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How many Americans believe in climate change? Probably more than you think, research in Indiana suggests

How many Americans believe in climate change? Probably more than you think, research in Indiana suggests

Concern about climate change is broader than many Hoosiers think. Katherine Welles/Shutterstock By Matthew Houser, Indiana University Indiana certainly doesn’t look like a state that’s ready to confront climate change. Its former governor, Vice President Mike Pence, has questioned whether human actions affect the climate. In 2016 the majority of Indiana residents voted for Donald Trump, who rejects mainstream climate science. And the state ranks first in the proportion of its population that identifies as conservative – a position that…

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Amazon fires are a ‘true apocalypse’, says a Brazilian archbishop

Amazon fires are a ‘true apocalypse’, says a Brazilian archbishop

The Guardian reports: The fires in the Amazon are a “true apocalypse”, according to a Brazilian archbishop who expects next month’s papal synod at the Vatican to strongly denounce the destruction of the rainforest. The comments by Erwin Kräutler will put fresh pressure on Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, following criticism from G7 leaders last month over the surge of deforestation in the world’s biggest terrestrial carbon sink. The archbishop’s words also highlight a widening division between the Catholic church and…

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The Taliban know how badly Trump wants out of Afghanistan

The Taliban know how badly Trump wants out of Afghanistan

The Daily Beast reports: Presumably there will be some agreement in the not too distant future as the Taliban give Trump enough concessions to save face, but they know what they call the “evacuation” of all American forces, whether in uniform or as covert or contract operatives, will demoralize the U.S.-backed regime in Kabul and especially the Afghan military and security forces. These local soldiers and police, after 17 years and tens of thousands of casualties in their ranks, still…

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Complex birdsongs help biologists piece together the evolution of lifelong learning

Complex birdsongs help biologists piece together the evolution of lifelong learning

Vocal learning in birds is a lot like how people learn language. Alexandra Giese/Shutterstock.com By Cristina Robinson, Vanderbilt University; Kate Snyder, Vanderbilt University, and Nicole Creanza, Vanderbilt University Bonjour! Ni hao! Merhaba! If you move to a new country as an adult, you have to work much harder to get past that initial “hello” in the local language than if you’d moved as a child. Why does it take so much effort to learn a new language later in life?…

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Trump supporters whose ‘need for chaos’ obliterates everything else

Trump supporters whose ‘need for chaos’ obliterates everything else

Thomas B. Edsall writes: In the past, chaos-seekers were on outer edges of politics, unable to exercise influence. Contemporary social media — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and so on — has empowered this constituency, providing a bullhorn to disseminate false news, conspiracy theories and allegations of scandal to a broad audience. Examples include the lunacy of the Comet Pizza story (a.k.a. Pizzagate), the various anti-Obama birther conspiracies and Alex Jones’s claim that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that left…

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15 things a president can actually do to tackle the climate crisis

15 things a president can actually do to tackle the climate crisis

Zachary B. Wolf writes: Here are some things any president could do on Day One in office: 1. Rejoin the Paris climate agreement Promising to withdraw the US from the landmark 2015 climate agreement was Trump’s benchmark action rebutting the responsibility to act on climate change. He said, without much evidence, that it was a demeaning failure for American workers, who would be expected to do more than those in other countries. The result is the US is one of…

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Global heating made Hurricane Dorian bigger, wetter – and more deadly

Global heating made Hurricane Dorian bigger, wetter – and more deadly

Michael Mann and Andrew E Dessler write: The Bahamas, for those who live there, is simply a place to call home. For many Americans, it’s a dream vacation spot. But Hurricane Dorian turned that dream into a nightmare. And the worst part is this is only the beginning. Because unless we confront the climate crisis, warming will turn more and more of our fantastic landscapes, cities we call paradise and other dream destinations into nightmarish hellscapes. While the science has…

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EU pours cold water on Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy

EU pours cold water on Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy

AFP reports: Brussels on Wednesday warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson against the idea he could strike a new Brexit deal with EU leaders before Britain crashes out of the bloc next month. EU officials met a British delegation for “technical talks”, but stressed once again that London has come up with nothing that might convince them to reopen the withdrawal agreement. And a senior EU source poured cold water on the idea leaders might agree and approve a new accord…

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Johnson adviser, Dominic Cummings, is now ‘in complete control’ of Conservative Party

Johnson adviser, Dominic Cummings, is now ‘in complete control’ of Conservative Party

Jack Blanchard writes: Despite all the threats and aggressive briefings from No. 10 in lead-up, plenty of Tory MPs and aides were still gobsmacked by the unprecedented purge of the moderates we saw last night. When was the last time any major political party threw out more than 20 of its MPs for disobeying orders? Worryingly for Downing Street, even slavishly loyal Brexiteers were unnerved. “It’s like something out of North Korea,” one normally supportive No. 10 aide phoned Playbook…

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Europe’s fear of refugees might be the only thing that can save Syrians

Europe’s fear of refugees might be the only thing that can save Syrians

Muhammad Idrees Ahmad writes: Much of Europe is eager to see the conflict end so that Syria could be designated “post-conflict” and its people repatriated. Myopic proposals have circulated since 2014 for using reconstruction funds as an incentive to secure Assad’s cooperation. But any time refugees are forced to return to an undeterrable state like Syria, they are being sent to an uncertain future with their properties confiscated, facing possible torture or death. Assad has suffered no consequences for his…

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Evolution doesn’t proceed in a straight line — so why draw it that way?

Evolution doesn’t proceed in a straight line — so why draw it that way?

Evolution has no final endpoint in mind. Uncle Leo/Shutterstock.com By Quentin Wheeler, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry; Antonio G. Valdecasas, CSIC – Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and Cristina Cánovas, CSIC – Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas A high school marching band’s T-shirt places a horn-playing Homo sapiens at the end of the evolutionary process. Brian Kloppenburg, Jordan Summers, Main Street Logo Evolution doesn’t follow a preordained, straight path. Yet images abound that suggest…

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How has climate change affected Hurricane Dorian?

How has climate change affected Hurricane Dorian?

The New York Times reports: The links between hurricanes and climate change are complex, but some aspects are getting clearer. Tropical storms draw their energy from ocean heat — and more than 90 percent of the heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions is being stored in the ocean. Storms that survive the cradle of formation can intensify quickly and become immensely powerful. While it’s common to hear the question, “Was it caused by climate change?” scientists argue that this is…

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Boris Johnson suffers parliamentary defeat as Tories turn against him

Boris Johnson suffers parliamentary defeat as Tories turn against him

The Guardian reports: Boris Johnson has suffered a humiliating defeat in the House of Commons as former Tory cabinet ministers banded together with Labour MPs to seize control of the parliamentary timetable. The prime minister is poised to ask MPs on Wednesday to support an October general election after losing a vote paving the way for a rebel bill aimed at blocking a no-deal Brexit. The government lost the high-stakes vote by 328 to 301 – a majority of 27….

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The Russians at the heart of Italy’s oil scandal

The Russians at the heart of Italy’s oil scandal

BuzzFeed reports: Two men with deep ties to top figures in Russian politics are the voices caught on tape negotiating a proposed oil deal to fund Matteo Salvini’s far-right Lega party, according to new analysis revealed today. In July, BuzzFeed News uncovered an explosive audio recording of longtime Salvini aide Gianluca Savoini discussing a plan to covertly channel tens of millions of dollars of Russian oil money toward Lega’s upcoming European election campaign. The revelations have rocked Italian politics, and…

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