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Architectuul looks at the Portuguese architectural cooperative Ateliermob, here.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at how white dwarf WD J091405.30+191412.25 is literally vapourizing a planet in close orbit.

Caitlin Kelly at the Broadside Blog explains
Centauri Dreams looks at the slowing of the solar wind far from the Sun.

John Holbo at Crooked Timber considers the gap between ideals and actuals in the context of conspiracies and politics.

The Dragon's Tales reports on how the ESA is trying to solve a problem with the parachutes of the ExoMars probe.

Far Outliers reports on what Harry Truman thought about politicians.

Gizmodo reports on a new method for identifying potential Earth-like worlds.

io9 pays tribute to legendary writer, of Star Trek and much else, D.C. Fontana.

The Island Review reports on the football team of the Chagos Islands.

Joe. My. God. reports that gay Olympian Gus Kenworthy will compete for the United Kingdom in 2020.

JSTOR Daily looks at how early English imperialists saw America and empire through the lens of Ireland.

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money does not like Pete Buttigieg.

The LRB Blog looks at the London Bridge terrorist attack.

The Map Room Blog shares a map of Prince William Sound, in Alaska, that is already out of date because of global warming.

Marginal Revolution questions if Cuba, in the Philippines, is the most typical city in the world.

The NYR Daily looks at gun violence among Arab Israelis.

The Planetary Society Blog considers what needs to be researched next on Mars.

Roads and Kingdoms tells the story of Sister Gracy, a Salesian nun at work in South Sudan.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper noting continued population growth expected in much of Europe, and the impact of this growth on the environment.

Strange Maps shares a map of fried chicken restaurants in London.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why a 70 solar mass black hole is not unexpected.

John Scalzi at Whatever gives his further thoughts on the Pixel 4.

Window on Eurasia notes that, last year, 37 thousand Russians died of HIV/AIDS.

Arnold Zwicky starts from a consideration of the 1948 film Kind Hearts and Coronets.

Ending free coffee for municipal employees in the Québec community of Pierrefonds created massive controversy. CBC reports.

The mayor of the Francophone city of Edmundston in New Brunswick has encouraged immigrant Québec students hurt by immigration changes to come to his community. CTV News reports.

The price of crystal meth in Saskatoon is apparently as low as $3 a bag. Global News reports.

Guardian Cities notes how Louisville, low on trees, is trying to regreen the city as a way to deal with rising temperatures.

Open Democracy considers if the DUP is about to lose its strongholds in Belfast.

Guardian Cities looks at the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Kafr Aqab, a place where Palestinians can access their metropolis (and their partners).

CityLab shares photos of the wonderful new public library of Helsinki.

Adam Fish at anthro{dendum} compares different sorts of public bathing around the world, from Native America to Norden to Japan.

Charlie Stross at Antipope is unimpressed by the person writing the script for our timeline.

Architectuul reports on an architectural conference in Lisbon.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares stunning photos of the eruption of the Raikoke volcano in Kamchatka.

Centauri Dreams looks at what the Voyager spacecraft have returned about the edge of the solar system.

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber takes issue with the idea of bipartisanship if it means compromising on reality, allegorically.

The Crux counts the number of people who have died in outer space.

D-Brief notes that the Andromeda Galaxy has swallowed up multiple dwarf galaxies over the eons.

Dead Things notes the identification of the first raptor species from Southeast Asia, Siamraptor suwati.

The Dragon's Tales notes a paper tracing the origins of interstellar comet 2/Borisov from the general area of Kruger 60.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog writes about the privilege allowing people access to affordable dental care.

Gizmodo tells how Alexei Leonov survived the first spacewalk.

io9 looks at the remarkable new status quo for the X-Men created by Jonathan Hickman.

Selma Franssen at the Island Review writes about the threats facing the seabirds of the Shetlands.

JSTOR Daily looks at what led Richard Nixon to make so many breaks from the American consensus on China in the Cold War.

Language Log notes an undergraduate course at Yale using the Voynich Manuscript as an aid in the study of language.

Abigail Nussbaum at Lawyers, Guns and Money explains her recent experience of the socialized health care system of Israel for Americans.

The LRB Blog looks at how badly the Fukuyama prediction of an end to history has aged.

The Map Room Blog shares a few maps of the new Ottawa LRT route.

Marginal Revolution notes a paper establishing a link between Chinese industries undermining their counterparts in Mexico and Mexican social ills including crime.

Sean Marshall reports from Ottawa about what the Confederation Line looks like.

Adam Shatz at the NYR Daily looks at the power of improvisation in music.

Roads and Kingdoms looks at South Williamsburg Jewish deli Gottlieb's.

Drew Rowsome reviews the new Patti Smith book, Year of the Monkey.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper looking as the factors leading into transnational movements.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the question of the direction(s) in which order in the universe was generated.

Window on Eurasia shares a report noting the very minor flows of migration from China to Russia.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell looks at the politics in the British riding of Keighley.

Arnold Zwicky looks at some penguin socks.

MacLean's reports from the GTA suburban city of Milton, a key battleground in the federal election.

Hamilton police continues to be caught up in controversy over its handling of Pride. Global News reports.

CityLab profiles new murals being created in New York City's Harlem, on 125th street, here.

Guardian Cities considers some ambitious plans for remodeling Mexico City, with vast new neighbourhoods and airports, which never came off.

Atlas Obscura looks at a notable library of books and other documents in the Yiddish language, housed out of a decrepit bus terminal in Tel Aviv.

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.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait considers the question of where, exactly, the dwarf galaxy Segue-1 came from.

Centauri Dreams considers the import of sodium chloride for the water oceans of Europa, and for what they might hold.

D-Brief wonders if dark matter punched a holy in the Milky Way Galaxy.

JSTOR Daily warns that the increasing number of satellites in orbit of Earth might hinder our appreciation of the night sky.

The LRB Blog looks at the complications of democracy and politics in Mauritania.

Marginal Revolution wonders about the nature of an apparently very decentralized city of Haifa.

Corey S. Powell at Out There notes that, while our knowledge of the Big Bang is certainly imperfect, the odds of it being wrong are quite, quite low.

The Planetary Society Blog looks at the Hayabusa 2 exploration of asteroid Ryugu.

Vintage Space examines how Apollo astronauts successfully navigated their way to the Moon.

Window on Eurasia looks at press discussion in Russia around the decriminalization of soft drugs like marijuana.

Arnold Zwicky looks at a comic depicting a "mememobile."

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait looks at Abell 30, a star that has been reborn in the long process of dying.

Centauri Dreams uses the impending launch of LightSail 2 to discuss solar sails in science fiction.

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber, as part of a series of the fragility of globalization, considers if migration flows can be reversed. (He concludes it unlikely.)

The Crux considers if the record rain in the Midwest (Ontario, too, I would add) is a consequence of climate change.

D-Brief notes that the failure of people around the world to eat enough fruits and vegetables may be responsible for millions of premature dead.

Dangerous Minds introduces readers to gender-bending Italian music superstar Renato Zero.

Dead Things notes how genetic examinations have revealed the antiquity of many grapevines still used for wine.

Gizmodo notes that the ocean beneath the icy crust of Europa may contain simple salt.

io9 tries to determine the nature of the many twisted timelines of the X-Men movie universe of Fox.

JSTOR Daily observes that the Stonewall Riots were hardly the beginning of the gay rights movement in the US.

Language Log looks at the mixed scripts on a bookstore sign in Beijing.

Dave Brockington at Lawyers, Guns, and Money argues that Jeremy Corbyn has a very strong hold on his loyal followers, perhaps even to the point of irrationality.

Marginal Revolution observes that people who create public genetic profiles for themselves also undo privacy for their entire biological family.

Sean Marshall at Marshall's Musings shares a photo of a very high-numbered street address, 986039 Oxford-Perth Road in Punkeydoodle's Corners.

The NYR Daily examines the origins of the wealth of Lehman Brothers in the exploitation of slavery.

The Planetary Society Blog shares a panorama-style photo of the Apollo 11 Little West Crater on the Moon.

Drew Rowsome notes that classic documentary Paris Is Burning has gotten a makeover and is now playing at TIFF.

Peter Rukavina, writing from a trip to Halifax, notes the convenience of the Eduroam procedures allowing users of one Maritime university computer network to log onto another member university's network.

Dylan Reid at Spacing considers how municipal self-government might be best embedded in the constitution of Canada.

The Speed River Journal's Van Waffle pays tribute to the wildflower Speedwell, a name he remembers from Watership Down.

Strange Maps shares a crowdsourced map depicting which areas of Europe are best (and worst) for hitchhikers.

Window on Eurasia notes the distribution of native speakers of Russian, with Israel emerging as more Russophone than some post-Soviet states.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes the first time that an exoplanet, HR 8799e, has been directly observed using optical interferometry.

Centauri Dreams notes the possibility, demonstrated by the glimpsing of a circumplanetary disc around exoplanet PDS 70b, that we might be seeing a moon system in formation.

The Citizen Science Salon looks what observers in Antarctica are contributing to our wealth of scientific knowledge.

The Dragon's Tales shares links to articles looking at the latest findings on the Precambrian Earth.

The Frailest Thing's L.M. Sacasas writes about his ambivalent response to a Twitter that, by its popularity, undermines the open web.

Gizmodo notes that NASA is going to open up the International Space Station to tourists.

JSTOR Daily looks at how croquet, upon its introduction in the 19th century United States, was seen as scandalous for the way it allowed men and women to mix freely.

Shakezula at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the unaccountable fondness of at least two Maine Republican legislators for the Confederacy.

Marginal Revolution suggests that the economic success of Israel in recent decades is a triumph of neoliberalism.

Stephen Ellis at the NYR Daily writes about the gymnastics of Willem de Kooning.

Drew Rowsome profiles out comic Brendan D'Souza.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at the still strange galaxy NGC 1052-DF2, apparently devoid of dark matter.

John Scalzi at Whatever shares his theory about a fixed quantity of flavor in strawberries of different sizes.

Window on Eurasia looks at a contentious plan for a territorial swap between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Bad Astronomy notes how, in galaxy 3XMM J150052.0+015452 1.8 billion light-years away, a black hole has been busily eating a star for a decade.

Centauri Dreams considers how relativistic probes might conduct astronomy. How would their measurements be changed by these high speeds?

The Crux reports on how scientists are trying to save the platypus in its native rivers of Australia.

D-Brief reports on the quiet past of Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule.

The Dragon's Tales reports on UAV news from around the world.

Joe. My. God. reports a statement by a Trump biography suggesting that the American president believes in not following laws because of his belief in his own "genetic superiority".

JSTOR Daily reports on the importance of the longleaf pine in the history of the United States.

Language Hat considers, in the case of Australia, the benefits of reviving indigenous languages.
Abigail Nussbaum at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers how the success of Israel in hosting Eurovision is a blow against the Netanyahu government.

James Butler at the LRB Blog looks at the peculiar position of private schools in the UK, and their intersection with public life.

Marginal Revolution looks at a paper analyzing two centuries of British writers noting that productivity was boosted for the least productive if they lived in London.

The NYR Daily notes the end of famed French periodical Les temps modernes.

Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog notes the expected crash of Chinese smallsat Longjiang-2 from its lunar orbit at the end of July.

Noel Maurer at The Power and the Money notes how ex-president of Argentina Cristina Fernández, running for election this year, was lucky in having the economic crash occur after the end of her presidency.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains the different reasons behind the blues of the sky and the ocean.

Window on Eurasia notes that three hundred thousand Russians have died of HIV/AIDS since the virus manifested on Soviet territory in the late 1980s, with more deaths to come thanks to mismanagement of the epidemic.

Bad Astronomy notes how the occultation of distant stars by nearby asteroids can help astronomers determine stars' size.

D-Brief notes the remarkable achievements of some scientists in reviving the brains of pigs hours after their death.

Dangerous Minds takes a look at how David Bowie got involved in The Man Who Fell To Earth.

Dead Things looks at the recent identification of the late Cretaceous dinosaur Gobihadros.

Bruce Dorminey notes that astronomers have determined an interstellar meteorite likely hit the Earth in 2014.

Gizmodo reports on a very dim L-dwarf star 250 light-years away, ULAS J224940.13−011236.9, that experienced a massive flare. How did it do it?

Hornet Stories shares some vintage photos of same-sex couples from generations ago being physically affectionate.

At The Island Review, Nancy Forde writes about motherhood and her experience on Greenland, in the coastal community of Ilulissat.

JSTOR Daily notes how Paris' Notre-Dame has always been in a process of recreation.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns, and Money notes the continuing oppression of workers in Bangladesh.

The LRB Blog notes the flaws in the defense, and in the political thinking, of Julian Assange. (Transparency is not enough.)

The NYR Daily reports on how photographer Claudia Andujar has regarded the Yanomami as they face existential challenges.

The Planetary Society Blog traces the crash of Beresheet on the Moon to a software conflict.

Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy warns against the idea of inevitable moral progress.

Window on Eurasia notes the desires of some Russian conservatives to see Russia included in a European Union dominated by neo-traditionalists.

Bad Astronomy notes a push by astronomers to enlist help for giving trans-Neptunian object 2007-OR10 a name.

Centauri Dreams reflects on M87*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of M87 recently imaged, with its implications for galactic habitability.

Crooked Timber is right to note that Kirstjen Nielsen, architect of the cruel border policies of Trump, should not be allowed to resume a normal professional life.

The Crux looks at the Event Horizon Telescope Project that imaged M87*.

D-Brief notes that one-quarter of Japanese in their 20s and 30s have remained virgins, and explains why this might be the case.

Far Outliers notes the process of the writing of U.S. Grant's acclaimed memoirs.

Mark Graham highlights a BBC documentary, one he contributed to, asking if artificial intelligence will kill global development.

Gizmodo explains why the image of black hole M87* does not look exactly like the fictional one from the scientifically-grounded Interstellar.

Hornet Stories explains the joys of Hawai'i in fall.

io9 notes that the new Deep Space Nine anniversary documentary is scheduled for a one-day theatrical release. (Will it be in Toronto?)

JSTOR Daily makes the point that mass enfranchisement is the best way to ensure security for all.

Language Hat looks at the kitabs, the books written in Afrikaans using its original Arabic script kept by Cape Malays.

Language Log notes, with examples, some of the uses of the words "black" and "evil" in contemporary China.

Lawyers, Guns and Money makes the point that having a non-octogenarian president is a good idea.

Marginal Revolution shares the thoughts of Samir Varma on the new technologies--better computers, faster travel, artificial life--that may change the world in the near future.

The NYR Daily explores the subversive fairy tales of 19th century Frenchman Édouard Laboulaye.

The Planetary Society Blog notes the sad crash of the Beresheet probe on the surface of the Moon.

Drew Rowsome engages with the body of work of out horror writer John Saul.

Peter Rukavina maps out where Islanders will be voting, and the distances they will travel, in this month's election.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel engages with the possibility that we might be alone. What next? (Myself, I think the idea of humanity as an elder race is fascinating.)

Arnold Zwicky looks at the sort of humour that involves ambiguous adverbs.

Charlie Stross hosts at Antipope another discussion thread examining Brexit.

Architectuul takes a look at five overlooked mid-20th century architects.

Bad Astronomy shares a satellite photo of auroras at night over the city lights of the Great Lakes basin and something else, too.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about the directions love has taken her, and wonders where it might have taken her readers.

Centauri Dreams reports on the Hayabusa 2 impactor on asteroid Ryugu.

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber takes issue with the claims of Steven Pinker about nuclear power.

D-Brief notes the detection, in remarkable detail, of a brilliant exocomet at Beta Pictoris.

The Dragon's Tales considers the possibility that China might be building a military base in Cambodia.

Karen Sternheimer writes at the Everyday Sociology Blog about the importance of small social cues, easily overlookable tough they are.

Far Outliers notes the role of Japan's imperial couple, Akihito and Michiko, in post-war Japan.

L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing writes about the potential inadequacy of talking about values.

Gizmodo notes a new study suggesting the surprising and potentially dangerous diversity of bacteria present on the International Space Station.

Mark Graham shares a link to a paper, and its abstract, examining what might come of the creation of a planetary labour market through the gig economy.

Hornet Stories takes a look at Red Ribbon Blues, a 1995 AIDS-themed film starring RuPaul.

io9 notes that Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke are co-writing a Pan's Labyrinth novel scheduled for release later this year.

Joe. My. God. notes a new study suggesting 20% of LGBTQ Americans live in rural areas.

JSTOR Daily takes a look at the Bluestockings, the grouping of 18th century women in England who were noteworthy scholars and writers.

Language Hat notes an ambitious new historical dictionary of the Arabic language being created by the emirate of Sharjah.

Language Log examines, in the aftermath of a discussion of trolls, different cultures' terms for different sorts of arguments.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how early forestry in the United States was inspired by socialist ideals.

The Map Room Blog links to a map showing the different national parks of the United Kingdom.

Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution, noting the new findings from the Chixculub impact, notes how monitoring asteroids to prevent like catastrophes in the future has to be a high priority.

The New APPS Blog explains how data, by its very nature, is so easily made into a commodity.

The NYR Daily considers the future of the humanities in a world where higher education is becoming preoccupied by STEM.

Corey S. Powell at Out There interviews Bear Grylls about the making of his new documentary series Hostile Planet.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw considers the pleasures of birds and of birdwatching.

Jason C. Davis at the Planetary Society Blog noted the arrival of the Beresheet probe in lunar orbit.

Drew Rowsome reviews the new amazing-sounding play Angelique at the Factory Theatre.

The Russian Demographics Blog notes a paper that makes the point of there being no automatic relationship between greater gender equality and increases in fertility.

The Signal looks at how the Library of Congress has made use of the BagIt programming language in its archiving of data.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel comes up with questions to ask plausible visitors from other universes.

Strange Company notes the mysterious deaths visited on three members of a British family in the early 20th century. Who was the murderer? Was there even a crime?

Towleroad notes the activists, including Canadian-born playwright Jordan Tannahill, who disrupted a high tea at the Dorchester Hotel in London over the homophobic law passed by its owner, the Sultan of Brunei.

Window on Eurasia notes rising instability in Ingushetia.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell notes that the British surveillance of Huawei is revealing the sorts of problems that must be present in scrutiny-less Facebook, too.

Bad Astronomy shares Hubble images of asteroid 6478 Gault, seemingly in the process of dissolving.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about the experience of living in a body one knows from hard experience to be fallible.

Gizmodo notes new evidence that environmental stresses pushed at least some Neanderthals to engage in cannibalism.

Hornet Stories notes the 1967 raid by Los Angeles police against the Black Cat nightclub, a pre-Stonewall trigger of LGBTQ organization.

Imageo notes the imperfect deal wrought by Colorado Basin states to minimize the pain felt by drought in that river basin.

JSTOR Daily looks at the cinema of Claire Denis.

Language Log reports on the work of linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann, a man involved in language revival efforts in Australia after work in Israel with Hebrew.

Lawyers, Guns and Money wonders if the Iran-Contra scandal will be a precedent for the Mueller report, with the allegations being buried by studied inattention.

Marginal Revolution makes a case for NIMBYism leading to street urination.

Justin Petrone at North! looks at a theatrical performance of a modern Estonian literary classic, and what it says about gender and national identity.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw makes the case for a treaty with Australian Aborigines, to try to settle settler-indigenous relations in Australia.

John Quiggin looks at the factors leading to the extinction of coal as an energy source in the United Kingdom.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes that we are not yet up to the point of being able to detect exomoons of Earth-like planets comparable to our Moon.

Window on Eurasia notes the occasion of the last singer in the Ket language.

Arnold Zwicky shares some cartoon humour, around thought balloons.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait considers the possibility that the remarkably low-density 'Oumuamua might be a cosmic snowflake.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about the challenges of free-lance writing, including clients who disappear before they pay their writers for their work.

Centauri Dreams notes that observations of cosmic collisions by gravitational wave astronomy are becoming numerous enough to determine basic features of the universe like Hubble's constant.

D-Brief notes that the Hayabusa2 probe is set to start mining samples from asteroid Ryugu.

Dangerous Minds remembers radical priest and protester Philip Berrigan.

At the Everyday Sociology Blog, Irina Seceleanu explains why state defunding of public education in the United States is making things worse for students.

Far Outliers notes how many of the communities in South Asia that saw soldiers go off to fight for the British Empire opposed this imperial war.

JSTOR Daily looks at the decidedly NSFW love letters of James Joyce to Nora Barnacle. Wasn't Kate Bush inspired by them?

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how the failure of the California high-speed rail route reveals many underlying problems with funding for infrastructure programs in the United States.

Marginal Revolution notes the creepy intrusiveness of a new app in China encouraging people to study up on Xi Jinping thought.

The Planetary Society Blog looks at what is to be expected come the launch of the Beresheet Moon lander by Israeli group SpaceIL.

Daniel Little at Understanding Society considers the philosophical nature of the Xerox Corporation.

Window on Eurasia notes that the Russian Orthodox Church seems not to be allowing the mass return of its priests who lost congregations to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to Russia.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell considers the astute ways in which El Chapo is shown to have run his business networks.

Arnold Zwicky looks at two recent British films centering on displays of same-sex male attraction, The Pass and God's Own Country.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes that Israeli non-profit SpaceIL plans to launch a lander to the Moon in February.

Henry Farrell at Crooked Timber writes about the material power of ideas and knowledge in 2019.

D-Brief shares the latest images from Ultima Thule.

Earther notes that temperatures in the Arctic have been higher than they have been for more than one hundred thousand years, with moss spores hidden by ice caps for millennia sprouting for the first time.

Far Outliers notes the economic importance, in the early 20th century, of exports of tung oil for China.

JSTOR Daily notes the uneasy relationship of many early psychoanalysts with the occult.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes an alarming report from California showing how the police have been deeply compromised by support for the far right.

Gillian Darley at the LRB Blog writes about a now-forgotten Tolstoyan community in Essex.

Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution notes a new book by Kevin Erdmann arguing that the United States has been experiencing not a housing bubble but a housing shortage.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes the Boomerang Nebula, a nebula in our galaxy colder than intergalactic space.

Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy looks at libel law as it relates to the Covington schoolboys' confrontation.

Window on Eurasia notes a window, in the early 1990s, when the independence of the republic of Karelia from Russia was imaginable.

Arnold Zwicky free-associates around blue roses, homoerotic and otherwise.

MacLean's looks at Dan Carver, mayor of Oshawa. Can this man, who overcame a very rough early adulthood, help the city survive the end of its automotive sector?

A park in Halifax has been named in honour of murdered LGBTQ activist Raymond Taavel. Global News reports.

Open Democracy notes how the rapid spread of rental accommodations in Porto, the second city of Lisbon, is threatening permanent residents with the loss of their homes.

CityLab notes how activists in Tel Aviv are trying to save the ficus trees planted along major avenues decades ago from mass transit construction.

Guardian Cities looks at how a lack of effective planning threatens to make Tehran unlivable for most of its residents.

Bad Astronomer notes a serendipitous photo of two galaxies, one in front of the other, and what this photo reveals about their structures.

Dangerous Minds notes how, and why, Robert Crumb rejected the Rolling Stones and Mick Jagger.

D-Brief notes that every hot Jupiter has clouds on its nightside.

Earther notes that, after a century and a half, iguanas have been reintroduced to the largest island in the Galapagos.

L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing notes how the data self is a shadow of the social self.

Gizmodo shares a stunning photo mosaic by Hubble of the Triangulum Galaxy, third-largest component of the Local Group.

JSTOR Daily takes a look at the story of William Faulkner and his engagement with Hollywood.

Language Log looks at the possibility of outside influence, from other language groups including Indo-European, on a Sinitic word for "milk".

Marginal Revolution links to a London Review of Books article looking at the different national reactions to Brexit from each of the EU-27.

The NYR Daily looks at how Israel is exporting its technologies developed during the occupation of the Palestinians globally.

The Russian Demographics Blog looks at the latest census data on the languages spoken in England.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why astronomers have not yet been able to locate (or exclude as a possibility) Planet Nine.

Towleroad notes that the homophobia of Bolsonario began to be implemented on his first day as president of Brazil.

Daniel Little at Understanding Society takes a look at some sociological examinations of the research university.

Window on Eurasia notes that many congregations in the west and centre of Ukraine once links to the Russian Orthodox Church have switched to the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but that this has not happened in the east.

Arnold Zwicky takes a look at the appearance of a conlang in comics.

Centauri Dreams celebrates the arrival, and successful data collection, of New Horizons at Ultima Thule, as does Joe. My. God., as does
Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog. Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explained, before the New Horizons flyby of Ultima Thule, why that Kuiper Belt object was so important for planetary science.

In advance of the New Year's, Charlie Stross at Antipope asked his readers to let him know what good came in 2018.

Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber makes the argument that, in the event of a Brexit bitterly resented by many Labour supporters, the odds that they will support a post-Brexit redistributionist program that would aid predominantly pro-Brexit voters are low.

Bruce Dorminey notes that many Earth-like worlds might be made uninhabitable over eons by the steady warming of their stars, perhaps dooming any hypothetical extraterrestrial civilizations on these planets.

Far Outliers looks at the patterns of early Meiji Japan relations with Korea, noting an 1873 invasion scare.

L.M. Sacasas writes at The Frailest Thing, inspired by the skepticism of Jacques Ellul, about a book published in 1968 containing predictions about the technological world of 2018. Motives matter.

Imageo looks at the evidence from probes and confirms that, yes, it does in fact snow (water) on Mars.

The Island Review interviews author Adam Nicolson about his family's ownership of the Hebridean Shiant Isles. What do they mean for him, as an author and as someone experience with the sea?

JSTOR Daily looks at the long history of the human relationship with leather, as a pliable material for clothing of all kinds.

Language Hat considers the possibility that the New Year's greeting "bistraynte", used in Lebanon and by Christians in neighbouring countries, might come from the Latin "strenae".

Language Log notes the pressure being applied against the use of Cantonese as a medium of instruction in Hong Kong.

Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the many reasons why a considerable number of Latinos support Donald Trump.

Bernard Porter at the LRB Blog comes up with an explanation as to Corbyn's refusal to oppose Brexit.

Marginal Revolution notes the many problems involved with the formation of supply chains in Africa, including sheer distance.

The NYR Daily has a much-needed reevaluation of the Jonestown horror as not simply a mass suicide.

Author Peter Watts writes about a recent trip to Tel Aviv.

At Out There, Corey Powell writes about how planetary scientists over the decades have approached their discipline, expecting to be surprised.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel shared some top images collected by Hubble in 2018.

Strange Company looks at the strange 1953 death of young Roman woman Wilma Montesi. How did she die, leaving her body to be found on a beach?

Window on Eurasia notes how Circassian refugees in Syria are asking for the same expedited status that Ukrainian refugees have received.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell takes an extended look at the politics of 4G and Huawei and the United Kingdom and transatlantic relations over the past decade.

Arnold Zwicky takes a look, in language and cartoons, at "Jesus fuck".

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber suggests that the planet Earth, judging by the progress of space travel to date, is going to be the only planet our species will ever inhabit.

D-Brief notes surprising new evidence that maize was domesticated not in Mesoamerica, but rather in the southwest of the Amazon basin.

Dangerous Minds notes the penalties proposed by Thomas Jefferson in Virginia for buggery, sodomy, and bestiality.

Earther considers the extent to which Thanos' homeworld of Titan, whether the Saturnian moon or lookalike world, could ever have been habitable, even with extensive terraforming.

Hornet Stories notes the interesting light that a study of ideal penis sizes among heterosexual women sheds on studies of sexuality generally.

JSTOR Daily takes an extended look at how the sharing economy, promoted by people like Lawrence Lessig and businesses like Airbnb, turned out to be dystopian not utopian, and why this was the case.

Victor Mair at Language Log reports on controversy over bread made by a Taiwanese baker, and at the language used.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the latest proof of the decline of Harper's as a meaningful magazine. (Myself, I lost respect for them when they published an extended AIDS denialist article in 2006.)

Allan Metcalfe at Lingua Franca celebrates, using the example of lexicographer Kory Stamper's new book, how the blog helped him connect with the stars of linguistics.

Katherine Franke at the NYR Daily notes pressure from Israel directed against academic critics in the United States.

Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog notes how the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has picked up InSight hardware on the surface of Mars below.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how NASA is running short of Plutonium-238, the radioactive isotope that it needs to power spacecraft like the Voyagers sent on long-duration missions and/or missions far from the sun.

Window on Eurasia notes how, based on an excess of deaths over births, the population of Crimea will decline for the foreseeable future.

Arnold Zwicky takes a look at some examples of the anaphora, a particular kind of rhetorical structure.

Architectuul interviews Vladimir Kulić, curator of the MoMA exhibition Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980, about the history of innovative architecture in Yugoslavia.

The Crux takes a look at the long search for hidden planets in the solar system, starting with Neptune and continuing to Tyche.

D-Brief notes that ISRO, the space agency of India, is planning on launching a mission to Venus, and is soliciting outside contributions.

Drew Ex Machina's Andrew LePage writes about his efforts to photograph, from space, clouds over California's Mount Whitney.

Earther notes that geoengineering is being considered as one strategy to help save the coral reefs.

Gizmodo takes a look at the limits, legal and otherwise, facing the Internet Archive in its preservation of humanity's online history.

JSTOR Daily explains why the Loch Ness monster has the scientific binominal Nessiteras rhombopteryx.
Language Hat links to "The Poor Man of Nippur", a short film by Cambridge academic Martin Worthington that may be the first film in the Babylonian language.

The LRB Blog notes the conflict between West Bank settlers and Airbnb. Am I churlish to wish that neither side wins?

Marginal Revolution links to a paper noting how quickly, after Poland regained its independence, human capital differences between the different parts of the once-divided country faded.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel takes a look at what it takes, in terms of element abundance and galactic structure, for life-bearing planets to form in the early universe, and when they can form.

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