   
CEO Picks - The best that international journalism has to offer!
 S69Mangosuthu Buthelezi: the Zulu nationalist who left his mark on South Africa's history   Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi played a prominent role in South African politics for almost half a century. He was one of the last of a generation of black South African leaders who influenced the transition from the white minority apartheid regime to a society under a democratically elected government. Prince Buthelezi (95) was born on 27 August 1928 in Mahlabatini into the Zulu royal family. His mother Princess Magogo ka Dinuzulu was the daughter of King Dinizulu. His grandfather was the prime minister of King Cetshwayo. So, he was the first-born in line to the Buthelezi chieftainship.
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S13 Ways Our Brains Undermine Our Ability to Be a Good Leader  To be successful, researchers at the Neuroleadership Institute have found we must excel across three core domains of great leadership: being future-focused, being good with people, and being able to drive results. And yet, as we develop as leaders, our brains evolve in ways that challenge our ability to excel in these areas. The team analyzed dozens of leadership development programs used by larger organizations and discovered they often fail to equip leaders across all three domains. The good news is that we can be taught to combat these tendencies once we understand why our brains fight us.
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S2 Harnessing Grassroots Automation  Our summer special report helps leaders gain a comprehensive view of risks, learn how to overcome market disrupters, and manage the analytical tools that provide predictive insight for decision-making.Our summer special report helps leaders gain a comprehensive view of risks, learn how to overcome market disrupters, and manage the analytical tools that provide predictive insight for decision-making.Companies are increasingly embracing the idea of helping nontechnical staff members — those who have deep business-area expertise — learn to directly automate processes that give them headaches and eat up their time. For instance, human resources employees are uniquely qualified to identify the mundane and repetitive parts of their jobs, such as candidate-tracking tasks, and then, with some training, build automations that will relieve them of chores such as duplicative data entry and data cleaning.
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S3Italy's classic pasta e patate (pasta and potatoes) dish  Literally meaning "poor kitchen", cucina povera is a traditional style of Italian cooking that embraces a frugal, no-waste philosophy. Created out of necessity, cucina povera is considered poor in terms of cost, but never poor in flavour; uncomplicated, but by no means unremarkable. With a long, rich history deeply ingrained in Italian culture and the daily life of many families, the dishes of cucina povera have provided nourishment for centuries. Its exact origins aren't particularly clear, but food historians suggest that cucina povera is rooted in the countryside traditions of "peasant cooking", dating back long before Italy was unified in 1870, first concocted for manual labourers in need of affordable sustenance. As such, cucina povera dishes make great use of humble, inexpensive ingredients or leftovers. Think small animals such as rabbit and poultry – all simple to hunt – or less popular offal cuts from pigs and cattle, plus beans, legumes and plenty of carbohydrates like pasta, potatoes and bread.
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S4Lee review from TIFF: Kate Winslet scores her best ever role in this biopic of a Vogue model-turned WW2 photographer  Antony Penrose's biography of his mother is called The Lives of Lee Miller for good reason. She had so many. In New York, she was a great beauty who became a fashion model, then a fashion photographer. In Paris, she was a friend of Picasso and did art photography with Man Ray. But it was as a photographer during World War Two that she did her most enduring work, black-and-white photos that offered distinct, intimate views of how the war affected lives. She saw that a lone soldier's boot lying on a street could tell a story.More like this: - How a Vogue photographer fought World War Two - Lee Miller: In Hitler's bathtub - The photos of grief that symbolised the anti-war movement
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S5AU peacekeepers are leaving Somalia: what needs to happen to keep the peace  The phased withdrawal of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (Atmis) began earlier this year and is scheduled to end in December 2024. The withdrawal of African Union (AU) peacekeepers poses risks for Somalia. For one, it may reduce the pressure on al-Shabaab at a crucial time during the Somali government’s latest offensive. These risks cannot be completely eliminated but there are important steps the Somali authorities and the AU must take before the mission’s exit.
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S6The nose knows: How microbiomes and the smells they produce help shape behaviour in bugs, birds, beasts and humans  Microbes are an integral part of most, if not all multi-cellular organisms. In fact, these organisms are the way they are because of the tiny partners they house within and on them. These microbes constitute the microbiome: an “invisible organ” weighing approximately 2.5 to three kilograms in an adult human and much more in larger animals.This unique body part was made visible with the advent of modern molecular imaging technologies. In my book Microbiomes and their Functions, I explore how it works in partnership with other visible organs and engages in a variety of physiological functions essential for the development and survival of the hosts.
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S7S8Canada's lack of recognition for gender-based violence is putting disaster survivors at risk  Canada has experienced an unprecedented wildfire season in 2023. People’s experiences with any disaster event are influenced by social- and place-based vulnerabilities. For example, where you live affects your exposure to different hazards including wildfires and floods. Pre-existing social vulnerabilities contribute to some populations having disproportionate impacts from these events, in both the short and long term. Social vulnerability factors that have a demonstrated effect on people’s experience with disasters include income, health, disability, age, race, and gender. These factors also intersect in ways that increase vulnerability for certain populations.
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S9S10Trials of Canadian, U.S. uprising organizers show the limits of protest rights  The trial has begun for two major leaders of the so-called Freedom Convoy that occupied parts of Canada’s capital in early 2022. Two organizers, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, are charged with mischief, obstructing police, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation.At the same time, in the United States, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection on Capitol Hill. Several others involved in that uprising have also received long prison terms.
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S11S12How disappearance became a global weapon of psychological control, 50 years on from Chile's US-backed coup  For the few remaining women of Calama in Chile’s Atacama desert, September 11 holds a terrifying meaning. They understand the pain of watching forensic investigators meticulously scour through particles of dust, seeking to retrieve the tiniest fragments of lives brutally taken from the world. They know what it means to face devastating absence, knowing the bodies of loved ones will never be returned.Fifty years ago, in the early morning of September 11 1973, a US-backed coup led by General Augusto Pinochet began with Chile’s military taking control of strategic locations in the capital city Santiago, including the main radio and television networks. At 8.30am, a declaration was broadcast that the military was now in control of the country.
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S13China makes developers pay compensation for their ecological impacts - here's how this unique scheme works  PhD Candidate, Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, University of Oxford In 2017, the Chinese environmental NGO, Friends of Nature, sued the developer of a dam in Yunnan province in the country’s south west. The NGO alleged that the project’s environmental impact assessment had failed to fully capture how the dam would affect the surrounding rainforest, and particularly the endangered green peafowl that lives there. This weak assessment report was one reason why the project was granted consent and even highlighted as best practice by the local government.
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S14S15Girlhood misery, bullying and beauty combine for Laura Elizabeth Woollett's 'unlikeable' west-coast girls  With the post-menopausal generation reappraising what it means to be an older woman, the sheen of youth has become exposed. Women are told to fear the ageing process, but the truth is, I would not return to my teenage years, nor would any of the women I know. The worst part of growing older is watching the next generation go through it all again. Female bullying is central to Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s fourth book, West Girls, which aligns the misery of girlhood with the tyranny of conventional beauty. Weaving interconnected stories around a revolving cast of characters growing up in Western Australia, the novel cracks open the toxic power dynamics between a privileged huddle of “Blondes” and the culturally diverse girls they seek to marginalise.
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S16S177 red flags your teen might be in an abusive relationship -  Australian teens need adults to help them recognise red flags for potentially abusive relationships.The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates 2.2 million adults have been victims of physical and/or sexual violence from a partner since the age of 15. Almost one in three Australian teens aged 18–19 report experiences of intimate partner violence in the previous year.
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S18S19S207 rules for a respectful and worthwhile Voice referendum  In October, Australians are, for the first time in a generation, going to the polls to vote in a referendum. Unfortunately, we’re out of practice in how to conduct ourselves in a referendum. This process is supposed to promote dialogue about the fundamental rules and identity of our nation.
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S21S22S23Five years on, Brisbane's e-scooters and e-bikes are winning over tourists and residents as they open up the city  Five years after being the first Australian city to introduce rideshare e-scooters, Brisbane is leading the way after many growing pains and a lot of learning.Cities around the world are making micromobility, such as e-scooters and e-bikes, part of their transport plans. They hope to reap the widely proven benefits of encouraging active transport such as walking and cycling, reducing car trips and traffic congestion, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, improving access throughout cities and promoting residents’ overall wellbeing.
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S24Voice support and Albanese's ratings continue to tumble in Resolve and other polls  Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The referendum on the Indigenous Voice to parliament will be held on October 14. A national Resolve poll for Nine newspapers, conducted September 6–9 from a sample of 1,604, gave “no” to the Voice a 57–43 lead in a forced choice, out from a 54–46 “no” lead in August. Initial preferences were 49% “no” (up four), 35% “yes” (down two) and 16% undecided (down two).
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S25Fire regimes around Australia shifted abruptly 20 years ago -  Roger Jones has provided technical advice on fire climate regimes to the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (Formerly the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning). This century, Australia has suffered more frequent and more severe bushfires. The Black Summer fires of 2019–20 were the worst on record for the area burned and property loss.
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S26Sydney Theatre Company's new The Importance of Being Earnest: fresh, funny and completely joyous  It is easy to forget that when Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest was first written and performed in February 1895, Ibsen’s A Doll’s House was already 16 years old. Both plays, in different ways, expose the foundations of society (marriage; class; money; property) to searching critique. Ibsen’s proto-modernism looks forward to a new century of realist scrutiny, as Nora slams the door on convention at the end of his play. But Wilde’s play looks backwards to older comedies of manners and aims for a similar effect by blowing their old, moral assumptions wide apart.
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S27Philologists, pedants and obsessives: how crowd-sourcing created the Oxford English Dictionary  The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes who Created the Oxford English Dictionary is a celebration of words and word-people: authors, editors, publishers, linguists, lexicographers, philologists, obsessives, pedants. Its author, Sarah Ogilvie, was formerly an Oxford English Dictionary editor and wrote the 2013 book Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary.Review: The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes who Created the Oxford English Dictionary (Chatto & Windus)
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S28S29S30Morocco's earthquake wasn't unexpected - building codes must plan for them  The Earth’s surface is constituted of several tectonic plates, large segments of the planet’s outer layer, which move against each other. This movement is responsible for various geological phenomena, such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and the formation of mountains and ocean basins.The tectonic activity in Morocco primarily involves the convergence of the Eurasian and the Nubian (African) plates. The Eurasian Plate pushing against the Nubian Plate is what led to the formation of the Atlas Mountains, which run through Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The mountains are where the epicentre of this recent earthquake was.
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S31S32What caused Morocco's earthquake? A geologist studying the Atlas mountains explains  The Atlas Mountains are a fascinating range in north-west Africa, spanning Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. They’re situated south of the main Eurasia and Africa (Nubia) tectonic plate boundary.This area doesn’t usually have a lot of earthquakes compared to other places near the edges of tectonic plates, where the movements of plates will cause intense seismic activity. But in 1960 the Agadir earthquake caused a lot of damage and loss of life.
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S33How a Literary Scandal Inspired a Mischievous New African Novel  In 1968, the Malian novelist Yambo Ouologuem won France’s prestigious Prix Renaudot for a bloody satire about a fictional African country called “Bound to Violence.” Opening in mock epic style with the brutality of a medieval empire, and ending amid baroque assassinations in the mid-twentieth century, it vents its spleen in every direction: at slave traffickers, native and foreign; corrupt clerics and mercenary anthropologists; and, especially, oppressive rulers who used idyllic visions of the African past to hoodwink their countrymen. (Among its targets seems to have been Senegal’s poet-President, Léopold Sédar Senghor, a leader of the Négritude movement and a future “immortal” of the Académie Française.) The book’s biggest dupe is an African student in Paris, cultivated as the “black pearl of French culture” and then installed as the puppet leader of his nation.Ouologuem’s novel was a triumph and a scandal. Western critics hailed the arrival of a Black intellectual unafraid to tell the truth about his continent, whose “startling energy of language,” John Updike wrote in this magazine, bespoke “modes of human existence prior to civilization.” Many African writers accused him of cynicism or even self-hatred, though later generations would praise him for asserting literature’s independence from nativism. In the midst of these debates, it emerged that “Bound to Violence” included unattributed passages from Graham Greene and André Schwarz-Bart, among others. Ouologuem blamed his publisher for deleting quotation marks, a claim that the publisher found absurd. He left France, disavowed his books, and became a marabout in his native Mali, where he died in 2017.
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S34Why This Anxiety Trigger Is So Common --  When we’re surrounded by distractions, our brains essentially become battlegrounds for attention.Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the sight of clutter and mess in your home? Have you walked in the door only to feel overloaded by scattered papers, unwashed dishes, and clothes in disarray? Maybe you’ve even had arguments because it bothers you more than it bothers your partner or housemates.
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S3530 Years Ago, a Sci-Fi Classic With Weird Origins Changed TV Forever  As The X-Files ushered in the fall TV season for Fox in 1993, Special Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) had a clear and recent analogue in Jodie Foster’s Oscar-winning portrayal of Clarice Starling, the FBI trainee in Jonathan Demme’s Silence of the Lambs. However, to really unpack Scully’s partner, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), and another vital source of creator Chris Carter’s original X-Files inspiration, you’d have to go back further in time to 1972. That’s when The Night Stalker, first broadcast as ABC’s Movie of the Week, introduced viewers to the Las Vegas vampire hunter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin).Kolchak: The Night Stalker was the canceled one-season series that developed out of the movie (and its 1973 sequel, The Night Strangler), turning the vampire hunter into a monster hunter who would get caught up in crimes involving both the supernatural and sci-fi. When The X-Files premiered 30 years ago today, it took the monster-of-the-week format of Kolchak and applied a heavier dose of science to it, along with some mythology-driven serialization. Science, in this case, looked like a redhead in a power suit, and she was partnered with a basement-dwelling believer in all things paranormal.
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S36Is It Dangerous to Kiss Your Pet? Disease Experts Explain the One Real Risk  Our relationship with pets has changed drastically in recent decades. Pet ownership is at an all-time high, with a recent survey finding 69 percent of Australian households have at least one pet. We spend an estimated $33 billion (in Australia) every year on caring for our fur babies.While owning a pet is linked to numerous mental and physical health benefits, our pets can also harbor infectious diseases that can sometimes be passed on to us. For most people, the risk is low.
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S3715 Years Later, Dave Filoni Is Still Making the Same Star Wars Blunder  From the moment Ahsoka Tano was first introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, it felt like she was living on borrowed time. The character started out as one destined for death: it was the only way to explain her absence in films like Revenge of the Sith and George Lucas’ original trilogy. Ahsoka was firmly set on the path to becoming a Jedi, after all, so the Jedi Purge that bookended the Star Wars prequels was inevitably going to affect her.For Lucas himself, it was always the plan to kill Ahsoka. But Dave Filoni, Lucas’ apprentice and Ahsoka’s co-creator, saw another way forward for the character. “I’ve always been a bit more into the ‘Ahsoka Lives’ camp, and George has been very full-on in the ‘Ahsoka Dies’ camp,” Filoni said in 2013. Ahsoka’s departure from the Jedi Order in the Clone Wars episode “The Wrong Jedi” was Filoni’s way of saving her from an obvious fate. While the filmmaker had other ideas for Ahsoka’s eventual demise, they eventually went on to inspire a series of near-misses.
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S38Wild 'Ahsoka' Theory Brings Back A Beloved Star Wars Character  There’s a reason Ahsoka was often called Rebels Season 5 in the lead-up to its release. Though the series is focused on Ahsoka Tano, she’s grappling with the fragmented family of the crew of the Ghost: Hera, Sabine, and Chopper may be hanging out on Lothal and working with the New Republic, but the rest of the crew is nowhere to be seen. While the remaining crew members venture to find a possibly alive Ezra Bridger, we may just see a crucial character that seems to be forgotten make a return — especially considering he’s already had his live-action debut.
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S39You Need to Play Nintendo's Most Underrated Sports Game on Switch Online ASAP  “We’re jumping bridges! We’re hurting feelings! This oughta be illegal!” That’s how announcer Greg Tomlinson welcomed viewers back to the 2000 X Games, as they were about to watch some Moto X Freestyle, which means riding a dirt bike around doing stunts. Tomlinson had good reason to be hyped. The X Games, which had been around since 1995, had introduced a generation to the idea of extreme sports.With ESPN’s reach, X Games introduced athletes like Tony Hawk and Matt Hoffman to a world already taken with the magical idea of “alternative.” Alternative music, alternative movies, why not alternative sports? The X Games proved they could be just as lucrative as traditional sports, especially when it came to video games. The developers of Tony Hawk Pro Skater had watched X Games footage to understand how skaters moved, and the payoff had been tremendous.
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S40What is Nudge Theory? Why This 15-Year-Old Idea is Still Controversial  It’s been 15 years since a particular concept of behavioral science went mainstream. “Nudge theory,” the notion that our behavior can be successfully influenced through “soft” interventions, has subsequently appealed to plenty of people seeking to change the way we live.The 2008 book which set out the idea — Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness — sold more than 2 million copies. But its influence went way beyond sales figures.
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S4145 Things for Your Home That Are So Weird, So Cool & Surprisingly So Cheap on Amazon  While buying cool stuff for your home can be fun, it can also lead to a surprisingly larger-than-usual bill at the end of the month. Speaking from personal experience? Let’s just say that the number of times my face has turned sheet-white after checking my credit card statement is way higher than it should be. Luckily, I’ve put together this list of things for your home that are weird, cool, and surprisingly cheap. From wall-mounted soap dispensers to privacy film for windows, there’s no reason why you can’t grab more than a few items — especially when the prices are this reasonable. Keep scrolling for more.A poor Wi-Fi signal can make working from home incredibly difficult, so why not grab this extender? It boosts your signal strength by up to 1,000 feet, while dual-band and patented FastLane technology deliver up to 750 megabyte download speed. The best part? It’s compatible with any wireless router, gateway, or cable modem.
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S42Why the Evidence for Interstellar Materials Found on the Ocean Floor is Flimsy  Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist at Harvard University in the US, has published a press release claiming that some of the 700 or so spherical metallic fragments (spherules) he recovered from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of Papua New Guinea, are from beyond the Solar System.The discovery was quite interesting because, although such spherules are distributed globally, it is not easy to recover them from the depths of the ocean bed — requiring a dredging operation with a powerful magnet. But Loeb has speculated that the spherules may be related to the passage of an interstellar meteor, IM1, which burned up over the South Pacific Ocean in January 2014. He has even hypothesized that the spherules are actually debris from an alien spacecraft. I commented at the time that I’d need firm analytical evidence to accept such interpretations.
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S43This Common Weather Phenomenon Plays A Key Role In Viral Spread  As students go back to school this fall and workers return to offices after summer vacations, we will need healthy indoor air to keep us all safe. In May, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reiterated its advice to ventilate indoor air to reduce the spread of Covid-19, this time recommending a firm target of five exchanges of air per hour. This advice seems to be so clearly common sense that you wouldn’t dare to question it. But constantly bringing in fresh outdoor air in winter will make it very hard to keep indoor air humid, with potentially disastrous consequences.As everyone knows, sicknesses like flu are seasonal in countries with temperate climates such as the United States: Illness peaks in winter and nearly disappears in summer. Over the years, the explanations for why this is so have included theories about the virus-killing powers of sunlight, immune-boosting doses of vitamin D in summer, and, during the school year, the many exposures to infections in the classroom. But one of the factors that is looking to be increasingly important is low indoor relative humidity.
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S44S4560 Cool Things Under $25 That Are Popping Off On Amazon Now  Finding quality products at a reasonable price can be a challenge. Not only do you need to know where to look, but you also have to discern whether the product is a fantastic find or not. Luckily, I’ve done the work for you — and I’ve put my findings into the convenient list you’ll find below. From genius kitchen tools to soothing shampoo brushes, there's a little something for everybody. And since each item is $25 or less, don’t be surprised if you want to add more than a few things to your cart — I know I did.
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S46Does Cold Water Actually Cool You Off? Hydration Experts Reveal The Icy Truth  This summer, with its record-high temperatures, American tourists in Europe found themselves yearning for unlimited, complimentary ice water, as is the custom in U.S. restaurants. But from Barcelona to Rome, asking for tap water will get you a glass of room-temperature liquid — probably with no refills and definitely without ice.But do Americans have a point? Does ice-cold water help our bodies cool down on excruciatingly hot days? It turns out we might.
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S4732 Years Later, 'Ahsoka' is Repeating Star Wars' Biggest '90s Mistake  Somehow, Anakin Skywalker has returned. Although the timeframe of Ahsoka is at least five years after Anakin’s fatal end in Return of the Jedi, thanks to some time-bending shenanigans (possibly created by the World Between Worlds) this post-classic trilogy Star Wars show has become very focused on characters from the prequel era. Episode 4 of Ahsoka was thrilling and certainly proves the series is perhaps hiding more than we’ve known. And yet, when we consider what the series is actually about, this era of Star Wars is starting to develop a new problem. Seeing Hayden Christensen again, just a year after he appeared in Obi-Wan Kenobi certainly gives fans some early aughts nostalgia. But the Star Wars decade that Ahsoka needs to deal with isn’t the aughts. It’s the ‘90s.
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S48This Tiny Engineering Marvel Could Usher In A Revolution In Medicine  Nanotubes, carbon particles that are 10,000 times thinner than human hair, could create a new era for drug development. What would you guess are the two biggest killers in the world? Based on media coverage, maybe you guessed gun violence, accidents, or Covid-19. But the top two killers are actually cardiovascular disease and cancer. These two diseases combined account for nearly 50 percent of deaths in the U.S.
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S49How a curious question about colouring maps changed mathematics forever | Aeon Videos  What’s the smallest number of colours you can use to fill any map so that no two colours touch? This question may, at first glance, seem like a rather trivial curiosity, but, as this video from Quanta Magazine explains, this question has had incredibly important theoretical and practical implications for mathematics. With expert interviews and nifty animations, the piece traces the ‘four colour theorem’ from its origins in the mid-19th century to today. In doing so, the video details how early computing technology would ultimately help a pair of mathematicians prove that four is indeed the magic number, making it the first major computer-assisted mathematical proof.Why we should worry less about ‘sentient’ AIs and more about what we’re teaching them
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S50Generative AI Will Change Your Business. Here's How to Adapt.  Generative AI can “generate” text, speech, images, music, video, and especially, code. When that capability is joined with a feed of someone’s own information, used to tailor the when, what, and how of an interaction, then the ease by which someone can get things done, and the broadening accessibility of software, goes up dramatically. The simple input question box that stands at the center of Google and now, of most Generative AI systems, such as in ChatGPT and Dall-e, will power more systems.In our last HBR piece, “Customer Experience in the Age of AI,” we discussed how the use of one’s customer information is already differentiating branded experiences. Now with generative AI, personalization will go even further, tailoring all aspects of digital interaction to how the customer wants it to flow, not how product designers envision cramming in more menus and features. And then as the software follows the customer, it will go to places that range beyond the tight boundaries of a brand’s product. It will need to offer solutions to things the customer wants to do. Solve the full package of what someone needs, and help them through their full journey to get there, even if it means linking to outside partners, rethinking the definition of one’s offerings, and developing the underlying data and tech architecture to connect everything involved in the solution.
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S51The puzzling link between air pollution and suicide  How do you prevent people from taking their own lives? There are no easy answers, but one thing is clear: suicide is a major public health problem. More than 700,000 people kill themselves worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).Every year, on 10 September 2023, the WHO marks World Suicide Prevention Day, aiming to focus attention on the scale of the death toll and its causes.
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S52Is Google's Search Engine Smart or Sneaky? A Court Will Decide  A family member's hurried Google search for a last-second visa to visit New Zealand recently caused a headacheâand provided a timely reminder of why Google faces a landmark US antitrust trial next week.Tapping on the first link took us off to a website that after a few swipes charged $118 for the necessary paperwork. Only later did it emerge that we'd paid a so-called "internet-based travel technology company" and not a government agency, and been fleeced for more than double the required cost.
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S53Our Favorite Digital Notebooks and Smart Pens  If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIREDDo you take a lot of notes? Whether you're in school or working in a job that requires lots of jotting down ideas, you may opt for typing notes on a laptop, but physically writing something down helps you remember and learn more. Putting real pen to paper also just feels good. However, having a digital backup is convenient for on-the-go organization and studying.
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S54The Best Meal Kit Delivery Services for Every Kind of Cook  If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIREDTrying to choose the best meal kit delivery service? It's easy to feel overwhelmed by all the options. Whether you're going vegan, cooking for a family of six, or are a complete newbie in the kitchen, there's probably a service that caters to your needs. Some meal kits provide ingredients paired with recipes, while others send groceries or premade meals. All of them are meant to make the process of planning and cooking meals more convenient.
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S55The worst prediction in all of science  A successful scientific theory is one that makes precise and accurate predictions. Scientists are even happier when two distinct theories make predictions that agree with one another. Thus, physicists are a bit chagrined when they use their two best theories to predict the simplest possible quantity, and the result is that they disagree spectacularly enough that it is often called “the worst prediction in the history of science.”Empty space is, well, empty. Containing nothing, it would seem that calculating the energy of empty space would be simple and the prediction would be zero. However, that expectation is not correct.
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S56Could we burn iron for energy instead of fossil fuels?  Try burning an iron metal ingot and you’ll have to wait a long time — but grind it into a powder and it will readily burst into flames. That’s how sparklers work: metal dust burning in a beautiful display of light and heat. But could we burn iron for more than fun? Could this simple material become a cheap, clean, carbon-free fuel?In new experiments — conducted on rockets, in microgravity — Canadian and Dutch researchers are looking at ways of boosting the efficiency of burning iron, with a view to turning this abundant material — the fourth most common in the Earth’s crust, about about 5% of its mass — into an alternative energy source.
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S57The truth is out there: Celebrate 30 years of The X-Files with our 30 favorite episodes  In September 1993, fictional FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) made their broadcast TV debut on The X-Files and went on to investigate alien abductions and all manner of strange phenomena for nine full seasons and two feature films, followed by two additional limited-run seasons in 2016 and 2018. This hugely popular and influential series celebrates its 30th anniversary this month, giving us a prime opportunity to pay homage to our favorite episodes and characters.
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S58Three Cheers for Partisanship  My most vivid memories of my early years at sleepaway camp, when I was 10 and 11, focus on the bizarre institution of color war. The campers were divided randomly in half for a wide-ranging competition between teams defined around no common identity, status, experience, or prior allegiance—just pure partisan competition. For one entire day, half of my bunkmates and possibly one or both of my brothers would become the sworn opposition. Despite knowing these divisions were both temporary and arbitrary, I engaged in the competition with the utmost seriousness—in relay races, basketball games, and whatever else was on the packed schedule.At day’s close, two climactic showdowns involved the whole camp, each team gathered on opposite sides of a ball field. The first competition required us to shout self-congratulatory cheers; the victory was awarded to the team that impressed the judges as louder and, thus, more spirited. I would scream myself hoarse. The finale, a tug-of-war, relied less on an umpire’s subjective assessment. We lined up alongside a massive rope stretched across the field and pulled with all our collective might. I can still picture the anchor of my team during one of those summers, a stout boy with a low center of gravity from the oldest age group, wrapping himself with the far end of our rope, his face red from the strain. I also remember the magical feeling, after what seemed like an endless and titanic effort, when the rope began to edge slowly but decisively in our direction.
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S59The 9/11 Speech That Was Never Delivered  The long-hidden drafts of Condoleezza Rice’s remarks offer a portrait of a lost world—and some lessons for the present.William Safire wrote in the introduction to his classic compendium Lend Me Your Ears that “what makes a draft speech a real speech is the speaking of it.” But I’ve found that some of the most interesting speeches written were never delivered at all. I spent years collecting examples of the words that went unspoken because events intervened, or a leader had a change of heart, or history took a sudden turn.
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S60The Origin Revisited  — After a visit to the Yaak Valley in Kootenai National Forest, Montana, where the U.S. Forest Service has announced a logging project called Black RamWhat is there to be done now, but enter against abandonment, become a hollow sound
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S61'He'll Ruin Your Life the Way His Daddy Ruined Ours'  My father and mother met in the winter of 1976. I’ve seen photos. There they are, looking as young and untroubled as any two high-school students on a Friday-night date. Not yet parents, not yet weighed down with the responsibility of caring for four children, both are smiling, my father standing behind my mother, who sits on a stool with her head nestled into his chest.My parents were introduced by my father’s cousin Larry, whose easy smile and welcoming personality marked him as a charmer. Larry and my mom attended school at J. O. Johnson High in Huntsville, Alabama, where he was two years ahead of her. Intrigued by the sly older boy, my mother dated him, but after the second outing, she opted to let him down easy by introducing him to her friend Wanda. Larry, in turn, suggested that my mother meet his cousin Esau, who went to school out in the country, at Gurley High.
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S62Red States Are Rolling Back the Rights Revolution  The struggle over the sweeping red-state drive to roll back civil rights and liberties has primarily moved to the courts.Since 2021, Republican-controlled states have passed a swarm of laws to restrict voting rights, increase penalties for public protest, impose new restrictions on transgender youth, ban books, and limit what teachers, college professors, and employers can say about race, gender, and sexual orientation. Some states are even exploring options to potentially prosecute people who help women travel out of state to obtain an abortion.
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S63The Joy and the Shame of Loving Football  This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer reveals what’s keeping them entertained. Today’s special guest is the staff writer and author Mark Leibovich. Mark has recently written about the long-shot presidential candidate who has the White House worried, and how Moneyball broke baseball.
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S64Where End-of-Life Care Falls Short  Advance directives are meant to honor a person's final medical wishes. Why do so few Black Americans have them?When Kevin E. Taylor became a pastor 22 years ago, he didn’t expect how often he’d have to help families make gut-wrenching decisions for a loved one who was very ill or about to die. The families in his predominantly Black church in New Jersey generally didn’t have any written instructions, or conversations to recall, to help them know if their relative wanted—or didn’t want—certain types of medical treatment.
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S65Earthquakes Are a Special Kind of Nightmare  Morocco is facing the particular trauma that comes from watching the world around you crumble in an instant.On Friday, around 11:11 p.m. local time, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake exploded through the High Atlas mountains in Morocco, not far from the populous city of Marrakesh. People as far away as Spain and Portugal felt a strange vibration ripple beneath their feet. But millions in Morocco felt the planet shake and splinter, jolt and disintegrate, before thousands of the most unfortunate were greeted by tectonic rage. At least 2,100 people are dead, and that number is expected to rise. According to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center, an NGO, several aftershocks convulsed through the area earlier today.
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S66The Half-Life of Hope  After breaking out of timidity with “Spell Against Indifference,” an offering of another poem — this one inspired by a lovely piece of science news that touched me with its sonoro…
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S67Dumb Money review: GameStop comedy is 'funny, irreverent and crowd-pleasing'  There's a strange disconnect whenever a major Hollywood studio releases a film that seems to be about little guys beating a big, bad system. It's a jarring undertone that Dumb Money, based on the real-life story of how small-time investors briefly thwarted Wall Street, can't escape. Sony stands to make lots of money on the film, which mocks the rich and powerful. But it may be best not to think about that for a couple of hours and just enjoy the show.Dumb Money is not as smart or skewering as it pretends to be – on-screen text at the end claims that Wall Street has permanently changed because of this financial blip – but it is funny, irreverent and crowd-pleasing, with a kaleidoscope of likeable characters and actors. Director Craig Gillespie (Cruella and I, Tonya) has turned a saga that ended up before a Congressional finance committee into a breezy entertainment.
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S68Mangosuthu Buthelezi was a man of immense political talent and contradictions  Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, who has died, was a history maker. He was born on 27 August 1928 into a tumultuous global century, and into the local conditions of racist rule.A man of singular political talent, Buthelezi was among the country’s most influential black leaders for the majority of his long and remarkable life. Yet he occupied an anomalous position within the politics of the anti-apartheid struggle. He brokered Zulu ethnic nationalism, feeding a measure of credibility into apartheid ideals of “separate development”. This, against growing calls for unity under a democratic, South Africanist banner. But he claimed his position to be a realistic strategy, as opposed to armed struggle.
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S70Ancient shoes: tracks on a South African beach offer oldest evidence yet of human footwear  When and where did our ancestors first fashion footwear? We cannot look to physical evidence of shoes for the answer, as the perishable materials from which they were made would no longer be evident. Ichnology, the study of fossil tracks and traces, can help to answer this unresolved question through a search for clear evidence of footprints made by humans who were shod – that is, wearing some kind of foot covering. We also considered the areas where ancient hominin tracks have been reported. This revealed that there are two prime places on the planet to look for footprint evidence of early shod hominins: western Europe and the Cape coast of South Africa. We followed up with a little crafting of our own to create the types of footwear that might have been worn. Most of the tracksites we have found are between about 70,000 years and 150,000 years in age, so that is the time period we focused on.
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