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Luxembourg makes all public transport free

Luxembourg makes all public transport free

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CNN reports: With a population of 602,000, Luxembourg is one of Europe’s smallest countries — yet it suffers from major traffic jams. But that could be about to change. Last month, it announced plans to make all public transport — trains, trams and buses — free from March 2020. The government hopes the move will alleviate heavy congestion and bring environmental benefits, according to Dany Frank, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Mobility and Public Works. Landlocked Luxembourg is one…

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The brain maps out ideas and memories on spacial form of representation

The brain maps out ideas and memories on spacial form of representation

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Jordana Cepelewicz writes: We humans have always experienced an odd — and oddly deep — connection between the mental worlds and physical worlds we inhabit, especially when it comes to memory. We’re good at remembering landmarks and settings, and if we give our memories a location for context, hanging on to them becomes easier. To remember long speeches, ancient Greek and Roman orators imagined wandering through “memory palaces” full of reminders. Modern memory contest champions still use that technique to…

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What’s the difference between Steve King’s racism and Donald Trump’s racism?

What’s the difference between Steve King’s racism and Donald Trump’s racism?

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Adam Serwer writes: The Republican Party is doing a little soul searching. Last week, Representative Steve King of Iowa drew harsh rebukes from some members of his party for his defenses of white nationalism and white supremacy. “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization—how did that language become offensive?” King told the New York Times. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?” This was the most explicit expression of something that…

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Trump administration expands oil drilling despite shutdown

Trump administration expands oil drilling despite shutdown

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The Guardian reports: Three weeks into the longest US government shutdown in history, many important government services have been paused – but the Trump administration has continued efforts to expand oil drilling. Despite the shutdown directive, which has seen national park staff furloughed and the parks suffering from neglect, the interior department has continued processing oil drilling permits and applications. It has also moved forward with a controversial plan to increase drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the…

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Why women are fleeing Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia

Why women are fleeing Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia

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Madawi al-Rasheed writes: Saudi Arabia is facing a social problem that requires an urgent political solution. Women runaways, estimated to be over 1,000 cases, are now regular news. Rahaf al-Qunun, the 18-year-old who was stranded at Bangkok airport on her way to Australia, was put under UN custody to be accepted as an asylum seeker. After blockading herself in a hotel room and broadcasting her plight and fears of being forcibly returned to Saudi Arabia, she finally reached Canada where…

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No letup in Saudi crackdown on dissent, and no pushback from Trump administration

No letup in Saudi crackdown on dissent, and no pushback from Trump administration

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NBC News reports: Saudi Arabia shows no sign of easing up on its crackdown against dissent and the Trump administration remains reluctant to punish the kingdom over its alleged abuses, including the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, former U.S. officials, foreign diplomats and human rights groups told NBC News. In the run-up to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Riyadh on Sunday, the Trump administration expressed praise for the kingdom’s role in the region and issued no warnings…

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Earth’s magnetic field is acting up and geologists don’t know why

Earth’s magnetic field is acting up and geologists don’t know why

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Nature reports: Something strange is going on at the top of the world. Earth’s north magnetic pole has been skittering away from Canada and towards Siberia, driven by liquid iron sloshing within the planet’s core. The magnetic pole is moving so quickly that it has forced the world’s geomagnetism experts into a rare move. On 15 January [postponed to 30 January due to the ongoing US government shutdown], they are set to update the World Magnetic Model, which describes the…

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The FBI can’t neutralize a security threat when the president is the threat

The FBI can’t neutralize a security threat when the president is the threat

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Asha Rangappa writes: Exposing the activities of a foreign intelligence service renders them ineffective, since it removes plausible deniability, which is the hallmark of covert intelligence operations. It also reveals the sources and methods that a foreign power is using, forcing them to abandon the operation. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has already utilized this avenue by bringing criminal charges against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies for a disinformation campaign on social media and against 12 GRU…

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Why autocrats love emergencies

Why autocrats love emergencies

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Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt write: Crises are a time-tested means of subverting democracy. From Getúlio Vargas and other better-known dictators in the 1930s to Indira Gandhi and Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s and on to Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan more recently, autocratic-minded leaders have long used national emergencies — some real, some fabricated — to claim extraordinary powers. One of our greatest concerns about Donald Trump’s presidency has always been that he would exploit (or invent) a…

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Will Mike Pompeo stay silent about the brave women activists in Saudi Arabia?

Will Mike Pompeo stay silent about the brave women activists in Saudi Arabia?

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Alia al-Hathloul writes: When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visits Saudi Arabia on Sunday, he is expected to discuss Yemen, Iran and Syria and “seek an update on the status of the investigation into the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.” I am struck by what is not included in Mr. Pompeo’s itinerary: the brave women activists of Saudi Arabia, who are being held in the kingdom’s prisons for seeking rights and dignity. Mr. Pompeo’s apathy is personal for me because…

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EU preparing to delay Brexit until at least July

EU preparing to delay Brexit until at least July

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The Guardian reports: The EU is preparing to delay Brexit until at least July after concluding that Theresa May is doomed to fail in getting her deal through parliament. The country’s 29 March deadline for exiting the EU is now regarded by Brussels as highly unlikely to be met given the domestic opposition facing the prime minister and it is expecting a request from London to extend article 50 in the coming weeks. A special leaders’ summit to push back…

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How beauty is making biologists rethink evolution

How beauty is making biologists rethink evolution

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Ferris Jabr writes: A male flame bowerbird is a creature of incandescent beauty. The hue of his plumage transitions seamlessly from molten red to sunshine yellow. But that radiance is not enough to attract a mate. When males of most bowerbird species are ready to begin courting, they set about building the structure for which they are named: an assemblage of twigs shaped into a spire, corridor or hut. They decorate their bowers with scores of colorful objects, like flowers,…

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