Stop Waiting for the "Right Time" to Make a Change

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Stop Waiting for the "Right Time" to Make a Change     When faced with crucial or life-changing decisions — such as a career change — we often ask ourselves, “Is now the right time?” But the reality is that the right time is a myth, and when we perpetuate it, we choose to live by default rather than design. We let fear and doubt dictate our choices, drive our decision-making, and limit our potential. Here are a few ways to get started on owning your decisions. Continued here

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Kibbeh labaniyeh: Lebanese meatballs to start a new year     To start the year with a clean slate in Lebanon, the hearty dish of kibbeh labaniyeh (meatballs in a thick mint yoghurt sauce) is served at family tables on New Year's Day. For award-winning cookbook author, food consultant and president of Slow Food Beirut, Barbara Massaad, kibbeh labaniyeh is "comfort food with a capital C"."My kids always make fun of me because I say it 10 times when we're eating it," Massaad said from her home in Beirut, as she cracked eggs into a pan of heated yoghurt. "Kibbeh labaniyeh is white, pure… it's so good. Everything that has to do with dairy is nurturing and delicious." Continued here

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A Chinese dumpling with an unexpected twist     Adding spicy chorizo to Chinese dumplings might be unconventional, but according to Boston Magazine, the savoury delight from Mei Mei Dumplings "might just be the best two-bite morsel in town".People just love dumplings," said Chef Irene Li, who co-founded Mei Mei as a food truck in 2012 with older siblings Andrew and Margaret. Mei Mei, which translates to "little sister" in Mandarin, is a nod to one of the siblings' favourite foods growing up. Continued here

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Atlantic Ocean is headed for a tipping point - once melting glaciers shut down the Gulf Stream, we would see extreme climate change within decades, study shows     Superstorms, abrupt climate shifts and New York City frozen in ice. That’s how the blockbuster Hollywood movie “The Day After Tomorrow” depicted an abrupt shutdown of the Atlantic Ocean’s circulation and the catastrophic consequences.While Hollywood’s vision was over the top, the 2004 movie raised a serious question: If global warming shuts down the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which is crucial for carrying heat from the tropics to the northern latitudes, how abrupt and severe would the climate changes be? Continued here

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Medicinal plants help keep children healthy in South Africa: 61 species were recorded     This under-five mortality rate is far worse than in similar middle-income countries such as Brazil (14.4 per 1,000 births), Cuba (5 per 1,000), India (30.6), Indonesia (22.2) and Egypt (19.0).South Africa’s under-five mortality rate also lags behind the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of reducing these figures worldwide by 2030 to 25 deaths per 1,000. Continued here

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Mungiki, Kenya's violent youth gang, serves many purposes: how identity, politics and crime keep it alive     Mungiki emerged in the late 1980s in what was then Kenya’s Rift Valley Province. The province was the site of simmering conflicts over land ownership and rights between the indigenous majority (mainly the Kalenjin) and more recently arrived settlers (mostly Kikuyu). The early 1990s witnessed the first bout of politically instigated inter-ethnic conflict intended to diminish Kikuyu influence in local politics. Mungiki emerged as a Kikuyu youth movement, defending the dispossessed: women, migrants and landless youth. Continued here

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Morocco dinosaur discovery gives clues on why they went extinct     66 million years ago, the last dinosaurs vanished from Earth. We’re still trying to understand why. New fossils of abelisaurs – distant relatives of the tyrannosaurs – from north Africa suggest that African dinosaurs remained diverse up to the very end. And that suggests their demise came suddenly, with the impact of a giant asteroid.The causes of the mass extinction have been debated for two centuries. Georges Cuvier, the father of palaeontology, thought extinction was driven by catastrophes. Charles Darwin thought gradual changes in the environment and competition between species slowly drove lineages extinct. Continued here

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View from The Hill: How does David Littleproud handle the latest Barnaby embarrassment?     What to do about Barnaby? That’s the question facing Nationals leader David Littleproud after the former deputy prime minister was videoed sprawled on a Canberra street following too many drinks at a couple of Parliament House functions last week. Barnaby Joyce had fallen off a planter box. The footage showed him still talking on his phone. He was speaking to his wife Vikki Campion. In colourful language, as he lay prone, he was berating himself for his situation. Continued here

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A Puppy Kindergarten Teacher Reveals the Foolproof Method to Teach Your Pet Its Name     Naming your pet is a momentous responsibility. And the right name is the one that sticks. For example, my cat’s name is Stanley (a formal name because he’s a tuxedo cat), which, with time, became Stanley Boy, then Stanley Bo, then just Bo, and then Bobo. He now answers almost exclusively to the names Bobo, Boba, Bubba, or even Bubbe.But does Stanley, or any pet for that matter, actually know its name? It turns out a name does hold meaning for our furry children, but not in the same way it does for us. Continued here

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55 Cool, Cheap Things That Make Your Home Awesome     Improving your living space doesn’t have to break the bank. To prove it, I’ve rounded up a list of seriously cool and wallet-friendly things that will instantly amp up the awesomeness of your humble abode. I’m talking cooking tools, tech gadgets, home organization hacks, and more. So say goodbye to the same-old, same-old, and let each cool thing on this list get you more and more excited about your space. This legging organizer is a fantastic tool for keeping your closet neat and making it super easy to find the pants you’re looking for. Featuring sturdy metal clips, it can hold up to 10 pairs of leggings, pants, and shorts, saving space in your closet. Choose from three colors — black, pink, and green — in packs of one, two, and four. Continued here

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Hands Down, the 60 Most Brilliant Things Under $30 on Amazon     Brilliant inventions and gadgets don’t have to put a big dent in your bank account when Amazon is full of clever products for less than $30. Whether you’re in the market for a kitchen gadget to cut meat marinating time to five minutes, an insulated whiskey glass, or items for the rest of your home and car, get the best of the best by scrolling on. Instead of piling your caps on top of one another and ruining their shape, keep them neatly stacked on these hat racks. They require just a few screws or adhesive pads (both of which are included) to quickly mount them onto your wall. And since they’re made of strong stainless steel, they won’t rust or bend. Continued here

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5 Years Ago, One Underrated Sci-Fi Franchise Revolutionized the Time-Loop Movie     It’s been five years, but horror fans are still clamoring for a follow-up to this 2019 sequel.“More of the same, but bigger.” That seems to be the guiding principle behind most of the sequels that are made in Hollywood. Unfortunately, bigger isn’t always better, and far too many sequels mistake throwing more visual effects, set pieces, and twists at viewers as offering them a more expansive experience. The best sequels are, in fact, the ones that know that the best way to go bigger is to go deeper into the stories and themes of their predecessors. Continued here

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25 Years Later, the Most Overlooked Final Fantasy Deserves More Credit     Final Fantasy 8 had the impossible task of following up on Final Fantasy 7, a game that took the world by storm and completely redefined the medium as a whole. There was simply no way it could reach those same heights, and for decades, the eighth entry has lived in its predecessor's shadows. While some of the game's ideas might be misguided, Final Fantasy 8 is still a visionary title that wasn’t content to simply bask in the success of its predecessor but wanted to redefine the franchise in new ways. Twenty-five years later, it simply deserves more credit.What truly makes Final Fantasy 8 so compelling is simply how different from the entire rest of the franchise it is. On the heels of its most successful game ever it wouldn’t have been surprising to see Square Enix play it safe, but it's bonkers just how much the next entry deviated from that formula. Final Fantasy 8 eschews so many of the tenets and rules that Final Fantasy had established, striking out in ambitious new areas, in terms of mechanics, themes, and storytelling. Even the game’s setting itself is fully modern, and downright sci-fi in some places. Continued here

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4 Reasons Talented Employees Don't Reach Their Potential - Harvard Business Review (No paywall)     If you think you’re under-performing at work, you’re probably right, because few individuals are 100% motivated throughout sustained periods at work. In fact, even if you think that you are performing to the best of your capabilities, you’re probably wrong, as there is generally little overlap between what people think of their performance, and how they actually perform. The truth is that most people don’t try their best after they’ve been on the job for more than six months. The are four common reasons for this:  1.) Poor fit. Talent is mainly personality in the right place. 2.) Disengagement, often due to poor leadership. The antidotes to this are finding time to be curious and learn, connecting with colleagues, and talking to your boss about the fact that you’re disengaged. 3.) Organizational politics. It’s naïve to think that you can let your talents speak for themselves. In fact, the more talented you are, the more enemies you will make — particularly in toxic and political organizations. 4.) Personal circumstances. No matter how engaged and talented someone is, personal drawbacks and setbacks will often interfere with their career success. In short, you can always assume that your talents are necessary, but not sufficient to excel and impress at work. Optimizing your job so that it fits with your interests, beliefs, and broader life activities, and being alert to the invisible social forces that govern the dynamics of organizations, will ultimately help you perform to the best of your capabilities.No matter how talented someone might be, there is no guarantee that their talents will translate into top performance. The science of human potential has generally illustrated that an individual’s overarching competence cannot be fully understood unless we also account for their emotional make-up, preferences, and dispositions. No matter how smart, knowledgeable, and experienced you are, there is generally a difference between what you can do and what you normally do. Continued here

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How to Spike a Super Bowl Sunday Boost Into Year-Round Sales     For food and beverage entrepreneurs, the big game is a major sales opportunity. The key challenge? Converting big-game shoppers into loyal fans. Continued here

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The bees learning to fight off invasive hornets     This horror story is one that is playing out with increasing frequency, says evolutionary biologist Thomas O'Shea-Wheller. Invasive Asian hornets are spreading across the world, making bees their victims. After the attack, when the hornet is left with just the protein-rich flight muscles, it takes its kill back to its nest. Asian hornets are intensive predators of native bees and other pollinators. "You might have six or seven hornets waiting outside a colony of honeybees," says O'Shea-Wheller. "The bees stop foraging because the risk of being caught is so high. Then, because they're not foraging, they can't build up food stores. So, they die the following winter." Continued here

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Embattled Climate Scientist Michael Mann Wins $1 Million in Defamation Lawsuit     Michael Mann secured a win in his legal battle against conservative bloggers who said the climatologist “molested and tortured data” and compared him to a convicted child abuserCLIMATEWIRE | Climate scientist Michael Mann on Thursday secured a win in his long-running legal battle against conservative bloggers who once compared him to a convicted child abuser. Continued here

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Why Do Birds Have Such Skinny Legs?     The songbirds in your backyard hop around on such itty-bitty legs. Here’s why bird legs are so skinny and how they can support a bird’s weightA bird in flight is poetry; a bird on the ground presents a conundrum. Watch a sparrow or other songbird bobbing and scratching around the forest floor and it’s easy to wonder: How do they support their weight on such skinny little legs? Continued here

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10 Best Deals: Apparel and Outdoor Gear     From toasty-warm jackets to our favorite hiking backpack, you can fall in love with the outdoors all over again with these discounts. Continued here

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How the brain responds to reward is linked to socioeconomic background     MIT neuroscientists have found that the brain’s sensitivity to rewarding experiences — a critical factor in motivation and attention — can be shaped by socioeconomic conditions.In a study of 12 to 14-year-olds whose socioeconomic status (SES) varied widely, the researchers found that children from lower SES backgrounds showed less sensitivity to reward than those from more affluent backgrounds. Continued here

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New DNA testing reveals who made ancient stone tools     By analyzing the DNA from newly discovered fossils near ancient artifacts, archaeologists have solved the mystery of who made a class of stone tools — and revealed that humans expanded across Europe faster than previously thought.The challenge: Today, Homo sapiens are the only humans on Earth, but for millions of years, we shared the planet with other distinct human lineages, including Neanderthals and Denisovans.  Continued here

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To be a top performer, you need to rest at your best     A critical component of being an excellent performer is to provide yourself the time and space to recover from performing. Performing gets your stress response revved up; recovery provides a chance to cool down. Build recovery into your day, schedule it in your calendar if need be. Ex-SEAL Pete Naschak notes that he was often better at recovery when he was deployed, because he was more deliberate about making time for it. “I was more focused on that time off when I was in Iraq,” he says. “Everything was focused, centered, and important, and there weren’t any distractions.” Recovery is more challenging in Pete’s civilian life, where there is more stuff going on around the house, work, and life in general. He emphasizes the importance of putting the effort into recovery. “When you have time off, is it really off?” Continued here

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Fake grass, real injuries? Dissecting the NFL's artificial turf debate     Super Bowl LVIII will be played on a natural grass field in an indoor stadium in Las Vegas on February 11, 2024. How do you keep a grass field vibrant in such a hostile growing environment like the Nevada desert? Continued here

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Building durable basketball players from the ground up (way up)     The NBA’s tallest rookie is 7 feet 4 inches tall with an 8-foot wingspan, but last year, a series of video clips highlighted his surprisingly nimble, and often shoeless, feet. In one clip, he’s pressing knees and ankles together while wiggling his toes and hopping forward. In another, he’s bear crawling along the baseline. And in yet another, his right heel and left toes are gliding in opposite directions, gym music pounding in the background, as he eases into the splits. Continued here

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What Biden's Critics Get Wrong About His Gaffes     On Sunday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson went on television and mixed up Iran and Israel. “We passed the support for Iran many months ago,” he told Meet the Press, erroneously referring to an aid package for the Jewish state. Last night, the Fox News prime-time host Jesse Watters introduced South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as hailing from South Carolina. I once joined a cable-news panel where one of the participants kept confusing then–Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Representative Pete Sessions of Texas. I don’t hold these errors against anyone, as they are some of the most common miscues made by people who talk for a living—and I’m sure my time will come.Yesterday, President Joe Biden added another example to this list. In response to a question about Gaza, he referred to the Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as the president of Mexico. The substance of Biden’s answer was perfectly cogent. The off-the-cuff response included geographic and policy details not just about Egypt, but about multiple Middle Eastern players that most Americans probably couldn’t even name. The president clearly knew whom and what he was talking about; he just slipped up the same way Johnson and so many others have. But the flub could not have come at a worse time. Because the press conference had been called to respond to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on Biden’s handling of classified documents, which dubbed the president an “elderly man with a poor memory,” the Mexico gaffe was immediately cast by critics as confirmation of Biden’s cognitive collapse. Continued here

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Marilynne Robinson Makes the Book of Genesis New     Marilynne Robinson’s novels always leave me with a visceral impression of celestial light. Heavenly bulbs seem to switch on at climactic moments, showing a world as undimmed as it was at Creation. “I love the prairie! So often I have seen the dawn come and the light flood over the land and everything turn radiant at once,” writes John Ames, the narrator of Gilead, an elderly preacher approaching death as if returning to the birth of being. “And God saw the light, that it was good,” the Bible says, and Ames sees that it’s good, too: “that word ‘good’ so profoundly affirmed in my soul that I am amazed I should be allowed to witness such a thing.”A primordial sun also shines upon Jack Boughton, the prodigal son of Robinson’s Gilead quartet (Gilead, Home, Lila, and Jack). In Home, Jack restores the broken-down family car, an old DeSoto, buffing its chrome detailing to its former resplendence. It’s the only time we ever see the shame-riddled Jack truly at ease. He proudly slides the DeSoto out of the barn and “[floats] away, gentling the gleaming dirigible through the shadows of arching elm trees, light dropping on it through their leaves like confetti.” He’s bathed in grace, and when he takes his sister and father for a ride in the countryside, the drab Iowa fields have become an Eden, bright and fertile: “The terraced hills glittered with new corn.” Continued here

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The Bird That Took a Human Mate     How a charismatic crane that imprinted on her keeper could help ensure her species’ survivalThe early 2000s were an excellent time for romance. J. Lo married Marc Anthony. Vanessa Carlton vowed to walk a thousand miles for love. Ryan Gosling kissed Rachel McAdams in the pouring rain. And in Front Royal, Virginia, Chris Crowe flapped his arms to woo Walnut, a five-foot-tall white-naped crane. Continued here

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The 'Unthinkable' New Reality About Bedbugs     The stories have become horribly familiar: houses so overrun by bedbugs that the bloodsucking insects pile an inch deep on the floor. An airport shutting down gates for deep cleaning after the parasites were spotted. Fear and loathing during Fashion Week 2023 in Paris, with bedbug-detection dogs working overtime when the insects turned up in movie theaters and trains.For reasons that almost certainly have to do with global travel and poor pest management, bedbugs have resurfaced with a vengeance in 50 countries since the late 1990s. But recently, the resurgence has brought an added twist: When exterminators swarm out to hunt these pests, they might encounter not just one but two different kinds of bugs. Continued here

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Why Productivity Makes Us So Anxious     Our writers’ most helpful insights on getting things done without stressing about them too much.This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. Continued here

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Trump's Republican Party     “The Senate is no longer this cooling saucer for the hot tea that’s boiling in the House.”The Supreme Court is set to play a pivotal role in the 2024 presidential election, as it weighs former President Donald Trump’s appeal to appear on Colorado’s Republican presidential-primary ballot. Trump is also expected to ask the Supreme Court as early as next week to overturn a federal appeals court’s rejection of his immunity claims. Continued here

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Trump Encourages Putin to Attack NATO Members     At a rally on Saturday, the former president announced he would tell the Russians “to do whatever the hell they want” to states delinquent in their bills.Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States and the presumptive Republican nominee, said earlier today that he would side with Russia against NATO and encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to brutalize our allies. Not so long ago, many Americans—and especially most Republicans—would have considered anyone supporting such a view to be little more than a deranged and hateful anti-American fanatic. Continued here

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Thich Nhat Hanh on true love and the 5 rivers of self-knowledge, a neurobiologist on the art of allowing change, Loren Eiseley on the miraculous     For paleontologist, anthropologist, philosopher of science, and poet Loren Eiseley (September 3, 1907–July 9, 1977), it happened in an encounter with a bouquet of warblers during a fossil-collecting expedition. He recounts the experience in his essay “The Judgment of the Birds,” originally published in 1957 in the first of his many exquisite essay collections — An Immense Journey, which inspired Ed Yong’s excellent An Immense World — and later included in the posthumous collection of his finest writing, The Star Thrower (public library), in the introduction to which W.H. Auden so poignantly captures Eiseley’s core ethos: “The first point he wishes to make is that in order to be a scientist, an artist, a doctor, a lawyer, or what-have-you, one has first to be a human being.”It was a late hour on a cold, wind-bitten autumn day when I climbed a great hill spined like a dinosaur’s back and tried to take my bearings. The tumbled waste fell away in waves in all directions. Blue air was darkening into purple along the bases of the hills. I shifted my knapsack, heavy with the petrified bones of long-vanished creatures, and studied my compass. I wanted to be out of there by nightfall, and already the sun was going sullenly down in the west. Continued here

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Why to Start Considering Your Possible Selves     Posted January 10, 2024 | Reviewed by Monica Vilhauer Philosophers in the last century have often focused on "possible worlds": the many different ways the world could be. For example, we live in a world where there is oil in the Permian Basin, but we can imagine a world in which it contains only water. Psychologists have been more recently interested in a different notion, which is arguably even more significant: this is the idea of "possible selves." Continued here

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How to know when the world has passed 1.5     ON FEBRUARY 8TH the Copernicus Climate Change Service, an EU agency, announced that in the 12 months to January 31st the world’s temperature had been, on average, 1.52°C higher than pre-industrial levels. The Paris agreement, a climate treaty of 2015, committed countries to keep the rise in “global average temperature…well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and seek to limit it to 1.5°C. Can people say that the world has surpassed one of the Paris milestones? If it has not, what would be needed to make such a claim? Continued here

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America's economy is booming. So why are bosses worried? - The Economist (No paywall)     America’s stockmarket is on a tear. Over the past three months the S&p 500 index of large companies has soared by nearly 15%, reaching a record high (see chart 1). Recent economic data support investors’ optimism. On February 2nd statisticians reported that 353,000 jobs were created in January, far more than expected. The economy grew by a healthy 3.3% (at an annual rate) in the final quarter of 2023. Despite that, inflation slowed to 2.6% on the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure, not far off its 2% target. Investors are now betting that by the end of the year the Fed will lower its benchmark interest rate from its current range of between 5.25% and 5.5% to below 4%, putting a rocket booster under America’s economy—and with it America Inc. Continued here

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Fearing Russia, the Baltic states improve their defences - The Economist (No paywall)     FORTS ARE back in fashion. Ukraine’s counter-offensive last year was stymied by the so-called Surovikin line: a sprawling array of Russian minefields, trenches, anti-tank obstacles and old-fashioned barbed wire, among other impediments. As Ukrainian forces slowed down to clear mines, bridge ditches and bulldoze obstacles, they were observed by drones and hit with a hail of anti-tank missiles and suicide drones. So uncharted was this territory that Valery Zaluzhny, then Ukraine’s top general, asked his staff to dig out “Breaching Fortified Defence Lines”, a book by a Soviet major-general. It was published in 1941. Continued here

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Middle-age spread isn't down to metabolism, but we know how to beat it - New Scientist (No paywall)     The last of these is known as middle-aged spread, the commonly accepted idea that we start to pack on the pounds around the abdomen as we get older. This excess weight is said to be easy to put on and harder to shift than when we were younger, the thinking being that our once-perky metabolism gets sluggish with age. We can no longer get away with as much, and our efforts to ditch the belly with diet or exercise become a losing battle.So far, so miserable. But then, last July, a study of over 6000 people around the world blew the idea out of the water. It showed that metabolism stays remarkably stable as we age, at least until our 60s. “The amount of calories you burn per day from age 20 to 60 remains about the same,” says Herman Pontzer at Duke University in North Carolina. “We’ve shown that you have much less control over metabolism than we thought.” The idea that your metabolism is just as active as you approach your 60s as it was in your 20s should be welcome news for anyone nearing middle age – usually defined as the period from 45 to 65 years of age – and facing the dreaded spread. But it leaves a burning question: if metabolism isn’t to blame, then what is? And what can be done? Continued here

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The science and side effects behind the semaglutide weight loss drugs - New Scientist (No paywall)     Drugs such as semaglutide mimic the actions of a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1. These so-called GLP-1 analogues have several effects, including slowing stomach emptying, acting on the brain to reduce appetite and boosting the release of insulin, which helps to regulate blood sugar levels.For more than a decade, GLP-1 analogues have been used to help people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar and some users experienced modest weight loss. “These drugs augment a system that already exists within the human body, whose role it is to suppress appetite following meal ingestion,” says Simon Cork at Imperial College London. Continued here

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Frikadeller: The classic Danish comfort food dish     At this time of year in Scandinavia, as nights grow colder and darker and people gather around fires and cosy tables, the meatball really shines. A classic comfort food beloved by all three Scandinavian nations – Denmark, Sweden and Norway – meatballs are simultaneously an easy weeknight meal for busy families and the kind of dish you'd see on the menu for a large gathering or celebration.The origin of the meatball is more than a little unclear. According to food historian Nina Bauer, like the pancake, the meatball was invented simultaneously in many countries worldwide, so no one country can lay claim to it. It remains, however, a classic food across Scandinavia, though not without its differences. Continued here

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Fondue Chinoise: Switzerland's Asian-inspired hot pot     While Italian-Americans may celebrate the holiday season with the feast of the seven fishes and Swedes and Norwegians spread the festive table with seafood to make their julbord (Christmas Smorgasbord), the Swiss gather around a fondue pot in an activity of unity and friendship. However, it's not the cheese fondue you might expect – instead, they celebrate the end of the year by preparing fondue Chinoise (Chinese fondue), an Asian-inspired hot pot made with a fragrant, salty broth in lieu of cheese, and tender, melt-in-your-mouth ribeye steak for dipping, instead of bread. Dating to the 17th Century, the history of cheese fondue, unlike fondue Chinoise, has been well-documented. It originated in western Switzerland, where farmers made hard cheese from a surplus of milk during the winter and it was ultimately eaten in the most delicious way possible: melted in a pot. Continued here

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The Warriors: The 1979 cult hit that shows an ultra-violent NY     Economic and political strife saw city workers laid off in their thousands. There was a huge movement of residents to the suburbs, which resulted in less tax revenue, and left New York on the brink of bankruptcy. There was constant crime, looting, and a sanitation strike that left huge piles of rubbish rotting on the streets."New York was a tough place to live at the time," says Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, a professor of public policy at the University of Southern California. "There was a large restructuring of the global economy, a decline in manufacturing in our cities. New York became the poster child for disrepair and abandonment." Continued here

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Couple to Throuple: How polyamory is becoming a 'new normal'     "If you were given the chance at non-monogamy in paradise, what would you say?" That's the premise behind a new US dating show, Couple to Throuple, in which four couples arrive on a tropical island resort "to turn fantasy into reality". For each of them, that fantasy involves inviting one of 14 glamorous singles to join them in a throuple to see if the polyamorous lifestyle could be for them.More like this: – Could reality TV save your relationship? – The ménage-à-trois on screen – How the Bloomsbury group unbuttoned Britain Continued here

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From church to the mosque, faith and friends help Iowa's African immigrants and refugees build a sense of home     Brady G'Sell is affiliated with the Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County, IC Compassion and the Refugee Alliance of Johnson County. Think of Iowa, our home. Many people picture cornfields: the Great Plains of the American heartland. Continued here

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Love may be timeless, but the way we talk about it isn't - the ancient Greeks' ideas about desire challenge modern-day readers, lovers and even philosophers     Every year as Valentine’s Day approaches, people remind themselves that not all expressions of love fit the stereotypes of modern romance. V-Day cynics might plan a “Galentines” night for female friends or toast their platonic “Palentines” instead.In other words, the holiday shines a cold light on the limits of our romantic imaginations, which hew to a familiar script. Two people are supposed to meet, the arrows of Cupid strike them unwittingly, and they have no choice but to fall in love. They face obstacles, they overcome them, and then they run into each other’s arms. Love is a delightful sport, and neither reason nor the gods have anything to do with it. Continued here

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Lack of access to health care is partly to blame for skyrocketing HIV rates among gay Black men     Over the past 20 years, people living with HIV in the United States have seen a drastic improvement in their overall quality of life. But the medical achievements that have made those lives better and created longer life expectancies have not benefited all communities. In fact, some communities still have higher rates of new cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. This is especially true for Black gay and bisexual men. Black queer men are six times more likely to die as a result of HIV-related complications when compared with queer men of different races. Continued here

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Love songs in Hindu devotion - the Tamil poets who took on the female voice to express their intense longing for the divine     Valentine’s Day often revives attention on romantic themes in literature. Stories are cited in media with the aim of helping people navigate the demands of the human heart on a day that has become intimately associated with romantic love. One literary tradition rarely highlighted is that of Hindu “bhakti” or ecstatic devotion, which birthed some of the most stirring mystical poetry composed in the world. The earliest bhakti poems were composed in Tamil, a classical Indian language, in praise of the two great gods of Hinduism — Shiva and Vishnu. Continued here

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South African president Cyril Ramaphosa aims for upbeat tone in annual address, but fails to impress a jaundiced electorate     Keith Gottschalk is a member of the African National Congress, but writes this piece in his professional capacity as a political scientist.University of Western Cape provides support as a hosting partner of The Conversation AFRICA. Continued here

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Zone of Interest's striking depiction of Nazi banality - and other things you should see this week     Rudolf and Hedwig Höss are a couple who “strive to build a dream life for their family”, as Zone of Interest’s official synopsis goes. In the film, we watch the mundane patterns of their lives: the children being sent off to school, the family sitting down to meals, Hedwig tending her garden and Rudolf fishing. However, Rudolf Höss is not any man, he is the commandant of Auschwitz and these scenes of domesticity take place in a house bordering the camp.You never see any physical violence in Zone of Interest but it is always there pushing in on the periphery of frames, its sounds humming deeply under everything. Continued here

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Taylor Swift-NFL conspiracy theories are the result of two sets of hardcore fans colliding     At Super Bowl LVIII, Taylor Swift will appear on the field at Allegiant Stadium after her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s team, the Kansas City Chiefs, wins the game. But she won’t be performing. Swift’s appearance will be a Pentagon-backed psy-op to turn the rigged game into a calculated political endorsement, to secure the 2024 presidential election for Joe Biden. Swift, Kelce and the NFL have all been targets of conspiratorial thinking before. Swift has been accused of queerbaiting (hinting at LGBTQ+ identity without coming out) and neo-Nazi allegiances after far right websites made memes out of her lyrics. Continued here

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How to write a love song - three tips for beginners from a songwriting expert     If you’re trying to write a love song for the first time, you might not know where to begin, or cringe at the thought of being schmaltzy. But love songs don’t necessarily have to be romantic. In the 2011 song Suck it And See, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner proposed that the ultimate compliment to bestow upon a loved one is to say they’re “rarer than a can of dandelion and burdock”. An even stranger example comes courtesy of Underneath This Lamppost Light (2008) by The King Blues where the singer expresses undying love and devotion through the line: “I’ll kiss you after you’ve thrown up in the gutter / I’d do anything for you”. Continued here

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Your unique smell can provide clues about how healthy you are     Hundreds of chemicals stream from our bodies into the air every second. These chemicals release into the air easily as they have high vapour pressures, meaning they boil and turn into gases at room temperature. They give clues about who we are, and how healthy we are. Since ancient Greek times, we’ve known that we smell differently when we are unwell. While we rely on blood analysis today, ancient Greek physicians used smell to diagnose maladies. If they took a whiff of your breath and described it as fetor hepaticus (meaning bad liver), it meant you could be headed for liver failure. Continued here

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Modern slavery: how the UK government's 2023 reforms made it harder for victims to prove they are being exploited     As many as 130,000 people in the UK are trapped in modern slavery, according to the recently appointed independent anti-slavery commissioner, Eleanor Lyons. These people are forced to work in a variety of exploitative situations, ranging from cannabis farms to building sites to sex work. Lyons has been raising concerns that the government has cut her budget by almost a fifth, but there have also been serious issues with the system for assessing modern-slavery complaints. Known as the national referral mechanism, it was reformed by the government in January 2023 to try and take some administrative pressure away from the Home Office and speed up decision-making. Continued here

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Ukraine war: why propaganda doesn't work as well in Belarus as it does in Russia     Though Russia has accidentally bombed one of its own villages, implemented a harsh conscription policy, and already faced 315,000 casualties, Russian support for the “special military operation” in Ukraine has not wavered much. Throughout the conflict, levels of support have averaged about 75%.In contrast, Belarusian people are far more wary of being drawn into the conflict. Based on a survey conducted by the thinktank Chatham House in August 2022, only 25% supported Russia’s actions (if it meant not getting directly involved), while a whopping 97% opposed the deployment of Belarusian troops. Continued here

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China's increasing political influence in the south Pacific has sparked an international response     Taiwan elected Lai Ching-te, also known as William Lai, to be its next president on January 13. His election marks the continuation of a government that promotes an independent Taiwan. Just two days later, the Pacific nation of Nauru severed ties with Taiwan and transferred its diplomatic allegiance to Beijing. Continued here

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Super Bowl: events like this are perfect for brand storytelling - unless companies get their messaging wrong     The Super Bowl – the championship game of America’s National Football League (NFL) – stands as one of the most lucrative annual showcases for big brands. With 115m viewers watching the game last year in the US, 30-second ad spots go for a reported $7m (£5.5m). These days, “Super Bowl ads” are highly anticipated in terms of creative, memorable storytelling that hits home.For major corporations, getting the creative and messaging right is essential. Successful ads leverage the massive platform not just to grab eyeballs, but to reinforce brand values through authentic, engaging stories. Continued here

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This is how tobacco damages our cells     Catedrático del área de Biología Celular. Investigador asociado del Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo. Investigador en metabolismo, envejecimiento y sistemas inmunológicos y antioxidantes., Universidad Pablo de Olavide My father smoked a pipe for some time, and I vividly remember that sticky black substance – tar – which stuck to the device’s filter. Now imagine this stuff going into your lungs, and coating their walls. The picture is unpleasant, to say the least. Continued here

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AI: a way to freely share technology and stop it being misused already exists     There are lots of proposed ways to try to place limits on artificial intelligence (AI), because of its potential to cause harm in society, as well as its benefits.For example, the EU’s AI Act places greater restrictions on systems based on whether they fall into the category of general purpose and generative AI or are considered to pose limited risk, high risk or an unacceptable risk. Continued here

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Tucker Carlson's Putin interview gave Russian leader a platform to boost his own cause - and that of Donald Trump     Former prime time Fox News host Tucker Carlson – long known as a public cheerleader for Donald Trump – has conducted a wide-ranging two-hour interview with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Carlson, who has consistently argued Russia’s case for its invasion of Ukraine, posted his interview on both his own site and on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter). There – according to Kremlin mouthpiece Pravda – it chalked up more than 90 million views within hours of being posted.As the pair faced each other in a large, virtually empty Kremlin office, Putin immediately put Carlson on the defensive, demanding: “Are we having a talk show or serious conversation?” He then gave his interlocutor a 25-minute history lesson – a mix of mythical and actual history going back over a millennium – to show both how Ukrainians and Russians were not really separate peoples. Continued here

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US 'pause' on future liquefied gas exports throws doubt on fossil fuel's place in energy transition     Since the first cargo of American liquefied natural gas (LNG) left a terminal on the Gulf of Mexico bound for Brazil in February 2016, US exports of the fuel have boomed. In 2023 the US was both the world’s largest producer of natural gas and its largest exporter of LNG, with exports that year totalling 86 million tons. Natural gas (methane) is burned to generate heat and electricity. Cooling it to -162 degrees centigrade at an LNG plant turns it into a liquid that makes possible transport internationally using specialised ships, LNG carriers. Continued here

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How the Quirkiest Sci-Fi Movie of 2024 Took a Page From Star Wars     A classic romantic comedy set amidst hi-tech environments, Molli and Max in the Future is a unique accomplishment in the indie science-fiction genre. The feature writing/directing debut of Michael Lukk Litwak, the Brooklyn native brings his fully imagined future on four different planets to the screen with colorfully fantastical visuals and a surprisingly analog approach.Molli (Zosia Mamet) is cruising along in her personal spaceship when she literally runs into Max (Aristotle Athari); the movie announces its tone right away when Molli’s first line is to ask Max what his insurance company is. The clever, spiky banter that follows makes it clear they’re made for each other, but in time-honored rom-com tradition, it will take Molli and Max over a decade, and the rest of the movie’s running time, to figure that out. Periods of several years separate them, she becomes part of a weird quasi-religious cult overseen by a floating tentacled head, while he becomes a champion “super mecha fighter.” Yet all along, they keep finding their way back to each other, as the sci-fi trappings serve as an endlessly inventive backdrop to the “will they or won’t they?” between its protagonists. Continued here

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11 Years Ago, Microsoft Reinvented Laptops With a Kickstand. But Now What?     At the time, in 2013, Microsoft’s foray into PC hardware seemed to confirm everyone’s skepticism of the company. While attractive, the original Surface RT and the limited version of Windows 8 that ran on it were deeply compromised.Microsoft came to tablets early, but never had a home-grown device (other than the Xbox) that could act as a counter to the growing dominance of the iPhone or iPad. Sure, there was Windows Phone, but its ecosystem always paled in comparison to iOS and Android, and that wasn’t changing anytime soon. Continued here

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Look! This Warped Galaxy Is Erupting With New Stars From Inside Its Tail     A new Hubble Space Telescope image from NASA showcases the beautiful distortion of a galaxy.This image of Galaxy AM 1054-325 looks as if an elementary school kid in art class drew a curvy line with Elmer’s glue and then sprinkled glitter on top. Continued here

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'Overwatch 2' Healing Update Erodes A Key Part of the Game's Design     Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Blizzard Entertainment is making massive changes to Overwatch 2 that lessen the importance of healers, and Support players aren’t happy. This time, the revision comes in the game’s Season 9 update, which introduces some of the biggest changes to damage and health in Overwatch history.Starting with Season 9, most projectiles are growing slightly in size, meaning it will be easier to hit enemies. To balance that out, every Hero is getting a slightly larger health pool, which means that while weapons will feel more accurate, it won’t actually be quicker to take down targets. That’s all well and good, but Season 9 also gives every character in the game an automatic self-heal — which was announced in January — and they receive less healing from teammates while they’re being attacked. Continued here

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20 Years Ago, This Mind-Blowing Short Metroid Game Innovated on New Puzzles and Enemies     The Game Boy Advance had a truly incredible catalog of Nintendo platformers: Wario Land 4, Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, and Metroid: Zero Mission, to name a few. And seeing how both Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and the system’s previous Metroid offering Fusion, are both in the Nintendo Switch’s GBA collection, it doesn’t seem too far-fetched to imagine one day playing Zero Mission on a modern console. It’s a truly fantastic game: As a remake of the first Metroid, it captured the moody atmosphere and sci-fi action of the original while expanding on it in a variety of fun ways. It also proved that a game’s quality should never be defined solely by its length, meaning it’s a valuable example for an argument that’s become especially prominent in the past few years.When Metroid: Zero Mission came out, the first Metroid was almost twenty years old itself. Having appeared on the original Nintendo (and the Famicom Disk System before that), many players who would latch onto the Game Boy Advance had likely never played it. It didn’t help that the series existed under the shadow of Super Metroid, the Super Nintendo sequel that defines the side-scrolling adventures of Samus Aran to this day. It was vibrant, exciting and even a little bit spooky, which is a recipe that turned it into one of the most widely praised video games of all time. So a remake of the original game would have to live up to both Metroid and the standard set by its game-changing successor. Continued here

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Ford Could Beat Tesla in the Race To Make Affordable EVs in America     The race for an affordable EV is heating up. Ford revealed that it’s working on a “low-cost EV platform” that should lead to smaller EVs in its lineup. The automaker’s CEO, Jim Farley, said during Ford’s fourth-quarter earnings call that there was a “skunkworks” team created two years ago to devise this affordable EV platform. According to Farley, this platform would fit several types of vehicles but would also work with Ford’s software and services.This move represents a big shift for Ford, which has so far released EVs with much larger footprints. Unlike the F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E, or even its E-Transit van, this upcoming EV platform could change Ford’s gears towards more compact, affordable all-electric options. Continued here

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Can a wearable really make you less stressed, more energized, and better focused?      The ability to hack your mood on demand might seem like the premise of a new sci-fi show, but thanks to a team led by neuroscientists and physicians, that technology is already here — and it’s backed up by research. The Apollo wearable uses waves of vibrations in varying strengths and speeds to communicate with your nervous system, which puts you back in the driver’s seat when it comes to managing stress, boosting energy, or achieving deeper sleep. I’ve had The Apollo for about a year now, and it’s become one of my go-to tools for low-maintenance well-being. Using different vibration patterns, the Apollo was created by neuroscientists and physicians to help manage stress, promote deeper sleep, improve focus, and more. It might even strengthen your nervous system. Continued here

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35 Years Ago, the Greatest Sci-Fi Body Horror Ever Got a Surprisingly Smart Sequel     To David Cronenberg, the mutation of the flesh is often the gateway to altered self-identity and perception. His brilliant, emotionally devastating The Fly is a visceral examination of this core sentiment: both a grotesque creature feature and a tragic love story, The Fly uses its literal metamorphosis to highlight the violent extremes of the inevitable, irreversible nature of change. What makes The Fly unforgettable is Cronenberg’s innate understanding of what makes us tick, where fear manifests as body horror and exposes the latent anxieties for things that end, be it relationships or life cycles.To make a follow-up to a film so infused with heartbreaking finality feels counterintuitive, which is perhaps the main reason why The Fly II has been all but forgotten. Directed by special effects master Chris Walas (who won an Academy Award for his work on The Fly), Fly II continues the “Brundlefly” legacy with the birth of Martin Brundle (Eric Stoltz), an event that makes for a shocking opening sequence meant to horrify and repulse. Continued here

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The Best Video Games to Play After a Breakup     What does one do after a breakup? You lean on friends and family of course, but then, inevitably, you find yourself alone and home and in need of distraction. The last generation had ice cream and Nora Ephron movies (still works!) but today probably the most poignant, cathartic, and feel-good experience is found in a great game. Whether for a few adrenalized hours mindlessly slaying demon, an otherworldly universe to explore for days, or settling in to relive somebody else’s centuries-old tragedy, these are experiences that take you out of — and help you cope with — your own pain. Whichever way you are feeling, Inverse has a recommendation.Few things are more satisfying than revving up a chainsaw and smashing some skulls after getting some personal bad tidings. The experience of blazing from platform to platform, razing your enemies, is only accentuated by a suspense-filled soundtrack that wouldn’t be out of place at an electronic concert or a workout playlist. If you’re in a kicking ass and taking names kind of mood, DOOM beckons. - Shannon Liao Continued here

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Apple's New Genre-Bending Sci-Fi Series Reveals the True Horrors of Space Travel     How Apple TV+ rebuilt the International Space Station to bring its astronaut story to life.During a routine mission onboard the International Space Station, a fatal accident changes the course of astronaut Jo Ericsson’s (Noomi Rapace) life. Once she returns to Earth and struggles to reconnect with her family, she finds her mental health in question as her world is turned upside down. Is she losing her grasp on reality? Or is there a deeper scientific conspiracy at play? That push-pull dynamic is part of the emotional foundation of Apple TV+’s upcoming science-fiction series, Constellation, which premieres its first three episodes on Wednesday, Feb. 21 to the streamer. Continued here

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Of Wonder, the Courage of Uncertainty, and How to Hear Your Soul: The Best of The Marginalian 2023     Hindsight is our finest instrument for discerning the patterns of our lives. To look back on a year of reading, a year of writing, is to discover a secret map of the mind, revealing the landscape o… Continued here