persuade Turan to be the president of Eckersley's brainchild, a new institute that aimed to do nothing less ambitious than course-correct AI's evolution to safeguard the future of humanity. Eckersley explained he couldn't run this project himself: He was having serious health issues due to colon cancer, and the organization's co-founder, Brittney Gallagher, was very pregnant and about to go on maternity leave. But Turan wouldn't be alone, Eckersley assured him—as soon as his illness was resolved, he'd be back to serve as the group's chief scientist. They agreed to meet in San Francisco a few days later to hash out a plan. Continued here S65 We’re All Invited to the Lighthouse To the Lighthouse, from the first word of its title, is a novel that moves. Here it comes striding across the lawn, with its hair in long, curving crimps and a deerstalker hat on its head, with a bag in one hand and a child trailing from the other. It is coming to find you, its face lights up, there is something in this world for you to do. I had met Virginia Woolf before I ever opened her books. I knew what she looked like and what had happened to her; I knew that her books took place inside the human mind and that I had my whole life to enter them. My premonitory sense of what her novels were about—Mrs. Dalloway is about some lady, The Waves is about … waves, To the Lighthouse is about going to a lighthouse—turned out to be basically accurate. Yet I put off To the Lighthouse for a long time, in order to live in delicious anticipation of it. There is a pleasure to be had in putting off the classics; as soon as you open Bleak House, you foreclose all other possibilities of what it could be, and there sits Mr. Krook in his unchanging grease spot, always to look the same, never to raise a hand differently. As long as it remains unread, the story can be anything—free, immortal, drowsing between white sheets. Yet if you are a reader, this pleasure can be drawn out for only so long. Continued here S54 Mathematicians Roll the Dice and Get Rock-Paper-Scissors As Bill Gates tells the story, Warren Buffett once challenged him to a game of dice. Each would select one of four dice belonging to Buffett, and then they’d roll, with the higher number winning. These weren’t standard dice—they had a different assortment of numbers than the usual 1 through 6. Buffett offered to let Gates choose first, so he could pick the strongest die. But after Gates examined the dice, he returned a counterproposal: Buffett should pick first. Original story reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent publication of the Simons Foundation whose mission is to enhance public understanding of science by covering research develop­ments and trends in mathe­matics and the physical and life sciences. Continued here S53 When It Comes to OnlyFans, Humans Can Outcompete AI In the spring of 2001, when I was just 18 years old, I launched a multiyear career as an online porn model and cam girl, giving paying customers access to my naked body in the form of photo sets and weekly cam shows broadcast in the members’ sections of my paysites. By today’s standards, the work I did was laughably low-fi. The bulk of what I put out into the world was just softcore stills. Even my cam shows only offered viewers the chance to watch an image refresh every 15 seconds or so, basically providing access to a slow-moving digital flipbook. Over the course of three and a half years, I only shot two videos—and one of them was completely silent, thanks to a malfunctioning microphone. And yet people still paid to see me naked. They joined the websites that I modeled for. They paid me directly for private shows that would play out on a custom link available to them, and them alone. It seemed that nudity was enough to overcome any shortcomings in production value: The images could be bad or blurry or low res, but as long as there were tits available to view, I had a marketable product. Continued here S57 The Best Vinyl Accessories to Jazz Up Your Analog Audio If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED Whether you've just started spinning analog audio or you’ve been building a collection for years, good vinyl accessories can take your enjoyment—and your records’ longevity—to the next level. I’ve spent the better part of the past decade messing with some of the most lauded tools for cleaning, setting up, and maintaining record players, and these are my favorites. Plenty of these accessories are affordable, and they make great gifts too. Continued here S60 5 questions to help you assess the ethics of future innovations It seems like every day we’re bombarded with new inventions and innovations poised to transform the world. Quantum computers promise to exploit multidimensional spaces to solve previously impossible problems. 3-D printers promise to remodel the way we manufacture food, clothes, and spare parts. Synthetic biology promises to refashion entire organisms. And artificial intelligence promises to conquer jobs performed by humans for hundreds of years. What are we to make of these claims? That depends on whom you ask. Proponents believe these innovations will change the world for the better, citing their potential to make it cleaner, safer, or more productive for more people. Conversely, opponents spin stories of unintended consequences and doomsday scenarios — if they don’t outright question the technology’s feasibility. Continued here S51 Are we all influencers now? It was when I was researching a story on micro-famous LinkedIn users that I realized there truly was no escape from the influencer industry. If business bros with corporate jobs in tech and finance — stable, high-paying careers with cushy benefits! — felt the need to supplement their status (and possibly their income) by becoming influencers, what hope was there for the rest of us? In truth, I should have realized this a long time ago. In an increasingly unpredictable economy, one with massive wealth disparity and mass layoffs, where landing a solid career path feels out of reach for so many, of course the industry that promises self-employment and creative freedom sounds like the best possible option. Continued here S61 Unearthing secrets of human sacrifice In the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, the demigod and his comrade Enkidu rip out the heart of the  Bull of Heaven as a gift to the sun god Shamash. This bloody act is far from the only time sacrifice makes an appearance in the world’s most ancient stories, and in some tales such rituals claim human lives, or almost. In Greek myth, King Agamemnon decides to sacrifice his daughter  Iphigenia to Artemis as payment for letting the Greek fleet sail to Troy. In the book of Genesis,  Abraham nearly sacrifices his son Isaac to God, with an angel staying Abraham’s hand only at the last minute. But human sacrifice is not merely the stuff of legends: Archaeologists have found evidence of it at sites across the globe. Sacrificial pits that dot the site of Yinxu, the last capital of China’s Shang dynasty, offer one notable example. The earliest Chinese dynasty to leave an archaeological record, the Shang era spanned from about 1600 BC to 1000 BC. More than 13,000 people were sacrificed at Yinxu over a roughly 200-year period, scientists estimate, with each sacrificial ritual claiming 50 human victims on average. Continued here S66 Iran Needs to Believe America’s Threat If the U.S. does not take forceful action to check Tehran’s progress toward a nuclear bomb, Israel will. That’s a much more dangerous scenario. While the international community was focused on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, inspectors from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), discovered uranium residue enriched to 84 percent in Iranian centrifuge cascades. Weapons-grade fissile material is typically characterized as uranium enriched to 90 percent, but it is worth recalling that the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945 was a fission weapon enriched to an average of 80 percent. The Iranians may claim that they are not enriching beyond 60 percent, and that these are mere particles, but the discovery should set off alarm bells. Continued here S49 Are 'Clean Beauty' Products Worth It? Dermatologists Break Down the Wellness Trend "Unfortunately, many cosmetic and skincare companies are using a lot of substances that really do not belong in skincare." Over the last few years, the country’s biggest cosmetics retailers have leaned hard into a two-word phrase: Clean beauty. While it’s not a new concept, interest in so-called clean beauty — in which beauty products are purportedly free of harmful chemicals — has soared in recent years. In 2018, cosmetics and skincare giant Sephora launched their “Clean at Sephora” label, which they purportedly give to products without specific ingredients. It’s good business: Market research suggests the global natural and organic cosmetics and personal care industry, currently estimated at 39 billion dollars, is expected to grow to 56 billion by 2030. Continued here S68 The Only Good Portrayal of a Marvel Villain Bhumi Tharoor’s culture and entertainment picks include bachata music, the Marvel series Daredevil, and Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry. This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Continued here S69 What Does ‘SNL’ Think of Straight Adult Men? The sketch show’s latest parody of emotionally distant men had a surprising amount of heart. Super Bowl winners once went to Disney World to celebrate their victories, but Saturday Night Live has occasionally offered another option. Last night, Travis Kelce—the Kansas City Chiefs tight end and two-time Super Bowl champion—joined the likes of the quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, each of whom hosted the sketch show shortly after winning the big game. Kelce’s towering athletic presence, a rarity on the SNL stage, gave the show an opportunity to examine masculinity from various angles, including with a surprisingly emotional tenor. Continued here S55 Wyze Makes Wi-Fi Slightly More Affordable With Mesh Routers If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED Wyze’s mission to democratize the smart home started with a string of jaw-droppingly cheap devices that matched more expensive rivals on features. Its indoor and outdoor security cameras and video doorbell have all won our recommendations, but this is the first time Wyze has released a Wi-Fi mesh router.  Continued here Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Followers Blog Archive ►  2024 (51) ►  December (1) ►  October (2) ►  August (2) ►  July (4) ►  June (3) ►  May (5) ►  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) Mar 28, 2023 - 6 Questions to Ask Yourself When Yo... 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