Why Texas, a clean energy powerhouse, is about to hit the brakes

Why Texas, a clean energy powerhouse, is about to hit the brakes

The Washington Post reports: Already No. 1 in wind power, and home to a fast-growing solar industry, Texas is poised to become a renewable energy powerhouse — timely because President Biden’s climate bill is about to deliver billions in subsidies. But instead of embracing the green boom, Texas’ Republican-controlled legislature has introduced a spate of bills that could slow the growth of wind and solar industries, which has their leaders alarmed. “Every state has legislation related to the placement of…

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Satellite data reveal nearly 20,000 previously unknown deep-sea mountains

Satellite data reveal nearly 20,000 previously unknown deep-sea mountains

Science News reports: The number of known mountains in Earth’s oceans has roughly doubled. Global satellite observations have revealed nearly 20,000 previously unknown seamounts, researchers report in the April Earth and Space Science. Just as mountains tower over Earth’s surface, seamounts also rise above the ocean floor. The tallest mountain on Earth, as measured from base to peak, is Mauna Kea, which is part of the Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount Chain. These underwater edifices are often hot spots of marine biodiversity. That’s…

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A chance event one million years ago changed human brains forever

A chance event one million years ago changed human brains forever

Science Alert reports: Like treasured recipes passed down from generation to generation, there are just some regions of DNA that evolution doesn’t dare tweak. Mammals far and wide share a variety of such encoded sequences, for example, which have remained untouched for millions of years. Humans are a strange exception to this club. For some reason, recipes long preserved by our ancient ancestors were suddenly ‘spiced up’ within a short evolutionary period of time. Because we’re the only species in…

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A ‘nervousness never seen before’ hits Moscow before Victory Day parades

A ‘nervousness never seen before’ hits Moscow before Victory Day parades

The Observer reports: When Vladimir Putin takes to the stage on Tuesday to commemorate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, his speech on Red Square will have been preceded by a turbulent week in which drones attacked the Kremlin and one of his top war leaders threatened mutiny. The dramatic footage early last Wednesday of two drones flying over the walls of the Kremlin, its historical seat of power, exposed vulnerabilities in the heart of the Russian capital, putting Moscow…

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Gunman in Texas mall shooting may have had neo-Nazi beliefs

Gunman in Texas mall shooting may have had neo-Nazi beliefs

The Washington Post reports: The gunman who opened fire on an outlet mall in a Dallas suburb Saturday, killing at least eight people, was a man in his early 30s who may have had white supremacist or neo-Nazi beliefs, people familiar with the investigation said Sunday. Mauricio Garcia, a local resident, had multiple weapons on him and in his nearby car, said people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing probe. Authorities…

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Arizona official targeted by election deniers now struggles with PTSD

Arizona official targeted by election deniers now struggles with PTSD

The Washington Post reports: Anger and resentment welled inside the local leader as he surveyed the mourners at his friend’s funeral reception last year. Bill Gates, 51, a lifelong Republican elected to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, stood with his wife and a friend and ticked off the names of those gathered around them who had betrayed him, their party and their country. Gates stewed that they had done nothing as he and other leaders in Arizona’s most populous…

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Middle Eastern autocrats are abetting China’s transnational repression of Uyghurs

Middle Eastern autocrats are abetting China’s transnational repression of Uyghurs

Bradley Jardine writes: In a display of China’s growing political influence in the Islamic world, leaders from 32 Muslim-majority countries flew to Xinjiang last year, in northwestern China, for a conference showcasing the region’s supposed economic and social development. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the attendees expressed that “freedom of religious belief and various rights of Muslims are duly guaranteed” and that the reality in Xinjiang “is completely different from what some Western media reported,” a veiled reference…

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Rights groups condemn ‘alarming’ police arrests of coronation protesters

Rights groups condemn ‘alarming’ police arrests of coronation protesters

The Washington Post reports: Human rights groups and politicians in Britain are criticizing the law enforcement response to King Charles III’s coronation, following the Metropolitan Police’s arrests of dozens of demonstrators during Saturday’s pageantry. Republic, an anti-monarchy group that organized a protest in central London during the coronation, said police arrested six of its members, including leader Graham Smith, and seized hundreds of placards even before its event began. Smith, who said he was released from police custody later that…

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What the ‘fundamental attribution error’ misses about blame

What the ‘fundamental attribution error’ misses about blame

Laura Niemi, Jesse Graham, and John M Doris write: Classic research says we overlook situational factors in explaining people’s misdeeds. But the reality is more complex. The new principal of a school on the verge of closure has vowed to turn things around. Half a year in, however, the outlook is bleak. If students do not meet national performance baselines on their upcoming standardised tests, it will be the last straw for the struggling school. The principal knows that his teachers…

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Modern humans needed three attempts – and 12,000 years – to colonise Europe

Modern humans needed three attempts – and 12,000 years – to colonise Europe

The Observer reports: It took three separate waves of modern humans to colonise Europe between 54,000 and 42,000 years ago. That is the key conclusion of scientists who have been studying caves in the Rhone valley where they have discovered evidence that Homo sapiens had to make a trio of determined attempts to head westwards and northwards from western Asia before they could establish themselves in the continent. “The first two of these waves failed but the third succeeded around…

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Proud Boys step up activity after Jan. 6 attack, despite criminal convictions

Proud Boys step up activity after Jan. 6 attack, despite criminal convictions

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Proud Boys organization has expanded its reach since Jan. 6, 2021, researchers say, withstanding criminal prosecutions and lawsuits against members who joined in the breach of the U.S. Capitol. The group’s former chairman, Enrique Tarrio, and three lieutenants were found guilty of sedition charges on Thursday. The historic verdict followed a lengthy jury trial in Washington’s federal courthouse, just steps from the Capitol complex stormed by Proud Boys and other supporters of then-President Donald…

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DOJ cites threats to democracy on Jan. 6 in push for steep Oath Keepers sentences

DOJ cites threats to democracy on Jan. 6 in push for steep Oath Keepers sentences

Politico reports: Prosecutors are seeking the most severe sentence yet in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — a 25-year prison term — for the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, characterizing it as a necessary punishment to deter future attacks against democracy. The Justice Department says Stewart Rhodes and his allies were among the most significant drivers of the violence that unfolded at the Capitol, amassing a stockpile of weapons nearby in Virginia…

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War, weapons and conspiracy theories: Inside Airman Teixeira’s online world

War, weapons and conspiracy theories: Inside Airman Teixeira’s online world

The New York Times reports: Jack Teixeira, the Air National Guardsman implicated in a vast leak of classified documents, was fixated on weapons, mass shootings, shadowy conspiracy theories — and proving he was in the right, and in the know. Even as he relished the respectability and access to intelligence he gained through his military service and top secret clearance, he seethed with contempt about the government, accusing the United States of a host of secret, nefarious activities: making biological…

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Ukrainian intelligence chief: ‘We have capabilities in the Russian Federation, quite powerful ones’

Ukrainian intelligence chief: ‘We have capabilities in the Russian Federation, quite powerful ones’

Michael Weiss and James Rushton report: “I’d like to underline here that it is unpleasant for me to recognize the following, but it’s the truth,” [Maj. Gen. Kyrlo] Budanov [the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense] said. “Unfortunately, the Russian Federation knows how to work with the information space. That is why any event — imagine a rocket that falls into the Kremlin — they will show it as a victory for Russia….

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