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Might we have reached peak populism?

Might we have reached peak populism?

Yascha Mounk writes: Feeling optimistic about the state of American politics is hard. The country is deeply polarized. Much of the debate consists of name-calling and demonization. Dissatisfied with a strategy of maximal obstructionism in Congress, Republicans in state houses are trying to make subverting the outcome of the next election easier. But we can’t forget how much worse things could be right now—and what a major achievement it was for Joe Biden to have defeated Donald Trump. America booted…

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Trump’s latest effort to fleece his followers

Trump’s latest effort to fleece his followers

CNBC reports: Former President Donald Trump took his fight with three massive tech companies to court, filing lawsuits that legal experts say are all but guaranteed to fail – even as they rally Republican voters, fundraisers and donors. Trump revealed Wednesday that he is suing Facebook, Twitter and Google, as well as their respective CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai, in class-action lawsuits. Trump, who has a history of threatening legal action but not always following through, made…

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‘Social’ mitochondria, communicating between cells, influence health

‘Social’ mitochondria, communicating between cells, influence health

Katarina Zimmer writes: During his doctoral research on the ties between aging and mitochondria, Martin Picard frequently saw micrographs of those energy-producing organelles. Yet it wasn’t until fairly late in his graduate work that he first watched sped-up video of mitochondria moving inside live human cells, and the sight came as a revelation. Tagged with fluorescent dye, the mitochondria were neon squiggles crawling through the soupy interior of the cells — stretching and contracting, fusing together and splitting up again,…

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Surging global food prices put staple meals out of reach

Surging global food prices put staple meals out of reach

The Washington Post reports: A year of coronavirus pandemic saw a pot of jollof rice grow steadily more expensive in the Nigerian suburb of Nyanya. At Nyanya Market, near Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, the price of the rice that forms the base for the dish went up by 10 percent. A small tin of tomatoes? Twenty-nine percent costlier. And the onions? Their price jumped by a third, according to a Nigerian research firm. Surging consumer food prices are a local problem…

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We must unite to preserve democracy against an authoritarian movement

We must unite to preserve democracy against an authoritarian movement

Joe Trippi writes: America is exhausted. We’ve gone through the worst presidency in our history, when the very concept of what it meant to be an American was challenged. A pandemic has killed over 600,000 of our fellow Americans, more than we lost in both world wars of the last century. There is a desperate longing for normalcy. At last we have a normal president with a competent administration. But this is not a normal time. American democracy is in…

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Six months after January 6, Republicans have a new message: Insurrection? What insurrection?

Six months after January 6, Republicans have a new message: Insurrection? What insurrection?

HuffPost reports: Six months after their leader tried to overturn the election he had lost by more than 7 million votes, Republicans have settled on a message about the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol: Insurrection? What insurrection? From calls to let bygones be bygones, to punishing dissidents who dare criticize former President Donald Trump for instigating that day’s attack, to literally describing the mob as no different from everyday “tourists,” the Republican Party ― with notable exceptions ―…

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Racism and reactionary politics kept Nikole Hannah-Jones from joining UNC

Racism and reactionary politics kept Nikole Hannah-Jones from joining UNC

UNC’s Hussman Faculty writes: Today, we learned that Ms. Nikole Hannah-Jones has declined a tenured appointment as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media. While disappointed, we are not surprised. We support Ms. Hannah-Jones’s choice. The appalling treatment of one of our nation’s most-decorated journalists by her own alma mater was humiliating, inappropriate, and unjust. We will be frank: It was racist. Our school highly regards Ms. Hannah-Jones’s work, ability, and…

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Iceland tried a four-day work week. It was an overwhelming success

Iceland tried a four-day work week. It was an overwhelming success

ZME Science reports: Among the many things the coronavirus pandemic has affected, our work-life balance has also taken a hit. Most people are simultaneously working from home while doing their day-to-day activities, with many reporting they actually work more than they did before the pandemic struck in 2020, which leaves many feeling burnt out and stressed — but also unwilling to return to the office. This has raised discussions over a four-day working week as a way to increase productivity…

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Rudy Giuliani’s legal defense fund is $4,990,410 underfunded

Rudy Giuliani’s legal defense fund is $4,990,410 underfunded

Vanity Fair reports: When we last checked in with Rudy Giuliani, things weren’t looking so hot for Donald Trump’s former personal attorney. Aside from having gone from “America’s mayor” to “what the hell happened to that guy”—which is a big aside!—Giuliani was facing a whole bunch of very serious legal issues including but not limited to: his apartment and office being raided as part of a criminal investigation into his Ukraine dealings; a Justice Department probe of his work involving…

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51,000-year-old bone carving suggests Neanderthals were true artists

51,000-year-old bone carving suggests Neanderthals were true artists

Gizmondo reports: Patterns deliberately etched onto a bone belonging to a giant deer are signs that Neanderthals possessed the capacity for symbolic thought. Neanderthals decorated themselves with feathers, drew cave paintings, and created jewelry from eagle talons, so it comes as little surprise to learn that Neanderthals also engraved patterns onto bone. The discovery of this 51,000-year-old bone carving, as described in Nature Ecology & Evolution, is more evidence of sophisticated behavior among Neanderthals. “Evidence of artistic decorations would suggest…

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Sixty years of climate change warnings — the signs that were missed (and ignored)

Sixty years of climate change warnings — the signs that were missed (and ignored)

Alice Bell writes: In August 1974, the CIA produced a study on “climatological research as it pertains to intelligence problems”. The diagnosis was dramatic. It warned of the emergence of a new era of weird weather, leading to political unrest and mass migration (which, in turn, would cause more unrest). The new era the agency imagined wasn’t necessarily one of hotter temperatures; the CIA had heard from scientists warning of global cooling as well as warming. But the direction in…

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What’s keeping democracy experts up most at night? An overturned election

What’s keeping democracy experts up most at night? An overturned election

NBC News reports: Congress is just beginning a new investigation into the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, but the movement behind it remains as active as ever. Former President Donald Trump is frequently repeating false claims of victory, plotting revenge against politicians who opposed his efforts to overturn the election, attacking key Republicans who refuse to back him up now and hinting at a return to power, either through another presidential run or some other means. There’s no legal…

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Anti-critical race theory laws are un-American

Anti-critical race theory laws are un-American

Kmele Foster, David French, Jason Stanley and Thomas Chatterton Williams write: What is the purpose of a liberal education? This is the question at the heart of a bitter debate that has been roiling the nation for months. Schools, particularly at the kindergarten-to-12th-grade level, are responsible helping turn students into well-informed and discerning citizens. At their best, our nation’s schools equip young minds to grapple with complexity and navigate our differences. At their worst, they resemble indoctrination factories. In recent…

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Birthday parties as virus vector

Birthday parties as virus vector

Margot Sanger-Katz writes: At the height of the pandemic, it was easy to worry that strangers would give you the virus. But a new study of what happened after people’s birthdays suggests that people we trust were also a common source of viral spread. Private gatherings have been harder for researchers to measure than big public events — they’re private, after all. And there has been a fierce debate for months among epidemiologists about just how big a factor they…

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