Saturday 12 December 2020

'Fermentation Revivalist' Sandor Katz on the Enduring Transformative Power of Microbes

Fermentation isn’t just a way to create delicious flavours and preserve food, and get probiotics, but it’s also this engine driving social change.’



Diary of a Covid Year

A neurology resident watches from afar as she loses her father to Covid-19.



Impersonating a Property Owner, a Man Paid an Artist to Paint a Cookie Monster Mural in Peoria. The Town—and the Internet—Have Questions

The case of the mystery mural commission has gone viral.



If You (Re)build It, They Will Come

One man’s mission to save a historic ship built a digital community.





‘I Was Alone in a Canoe. But It Was a Magic Canoe’

Wa’xaid died Thursday. Cecil Paul’s life shone the way to preserve nature, culture, community and hope.



Australia’s Black Summer Bushfires Acted Like a Volcanic Eruption

Cooling the globe.



For thee First Time Ever

Millions of working-poor Americans forced to turn to food banks.





Cyber Spies Spotted

Chinese military cyber warfare units identified.



Chinese Psyops Against America

One hell of a success.



Conrad Black: The Trump Haters Cackle Too Soon

The presumptive Biden administration is already shaking, while the president’s populist policies will endure no matter who is in the White House.



What Really Explains the Asia Covid Exception?

This.



The President of the CBC Lives In Brooklyn

She’s been back and forth throughout the pandemic.



America's Prison Food Is Still Criminally Awful

And COVID-19 has made it worse.



Australian Mathematician

Helps crack ‘Zodiac’ serial killer’s coded message.




Dad Who Died From Cancer

Left son $10 to buy first beer on 21st birthday.




China’s Useful Idiots


A new generation of intellectual patsies are lining up to do Beijing’s dirty work.




World’s First Robotic Kitchen for Consumers

Can whip up 5,000 recipes.




Friday 11 December 2020

Failure of Imagination

We’re fighting among ourselves while our real adversary is watching with glee.



Canada’s Medical Wait Times Longest Ever Because of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic increased wait times for medical treatment in Canada this year to the longest they have ever been in the modern era.



The End of the World as We Know It?

How is the world going to end



China Imposes Extra Anti-Subsidy Duty on Australian Wine

China’s Ministry of Commerce announced Thursday that it will impose temporary anti-subsidy duties on Australian wine imports.



Covid

China asks cabin crew to wear nappies to reduce virus risk.



Most of the Used Fighter Jets Bought by Canada are Still Not in Service

Major radar upgrades to the existing fleet are expected to take up to five years.



Our Literary Drought

Novelists, poets, and critics seek a higher truth, but today’s pickings are slim.



Thursday 10 December 2020

The Man Who Found Forrest Fenn’s Treasure

The decade-long hunt captured the world’s attention, but when it finally ended in June, everyone still wanted to know: Who had solved the mystery? This week, as legal proceedings threaten his anonymity, a 32-year-old medical student is ready to go on the record.



On Trees as Social Creatures

And fungi as the ‘Fabric of the Forest.’




Coming in ‘The Last Casebook of Doctor Sababa’

Are people with dark personality traits more likely to succeed?




Eyes in the Dark

From cobra to caterpillar, warning signals are a rich natural vocabulary shaped by the communicative dance of predator and prey.



What the Chaos in Hospitals Is Doing to Doctors

Politicians’ refusal to admit when hospitals are overwhelmed puts a terrible burden on health-care providers.



In 2020, Disinformation Broke The US


Lies about science, civil rights, and the vote itself have turned Americans against one another.



Chinese Military Bases in The Caribbean?

Everywhere.



Minks at Farm in B.C.'s Fraser Valley Test Positive for Coronavirus


8 workers on farm tested positive last weekend, fuelling concerns of new mutations of coronavirus.



New Veggies for a Warming Planet

We need a diversity of crops to adapt to Earth’s changing climate.



What Did the Past Smell Like?

Get a whiff of a new sensory experience in history.



Physicists Nail Down the “Magic Number”

That shapes the universe.




What Attacks on Science Get Wrong

Science is an institutionalized set of knowledge practices, not a philosophical system.



Weep

 Human ‘stuff’ now outweighs all life on Earth.



Local Church Becomes 7-Eleven Franchise

 So it can reopen as an essential service.



Leaving the Grace of This World


More than 17 years ago, a successful Michigan attorney took his life on a cherished trout stream, devastating close friends and family. Haunted by what happened, his nephew investigated and discovered tragic truths that were in plain sight all along.



Wednesday 9 December 2020

It's Time to Stop Traveling


As the pandemic surges, it’s time to stay home.




China’s Long Tentacles Extend Deep Into American Media

The companies that own our major networks all do business in China. And that’s just the beginning.



Russia Warns Citizens Not To Drink Alcohol For Six Weeks After COVID-19 Vaccine

Guess I’d be dying from Covid...



Why New York’s Mob Mythology Endures

We hang on to legends of the Mafia’s inner workings as parables for the wider world.



America, the Exceptional?

Is the idea of American exceptionalism even recognizable anymore?



How eBird Changed Birding Forever


Over the past two decades, eBird has become the go-to online platform for scientists and hobbyists alike to upload and share bird observations. But it has also transformed the process and etiquette of birding.