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How harmful is social media?

How harmful is social media?

Gideon Lewis-Kraus writes: In April, the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt published an essay in The Atlantic in which he sought to explain, as the piece’s title had it, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” Anyone familiar with Haidt’s work in the past half decade could have anticipated his answer: social media. Although Haidt concedes that political polarization and factional enmity long predate the rise of the platforms, and that there are plenty of other…

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Economic recession fears could be overblown

Economic recession fears could be overblown

The Washington Post reports: If there is a recession brewing in the United States, it would be news to Doug Johnson. The president of Marion Manufacturing Co. in Cheshire, Conn., Johnson is enjoying some of the best times in his company’s 76-year history. Sure, he’s heard the negative chatter about rising prices, sinking stocks and mounting risks from trouble overseas. And he’s seen the polls showing that most Americans think the economy is headed for a tumble. But as Johnson…

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Brain-signal proteins evolved before animals did

Brain-signal proteins evolved before animals did

Viviane Callier writes: Our human brains can seem like a crowning achievement of evolution, but the roots of that achievement run deep: The modern brain arose from hundreds of millions of years of incremental advances in complexity. Evolutionary biologists have traced that progress back through the branch of the animal family tree that includes all creatures with central nervous systems, the bilaterians, but it is clear that fundamental elements of the nervous system existed much earlier. How much earlier has…

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While Kyiv needs all the help it can get, little has come from Germany

While Kyiv needs all the help it can get, little has come from Germany

Der Spiegel reports: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is exasperating. For months, the narrative has been that he would prefer not to deliver any weapons at all to Ukraine, and certainly not any heavy weaponry. The chancellor, according to the scuttlebutt, has had to be forced into every single concession and then he delays the deliveries. On Wednesday, Scholz had to listen in the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, as opposition leader Friedrich Merz of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) lambasted him as…

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Eastern Ukraine residents say Russia is wiping their towns off the map

Eastern Ukraine residents say Russia is wiping their towns off the map

Politico reports: Mark Holtsyev knew the window to rescue desperate residents of Lyman before Russian forces razed the town was closing fast. The tall, amateur equestrian turned volunteer paramedic jumped in his ambulance and hurtled down the road, past rocket craters and plumes of black smoke rising from the surrounding fields. Holtsyev is one of dozens of volunteers who have been risking their lives day in and day out, zipping over some of the most treacherous roads of eastern Ukraine’s…

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U.S. technology, upon which Russia has long relied, becomes a vulnerability

U.S. technology, upon which Russia has long relied, becomes a vulnerability

The New York Times reports: Since Western allies announced extensive restrictions on exports of semiconductors, computers, lasers, telecommunications equipment and other goods in February, Russia has had difficulty obtaining microchips to replenish its supply of precision-guided munitions, according to one senior U.S. official, who, along with most other officials interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters based on intelligence. On Tuesday, when asked if a chip shortage was crippling the Russian military, Commerce Secretary…

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Companies that failed to exit Russia are being punished by markets

Companies that failed to exit Russia are being punished by markets

MarketWatch reports: The almost 1,000 companies that have opted to pull out of Russia following its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine are not just benefiting from a reputational boost. They are also being rewarded by financial markets, while those who remain behind are being punished. That’s according to a new report from Yale Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his research team at the Yale School of Management. The team has been monitoring almost 1,300 companies that do business in Russia and has…

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Carbon dioxide levels have reached the highest in human history

Carbon dioxide levels have reached the highest in human history

The New York Times reports: The amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere broke a record in May, continuing its relentless climb, scientists said Friday. It is now 50 percent higher than the preindustrial average, before humans began the widespread burning of oil, gas and coal in the late 19th century. There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now than at any time in at least 4 million years, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said. The concentration…

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Average liver is no more than three years old, no matter the age of the person carrying it

Average liver is no more than three years old, no matter the age of the person carrying it

Gizmodo reports: Our liver stays plenty youthful even as we get older, new research this week suggests. Using a form of radioactive dating, the researchers estimate that the average age of our liver’s cells is around three years. Some cells seem to live longer than others, however, a finding that may one day help scientists better understand how and why conditions like liver cancer can happen. The new study was led by scientists at the Dresden University of Technology in…

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Putin’s threats highlight the fragility of nuclear arms control

Putin’s threats highlight the fragility of nuclear arms control

The New York Times reports: The old nuclear order, rooted in the Cold War’s unthinkable outcomes, was fraying before Russia invaded Ukraine. Now, it is giving way to a looming era of disorder unlike any since the beginning of the atomic age. Russia’s regular reminders over the past three months of its nuclear might, even if largely bluster, were the latest evidence of how the potential threat has resurfaced in more overt and dangerous ways. They were enough to draw…

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The U.S. can’t keep ignoring the threat that nuclear weapons pose

The U.S. can’t keep ignoring the threat that nuclear weapons pose

Tom Nichols writes: In the early days of my career, I was a Russian-speaking “Sovietologist” working in think tanks and with government agencies to pry open the black box of the Kremlin’s strategy and intentions. The work could be unsettling. Once, during a discussion of various nuclear scenarios, a colleague observed matter-of-factly, “Yes, in that one, we only lose 40 million.” He meant 40 million people. The end of the Cold War, however, led to an era of national inattentiveness…

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Putin treated for cancer in April, U.S. intelligence report says

Putin treated for cancer in April, U.S. intelligence report says

William M Arkin reports: Vladimir Putin’s health is a subject of intense conversation inside the Biden administration after the intelligence community produced its fourth comprehensive assessment at the end of May. The classified U.S. report says Putin seems to have re-emerged after undergoing treatment in April for advanced cancer, three U.S. intelligence leaders who have read the reports tell Newsweek. The assessments also confirm that there was an assassination attempt on Putin’s life in March, the officials say. The high-ranking…

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Documents reveal that hundreds of Russian troops broke ranks over Ukraine orders

Documents reveal that hundreds of Russian troops broke ranks over Ukraine orders

The Wall Street Journal reports: Hundreds of Russian soldiers have escaped the fighting in Ukraine or refused to take part during the early stages of the war, according to military decrees viewed by The Wall Street Journal as well as accused soldiers and lawyers defending them. Military analysts and Ukrainian officials say there have been many more. Russia’s army stumbled badly early in its invasion of Ukraine and suffered thousands of casualties and the loss of an estimated quarter of…

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