EO: Cinema's ultimate scene-stealers

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EO: Cinema's ultimate scene-stealers In a landmark 2009 essay, the influential author John Berger argued that capitalist societies had commodified images of animals, reducing them to pictures of innocence. In our daily lives, he wrote, animals had been consigned to the realms of family or spectacle – most obviously, as pets or in zoos. EO, the latest feature from the Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski, departs from the historically showy, contrived and stunt-packed performances of animals in cinema, from the early caper Bout de Zan Vole un Eléphant (1913), in which a child steals an elephant from a circus, to Fearless Fagan (1952), where a newly enlisted soldier brings his pet lion to the barracks. In his understated and yet emotionally devastating new film, Skolimowski, director of Le Départ (1967), creates instead a more subtly crafted portrayal of an animal's experience. With shots that linger on EO's pensive, wistful eyes and shot-reverse-shots that capture his gaze, the film makes a blisteringly compelling case for what it might be like to experience the world as a donkey. Continued here

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What's behind the door? The best narrative twists in television and film, and why we love them Life is full of surprises – some pleasant and some painful – but there can be no surprises without expectations. We expect the sun to come up every morning. We expect our dog to bark every time someone comes to the door. We expect to be able to leave the house without risk of a viral infection. People tell and consume stories to understand themselves and the world in which we live. We seek stories that provide a safe place to experience fearful situations and to think about how we might respond if we were in the place of the characters. Continued here

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You Need to Watch the Most Underrated Zombie Movie on HBO Max ASAP The decade gave us way, way too many zombie movies, but a few gems have slipped through the cracks. After the 2000s revived the zombie horror, the 2010s appeared to squish and squeeze it for all it was worth. Yet amid all the genre fatigue, a handful of films staked their place in the canon of the great undead. And one of the finest, adapted from a George A. Romero cult favorite, was the first out of the block. Continued here

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Use the 30-90 Rule to Take the Perfect Nap A little bit of science can help you wake up feeling alert and refreshed rather than groggy and grumpy. Continued here

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Why Some Florida Schools Are Removing Books from Their Libraries In late January, at Greenland Pines Elementary, kids attended a party for an annual event called Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida! There was an escape room and food trucks. Brian Covey, an entrepreneur in his late thirties, came to pick up his daughter, who’s in second grade, and his son, who’s in fifth. His kids looked confused. “Did you hear what happened at school today?” his daughter asked. “They took all the books out of the classrooms.” Covey asked which books. “All the books,” she said. Covey’s son had been reading “Measuring Up,” a coming-of-age story about an immigrant to the United States from Taiwan. Students who read from a list of pre-selected books, including this one, were rewarded with an ice-cream party. “They even took that book,” Covey said. Covey went into the school classrooms to see what his children were talking about and found bookshelves papered over to hide the books. (He also went to another local school and later uploaded a video to Twitter showing that its shelves were bare.) “This has never been an issue before,” Covey told me, noting that he’d grown up in the same public-school system, in Duval County, which includes Jacksonville. “But I read books about the consequences of this kind of thing when I was in school.” He was thinking of “Fahrenheit 451” and “1984,” he said. His kids, he added, seemed confused about what would make a book inappropriate for school. “The only way I could get them to understand was to ask what happens if a book in the library or classroom had the F-word in it a bunch of times,” he told me. “My son said, ‘We’d bring it to the teacher or the librarian.’ ” Covey couldn’t think of any books at their library that he would keep from them. (Communications officials for the public schools in Duval County insisted that some approved books remained available to students, including those on the list that Covey’s son was reading from.) Continued here

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Why the drug poisoning crisis in B.C. won't be addressed by the new decriminalization policy PhD Student, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia On the same day that British Columbia began a new era in drug policy with the decriminalization of simple possession of some drugs, the province’s chief coroner provided a devastating update about the number of lives lost to illicit drugs during the previous year. Continued here

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The U.N. Secretary-General’s Searing Message for the Fossil-Fuel Industry On Monday morning, at the United Nations, the Secretary-General delivered his annual report on priorities—a kind of State of the Planet address. If you're struggling to remember the name of the current Secretary-General, it's António Guterres, who came to the job after, among other things, serving as the Prime Minister of Portugal. We're used to the idea that "diplomatic language" is filled with euphemisms—"a full and frank exchange of views," and so on. And, since Guterres is the world's top diplomat, one might expect that he would be a master of this form of address. So I'm going to quote at some length from his talk today, concentrating on the section about global warming and the environment. He begins by saying, in a sentence typed in bold in the official transcript, "We must end the merciless, relentless, senseless war on nature." That war, he continues, "is putting our world at immediate risk of hurtling past the 1.5-degree temperature increase limit and now still moving towards a deadly 2.8 degrees." Hence: Continued here

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“Knock at the Cabin,” Reviewed: Be Nice to the QAnoners, or They’ll Do an Apocalypse Spoiler alert: the climactic event of "Knock at the Cabin" is a book burning. I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that, lest anyone deem Hollywood a solid front of liberal messaging, this new film by M. Night Shyamalan provides yet another hefty counterexample. In a year that has delivered such models of illiberal retrenchment as "Top Gun: Maverick," "Tár," and "Avatar: The Way of Water," "Knock at the Cabin" has the virtue of being the most daring, brazen, imaginative, and radical of them. It's starkly posed as a conflict of faith against reason—and it presents a faith-based order that's ready and willing to use violence in pursuit of its redemptive vision. So far, so apt. What's jolting about Shyamalan's film is its call to capitulation. The director puts the onus on the liberal and progressive element of American society to meet violent religious radicals more than halfway, lest they yield to even worse rages, lest they unleash an apocalypse. Or, rather, the Apocalypse. The premise of the movie is the visitation, upon an ordinary American family, of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who aren't all men and who show up not on horseback but by truck, and who turn a seemingly run-of-the-mill home-invasion thriller into a cosmic spectacle of metaphysical mumbo-jumbo. It's also a suspense film, in which just about nothing but the plot matters, and therefore any discussion risks being spoiler-y; I'll be careful, but be forewarned. The family that's vacationing in the titular cabin, isolated in deep woods and far beyond cell-phone signals, comprises Andrew (Ben Aldridge), a human-rights lawyer; Eric (Jonathan Groff), whose job is unspecified; and their daughter, Wen (Kristen Cui), who discloses at the start that she's nearly eight, and whom they adopted from China. The foursome of intruders is led by one Leonard (Dave Bautista), a soft-spoken hulk and second-grade teacher from Chicago; his companions are Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), a nurse from Southern California; Adriane (Abby Quinn), a line cook at a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C.; and Redmond (Rupert Grint), who works for a gas company in Medford, Massachusetts. Continued here

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Newport ship: after 20 years' work, experts are ready to reassemble medieval vessel found in the mud Evan Jones received £2000 from Newport City Council / The Friends of the Newport Ship to cover part of the costs for holding a conference on 'The World of the Newport Medieval Ship' in 2014. Both bodies also made contributions (totaling £3,114) towards the publication costs of the subsequent book 'The World of the Newport Medieval Ship' (University of Wales Press, 2018). When construction work began on a new arts centre in Newport, south Wales, in 2002, the builders on site could scarcely have imagined what they would dig up. While excavating the foundations on the banks of the River Usk, a section of a medieval wooden ship was uncovered which had been perfectly preserved by the river’s waterlogged silt. Archaeologists were called in and it soon became clear the vessel was extraordinary. Continued here

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3 Major Reasons Why Good Employees Quit, According to Studies Money is certainly a major reason why employees may quit, but not the primary reason. Continued here

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Faeces, urine and sweat - just how gross are hot tubs? A microbiologist explains For many centuries we have bathed in communal waters. Sometimes for cleanliness but more often for pleasure. Indeed, in ancient Greece, baths were taken in freshwater, or sometimes the sea – which was thought of as a sacred place dedicated to local gods and so was considered an act of worship. But it was the Romans who created state-sponsored aqueducts to allow for large-scale public baths. These were mainly used for relaxation but also for more private pleasures, too. Yes, the public baths were often where Romans did the dirty deed - sometimes with their bath attendant slaves. Continued here

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Elon Musk Seething with Envy Over Attention Balloon Is Getting SAN FRANCISCO (The Borowitz Report)—Elon Musk has been seething with envy over the media attention garnered by the Chinese spy balloon, the Twitter C.E.O. revealed. “I don’t get it,” he said. “I’m super cool and interesting, and it’s just a freaking balloon. What does it even do? Just stupid balloon shit.” Continued here

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Atmospheric rivers are hitting the Arctic more often, and increasingly melting its sea ice Atmospheric rivers, those long, powerful streams of moisture in the sky, are becoming more frequent in the Arctic, and they’re helping to drive dramatic shrinking of the Arctic’s sea ice cover. While less ice might have some benefits – it would allow more shipping in winter and access to minerals – sea ice loss also contributes to global warming and to extreme storms that cause economic damage well beyond the Arctic. Continued here

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Are You Hiring Quick Smart or Slow Smart? The type of intelligence dictates success in the job. Continued here

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Five reasons physical activity is important for cancer patients You might know that physical activity can help lower your risk of getting many common types of cancer. But what many of us don’t realise is just how important physical activity is if you’ve been diagnosed with cancer. While patients were previously told to rest during cancer treatment, the overwhelming body of evidence now shows that physical activity is safe and beneficial throughout cancer treatment and beyond. The World Health Organization also endorses physical activity for those with chronic conditions, including cancer. Continued here

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Rights of transgender students and their parents are a challenge for schools, courts Ph.D. Student in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, University of Wisconsin-Madison As an increasing number of elementary, middle and high school students in the U.S. have begun to identify as transgender, school leaders have struggled to figure out how to respond, and how – and whether – to communicate about their actions to parents. Continued here

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The toll of layoff anxiety “Every morning, before I even get out of bed, I’m overcome by a sense of dread,” says Kara, a 41-year-old tech worker, based in New York City. She’s been at her company for four years – but she says she “knows” she’ll probably get cut. “I’m basically 100% sure that one of these days, I’ll get the email saying that my position’s been eliminated … It’s just a matter of time.” For Kara, whose full name is being withheld for career considerations, layoffs have already had a considerable impact on her life, even though she hasn’t lost her job. She’s anxious, sleeps poorly and cries a lot, she says. “It’s the uncertainty that’s the worst. Part of me thinks I should just resign to save my nerves, but it might be exactly the same somewhere else,” she says. “Job security in this sector is basically a myth.” Continued here

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France's undisputed queens of cheese In the months leading up to the very first cheese-focused iteration of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) competition, held every few years to recognise the country's the best craftspeople, Nathalie Quatrehomme remembers her cheesemonger mother, Marie, taking over the family living room, assembling and disassembling a plexiglass apparatus supporting dozens of different cheeses. "It was 2000, and I was 17," Nathalie recalled. "She practiced building it on our living room table for a whole year." Continued here

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Waste crime: how online advertising platforms are facilitating illegal dumping The new BBC podcast, Buried, by investigative journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor, is a compelling look at how criminals are infiltrating the UK waste disposal system. It opens with a tape recording by a trucker, on his deathbed. He tells the story of one of the worst environmental crimes in UK history – the illegal dumping of a million tonnes of waste near Derry in Northern Ireland. While the extent of the offences on the Mobuoy Road site were discovered in 2012, bringing those responsible to justice has taken over a decade. Two people were finally sentenced at Laganside Court in Belfast in November 2022. Continued here

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Intentionally Orchestrating Workforce Ecosystems In fall 2022, MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte conducted their third annual Future of the Workforce global survey. More than 3,700 managers and leaders from around the world weighed in on how their organizations approach managing their workforces. The research team divided these respondents into three maturity categories based on their responses to questions about how they define their workforces, the degree to which they manage their workforces in a holistic manner, and how prepared they feel to manage a workforce consisting of a mix of internal and external participants. The resulting workforce ecosystem orchestration index, which comprises Intentional Orchestrators (12% of all respondents), Partial Orchestrators (74%), and Non-Orchestrators (14%), provides a model to leaders across industry and geography to think about how best to plan for, engage, monitor, and retain workers to optimize productivity, strategic alignment, and worker satisfaction. Elizabeth J. Altman (@lizaltman) is an assistant professor of management at the Manning School of Business at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and is guest editor for the MIT Sloan Management Review Future of the Workforce Big Ideas research initiative. Continued here

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The US and the Philippines' military agreement sends a warning to China - 5 key things to know The United States and the Philippines announced on Feb. 2, 2023, that the U.S. is expanding its military presence across more military bases in the Southeast Asian country, giving the U.S. a potential advantage in its efforts to thwart China’s possible efforts to take control of Taiwan. While Taiwan, an island off the coast of China, considers itself an independent country, China maintains that it is a breakaway province it wants to again control and has increased its threats to move to overtake it in recent months. Continued here

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6 Choices That Helped TIPA Raise $123 Million Relieve customer pain by providing a great product. Continued here

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Is the gruesome fun in Netflix's 'Wednesday' realistic? What science says about getting eaten by piranhas and poisoned by nightshade Editor’s note: This article contains minor spoilers for the Netflix series “Wednesday.” The popular Netflix series “Wednesday” chronicles the adventures of the Addams family’s teen daughter. After her parents send her to Nevermore Academy, a school for “outcasts,” Wednesday Addams, played by Jenna Ortega, is pulled into a perplexing murder mystery. The show is infused with elements of the supernatural but also contains scenes that may leave viewers wondering, “Could that really happen in real life?” Continued here

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3 reasons not to be a Stoic (but try Nietzsche instead) For an ancient philosophy, Stoicism is doing extremely well in 2023. Quotes from the Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius litter my Instagram feed; you can find expert advice from modern Stoic thinkers on leadership, relationships, and, well, just about anything. It is hard to imagine Zeno, the Athenian philosopher who founded Stoicism, or his Roman counterparts Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus existing in today’s world. And yet here they are, quoted and debated on every corner. Continued here

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Three surprising reasons human actions threaten endangered primates Tracie McKinney is affiliated with the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group's Section for Human-Primate Interactions (SHPI). Michelle Rodrigues is affiliated with the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group's Section for Human-Primate Interactions (SHPI). Continued here

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Apple Had Its Worst Quarter in 5 Years. This Number Is Why No One is Worried Earnings fell short of last year's record quarter, but the company reached an important milestone. Continued here

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Rare genetic disease may protect Ashkenazi Jews against tuberculosis - new study Tuberculosis, humanity’s greatest infectious killer, is caused by bacteria that usually affect the lungs but can also affect many other organs in the body. In 2021, around 10.6 million people worldwide fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) and 1.6 million people died from the disease. However, around 95% of people who are infected with the bacteria that cause TB don’t become ill. Their immune system manages to successfully destroy the bug. Continued here

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Yes, masks reduce the risk of spreading COVID, despite a review saying they don't The question of whether and to what extent face masks work to prevent respiratory infections such as COVID and influenza has split the scientific community for decades. Although there is strong evidence face masks significantly reduce transmission of such infections both in health-care settings and in the community, some experts do not agree. Continued here

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The future of flight in a net-zero-carbon world: 9 scenarios, lots of sustainable biofuel The idea of jetliners running solely on fuel made from used cooking oil from restaurants or corn stalks might seem futuristic, but it’s not that far away. Several airlines are already experimenting with sustainable aviation fuels. These include biofuels made from agriculture residues, trees, corn and used cooking oil. Other fuels are synthetic, made by combining captured carbon from the air and green hydrogen, made with renewable energy. Often, they can go straight into existing aircraft fuel tanks that normally hold fossil jet fuel. Continued here

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More lunar missions means more space junk around the Moon - two astronomers are building a catalog to track the trash Scientists and government agencies have been worried about the space junk surrounding Earth for decades. But humanity’s starry ambitions are farther reaching than the space just around Earth. Ever since the 1960s with the launch of the Apollo program and the emergence of the space race between the U.S. and Soviet Union, people have been leaving trash around the Moon, too. Today, experts estimate that there are a few dozen pieces of space junk like spent rocket bodies, defunct satellites and mission-related debris orbiting in cislunar space – the space between Earth and the Moon and the area around the Moon. While this isn’t yet a large amount of junk, astronomers have very little information about where these pieces of space debris are, let alone what they are and how they got there. Continued here

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Sports betting apps' notifications and leaderboards encourage more and more wagers - a psychologist who treats gambling addictions explains why some people get hooked Joe is a full-time college student who also works some nights as a security guard. He played basketball all through high school and loves to follow the sport. Tonight one of his favorite teams is playing and he’s placed a US$100 bet for them to win. As he sits in his vehicle with one eye on the parking lot and one eye on his physics textbook, he listens to the game. His phone keeps vibrating. A notification from a sports wagering app asks if he’d like to place a prop bet – a sort of side bet unrelated to the specific outcomes of the game – for a specific player to make five rebounds tonight. He adds $20 for this bet. His app buzzes again, now suggesting a prop bet for a certain player to make four three-point shots this game. The odds look good; he knows this player; he adds $40 here. Continued here

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5 Tips for Winning Every Pitch Don't underestimate the power of being nice. Continued here

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As climate change and overuse shrink Lake Powell, the emergent landscape is coming back to life - and posing new challenges I know many of the people involved in the controversy regarding the future of Lake Powell and Glen Canyon. As Western states haggle over reducing water use because of declining flows in the Colorado River Basin, a more hopeful drama is playing out in Glen Canyon. Continued here

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We found the WA radioactive capsule. But in 1980, Australia lost 2,200 kilograms of uranium oxide - stolen by a mine worker The loss of a capsule of caesium-137, measuring 6mm by 8mm, dominated the news late last month. The capsule was found in the Western Australian outback on February 1, but in terms of losing radioactive material, we have been here before. And in at least one case, the sheer amount of lost radioactive material dwarfed the recent WA incident. Continued here

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South Africa's ruling party has favoured loyalty over competence - now cadre deployment has come back to bite it Cadre deployment is one of the best-known policies of the African National Congress (ANC), which has governed South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. And many of the party’s woes over the past decade can be traced back to it. The concept of “deployment” has a strong military association. Conventionally, it is about tactical deployment of troops or infrastructure during military operations. In this instance it is used to describe how the ANC places people in strategic positions at various levels of government. Continued here

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Turkey-Syria earthquakes: a seismologist explains what has happened An extremely large earthquake has occurred in the southeast of Turkey, near the border with Syria. Data from seismometers which measure shaking of the ground caused by earthquake waves suggest this this event, in the early morning of February 6, was a magnitude 7.8 out of 10 on the moment magnitude scale. Seismic waves were picked up by sensors around the world (you can watch them ripple through Europe) including places as far away as the UK. The shaking caused by energy travelling outwards from the source or epicentre has already had terrible consequences for people living nearby. Many buildings have collapsed, at least 2,000 people are thought to have died across the two countries, and there are reports of damage to gas pipelines leading to fires. Continued here

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Archaeologists have discovered a mummy wrapped in gold - In January 2023, a group of archaeologists excavating tombs in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara, near Cairo, discovered the mummified remains of a man named Hekashepes, who lived circa 2300BC. Found inside a limestone sarcophagus in a burial shaft, the body and its wrappings are unusually well preserved for the period. In the 5th century BC, the Greek historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus described the elaborate way Egyptians preserved their dead. The brain was removed through the nostrils with a hook, while the inner organs were removed through a cut in the abdomen. Continued here

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The Beyoncé Grammys Were Awkward Two categories into last night's Grammy Awards broadcast, Beyoncé found herself once again achieving an awkward status within the universe of the Recording Academy. For one, she was late to the ceremony—reportedly owing to traffic—and unable to collect a historic trophy. In winning Best R. & B. Song for "Cuff It," a highlight from her 2022 album, "Renaissance," she tied with the conductor Georg Solti for the highest number of Grammy wins. But it was a complicated achievement when considered against the backdrop of Beyoncé's Grammys history, in which she has also been one of the Recording Academy's most overlooked artists, racking up smaller genre-based wins yet mostly losing out in the awards' headlining categories. When Adele won Album of the Year over Beyoncé, in 2017, there was such a sense of cosmic injustice that Adele herself could not bear the result. "I can't possibly accept this award," she told the crowd. "I'm very humbled . . . but my artist of my life is Beyoncé. The 'Lemonade' album was so monumental." This year, in the wake of "Renaissance," Beyoncé's long-awaited follow-up to "Lemonade," the Grammys broadcast seemed intent on correcting the course, or at least distracting the viewer from it. Even if the Recording Academy voters have not always properly honored Beyoncé's work, the show and its host, Trevor Noah, worked overtime this year to remind the audience of the Grammys' respect for her towering greatness, and the historic nature of the evening. During his opening monologue, Noah quickly reminded the crowd of what the ceremony's narrative would be: giving Beyoncé, who was nominated for nine awards but needed only four wins to break the record, her due. "I was so inspired by the lyrics of 'Break My Soul' that I actually quit my job," he joked. When Beyoncé finally arrived at the arena, he found her at her table and personally handed her the trophy she hadn't earlier been able to accept. "You know, when you equal a record, there's no way you don't get to hold your Grammy in your hand and celebrate that. The queen is officially in the building. Ladies and gentlemen, Beyoncé Knowles," he said. She forced a grin, looking uncomfortable, while her husband, Jay-Z, chewed his food. It was almost a foregone conclusion that Beyoncé, with her nine nominations, would break Solti's record. This was the overt story line of the evening, but the louder subtext was the question of whether the Recording Academy was finally prepared to give Beyoncé the major awards. Continued here

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Human challenge studies: what we've learned from intentionally infecting people with COVID Beginning in 2021, scientists in the UK embarked on three SARS-CoV-2 human challenge studies with healthy young adult participants. However, none hastened the production of the vaccines in use today. So what did these studies tell us? This was indeed the case with SARS-CoV-2, where the first and second challenge studies were conducted with the alpha variant about a year after it was the main variant of concern. The third challenge study, which is currently recruiting, is using the delta variant, and is facing a similar problem. Continued here

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Big defence projects are usually late and over budget - here's what we can learn from the build-up to WW2 UK defence minister Alex Chalk visited Rosyth shipyard in Fife, Scotland a few days ago to kick off construction on the second ship in a new class of frigates for the Royal Navy. The navy is buying five of these state-of-the-art Type 31 warships for active service by 2027. Yet while Chalk talked up the “world-class facilities” at Rosyth and selling more of these ships to other countries in future, doubts are simultaneously being raised about the frigates due after the Type 31s. The Type 32 programme, due to start completions by the early 2030s, may be cancelled in the prime minister’s March defence review due to a lack of funds. This threatens the government’s whole strategy for increasing the navy. Continued here

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Politicians weren't confident discussing Brexit - my analysis of parliamentary debates shows how We can learn a lot about politicians’ true intentions by paying attention not just to what they say, but how they say it. In speeches and debates, certain words and phrases reflect their commitments to political, social and economic ideas. Through legislation, these ideas ultimately affect people’s lives. Brexit and its aftermath is a prime case study of this. British people had different ideas about what Brexit would mean for the UK, and voted for or against the idea in a referendum. But the space where Brexit was turned into reality through legal framework was in parliament. Continued here

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I introduced social entrepreneurship to my trainee teachers -- why it'll make them better at their jobs The daily headlines from South Africa are largely gloomy. The country’s government seems unable to address a years-long electricity crisis that is steadily worsening. Unemployment is high. Food prices are climbing. But there are pockets of excellence – like stories of social entrepreneurship, an approach that uses business principles to create positive social and environmental impact. It involves identifying social problems using entrepreneurial principles to develop, fund, and implement solutions. Continued here

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4 Tips For Building Community In A Remote or Flex Workplace How to feel closer to your remote team. Continued here

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Situations in Which You Absolutely Must Check Your E-Mail Follow @newyorkercartoons on Instagram and sign up for the Daily Humor newsletter for more funny stuff. © 2023 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices Continued here

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'Numberless math' gets kids thinking about and visualizing algebra Masters of Education student, Faculty of Education, St. Francis Xavier University Today, elementary mathematics classrooms look and sound very different than what many parents may have experienced. Continued here

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The politics of blasphemy: Why Pakistan and some other Muslim countries are passing new blasphemy laws On Jan. 17, 2023, Pakistan’s National Assembly unanimously voted to expand the country’s laws on blasphemy, which carries the death penalty for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The new law now extends the punishment to those deemed to have insulted the prophet’s companions, which could include thousands of early Muslims, with 10 years in prison or life imprisonment. Human rights activists are concerned that the expanded laws could target minorities, particularly Shiite Muslims who are critical of many leading early Muslims. Continued here

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Is Canada back on the world stage -- or irrelevant? Eugene Lang is a consultant/advisor to the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries; Fellow, Canadian Global Affairs Institute; and Senior Fellow, Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, Trinity College, University of Toronto. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not represent those of any organizations to which he is affiliated. “Canada is back,” Justin Trudeau proclaimed triumphantly just after being elected prime minister in 2015. The insinuation was that his predecessor, Stephen Harper, had withdrawn Canada from its traditional role in the world and the Liberals would restore our rightful place of leadership in the global firmament. Continued here

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Link between crime and politics in South Africa raises concerns about criminal gangs taking over A report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (Gitoc) released in September 2022 argues that South Africa has increasingly become a centre of organised crime, transcending national boundaries. The picture emerging from the report is that there are organised networks inside and outside the state that enable, facilitate and exploit opportunities for private gain. Or, they exercise unfair advantage in economic activity in the public and private sectors, using coercive methods. Some actively go about sabotaging critical infrastructure to benefit from this. Continued here

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Why do some brands change racist names and logos, but others don't? Here's what the research says In 2020, against the backdrop of global demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism, several famous food brands around the world, including Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben’s, Eskimo Pie, Red Skins, Chicos, Beso de Negra and Gypsy Sauce, publicly acknowledged the racist origins of their brand names and logos and vowed to change them. This change was long overdue. Some of these brands, like Aunt Jemima and Gypsy Sauce, have been around for over a hundred years. Despite activists and critics protesting the commercial co-optation of their cultures, and the racist connotations of certain branding, over the years — especially online via petitions — nothing changed for over a century. Continued here

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Learning grammar is just as important as it always was but the way we teach it has changed Many students are returning to school this year face a renewed focus on grammar. Just before Christmas, the NSW curriculum was overhauled to include the “explicit teaching of grammar, sentence structure and punctuation in high school”. This comes amid concerns about literacy levels, particularly among teenage boys. Last month, a major Productivity Commission report on schools also criticised nationwide literacy (and numeracy) standards. Continued here

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Chocolate chemistry - a food scientist explains how the beloved treat gets its flavor, texture and tricky reputation as an ingredient Whether it is enjoyed as creamy milk chocolate truffles, baked in a devilishly dark chocolate cake or even poured as hot cocoa, Americans on average consume almost 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of chocolate in a year. People have been enjoying chocolate for at least 4,000 years, starting with Mesoamericans who brewed a drink from the seeds of cacao trees. In the 16th and 17th centuries, both the trees and the beverage spread across the world, and chocolate today is a trillion-dollar global industry. Chocolate starts out as a rather dull-tasting bean, packed into a pod that grows on a cacao tree. Developing the characteristic flavor of chocolate requires two key steps: fermentation and roasting. Continued here

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Bacteria use life's original energy source to thrive in the ocean's lightless depths There are more than a billion bacteria in just one litre of seawater. How do all of these organisms find the energy and nutrients they need to survive? In the nutrient-rich waters near the surface of the ocean, the primary energy source is sunlight, which drives photosynthesis, the transformation of light energy into chemical energy. In much of the open ocean, however, a lack of nutrients limits photosynthesis, and in the deep ocean it ceases altogether as there is no sunlight. Continued here

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How did birds survive while dinosaurs went extinct? Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Everyone knows what a bird is – and pretty much everyone knows what a dinosaur is. But not everyone is aware that birds evolved from dinosaurs approximately 160 million years ago. Continued here

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Overthinking? This New Kind of Therapy May Finally Provide An Antidote Mental wellness Instagram brims with gentle reminders for scrollers to keep in their back pocket like “your anxiety is lying to you” and “you are not your depression.” The assertion that your anxiety is lying to you helps reinforce that thoughts powered by mental illness are not necessarily rooted in reality, and don’t need to be listened to. You are not your depression focuses on the idea that depression is a condition and a feeling, but it’s not all-engulfing. These mantras are useful, wholesome nuggets floating around the big, bad Internet that intend to offer users something to grasp. But mantras aren’t always enough against the tidal wave of negative thought that is rumination. Continued here

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Politics with Michelle Grattan: Senator Malarndirri McCarthy on Alice Springs and the Voice Alcohol bans are being reimposed on Northern Territory Indigenous communities, as the federal and territory governments grapple with intractable problems in Alice Springs and elsewhere in the NT. The situation in Alice Springs and the surrounding communities has come into the national news at the same time as debate ramps up about this year’s referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Continued here

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Loopholes wide enough to 'drive a diesel truck through' -- how to tell if a business is really net zero The science is clear: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must peak before 2025 to prevent planetary warming exceeding 1.5℃. The solution is simple: stop doing and investing in things that emit GHGs and instead protect the natural systems that remove them from the atmosphere. Disclosure of a company’s emissions should then let consumers and investors make informed decisions. But businesses are rarely required to disclose all of the emissions generated in their full “lifecycle”. Continued here

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Seneca on Science, Nature, and the Key to a Fulfilled Human Destiny Until the word scientist was coined for the polymathic mathematician Mary Somerville, the term for those who devoted their lives to the contemplation and investigation of the wonder of reality was natural philosopher — the study of nature fell within the domain of philosophy and was indivisible from the humanistic concerns of morality. Two millennia ago, when the universe revolved around an Earth many still considered flat, before anything was known of galaxies or genomes, of atoms or antibodies, the great Stoic philosopher Seneca placed what we now call science — that shimmering systematic curiosity about how nature works — at the heart of a fulfilling life. In a selection of advice to his pupil Lucilius, grouped under the heading Natural Questions and included in Seneca’s altogether indispensable Dialogues and Letters (public library), he considers how the passion to know reality on its own terms — the passion we call science — focuses a life: For Seneca, the study of nature is the closest we get to a true theology — a way of reclaiming God: Continued here S25 China's demand for Africa's donkeys is rising. Why it's time to control the trade In recent years, there’s been a huge, rising demand for donkey hides in China, where they are used to make an ancient health-related product called ejiao. Ejiao is made from collagen that’s been extracted from donkey hides mixed with herbs and other ingredients to create medicinal and health consumer products. It’s believed to have properties that strengthen the blood, stop bleeding and improve the quality of both vital fluids and sleep. Ejiao sells for about US$783 per kilo and the Chinese market for it has increased from about US$3.2 billion in 2013 to about US$7.8 billion in 2020. This recent rise in demand is driven by several factors, including rising incomes, popularisation of the product via a television series, and an ageing population (age is a key demographic driving demand). In addition, ejiao is sometimes prescribed by doctors and the cost can newly be covered by health insurance. Continued here S32 Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: how satellites can help rescue efforts Représentante CNES au Secrétariat Exécutif de la Charte Internationale Espace et Catastrophes Majeures, Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES) In disasters like the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and 7.5-magnitude aftershock that struck Syria and Turkey on February 6, 2023, international cooperation on satellite imaging plays a crucial role in the rescue and recovery efforts. Continued here S55 Further food price rises could cause up to 1 million additional deaths in 2023 Food prices in the UK are at their highest for 15 years and something similar is happening in almost every country around the world. This isn’t just happening because of reductions in food exports from Ukraine and Russia, which are less of a driver of food price rises than feared. And unlike previous food price spikes higher food prices may be set to last. This could be the end of an era of cheap food. Continued here S53 RBA warns of at least 2 more interest rate rises in coming months, as the economic outlook worsens Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Australia’s cash rate has hit 3.35%, after the Reserve Bank raised interest rates for the ninth time in a row – and signalled more interest rate pain ahead. The 0.25 percentage point rise adds A$90 a month to a $600,000 variable mortgage. Continued here S45 QAnon is spreading outside the US - a conspiracy theory expert explains what that could mean The name crops up all over the place, but many people have no real understanding of what QAnon is, or why an estimated 22% of Americans accept one of its core beliefs: that some kind of political “storm” is coming and that violence could be necessary to achieve it. In the US, Georgia politician Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG), previously a fan of QAnon, has just been appointed to the influential House of Representatives’ homeland security committee. Continued here S48 The cancer gap between First Nations and non-Indigenous people is widening - but better data could help Cancer figures provide stark evidence of the gap between the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people in Australia. The difference is confronting – and it’s increasing over time. Cancer is the leading broad cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, accounting for 3,612 deaths (23% of deaths). Indigenous Australians are 14% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer. They are 20% less likely to survive at least five years beyond diagnosis. Continued here S51 The new climate denial? Using wealth to insulate yourself from discomfort and change While the days of overt climate denial are mostly over, there’s a distinct form of denial emerging in its stead. You may have experienced it and not even realised. It’s called implicatory denial, and it happens when you consciously recognise climate change as a serious threat without making significant changes to your everyday behaviour in response. Denial, thought of in this way, is entirely sensible. My colleagues and I asked residents around the Western Sydney suburb of Penrith – famously the hottest place on Earth during the Black Summer of 2019-20 – about their experiences during heatwave conditions. Unsurprisingly, sensory denial is central to how they cope with extremes – primarily by using air conditioning. Continued here S52 Word from The Hill: Government should set date for Voice to start talking As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation’s politics team. In this podcast Michelle and politics + society editor Amanda Dunn discuss the Reserve Bank’s latest (but not last) interest rate rise, Lidia Thorpe’s defection to the crossbench, which potentially benefits Jacqui Lambie, the reintroduction of alcohol bans in Alice Springs and other Northern Territory communities, and Peter Dutton’s tactics on the Voice. Continued here S49 NZ's health system has been under pressure for decades. Reforms need to think big and long-term to be effective As New Zealand’s COVID cases rose in 2021, we were warned the virus would put significant pressure on our health system. But, in reality, New Zealand’s medical system has been struggling for a long time. Over and over again, the media have put the spotlight on the struggling health-care system and the impact these issues have on individual patients and their families as well as, of course, staff. Continued here S36 A tenth of all electricity is lost in the grid. Superconducting cables can help For most of us, transmitting power is an invisible part of modern life. You flick the switch and the light goes on. But the way we transport electricity is vital. For us to quit fossil fuels, we will need a better grid, connecting renewable energy in the regions with cities. Continued here S62 The Feminist Forerunner in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" There are a few things in our culture that almost no one dislikes. Dolly Parton, fried rice . . . I can think of something else, too. For this item the constituency is smaller—you probably have to go to college to want to vote on it—but really, it, or she, should be included: the Wife of Bath, from Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” With “The Canterbury Tales,” which Chaucer wrote during the last decade or so of his life—he died in 1400, leaving it unfinished—he went a long way toward inventing the novel. Actually, scholars don’t agree on what the first novel was, but, more than any other work preceding it, “The Canterbury Tales” has a trait, in abundance, that people look for in a novel and miss if it’s not there: the noise and bustle of real human life, the market-square color and variety that you find in “Tom Jones” and “Middlemarch” and “War and Peace”—indeed, in most of the works that we reflexively think of as great novels. One might even say that “The Canterbury Tales” has too much human life, too many characters: some thirty late-medieval people who are going on a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral and who decide to pass the time by taking turns telling stories. Among them is the Wife of Bath, Alison by name, a clothmaker—well off, well travelled, well dressed, riding a nice horse. Alison is a sort of distillation of the work’s chief novelistic qualities, its realism and its immediacy. As she speaks, you can almost feel her breath on your neck. And it’s not just medieval life she’s talking about. Her story is also a summary of much of the important literature available to people of the Middle Ages, the stories that taught them who they were. Alison is a whole syllabus of human wishes and grudges, blessings and curses—a Divine Comedy, a Metamorphoses, a Decameron, even. (She alludes to all of these sources.) Continued here S50 Earthquake footage shows Turkey's buildings collapsing like pancakes. An expert explains why A pair of huge earthquakes have struck in Turkey, leaving more than 3,000 people dead and unknown numbers injured or displaced. The first quake, near Gaziantep close to the Syrian border, measured 7.8 in magnitude and was felt as far away as the UK. The second occurred nine hours later, on what appears to be an intersecting fault, registering a magnitude of 7.5. Continued here S54 Women can reliably remember if they gave sexual consent when intoxicated, new study suggests According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales for 2020, 1.6 million adults aged between 16 to 74 have experienced sexual assault by rape or penetration (including attempts), since the age of 16. But the vast majority didn’t report it to the police. And, in the tiny fraction of cases that do make it to the courts, the victim’s testimony will be closely examined and subject to scepticism – especially if they disclose that they had been drinking on the day it happened. But my team’s first-of-its-kind study found women can recall details from memory even when they were moderately drunk at the time. This means people who refuse to believe or challenge victims’ claims “because they were drinking” are often wrongfully discrediting a sexual attack survivor. 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