Browsed by
Author: From elsewhere

Bees can learn, remember, think and make decisions – here’s a look at how they navigate the world

Bees can learn, remember, think and make decisions – here’s a look at how they navigate the world

A bumblebee lands on the flowers of a white sloe bush. Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty Images By Stephen Buchmann, University of Arizona As trees and flowers blossom in spring, bees emerge from their winter nests and burrows. For many species it’s time to mate, and some will start new solitary nests or colonies. Bees and other pollinators are essential to human society. They provide about one-third of the food we eat, a service with a global value estimated at…

Read More Read More

Democracy suffers when citizens are uninformed

Democracy suffers when citizens are uninformed

A high school student in California holds a sign in protest of her school district’s ban on critical race theory curriculum. Watchara Phomicinda/The Press-Enterprise via Getty Images By Boaz Dvir, Penn State The Florida Department of Education announced on April 10, 2023, that it had rejected 35% of the social studies books publishers submitted for approval and use in the state’s public schools. The move was based on a determination the books contain references to social justice issues “and other…

Read More Read More

Dominion made Tucker Carlson’s firing a condition of settlement with Fox, according to board member

Dominion made Tucker Carlson’s firing a condition of settlement with Fox, according to board member

Variety reports: The mystery surrounding Tucker Carlson’s ouster from the airwaves at Fox News — and his future plans in media — are coming into sharper focus. On April 26, Carlson spoke by phone with one of Fox Corp.’s eight board members, who told the host that his recent benching was a condition of Fox News’ settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the conversation. The unnamed board member told Carlson that the condition does…

Read More Read More

Giuliani accused of offering to sell Trump pardons for $2 million each in new lawsuit

Giuliani accused of offering to sell Trump pardons for $2 million each in new lawsuit

NBC News reports: A woman who said she worked for Rudy Giuliani during the last two years of the Trump administration alleged in a wide-ranging lawsuit that Giuliani, the former president’s personal attorney, discussed selling presidential pardons and detailed plans to overturn the 2020 election results. In a 70-page complaint filed in state court in New York on Monday, Noelle Dunphy said that after Giuliani hired her in January 2019 he sexually assaulted and harassed her, refused to pay her…

Read More Read More

Twitter’s chief troll slanders George Soros with antisemitic slurs

Twitter’s chief troll slanders George Soros with antisemitic slurs

The Washington Post reports: Elon Musk made a series of attacks on George Soros overnight, tweeting that the Jewish-born investor and liberal philanthropist, who often is subject to virulent antisemitic conspiracy theories, hates humanity and “wants to erode the very fabric of civilization.” Musk, who has overseen an increase of antisemitism and other hate speech on Twitter since he bought the social media platform last year, did not give a reason for singling out Soros. But he made his comments…

Read More Read More

UK and Netherlands agree ‘international coalition’ to help Ukraine procure F-16 jets

UK and Netherlands agree ‘international coalition’ to help Ukraine procure F-16 jets

The Guardian reports: Prime minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch leader Mark Rutte have agreed to build an “international coalition” to help procure F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine, the British government has announced. A Downing Street spokesperson said Sunak and Rutte “would work to build an international coalition to provide Ukraine with combat air capabilities, supporting with everything from training to procuring F-16 jets”. “The prime minister reiterated his belief that Ukraine’s rightful place is in Nato and the leaders agreed…

Read More Read More

Humiliation for Putin’s ‘unstoppable’ superweapons blasted out of sky by U.S. defense system

Humiliation for Putin’s ‘unstoppable’ superweapons blasted out of sky by U.S. defense system

The Daily Beast reports: Russian officials must be reeling in utter disbelief after Ukraine claimed six of their most sophisticated missiles were blasted out of the sky in an incredible night of drama over Kyiv. When Ukraine’s Defense Express outlet reported that just one Kh-47 “Dagger” missile had been shot down with a U.S.-made Patriot air defense system earlier this month, it prompted fury in Russia. On Saturday, U.S. officials told CNN that the Russian missile attack on May 5 was targeting the Patriot itself. Russian officials called the interception “wishful thinking”—even as…

Read More Read More

The tiny physics behind immense cosmic eruptions

The tiny physics behind immense cosmic eruptions

Zack Savitsky writes: During fleeting fits, the sun occasionally hurls a colossal amount of energy into space. Called solar flares, these eruptions last for mere minutes, and they can trigger catastrophic blackouts and dazzling auroras on Earth. But our leading mathematical theories of how these flares work fail to predict the strength and speed of what we observe. At the heart of these outbursts is a mechanism that converts magnetic energy into powerful blasts of light and particles. This transformation…

Read More Read More

The end of Ukraine aid is rapidly approaching. Reupping it won’t be easy

The end of Ukraine aid is rapidly approaching. Reupping it won’t be easy

Politico reports: Move over, Treasury. You’re not the only one with an X-date. The $48 billion Ukraine aid package that Congress approved in December has about $6 billion left, meaning U.S. funding for weapons and supplies could dry up by midsummer. That’s raising fresh concerns among lawmakers about what the White House is planning next, including when the administration will ask for another major package and whether it will be enough. The funding, many members say, needs to continue to…

Read More Read More

Imran Khan accuses Pakistan’s military of ordering his arrest

Imran Khan accuses Pakistan’s military of ordering his arrest

The Guardian reports: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has escalated his criticism of the country’s powerful military, accusing the head of the army of harbouring a “personal grudge” against him and ordering his arrest and a crackdown on his party. “It is personal. It’s got nothing to do with national interest,” Khan told the Guardian in an interview at his home in Lahore, after a dramatic week in which he was arrested at Islamabad’s high court by almost 100…

Read More Read More

UN commemorates Palestinian Nakba for first time on 75th anniversary

UN commemorates Palestinian Nakba for first time on 75th anniversary

The National reports: For the first time in 75 years, the UN has officially commemorated the Nakba — the plight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes upon the formation of Israel. The UN passed a historic resolution in 2022, despite Israel’s vehement opposition, to recognise the Nakba, which roughly translates as “catastrophe”. The day brings painful memories of displacement and widely documented reports of torture and mass killings by Israeli forces against Palestinians…

Read More Read More

The paranoia that fuels gun-buying

The paranoia that fuels gun-buying

Christine Emba writes: At the Nation’s Gun Show in Chantilly, spirits seemed high. People wandered from booth to booth, and the scent of popcorn filled the air. It could have been mistaken for a state fair or weekend flea market were it not for the rows of weapons and accessories — gun parts, AR build kits and body armor — laid out on every surface. It was easy to overlook the one common emotion underlying the event: fear. Here were…

Read More Read More

Prosecutor ends probe of FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation with harsh criticism, but no new charges

Prosecutor ends probe of FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation with harsh criticism, but no new charges

The New York Times reports: John Durham, the Trump-era special counsel who for four years has pursued a politically fraught investigation into the Russia inquiry, accused the F.B.I. of having “discounted or willfully ignored material information that did not support the narrative of a collusive relationship between Trump and Russia” in a final report made public on Monday. Mr. Durham’s 306-page report revealed little substantial new information about the inquiry, known as Crossfire Hurricane, and it failed to produce the…

Read More Read More

Rep. James Comer is looking for anti-Biden evidence. Also, his informant

Rep. James Comer is looking for anti-Biden evidence. Also, his informant

Philip Bump writes: Soon after the 2020 election, a senior vice president at the Fox Business Network sent a warning to the network’s president that neatly distilled the recent trajectory of host Maria Bartiromo’s career. Bartiromo, he said, has “GOP conspiracy theorists in her ear and they use her for their message sometimes.” On Sunday, Bartiromo lived up to that reputation. To introduce her show on Fox News, she promised viewers that she would be covering “the most serious allegations…

Read More Read More