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Mobile genes from the mother shape the baby’s microbiome

Mobile genes from the mother shape the baby’s microbiome

Yasemin Saplakoglu writes: A mother gives her baby her all: love, hugs, kisses … and a sturdy army of bacteria. These simple cells, which journey from mother to baby at birth and in the months of intimate contact that follow, form the first seeds of the child’s microbiome—the evolving community of symbiotic microorganisms tied to the body’s healthy functioning. Researchers at the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University recently conducted the first large-scale survey of…

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U.S. warms to helping Ukraine target Crimea

U.S. warms to helping Ukraine target Crimea

The New York Times reports: For years, the United States has insisted that Crimea is still part of Ukraine. Yet the Biden administration has held to a hard line since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, refusing to provide Kyiv with the weapons it needs to target the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia has been using as a base for launching devastating strikes. Now that line is starting to soften. After months of discussions with Ukrainian officials, the Biden administration is finally starting…

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Berlin won’t allow exports of German-made Leopard to Ukraine unless U.S. sends its own

Berlin won’t allow exports of German-made Leopard to Ukraine unless U.S. sends its own

The Wall Street Journal reports: Germany won’t allow allies to ship German-made tanks to Ukraine to help its defense against Russia nor send its own systems unless the U.S. agrees to send American-made battle tanks, senior German officials said on Wednesday. North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies have over 2,000 German-made Leopard tanks, considered to be among the most sophisticated in the world, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. Several European governments have said they are ready to…

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Special Counsel has questioned several officials about Trump’s handling of Russia probe papers

Special Counsel has questioned several officials about Trump’s handling of Russia probe papers

Murray Waas reports: On the eve of Donald Trump’s last day in office as President, Trump sent a memo to his attorney general, and also the directors of National Intelligence and the CIA, directing them to declassify thousands of pages of highly classified government papers pertaining to the FBI’s investigation into the Russian Federation’s covert intervention into the 2016 US presidential election to help elect Trump and defeat Hillary Clinton. But Trump was stymied in his efforts to make the…

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Biden just outmaneuvered MAGA Republicans — and they barely noticed

Biden just outmaneuvered MAGA Republicans — and they barely noticed

Greg Sargent writes: If President Biden rolls out a major new pro-immigrant policy, and MAGA Republicans don’t make any noise about it, did the announcement happen at all? Why, yes, it did. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas unveiled an initiative on Friday that would extend more protection against deportation to undocumented immigrants who report labor rights violations by employers. This is a big move by the administration, one long sought by immigration advocates. Biden’s immigration record is decidedly mixed, but…

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Is Twitter broken?

Is Twitter broken?

New York Magazine and The Verge report: In April 2022, Elon Musk acquired a 9.2 ­percent stake in Twitter, making him the company’s largest shareholder, and was offered a seat on the board. Luke Simon, a senior engineering director at Twitter, was ecstatic. “Elon Musk is a brilliant engineer and scientist, and he has a track record of having a Midas touch, when it comes to growing the companies he’s helped lead,” he wrote in Slack. Twitter had been defined by the…

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Iran restricts supply of cheap oil to Syria, leaving ally in crisis

Iran restricts supply of cheap oil to Syria, leaving ally in crisis

The Wall Street Journal reports: Iran’s ambitions to position itself as a leading power broker in the Middle East have been dealt a fresh blow—this time by its own struggling economy and how it is crimping Tehran’s ability to supply cheap oil to allies such as Syria. The Islamic Republic of Iran has used cash and discounted oil in a hearts-and-minds campaign to expand its influence in Syria and challenge regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Israel. Iran and Russia are…

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Ancient humans and their early depictions of the universe

Ancient humans and their early depictions of the universe

Astronomy reports: In the Lascaux caves of southwestern France, which are famously adorned with 17,000-year-old paintings, the artist’s subject is almost always a large animal. But hovering above the image of one bull is an unexpected addition: a cluster of small black dots that some scholars interpret as stars. Perhaps it is the eye-catching Pleiades, which Paleolithic hunter-gatherers would have seen vividly in the unpolluted sky. Claims of prehistoric astronomy are controversial. Even if true, we frequently trace our cosmic…

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Suspect in shootings at New Mexico Democratic officials’ homes called himself the ‘MAGA King’

Suspect in shootings at New Mexico Democratic officials’ homes called himself the ‘MAGA King’

Insider reports: The failed GOP candidate accused of plotting shootings at Democratic officials’ homes called himself “the MAGA King” and said he was “researching his options” after he lost his state election by nearly 50 points. Republican Solomon Pena ran for New Mexico’s House District 14 in 2022, but lost to incumbent Democrat Miguel P. Garcia — with Garcia claiming 74% of the votes and Pena only 26%. But Pena refused to concede, tweeting “I dissent. I am the MAGA…

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What the Jan. 6 probe found out about social media, but didn’t report

What the Jan. 6 probe found out about social media, but didn’t report

The Washington Post reports: The Jan. 6 committee spent months gathering stunning new details on how social media companies failed to address the online extremism and calls for violence that preceded the Capitol riot. The evidence they collected was written up in a 122-page memo that was circulated among the committee, according to a draft viewed by The Washington Post. But in the end, committee leaders declined to delve into those topics in detail in their final report, reluctant to…

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Unreleased video reveals Twitter team warned of ‘shooting in the streets’ ahead of Jan. 6

Unreleased video reveals Twitter team warned of ‘shooting in the streets’ ahead of Jan. 6

Rolling Stone reports: Anika Collier Navoli was at her “wits’ end.” Twitter’s safety policy team had gathered via video conference to walk through what they expected to see the next day, Jan. 6, 2021, and began to argue. Safety policy staff had clashed repeatedly with Twitter’s management over whether to take a tougher stance on incitement to violence by Donald Trump and his legions of election deniers. She and colleagues were seeing worrying signs and feared what might happen the…

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Justice Department considered but rejected role in Biden documents search

Justice Department considered but rejected role in Biden documents search

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Justice Department considered having FBI agents monitor a search by President Biden’s lawyers for classified documents at his homes but decided against it, both to avoid complicating later stages of the investigation and because Mr. Biden’s attorneys had quickly turned over a first batch and were cooperating, according to people familiar with the matter. After Mr. Biden’s lawyers discovered documents marked as classified dating from his term as vice president at an office he…

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Shrinking population presents major implications for China, its economy and the world

Shrinking population presents major implications for China, its economy and the world

The New York Times reports: The world’s most populous country has reached a pivotal moment: China’s population has begun to shrink, after a steady, yearslong decline in its birthrate that experts say is irreversible. The government said on Tuesday that 9.56 million people were born in China last year, while 10.41 million people died. It was the first time deaths had outnumbered births in China since the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong’s failed economic experiment that led to widespread famine…

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An ancient farming technique could stabilize crop yields under changing conditions

An ancient farming technique could stabilize crop yields under changing conditions

Science Alert reports: As climates around the world grow harsher and increasingly unpredictable, concerns are increasing over our world’s food security. Already, yields of staple crops like maize and wheat are dropping in low-latitude tropical regions and in dry and drying regions such as African drylands and parts of the Mediterranean. Wealthy countries are far from immune. Australia experienced almost a 30 percent crop yield decline between 1990 and 2015 due to reduced rainfall. While studying food diversity in 2011,…

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