A Bit More Detail

[BLOG] Some Monday links

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 20:16:15 GMT

Anthropology.net notes a remarkably thorough genetic analysis of a piece of chewing gum 5700 years old that reveals volumes of data about the girl who chew it.

'Nathan Burgoine at Apostrophen writes an amazing review of Cats that actually does make me want to see it.

Bad Astronomy reports on galaxy NGC 6240, a galaxy produced by a collision with three supermassive black holes.

Caitlin Kelly at the Broadside Blog writes about the mechanics of journalism.

Centauri Dreams argues that the question of whether humans will walk on exoplanets is ultimately distracting to the study of these worlds.

Crooked Timber shares a Sunday morning photo of Bristol.

The Dragon's Tales notes that India has a launch date of December 2021 for its first mission in its Gaganyaan crewed space program.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina looks at the Saturn C-1 rocket.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog considers if the vogue for minimalism meets the criteria to be considered a social movement.

Far Outliers ?notes how, in the War of 1812, some in New England considered the possibility of seceding from the Union.

Gizmodo looks at evidence of the last populations known of Homo erectus, on Java just over a hundred thousand years ago.

Mark Graham links to a new paper co-authored by him looking at how African workers deal with the gig economy.

io9 announces that the Michael Chabon novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, is set to become a television series.

Joe. My. God. shares a report that Putin gave Trump anti-Ukrainian conspiracy theories.

JSTOR Daily considers what a world with an economy no longer structured around oil could look like.

Language Hat takes issue with the latest talk of the Icelandic language facing extinction.

Language Log shares a multilingual sign photographed in Philadelphia's Chinatown.

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the document release revealing the futility of the war in Afghanistan.

The LRB Blog looks at class identity and mass movements and social democracy.

Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution suggests that, even if the economy of China is larger than the United States, Chinese per capita poverty means China does not have the leading economy.

Diane Duane at Out of Ambit writes about how she is writing a gay sex scene.

Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections reflects on "OK Boomer".

Roads and Kingdoms interviews Mexican chef Ruffo Ibarra.

Peter Rukavina shares his list of levees for New Year's Day 2020 on PEI.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares a map indicating fertility rates in the different regions of the European Union.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how quantum physics are responsible for vast cosmic structures.

Charles Soule at Whatever explains his reasoning behind his new body-swap novel.

Window on Eurasia notes how the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Paris show the lack of meaningful pro-Russian sentiment there.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell talks about his lessons from working in the recent British election.

Arnold Zwicky looks at a syncretic, Jewish-Jedi, holiday poster.

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[URBAN NOTE] Ten JSTOR Daily links (@jstor_daily)

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 18:54:03 GMT

JSTOR Daily considers whether koalas are actually going extinct, here.

JSTOR Daily looks at the life and accomplishments of Alexander Von Humboldt, here.

JSTOR Daily looks at how a move to California doomed the Oneida Community, here.

JSTOR Daily considers how the genetically diverse wild relatives of current crops could help our agriculture, here.

JSTOR Daily looks at the devastating flood of Florence in 1966, here.

JSTOR Daily points out there is no template for emotional intelligence, here.

JSTOR Daily explores some remarkable lumpy pearls, here.

JSTOR Daily notes an 1870 scare over the future of men, here.

JSTOR Daily reports on the staging of war scenes for the 1945 documentary The Battle of San Pietro, here.

JSTOR Daily considers the bioethics of growing human brains in a petri dish, here.

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[NEWS] Seven science links

Thu, 28 Nov 2019 03:12:52 GMT

Climate change is playing a major role in the wildfires of California. Are we now in the Fire Age? Global News considers.

The new normal of the Arctic Ocean is to be ice-free. Global News reports.

Plants first reached land through unexpected horizontal gene transfers. CBC reports.

Zebra mussels have made it to the Lake of the Woods. Global News reports.

An artificial leaf that turns carbon dioxide into usable fuel is a remarkable technology. Universe Today reports.

Earth once hosted nine human species; now it has one. What happened? National Pot considers.

Thanks to better medical care and preventative measures, people have longer healthy lifespans than ever before. Global News reports.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Tue, 26 Nov 2019 23:08:04 GMT

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait shares a stunning photo taken by a friend of the Pleiades star cluster.

The Buzz, at the Toronto Public Library, shares a collection of books suitable for World Vegan Month, here.

Henry Farrell at Crooked Timber considers, with an eye towards China and the Uighurs, how panopticon attempts can stray badly on account of--among other things--false assumptions.

Gizmodo considers how antimatter could end up providing interesting information about the unseen universe.

Joe. My. God. reports from New York City, where new HIV cases are dropping sharply on account of PrEP.

JSTOR Daily shares a vintage early review of Darwin's Origin of Species.

Language Hat examines the origins of the semicolon, in Venice in 1494.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money shares a critical report of the new Jill Lepore book These Truths.

The LRB Blog reports from the Museum of Corruption in Kyiv, devoted to the corruption of the ancient regime in Ukraine.

Marginal Revolution shares a new history of the Lakota.

The NYR Daily looks at the photography of Duane Michals.

The Russian Demographics Blog looks at population trends in Russia, still below 1991 totals in current frontiers.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why some of the lightest elements, like lithium, are so rare.

Window on Eurasia shares the opinion of a Russian historian that Eastern Europe is back as a geopolitical zone.

Arnold Zwicky considers Jacques Transue in the light of other pop culture figures and trends.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 16:39:01 GMT

Bad Astronomy looks at ALMA's observations of the birth of binary star system, here.

The Buzz, at the Toronto Public Library, announces the Governor-General's Literary Awards from 2019, here.

Centauri Dreams notes how we might be able to find a wormhole at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Crux commemorates the enormously successful and long-lasting Voyager missions.

D-Brief notes a self-tending swarm search and rescue drones.

Bruce Dorminey notes how the first discoveries of exoplanets were a consequence of innovative technology and thinking.

Steve Attewell at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that he is talking about the new idea in X-Men of a mutant nation-state over at Graphic Policy Radio.

The LRB Blog notes Manif pour Tous mobilizing against new human reproduction laws in France.

Marginal Revolution looks at how the drug war in Mexico has been getting worse.

Neuroskeptic considers: What traits would a human population adapted to contemporary environmental pressures exhibit?

The NYR Daily looks at a new exhibition of critical Internet-related art by Meriam Bennani.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at a remarkable double gravitational lens, and what it reveals about the universe.

Window on Eurasia notes that although half of working-age people in Uzbekistan have been educated in the Latin script, many remain fluent in Cyrillic.

Arnold Zwicky considers the many implications of fried pickles with ranch dressing.

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[BLOG] Some Saturday links

Sat, 21 Sep 2019 21:53:07 GMT

The Crux takes a look at how those people who actually are short sleepers work.

D-Brief looks at a study noting how the moods of people are determined by the strengths of their phones' batteries.

Dan Lainer-Vos at the Everyday Sociology Blog looks at statistical certainty at a time of climate change.

JSTOR Daily looks at how, and why, the New England Puritans believed human bone might have medical power.

Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the press coverage that created the alleged Clinton uranium scandal.

The Map Room Blog shares maps noting that, already, since the late 19th century much of the world has warmed more than 2 degrees Celsius.

Strange Company shares a diverse collection of links.

Daniel Pfau at Towleroad writes about possible deep evolutionary roots of homosexuality.

Window on Eurasia notes how the Russian republic of Karelia, despite its border with Finland, suffers from repression.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

Fri, 20 Sep 2019 16:24:15 GMT

Architectuul profiles architectural photographer Lorenzo Zandri, here.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes a new study suggesting red dwarf stars, by far the most common stars in the universe, have plenty of planets.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly shares 11 tips for interviewers, reminding me of what I did for anthropology fieldwork.

Centauri Dreams notes how water ice ejected from Enceladus makes the inner moons of Saturn brilliant.

The Crux looks at the increasingly complicated question of when the first humans reached North America.

D-Brief notes a new discovery suggesting the hearts of humans, unlike the hearts of other closely related primates, evolved to require endurance activities to remain healthy.

Dangerous Minds shares with its readers the overlooked 1969 satire Putney Swope.

The Dragon's Tales notes that the WFIRST infrared telescope has passed its first design review.

Gizmodo notes how drought in Spain has revealed the megalithic Dolmen of Guadalperal for the first time in six decades.

io9 looks at the amazing Jonathan Hickman run on the X-Men so far, one that has established the mutants as eye-catching and deeply alien.

Joe. My. God. notes that the Pentagon has admitted that 2017 UFO videos do, in fact, depict some unidentified objects in the air.

JSTOR Daily looks at the origin of the equestrian horseback statue in ancient Rome.

Language Log shares a bilingual English/German pun from Berlin.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money reflects on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson at Jefferson's grave.

Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution looks at a new book arguing, contra Pinker perhaps, that the modern era is one of heightened violence.

The New APPS Blog seeks to reconcile the philosophy of Hobbes with that of Foucault on biopower.

Strange Company shares news clippings from 1970s Ohio about a pesky UFO.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why the idea of shooting garbage from Earth into the sun does not work.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps explains the appearance of Brasilia on a 1920s German map: It turns out the capital was nearly realized then.

Towleroad notes that Pete Buttigieg has taken to avoiding reading LGBTQ media because he dislikes their criticism of his gayness.

Arnold Zwicky looks at diners and changing menus and slavery.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 23:25:57 GMT

Bad Astronomy notes the remarkably eccentric orbit of gas giant HR 5138b.

Centauri Dreams notes the impact that large-scale collisions have on the evolution of planets.

Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber noted yesterday that babies born on September 11th in 2001 are now 18 years old, adults.

The Crux notes that some of the hominins in the Sima de los Huesos site in Spain, ancestors to Neanderthals, may have been murdered.

D-Brief reports on the cryodrakon, a pterosaur that roamed the skies above what is now Canada 77 million years ago.

Dangerous Minds looks at the political artwork of Jan Pötter.

Gizmodo notes a poll suggesting a majority of Britons would support actively seeking to communicate with extraterrestrial civilizations.

io9 has a loving critical review of the first Star Trek movie.

JSTOR Daily shares, from April 1939, an essay by the anonymous head of British intelligence looking at the international context on the eve of the Second World War.

Language Log notes a recent essay on the mysterious Voynich manuscript, one concluding that it is almost certainly a hoax of some kind.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the future of the labour movement in the United States.

Marginal Revolution considers what sort of industrial policy would work for the United States.

Yardena Schwartz writes at NYR Daily about the potential power of Arab voters in Israel.

Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections explains why, despite interest, Australia did not launch a space program in the 1980s.

Drew Rowsome provides a queer review of It: Chapter Two.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how government censorship of science doomed the Soviet Union and could hurt the United States next.

Window on Eurasia notes how, in the Volga republics, recent educational policy changes have marginalized non-Russian languages.

Arnold Zwicky shares a glossy, fashion photography-style, reimagining of the central relationship in the James Baldwin classic Giovanni's Room, arranged by Hilton Als.

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[BLOG] Some Sunday links

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 13:39:46 GMT

The Crux looks at the australopiths, not-so-distant ancestors of modern humans.

Bruce Dorminey notes the interest of NASA in exploring the lunar subsurface, including lava tubes.

Far Outliers looks at the politicking of mid-19th century European explorers in the Sahel.

io9 notes that the new Joker film is getting stellar reviews, aided by the performance of Joaquin Phoenix.

JSTOR Daily explores how, to meet censors' demands, Betty Boop was remade in the 1930s from sex symbol into housewife.

Language Log reports on an utter failure in bilingual Irish/English signage.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money shows that a history of slavery in the US (Canada too, I would add) must not neglect the enslavement of indigenous peoples.

Marginal Revolution notes a paper studying San Francisco looking at how rent control did not work.

The NYR Daily considers growing protest against air travel for its impact on global climate.

Drew Rowsome reviews the queer romance film Bathroom Stalls & Parking Lots.

Window on Eurasia notes how the influence of Russia in the former Soviet Union is undone by Russian imperialism.

Arnold Zwicky considers the striking imagery--originally religious--of "carnal weapons".

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 14:26:51 GMT

The Buzz shares a TIFF reading list, here.

Centauri Dreams notes the growing sensitivity of radial velocity techniques in finding weird exoplanet HR 5183 b, here.

The Crux reports on circumgalactic gas and the death of galaxies.

Dead Things notes the import of the discovery of the oldest known Australopithecine skull.

Dangerous Minds reports on pioneering 1930s queer artist Hannah Gluckstein, also known as Gluck.

Gizmodo notes that, for an unnamed reason, DARPA needs a large secure underground testing facility for tomorrow.

JSTOR Daily looks at how Jim Crow laws affected Mexican immigrants in the early 20th century US.

Language Hat looks at a new project to study Irish texts and language over centuries.

Language Log shares some Chinglish signs from a top university in China.

Lawyers, Guns and Money shares an interview with Jeffrey Melnick suggesting Charles Manson was substantially a convenient boogeyman.

Marginal Revolution shares a paper suggesting marijuana legalization is linked to declining crime rates.

Susan Neiman at the NYR Daily tells how she began her life as a white woman in Atlanta and is ending it as a Jewish woman in Berlin.

The Planetary Society Blog looks at Hayabusa2 at Ryugu.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel celebrated the 230th anniversary of Enceladus, the Saturn moon that might harbour life.

Window on Eurasia notes how global warming is harming the rivers of Siberia, causing many to run short.

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[BLOG] Some Saturday links

Sat, 08 Jun 2019 16:43:19 GMT

Architectuul looks at some architecturally innovative pools.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait looks at Wolf 359, a star made famous in Star Trek for the Starfleet battle there against the Borg but also a noteworthy red dwarf star in its own right.

Centauri Dreams looks at how the NASA Deep Space Atomic Clock will play a vital role in interplanetary navigation.

The Crux considers the "drunken monkey" thesis, the idea that drinking alcohol might have been an evolutionary asset for early hominids.

D-Brief reports on what may be the next step for genetic engineering beyond CRISPR.

Bruce Dorminey looks at how artificial intelligence may play a key role in searching for threat asteroids.

The Island Review shares some poetry from Roseanne Watt, inspired by the Shetlands and using its dialect.

Livia Gershon writes at JSTOR Daily about how YouTube, by promising to make work fun, actually also makes fun work in psychologically problematic ways.

Marginal Revolution notes how the relatively small Taiwan has become a financial superpower.

Janine di Giovanni at the NYR Daily looks back at the 2000 intervention in Sierra Leone. Why did it work?

Jamais Cascio at Open the Future looks back at a 2004 futurological exercise, the rather accurate Participatory Panopticon. What did he anticipate correctly? How? What does it suggest for us now to our world?

The Planetary Society Blog notes that LightSail 2 will launch before the end of June.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at how the discovery of gas between galaxies helps solve a dark matter question.

Strange Company shares a broad collection of links.

Window on Eurasia makes the obvious observation that the West prefers a North Caucasus controlled by Russia to one controlled by Islamists.

Arnold Zwicky takes a look at American diner culture, including American Chinese food.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

Fri, 31 May 2019 23:56:40 GMT

Matt Thompson at anthro{dendum} writes about the complex, often anthropological, satire in the comics of Charles Addams.

Architectuul looks at the photography of Roberto Conte.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes a new computer model suggesting a supernova can be triggered by throwing a white dwarf into close orbit of a black hole.

D-Brief notes how ammonia on the surface of Pluto hints at the existence of a subsurface ocean.

Bruce Dorminey notes how the bombardment of Earth by debris from a nearby supernova might have prompted early hominids to become bipedal.

The Dragon's Tales notes that NASA has awarded its first contract for its plans in lunar space.

Far Outliers notes the reactions, within and without the Soviet Union, to the 1991 Soviet coup attempt.

Matt Novak at Gizmodo's Paleofuture notes how, in 1995, Terry Pratchett predicted the rise of online Nazis.

io9 notes the impending physical release this summer of DVDs of the Deep Space Nine documentary What We Left Behind.

JSTOR Daily suggests some ways to start gardening in your apartment.

Victor Mair at Language Log claims that learning Literary Chinese is a uniquely difficult experience. Thoughts?

The NYR Daily features a wide-ranging interview with EU official Michel Barnier focused particularly, but not exclusively, on Brexit.

The Planetary Society Blog notes that an Internet vote has produced a majority in favour of naming outer system body 2007 OR10 Gonggang.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer considers the possibility that foreign investors in Mexico might be at risk, at least feel themselves at risk, from the government of AMLO.

The Signal looks at how the Library of Congress archives spreadsheets.

Van Waffle at the Speed River Journal looks at magenta spreen, a colourful green that he grows in his garden.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how we on Earth are carelessly wasting irreplaceable helium.

Window on Eurasia refers to reports claiming that a third of the population of Turkmenistan has fled that Central Asian state. Could this be accurate?

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[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: dinosaurs, phages, algae, space development, interstellar travel

Sat, 11 May 2019 00:43:55 GMT

MacLean's notes the controversy surrounding claims of a remarkable find of fossils dating from the very moment, nearly, of the Chixculub impact 66 million years ago.

Wired looks at how genetically manipulated phages can be used to treat infectious diseases untreatable by antibiotics.

Universe Today notes the usefulness of algae in life-support systems for long-duration crewed missions.

Evan Gough at Universe Today notes the need to come up with a system capable of ensuring the sustainable development of space.

Corey S Powell writes at Discover about new technologies that could conceivably be used for rapid interstellar flight, and about stepping-stone targets worth noting as we work up to the stars.

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[URBAN NOTE] Five notes about smart animals: bees, wolves/dogs, cetaceans, Denisovans, Neanderthals

Fri, 10 May 2019 22:34:40 GMT

The Conversation notes how urban beekeepers can play a key role in saving bees from extinction.

Motherboard looks at the comparative intelligence, and generosity, of wolves versus their domesticated dog counterparts.

National Geographic looks at how marine mammals, particularly cetaceans, have been used in different militaries.

Smithsonian Magazine looks at how recent studies have demonstrated the diversity among Denisovan populations.

Smithsonian Magazine looks at the new consensus about the remarkable capabilities of Neanderthals.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Thu, 09 May 2019 13:59:18 GMT

Centauri Dreams links to a paper noting that the interiors of planets play a critical role in determining planetary habitability.

Belle Waring writes at Crooked Timber about imaginative dream worlds, criticized by some as a sort of maladaptive daydreaming I don't buy that; I am interested in what she says about hers.

D-Brief notes the very recent discovery of a small tyrannosaur.

Dead Things considers the possibility that a new South African hominin, Australopithecus sediba, might actually be the ancestor of Homo sapiens.

JSTOR Daily looks at how one negative side-effect of the renewable energy boom is the mass mining of rare earth elements.

Erik Loomis writes at Lawyers, Guns and Money about the way in which not just history but history fandoms are gendered, the interests of women being neglected or downplayed.

Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen reports on how a new US-Chinese trade deal will not do much to deal with underlying issues.

The New APPS Blog notes the great profits made by the gun industry in the United States and the great death toll, too, associated with the guns produced.

The NYR Daily visits the Northern Ireland town of Carrickfergus, home to Louis MacNeice and made famous by violence as the whole province sits on the edge of something.

Drew Rowsome takes a look at the queer horror film The Skin of The Teeth.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains what the technical limits of the Hubble Space Telescope are, and why it needs a replacement.

Window on Eurasia notes changing patters of population change in the different regions of Russia.

Arnold Zwicky shares some photos of notable public art in Switzerland, starting with The Caring Hand in his ancestral canton of Glarus.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Thu, 02 May 2019 19:26:45 GMT

Centauri Dreams notes a strange corridor of ice beneath the surface of Titan, a possible legacy of an active cryovolcanic past.

D-Brief notes one study suggesting that, properly designed, air conditioners could convert carbon dioxide in the air into carbon fuels.

Dead Things reports on the discovery of an unusual human skull three hundred thousand years old in China, at Hualongdong in the southeast.

Gizmodo notes the identification of a jawbone 160 thousand years old, found in Tibet, with the Denisovans. That neatly explains why the Denisovans were adapted to Tibet-like environments.

JSTOR Daily examines Ruth Page, a ballerina who integrated dance with poetry.

Language Hat shares a critique of a John McWhorter comment about kidspeak.

Victor Mair at Language Log shares a well-researched video on the Mongolian language of Genghis Khan.

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how Donald Trump, in his defiance of investigative findings, is worse than Richard Nixon.

James Butler at the LRB Blog writes about the bombing of London gay bar Admiral Duncan two decades ago, relating it movingly to wider alt-right movements and to his own early coming out.

Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen notes a recent review article making the case for open borders, disproving many of the claims made by opponents.

Paul Mason at the NYR Daily explains why the critique by Hannah Arendt of totalitarianism and fascism can fall short, not least in explaining our times.

Corey S. Powell at Out There explains how, and why, the Moon is starting to get serious attention as a place for long-term settlement, even.

Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog explores the fund that she had in helping design a set of scientifically-accurate building blocks inspired by the worlds of our solar system.

Drew Rowsome reports on the new restaging of the classic queer drama Lilies at Buddies in Bad Times by Walter Borden, this one with a new racially sensitive casting.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the massive boom of diversity at the time of the Cambrian Explosion.

Towleroad features the remarkable front cover of the new issue of Time, featuring Pete Buttigieg together with his husband Chasten.

Window on Eurasia considers if the new Russian policy of handing out passports to residents of the Donbas republics is related to a policy of trying to bolster the population of Russia, whether fictively or actually.

Arnold Zwicky considers the various flowers of May Day.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 14:56:54 GMT

In an extended meditation, Antipope's Charlie Stross considers what the domestic architecture of the future will look like. What different technologies, with different uses of space, will come into play?

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at the new SPECULOOS exoplanet hunting telescope, specializing in the search for planets around the coolest stars.

The Crux looks at the evolutionary origins of hominins and chimpanzees in an upright walking ape several million years ago.

D-Brief notes the multiple detections of gravitational waves made by LIGO.

The Dragon's Tales looks at the development of laser weapons by China.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the gap between social theory and field research.

Gizmodo shares an interesting discussion with paleontologists and other dinosaur experts: What would the dinosaurs have become if not for the Chixculub impact?

Hornet Stories notes the ways in which the policies of the Satanic Temple would be good for queer students.

io9 notes how the Deep Space 9 documentary What We Leave Behind imagines what a Season 8 would have looked like.

Joe. My. God. reports that activist Jacob Wohl is apparently behind allegations of a sexual assault by Pete Buttigieg against a subordinate.

JSTOR Daily takes a look at the uses of the yellow ribbon in American popular culture.
Language Hat shares an account of the life experiences of an Israeli taxi driver, spread across languages and borders.

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money makes deserved fun of Bret Easton Ellis for his claims to having been marginalized.

Marginal Revolution considers, briefly, the idea that artificial intelligence might not be harmful to humans. (Why would it necessarily have to be?)

The NYR Daily considers a British exhibition of artworks by artists from the former Czechoslovakia.

Peter Rukavina looks at gender representation in party caucuses in PEI from the early 1990s on, noting the huge surge in female representation in the Greens now.

The Signal looks at how the Library of Congress is preserving Latin American monographs.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how Einstein knew that gravity must bend light.

Window on Eurasia explains the sharp drop in the ethnic Russian population of Tuva in the 1990s.

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[NEWS] Five D-Brief links: whales, bacteria, offshore platforms, Falcon Heavy, Denisovans

Sat, 13 Apr 2019 23:14:20 GMT

D-Brief notes the discovery of a fossil of a four-limbed whale in Peru, dating 42.5 million years.

D-Brief looks at how the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis morphed from normal gut bacteria to potentially fatal hospital-borne infection.

D-Brief notes a proposal to build offshore platforms as habitat for fish and for birds.

D-Brief notes how the Falcon Heavy is proving itself a vanguard of progress in spaceflight.

D-Brief notes new evidence of there having been multiple regional populations of Denisovans, drawing from work in Indonesia.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 17:35:19 GMT

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait reports on the massive cloud of material detected around the active galaxy Cygnus A.

The Crux suggests our contemporary problems with wisdom teeth represent not a failure of evolution but rather a failure on our post-Neolithic parts to eat hard foods which stimulate the jaw growth capable of supporting wisdom teeth.

D-Brief notes how the astronomers involved in a planetary effort to image a black hole are preparing to make an announcement next week.

Gizmodo notes how the debris field created in orbit by India testing an anti-satellite weapon threatens the ISS.

Joe. My. God. notes that at least some hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei are deleting their social media profiles following protests over Brunei's violent anti-gay laws.

JSTOR Daily considers if, between the drop in fertility that developing China was likely to undergo anyway and the continuing resentments of the Chinese, the one-child policy was worth it.

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money uses a recent New York Times profile to note the sheer influence of Rupert Murdoch worldwide.

The Map Room Blog notes a new exhibition, at the shop of a Manhattan rare book dealer, of a collection of vintage maps of New York City from its foundation, sharing some photos, even.

Marginal Revolution remarks on the rapid growth of Native American numbers in the United States over the past century.

The NYR Daily shares a report from Debbie Bookchin in North Syria arguing that the West needs to help Rojava.

Roads and Kingdoms provides some tips for first-time visitors to the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo.

The Russian Demographics Blog notes the continuing growth in numbers of dead from HIV infection in Russia, with Siberia being a new hotspot.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how the Event Horizon Telescope project will image a black hole's event horizon, and what questions exist around the project.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps shares an Anish Kapoor map demonstrating the Brexit divides in the United Kingdom.

Daniel Little at Understanding Society considers the study of ethical disasters in capitalism, looking at OxyContin as an example.

Window on Eurasia notes continued threats, and continued protests to these threats, surrounding Lake Baikal in Siberia.

Arnold Zwicky has fun with a cartoon that plays on a pun between the words chants and chance.

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[NEWS] Five D-Brief links: brains and marrow, dinosaurs, PSR J0002+6216, Teacup Galaxy, Anatolia

Thu, 21 Mar 2019 21:58:38 GMT

D-Brief notes a theory that human brains grew so large fueled by a diet of bone marrow.

Alligators provide scientists with invaluable models of how dinosaurs heard sound. D-Brief reports.

D-Brief examines pulsar PSR J0002+6216, a body ejected from its prior orbit so violently by its formative supernova that it is now escaping the Milky Way Galaxy.

D-Brief notes the remarkable glow emanating from the quasar in the Teacup Galaxy 1.1 billion light-years away.

D-Brief notes genetic evidence suggesting that Anatolian hunter-gatherers, far from being replaced by migrants, adopted agriculture on their own.

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[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: Southeast Asian hominins, dinosaurs, robots

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 22:16:33 GMT

National Geographic reports on the discovery of animals slaughtered by mysterious hominins present in the Philippines some 700 thousand years ago. Who were they?

National Geographic notes a new study suggesting that, before the Chixculub impact, the dinosaurs were doing fine as a group of animals, that they were not on the verge of dying out. The dinosaurs simply had bad luck.

CityLab notes how the jobs typically filled by women, particularly, are especially vulnerable to roboticization.

CBC recently reported from a conference in Las Vegas, where robots demonstrated their ability to fill any number of jobs, displacing human workers.

Matt Simon at WIRED wrote about the potential for robot and human workers to co-exist, each with their own strengths.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:27:26 GMT

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes new evidence that the Pathfinder probe landed, on Mars, on the shores of an ancient sea.

The Crux reports on tholins, the organic chemicals that are possible predecessors to life, now found in abundance throughout the outer Solar System.

D-Brief reports on the hard work that has demonstrated some meteorites which recently fell in Turkey trace their origins to Vesta.

Colby King at the Everyday Sociology Blog explores sociologist Eric Klinenberg's concept of social infrastructure, the public spaces we use.

Far Outliers reports on a Honolulu bus announcement in Yapese, a Micronesian language spoken by immigrants in Hawai'i.

JSTOR Daily considers the import of the autobiography of Catherine the Great.

Language Hat reports, with skepticism, on the idea of "f" and "v" as sounds being products of the post-Neolithic technological revolution.

Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen is critical of the idea of limiting the number of children one has in a time of climate change.

Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections reflects on death, close at hand and in New Zealand.

Strange Company reports on the mysterious disappearance, somewhere in Anatolia, of American cyclist Frank Lenz in 1892, and its wider consequences.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel identifies five types of cosmic events capable of triggering mass extinctions on Earth.

Towleroad reports on the frustration of many J.K. Rowling fans with the author's continuing identification of queer histories for characters that are never made explicit in books or movies.

Window on Eurasia has a skeptical report about a Russian government plan to recruit Russophones in neighbouring countries as immigrants.

Arnold Zwicky explores themes of shipwrecks and of being shipwrecked.

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[NEWS] Five science links: ancient Earth, Mars, Messier 79, gravitational waves

Thu, 28 Feb 2019 00:44:34 GMT

James Nicoll at Tor writes about some of the bizarre multicellular life forms of the ancient past of Earth.

Universe Today looks at the evidence for ancient rivers flowing on the southern highlands of Mars.

Universe Today notes evidence for continuing volcanic activity on Mars.

Universe Today examines Messier 79, a globular cluster in our galaxy that may have come from outside.

Wired notes how improvements in gravitational wave astronomy technology will lead to amazing amounts of detail about our cosmic neighbourhood in the near future.

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[ISL] Five #PEI links: Bathygnathus borealis, real estate, CFL, bridge fees, politics

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 23:54:16 GMT

On Prince Edward Island, footprints of the ancient pre-dinosaur predator Bathygnathus borealis have been found. Global News reports.

VICE notes how the extreme shortage of rental housing on PEI is placing heavy pressure on the vulnerable.

Out of Maritime solidarity, Charlottetown supports the bid of Halifax to finally host a CFL football team. Global News reports.

CBC Prince Edward Island reports on a recent poll suggesting Islanders would overwhelmingly like the fees associated with crossing the fixed link to be radically reduced to abolished altogether.

Prince Edward Island is again preparing to hold a referendum on electoral reform, shifting from first-past-the-post to proportional representation. Global News reports.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 16:48:16 GMT

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at the newly-named Neptune moon of Hippocamp, and how it came about as product of a massive collision with the larger moon of Proteus.

Centauri Dreams also reports on the discovery of the Neptune moon of Hippocamp.

Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber notes how the attempt to revoke the citizenship of Shamima Begum sets a terribly dangerous precedent for the United Kingdom.

D-Brief notes new evidence suggesting the role of the Deccan Traps volcanic eruptions in triggering the Cretaceous extinction event, alongside the Chixculub asteroid impact.

Far Outliers notes the problems of Lawrence of Arabia with Indian soldiers and with Turks.

L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing takes issue with the state of philosophical contemplation about technology, at least in part a structural consequence of society.

Hornet Stories shares this feature examining the future of gay porn, in an environment where amateur porn undermines the existing studios.

JSTOR Daily considers the spotty history of casting African-American dancers in ballet.

Language Hat suggests that the Académie française will soon accept for French feminized nouns of nouns links to professionals ("écrivaine" for a female writer, for instance).

The LRB Blog considers the implications of the stripping of citizenship from Shamima Begum. Who is next? How badly is citizenship weakened in the United Kingdom?

Marginal Revolution notes the upset of Haiti over its banning by Expedia.

The NYR Daily notes the tension in Turkey between the country's liberal laws on divorce and marriage and rising Islamization.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at the moment, in the history of the universe, when dark energy became the dominant factors in the universe's evolution.

Towleroad remembers Roy Cohn, the lawyer who was the collaborator of Trump up to the moment of Cohn's death from AIDS.

Understanding Society's Daniel Little takes a look at Marx's theories of how governments worked.

Window on Eurasia looks at the existential pressures facing many minority languages in Russia.

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