Monday 13th May 2024

Love Anyway

You know that the price of life is death, that the price of love is loss, and still you watch the golden afternoon light fall on a face you love, knowing that the light will soon fade, knowing that…Continued here

Mexico's criminal gangs stir up political violence ahead of election season

It’s a season of political change in Mexico. On June 2, millions of Mexicans will head to the polls to elect a new president, state governors and members of federal and local congresses, municipality administrations and town councils. In total, the elections will see nearly 21,000 positions filled.

However, Mexico’s election season is also one of political violence. Between 2018 and March 2024, there were 1,709 targeted attacks, murders, assassinations and threats against people working in politics or government, or against government and party facilities. Most of these attacks occurred in the run-up to an election; this year will be no different.

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AI system can predict the structures of life's molecules with stunning accuracy - helping to solve one of biology's biggest problems

AlphaFold 3, unveiled to the world on May 9, is the latest version of an algorithm designed to predict the structures of proteins – vital molecules used by all life – from the “instruction code” in their building blocks.

Predicting protein structures and the way they interact with other molecules has been one of the biggest problems in biology. Yet, AI developer Google DeepMind has gone some way to solving it in the last few years. This new version of the AI system features improved function and accuracy over its predecessors.

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I've spent decades overseeing relief operations around the world, and here's what's going wrong in Gaza

Raymond Offenheiser serves as a board member of the Oxfam America Action Fund in a voluntary position. His views on this subject are his alone and have not been discussed or reviewed by Oxfam America staff or board.

Amid persistent calls from the United States and other countries that Israel needs to make it easier for life-saving aid to reach Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military closed two of the region’s few operating border crossings in Rafah, a southern Gazan city, on May 7, 2024.

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National Gallery 200: Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo's Mary Magdalene is a powerful piece of storytelling

If you visit the National Gallery you will see a number of wonderful renaissance paintings by Northern Italian masters. At the time of their acquisition, in the gallery’s early days, these painting were not, however, highly sought after.

Initially, the focus for the National Gallery’s collection was set by Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, the gallery’s first director. For Eastlake, the collection needed to showcase the masters of the Italian renaissance, reflecting popular tastes in the 19th century.

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Did a worm really eat part of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s brain?

Independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s health is in the spotlight again – this time relating to a neurological issue.

In a 2012 deposition recently reviewed by the New York Times, the politician revealed that in 2010 a worm got into his brain “ate a portion of it and then died”.

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Apple's 'crush' advert annoys people across the generations - that's why it misfired

There is a fine line between creativity and self-destruction. Apple’s new crush advert, which shows items linked to creative pursuits being pulverised to make way for the new iPad Pro, tried to find that line but instead appears to have made a rare mis-step. It has angered a lot of people in the process. Apple has now apologised and said it no longer plans to air the ad on TV.

Creative destruction is a term coined in the 1940s to describe revolutionising the economic structure from within – destroying the old one to make way for the new. Creative destruction is an essential factor of capitalism and, in Apple’s case, it used to be previously commonplace with the cannibalisation “by design” of products by new developments.

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The fossils being formed today will show how humankind disrupted life on Earth

Jan Zalasiewicz is affiliated with Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (Chair) and Anthropocene Working Group.

When we think of fossils it is usually of dinosaurs, or perhaps the beautiful spiral shape of an ammonite picked up on a beach during a summer holiday. We see fossils as ancient relics of the deep past that allow us to marvel at the history of life on Earth, of animals that walked or swam many millions of years ago, of the giant trees that became buried and crushed to form coal.

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Gaza campus protests: what are students' free speech rights and what can universities do?

Students expressing solidarity with Palestinians and protesting Israel’s war in Gaza have set up encampments on campuses around the UK. Around 15 encampments have emerged in Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Warwick Manchester and others. They’ve also emerged in other countries including France and Ireland.

Broadly, students are calling for transparency over and divestment from universities’ financial links with Israeli companies (particularly those involved in the arms industry). They are demanding university leaders cut ties with Israeli universities, increase resources (including scholarships for Palestinian students and make long-term commitments relating to the rebuilding of higher education in Palestine.

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Why you should never take nutrition advice from a centenarian

It’s a cliche of reporting on people who reach 100 years of age, or even 110, to ask them some variation of the question: “What did you do to live this long?”

Inevitably, some interesting and unexpected answer is highlighted. Fish and chips every Friday. Drinking a glass of strong liquor every day. Bacon for breakfast every morning. Wine and chocolate.

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