What causes long COVID? Case builds for rogue antibodies

What causes long COVID? Case builds for rogue antibodies

Nature reports: Antibodies isolated from people with long COVID increase pain sensitivity and reduce movement in mice when transferred to the animals, research shows. The findings suggest that antibodies might drive some symptoms of long COVID — although how that process works is unclear, and the results will need to be replicated in larger studies. “I think this will be a beacon of a paper that we can take forwards to further understand long COVID,” says Resia Pretorius, an immunologist…

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‘Unprecedented scale’ of violations against children in Gaza, West Bank and Israel, UN report says

‘Unprecedented scale’ of violations against children in Gaza, West Bank and Israel, UN report says

The Guardian reports: More grave violations against children were committed in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel than anywhere else in the world last year, according to a UN report due to be published this week. The report on children and armed conflict, which has been seen by the Guardian, verified more cases of war crimes against children in the occupied territories and Israel than anywhere else, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, Nigeria and Sudan. “Israel and…

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How Israel’s war has created a neonatal nightmare in Gaza

How Israel’s war has created a neonatal nightmare in Gaza

The New Arab reports: Around 60,000 pregnant women in Gaza are living in fear of the fate of their unborn children as Israel’s genocidal war and its deliberately created famine spares no one. Yasmin Abdulrahman fled to southern Gaza in March just days after the death of her newborn baby, who lived only 11 days before succumbing to malnutrition. He had been born after four months of near-famine conditions across the Strip. Yasmin recalls that she spent over 30 hours…

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A majority of Iranians now favor possessing nuclear weapons. Their leaders take note

A majority of Iranians now favor possessing nuclear weapons. Their leaders take note

Peyman Asadzade writes: Iran is currently in a state of nuclear latency; it possesses the necessary materials to develop nuclear weapons should it decide to proceed. However, Iranian leaders have consistently stated that the country has no such intentions. Historically, public opinion polls since the mid-2000s have consistently demonstrated that while Iranians favored a peaceful nuclear program, a majority of them opposed developing nuclear weapons. A recent survey, however, suggests that Iranian citizens are growing more receptive to nuclear weapons….

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Gen Z influencers who supported Biden in 2020 turn against him

Gen Z influencers who supported Biden in 2020 turn against him

The Washington Post reports: In 2020, hundreds of top TikTok content creators banded together in service of a single goal: get Joe Biden elected. They posted videos, hosted online events and spent hours educating followers to help Biden defeat Donald Trump. Four years later, the coalition once known as TikTok for Biden is now called Gen-Z for Change — and so far, it has not endorsed Biden’s reelection. “Biden is out of step with young people on a number of…

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Record share of U.S. electorate is pro-choice and voting on it

Record share of U.S. electorate is pro-choice and voting on it

Gallup reports: A record-high 32% of U.S. voters say they would only vote for a candidate for major office who shares their views on abortion. The importance of a candidate’s abortion stance to one’s vote is markedly higher among pro-choice voters than it was during the 2020 presidential election cycle, while pro-life voters’ intensity about voting on the abortion issue has waned. Also, voters’ greater intensity on the issue today compared with 2020 is explained mainly by Democrats, while Republicans…

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Microsoft chose profit over security and left U.S. government vulnerable to Russian hack, whistleblower says

Microsoft chose profit over security and left U.S. government vulnerable to Russian hack, whistleblower says

By Renee Dudley, with research by Doris Burke This story was originally published by ProPublica. Microsoft hired Andrew Harris for his extraordinary skill in keeping hackers out of the nation’s most sensitive computer networks. In 2016, Harris was hard at work on a mystifying incident in which intruders had somehow penetrated a major U.S. tech company. The breach troubled Harris for two reasons. First, it involved the company’s cloud — a virtual storehouse typically containing an organization’s most sensitive data….

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More playful young male dolphins father more offspring

More playful young male dolphins father more offspring

Science reports: Leaping over waves or body surfing side by side, dolphins are a fun-loving bunch. But their frolicking—and that of species from hyenas to humans—has long baffled evolutionary biologists. Why expend so much energy on play? A new study offers an intriguing explanation: Juvenile male dolphins use play to acquire the skills required for fathering calves, researchers report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Most significantly, the scientists found the most playful males go on…

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A January 6 rioter is leading an armed national militia from prison

A January 6 rioter is leading an armed national militia from prison

Wired reports: Years after being accused of swinging a baseball bat at police officers during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, Edward “Jake” Lang is now using encrypted messaging channels to create a nationwide network of armed militias in all 50 states. Though he has been in prison for over 1,200 days, Lang is working with a network of election deniers and conspiracists to promote the North American Patriot and Liberty Militia, or Napalm for short. The…

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Modern revenge culture, explained by Mrs. and Mr. Alito

Modern revenge culture, explained by Mrs. and Mr. Alito

Timothy Snyder writes: We have the rule of law so as not to have a culture of revenge. For much of human history, it was an eye for an eye, as we read in the Bible. In a revenge culture, a chieftain decides who is to blame, and the shamans explain how the blood and chaos is just and necessary. In the Greek tragedies of Aeschylus and Euripides, the grand problem is escaping from reciprocal violence within and among families….

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Senate Democrats launch probe of foreign payments to Jared Kushner’s firm

Senate Democrats launch probe of foreign payments to Jared Kushner’s firm

HuffPost reports: Democrats are increasing their scrutiny of Jared Kushner’s business activities. Senate Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, for details about its investors on Wednesday, including the $2 billion it received from the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund in 2021. “Mr. Kushner’s limited track record as an investor, including his nonexistent experience in private equity or hedge funds, raise questions regarding the investment strategy behind the seeding investments and lucrative compensation that Affinity…

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Why the Southern Baptists’ vote opposing IVF could change national politics

Why the Southern Baptists’ vote opposing IVF could change national politics

Politico reports: The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest and most politically powerful Protestant denomination, voted Wednesday to oppose in vitro fertilization. The move may signal the beginning of a broad turn on the right against IVF, an issue that many evangelicals, anti-abortion advocates and other social conservatives see as the “pro-life” movement’s next frontier — one they hope will eventually lead to restrictions, or outright bans, on IVF at the state and federal levels. The vote comes as Democrats…

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U.S. scrambling to prevent Israel-Hezbollah war amid Gaza ceasefire push

U.S. scrambling to prevent Israel-Hezbollah war amid Gaza ceasefire push

Barak Ravid reports: The Biden administration has grown extremely concerned that escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah in recent days will deteriorate into an all-out war — and is scrambling to prevent it, according to U.S. officials. Why it matters: Amid the highly sensitive push to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza, a full-blown war with the Lebanese militant group would dramatically exacerbate the regional crisis and draw the U.S. deeper into the conflict. Behind the scenes: The Biden administration has cautioned Israel in recent weeks against the…

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The suppression of dissent inside Israel: A Palestinian professor arrested for opposing genocide

The suppression of dissent inside Israel: A Palestinian professor arrested for opposing genocide

The New York Times reports: Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a Palestinian professor at a prominent Israeli university, first waded into the debate over the Gaza war by joining academics worldwide in signing a letter that called for a cease-fire. It branded Israel’s assault on the territory a “genocide” and the leaders of her university responded by urging her to resign. That was soon after the war began on Oct. 7. Months later, the professor drew even more scrutiny for saying it was…

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