A hidden state between liquid and solid may have been found

A hidden state between liquid and solid may have been found

Science Alert reports: Glass might look and feel like a perfectly ordered solid, but up close its chaotic arrangement of particles more closely resemble the tumultuous mess of a freefalling liquid frozen in time. Known as amorphous solids, materials in this state defy easy explanation. New research involving computation and simulation is yielding clues. In particular, it suggests that, somewhere in between liquid and solid states is a kind of rearrangement we didn’t know existed. According to scientists Dimitrios Fraggedakis,…

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Ukraine’s counteroffensive is making substantial progress. Russia knows this, even if the West doesn’t

Ukraine’s counteroffensive is making substantial progress. Russia knows this, even if the West doesn’t

Jan Kallberg writes: The bleakness of the Western commentariat’s recent output is striking — Ukraine’s counteroffensive has made little progress, they say. Major US news outlets cite intelligence agencies opining that things are “grim” and that hopes are fading that Ukraine can reach its (supposed) objective of Melitopol, more than 50 miles away. This is simply wrong. Intelligence analysts may look at the map of Southern Ukraine and see distances; military planners will apply the military math and see something…

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The last days of Wagner’s Prigozhin

The last days of Wagner’s Prigozhin

The Wall Street Journal reports: Yevgeny Prigozhin spent his final days planning for the future. Last Friday, the warlord’s private jet touched down in the capital of Central African Republic, on a mission to salvage one of the first client states of his Wagner mercenary company. His African empire had come to include some 5,000 men deployed across the continent. In the riverside presidential palace in Bangui, the capital, Prigozhin told President Faustin-Archange Touadera that his aborted June mutiny in…

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In Syria, a revolution reborn

In Syria, a revolution reborn

Leila Al Shami writes: Yesterday, 25 August, the revolution flag flew high in villages, towns and cities across Syria. In Sweida, Dera’a, Aleppo, Idlib, Raqqa, Hasakeh and Deir Al Zour, thousands were on the streets reviving the chants of the revolution. Protests erupted in the south of the country a few days ago, in regime-held Sweida and Dera’a. They were triggered by the cost-of-living crisis, especially the recent increase in fuel prices as subsidies were cut. People are struggling to…

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Is Yemen’s future a permanently fractured state?

Is Yemen’s future a permanently fractured state?

Mohammed Ali Kalfood writes: In mid-June, dozens of political and tribal figures from Yemen’s largest governorate, Hadhramaut, announced the establishment of a new political entity known as the Hadhramaut National Council, which they said “aims to serve as a political platform to express the aspirations and represent the interests of the Hadhrami community in Yemen.” Hadhramaut, which holds some 80 percent of Yemen’s oil reserves, shares a long border with Saudi Arabia—which partly explains why the formation of the council…

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The ‘false prophet’ v the pope: Argentina faces clash of ideologies in election

The ‘false prophet’ v the pope: Argentina faces clash of ideologies in election

The Observer reports: In one corner of the ring stands Javier Milei, 52, self-described former tantric sex coach, outsider anarcho-capitalist and frontrunner in Argentina’s upcoming presidential elections; in the other, his compatriot Pope Francis, 86, world champion of the poor, repeatedly derided by Argentina’s likely next president as “a fucking communist” and “the representative of the evil one on Earth” for promoting the doctrine of “social justice” to aid the underprivileged. Milei, a political unknown until 2020, has pledged to…

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Elephants never forget war

Elephants never forget war

Charles Digges writes: If, as the saying goes, elephants never forget, then the elephants in the wildlife haven of Gorongosa National Park probably remember Mozambique’s civil war better than some humans do. So indelible are the memories of the country’s 15-year-long civil war, which raged from 1977 to 1992, that they are written in the elephants’ genes. As a result of the massive slaughter by the warring soldiers, who traded ivory to finance weapons for their protracted struggle, more and…

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Teaching endangered ibises a new and safer migration path

Teaching endangered ibises a new and safer migration path

The New York Times reports: Johannes Fritz, a maverick Austrian biologist, needed to come up with a plan, again, if he was going to prevent his rare and beloved birds from going extinct. To survive the European winter, the northern bald ibis — which had once disappeared entirely from the wild on the continent — needs to migrate south for the winter, over the Alps, before the mountains become impassable. But shifting climate patterns have delayed when the birds begin…

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Trump can and should be disqualified from running for president under the 14th Amendment

Trump can and should be disqualified from running for president under the 14th Amendment

Shan Wu writes: The “Disqualification Clause” found in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment fits Donald J. Trump like a glove. Or as political podcaster Allison Gill asked on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter: “if section 3 of the 14th amendment wasn’t designed for him, who was it designed for?” The historical answer to Gill’s query is, of course, that it was designed for Confederates trying to get back into the federal government after losing the Civil…

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Efforts to disqualify Trump from state ballots are starting to materialize

Efforts to disqualify Trump from state ballots are starting to materialize

ABC News reports: [Federalist Society members, William] Baude and [Michael Stokes] Paulsen maintain their theory [that Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment bars Trump from public office] is “self-executing.” They say that means that public elections officials don’t need special permission from lawmakers to disqualify Trump from the ballot: if they believe the argument is valid, they can disqualify potential candidates on their own. Not only that, the scholars argue, the election officials are legally required to do…

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Trump remains Russia’s favorite but Vivek Ramaswamy is vying for second place

Trump remains Russia’s favorite but Vivek Ramaswamy is vying for second place

Julia Davis writes: In Russia, multiple indictments of former U.S. President Donald J. Trump prompted intense coverage and detailed discussions in the Kremlin-controlled state media. Russian propagandists and analysts speculate that the criminal prosecutions won’t hurt their favorite candidate, but only bolster his popularity. Encouraged by their belief that most of the GOP’s top contenders would limit or stop U.S. aid to Ukraine, Russian talking heads nonetheless prefer Trump himself. Referring to Trump’s booking record in Georgia, reporter Valentin Bogdanov, who is…

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Following Elon Musk’s lead, Big Tech is surrendering to disinformation

Following Elon Musk’s lead, Big Tech is surrendering to disinformation

The Washington Post reports: Social media companies are receding from their role as watchdogs against political misinformation, abandoning their most aggressive efforts to police online falsehoods in a trend expected to profoundly affect the 2024 presidential election. An array of circumstances is fueling the retreat: Mass layoffs at Meta and other major tech companies have gutted teams dedicated to promoting accurate information online. An aggressive legal battle over claims that the Biden administration pressured social media platforms to silence certain…

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Fox News quietly retracted false report without correction or apology after Pentagon protest

Fox News quietly retracted false report without correction or apology after Pentagon protest

The Washington Post reports: The U.S. Marine Corps went up to the highest levels of Fox News last month to challenge a story that falsely claimed a fallen Marine’s family had to cover the cost of transporting her remains, emails obtained by The Washington Post show. Fox quietly amended the digital story and then removed it from its website following more complaints from the Marines but still has not apologized or corrected the erroneous report, which had been based on…

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Human activities — not volcanic eruptions — are the primary cause of climate change

Human activities — not volcanic eruptions — are the primary cause of climate change

Patrick Pester writes: The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption in January 2022 was one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in recorded history. Detonating underwater with the force of 100 Hiroshima bombs, the blast sent millions of tons of water vapor high into the atmosphere. Some commentators have speculated in recent weeks that the volcano is to blame for searing summer temperatures and are even using the volcano to cast doubt on the role humans are playing in climate change, as reported…

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