Companies Should Revise Their Core Values Every 2-3 Years. Here's Why (And How)

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Companies Should Revise Their Core Values Every 2-3 Years. Here's Why (And How) As your company evolves, so should its core values. Here are 4 steps to revising them. Continued here

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How Assad Blocked Aid to Syrian Earthquake Victims Two small boys lay in adjacent beds on the ground floor of the main public hospital in Afrin, a small, rebel-held city in northern Syria. The dimly lit room had the sombre silence of an intensive-care unit, punctuated by the soft beeping of heart monitors. A female nurse with a grave look on her face whispered that the mother and father of each child were dead. “They don’t know their parents are dead yet,” she said in broken English. “We tell them they have been taken to a different hospital.” The boy on the left was five years old and was unconscious, his tiny head appearing above the sheet that covered him, his body dwarfed by the hospital bed. His right hand had been broken, and his right foot was bandaged from surgery; both had been operated on. In the bed next to him, a fourteen-year-old boy, slight for his age, was still, with only his eyes moving as he watched me talk to a group of doctors and nurses. His left leg had been operated on as well. I smiled at him, and he stared blankly back. A medical tube was inserted in his nose and taped to his cheek. Ibrahim Al Yousef, a nurse in pink scrubs, told me that he was pessimistic about the younger boy’s chance of survival. “Before they arrived here, they were in bad condition,” he said. “The rescue teams in the field went to great efforts to save them.” The older boy, he added, was recovering. “This kid is doing well, but the other one is not good,” he said, pausing. “God willing, we hope he will pass this critical condition.” Continued here

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What happens in our brain and body when we're in love? Love dominates our popular culture and is the subject of countless songs, movies, and works of literature and art. But what’s happening in our body when we feel love? Love is difficult to define, but can be described as an intense feeling of deep affection. At the most basic level, science sees love as a cocktail of chemicals released by the brain. Continued here

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Classroom Valentines by Emily Dickinson Success is counted sweetestBy those who ne’er succeed.I choose you for my ValentineDespite your lack of hopscotch speed. Because I could not stop for Death—He kindly Stopped for class pet, Fluffy.The Carriage held but just the hamster—And Immortality.Death spirited him away.This Valentine he will not get.I keep asking Teacher what happens when we die,But haven’t got a good answer yet. Continued here

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Our neurodata can reveal our most private selves. As brain implants become common, how will it be protected? On December 2021, these were the first words tweeted by a paralysed man using only his thoughts and a brain-computer interface (BCI) implanted by the company Synchron. For millions living with paralysis, epilepsy and neuromuscular conditions, BCIs offer restored movement and, more recently, thought-to-text capabilities. Continued here

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The real price of gas: massive Santos pipeline would destroy rare native grasslands Australian oil and gas giant Santos wants to build an 833-kilometre gas pipeline stretching from southern Queensland to Newcastle in New South Wales. Details released by the company show the project would traverse highly productive farmland, as well as valuable native vegetation. The pipeline would run underground. Even still, the proposed path is a real risk to threatened species and ecological communities, due to the need to clear a 30m-wide corridor to install the pipeline. Continued here

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Farmed salmon or chicken? Environmental footprint research can guide eco-conscious consumers Switching from meat to plant-based protein is one way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and consume less of the planet’s natural resources. But while chicken and salmon are often considered better choices than red meat, how do we calculate their true impacts? Continued here

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Wind-powered cargo ships are the future: debunking 4 myths that stand in the way of cutting emissions Japanese bulk carrier MOL is operating a wind-assisted ship. American food giant Cargill is working with Olympic sailor Ben Ainslie to deploy WindWings on its routes. Swedish shipping company Wallenius is aiming for Oceanbird to cut emissions by up to 90%. The French start-up Zephyr & Borée has built the Canopée, which will transport parts of European Space Agency’s Ariane 6 rocket this year. Read more: Shipping must accelerate its decarbonisation efforts – and now it has the opportunity to do so Continued here

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'If at first you don't succeed, lie, lie again' - in A Country of Eternal Light, Paul Dalgarno explores a life fragmented by grief I am a novelist whose publisher is Harper Collins, the same publisher as the writer I am reviewing. Paul Dalgarno’s novel A Country of Eternal Light opens with his narrator, Margaret Bryce, in a bathtub. This is no ordinary bathtub, but one that exists between the world of the living and the dead. Margaret has (it seems) very recently died: Continued here

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'Just ask us, come and see us'. Aboriginal young people in the Northern Territory must be listened to, not punished The media frenzy about the “crime wave” in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), and the way the Northern Territory and federal governments are responding, are cause for serious concern. Everyone has the right to be safe, and crime in Alice Springs must be addressed. But alcohol bans won’t work, nor will punitive, tough-on-youth crime laws. Continued here

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Love languages are hugely popular - but there's very little evidence they exist at all Associate professor in Social Psychology / Relationship Science, Deakin University Love languages – the concept coined by Baptist pastor Gary Chapman some 30 years ago – has taken the relationships world by storm. It’s often the “go-to” topic on first dates, and for those in relationships love languages are said to provide deep, meaningful and reliable insights into how relationships function. Putting love languages into action is believed to increase relationship happiness. Continued here

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Is Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 the coolest film ever made? What counts as "cool" exactly? It's not easy to pin down: as a notion, "coolness" is both frustratingly intangible and constantly in flux. In fashion, music and cinema, the genesis of "cool" feels heavily tied to the emergence of popular culture in the 20th Century – from the US jazz scene that first popularised the term, to the fashion world's post-war development of ready-to-wear clothing aimed at the newly emerging teenage market, as well as mass media such as pop music and cinema that became the dominant modes of creative expression in the same period. More like this:– The 1960s crime film that still shocks – How true is Hollywood epic Babylon? – The world's most misunderstood icon Continued here

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Cyclone Gabrielle: how microgrids could help keep the power on during extreme weather events Alan Brent is affiliated with Victoria University of Wellington, a chartered member of Engineering New Zealand and an executive committee member of The Sustainability Society. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses are left without power as Cyclone Gabrielle batters New Zealand’s North Island, causing widespread damage to the power network. Continued here

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The decision to ditch the UK's Department for International Trade is testament to the failure of Brexit The move to merge the UK government’s departments of trade and business has been likened by one journalist to rearranging the deckchairs on a sinking ship. But it is in fact a significant moment in the country’s foreign and economic policy – and a tacit acknowledgement that attempts to seize Brexit “opportunities” through trade have been a failure. For as a result of the changes, the Department for International Trade no longer exists. Set up less than a month after the 2016 referendum, it was created by former prime minister Theresa May as a way of demonstrating sovereignty through independence from the EU. Continued here

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Big Oil's trade group allies outspent clean energy groups by a whopping 27x, with billions in ads and lobbying to keep fossil fuels flowing You’ve probably seen ads promoting gas and oil companies as the solutions to climate change. They’re meant to be inspiring and hopeful, with scenes of a green, clean future. But shiny ads are not all these companies do to protect their commercial interests in the face of a rapidly heating world. Most also provide financial support to industry groups that are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on political activities, often to thwart polices designed to slow climate change. Continued here

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Success in life is tied to parental education. That's why we need to track intergenerational school performance Director of the Centre for Independent Studies Intergenerational Program and PhD candidate at, Australian National University It’s not easy to define, but most of us would agree it means the chance to reach your full potential, regardless of your background. This doesn’t necessarily mean equality, but it does imply social mobility, where you can do better than your parents based on merit. Continued here

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View from The Hill: Dutton apologises for missing Apology's symbolism but how will he see the Voice's symbolism? It wasn’t the first time Peter Dutton had said he was sorry for boycotting Kevin Rudd’s 2008’s historic Apology to the Stolen Generations, but Monday’s reiteration was an important moment for the opposition leader. Dutton is struggling to chart a course and manage his divided party on the issue of the Indigenous Voice to parliament. Continued here

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Want to be More Environmentally Friendly? Here are 3 Sustainability Tips For Every Company in 2023 One in three consumers prefer shopping with the planet in mind, even if it means paying a little more. Continued here

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Use the Law of Reciprocity to Boost Your Brand Grow your company by helping grow others. Continued here

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Dakar's clandestine taxis are essential for daily travel - but they're illegal Africa’s major cities are growing at a rapid pace. In Dakar, Senegal’s capital, for instance, the population has almost doubled in 20 years, reaching 4 million inhabitants today. But in most metropolises, like Dakar, planning isn’t keeping up with the expansion. One example of this is the city’s transport system. Public transport plays a fundamental role in providing access to any city. However, in many cities, it’s lacking, particularly in areas of urban sprawl. This worsens the quality of life for people living in these areas, where there is a shortage of jobs and amenities. Continued here

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A rose by any other name - how roses and cut flowers became a symbol of love and luxury Before the creation of international systems of cultivation and the ability to move goods by air freight, flowers matched the pattern of the seasons. Roses on Saint Valentine’s Day were something unexpected, and very expensive. I remember dancing with a nice young American at Lady Powis’ ball in Berkeley Square (aged 17) and the amazement and thrill when the next day a huge bunch of red roses arrived! In those days flowers were very rare! Continued here

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6 Tips To Beat The Long Odds Against Project Success Hire a great project leader, plan carefully, and act quickly. Continued here

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Gold mining is one of the world's most destructive and unnecessary industries - The 16th-century King Ferdinand of Spain sent his subjects abroad with the command: “Get gold, humanely if possible, but at all hazards, get gold.” His statement rings true today. Gold remains one of the world’s most expensive substances, but mining it is one of the most environmentally and socially destructive processes on the planet. Around 7% of the gold purchased globally each year is used for industry, technology or medicine. The rest winds up in bank vaults and jewellery shops. Continued here

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How To Overcome One Of The The Hardest Things A Leader Has To Do Be an effective entrepreneur by putting 'we' before 'me.'Continued here S6 Deciding Whether to Get Married? Science Says You Should Do This Together First Not sure whether marriage is the right next step for you and your partner? Science has a suggestion. Continued here S66 Does Light Therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder Actually Work? The “winter blues” is more than just a colloquialism; for some people, the winter months come with something they don’t necessarily have for the rest of the year — depression. People who already have a depressive disorder can be affected as well; for some, their symptoms may become more severe in the winter months. It’s called seasonal affective disorder, or the almost too-on-the-nose acronym, SAD. Formally named in 1982, SAD has been associated not just with the winter months but specifically with the lack of sunlight that comes with this time. The paper published in 1982 recounted the case of a patient with seasonal cycles of depression and mania whose symptoms were alleviated with artificial lighting. For the next 40 years, researchers would continue to study artificial light as a treatment for SAD. Continued here S37 The worthless life and the worthy death: euthanasia through the ages Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law. President, Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics., Griffith University Are our moral judgements about euthanasia a product of our time? If we came from a different culture, might our changed views about the worth of life and death lead us to opposite judgements? Continued here S34 Valentine's Day: research-backed tips for dating app success Whether you’re in it for the romance or the chocolate, Valentine’s Day means love is in the air. For the 300 million people who use dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge, February 14 might be a time to get chatting. I have studied the many creative ways people use and communicate on dating apps, including to talk about health precautions during the pandemic, and making connections while travelling. Continued here S4 Why You Have Values in Your Company Every company has values, but why? Continued here S60 I’m a Cherub and I Look Nothing Like a Fat Little Baby Oh, great, another Valentine's Day, with aisles upon aisles of cards featuring babies holding hearts. First of all, I have four faces, and none of them is that of a chubby-cheeked baby. They are, as follows: ox, man, lion, eagle. I don't know how the whole baby thing got started, but I'm telling you now—whoever painted me that way was a goddam liar who never saw any actual cherubim. (I'm looking at you, Raphael.) Think of the typical painting of a cute little angel. "Adorable," you might say. "So sweet." I have nothing against fat little babies. They are great. The Almighty Creator loves fat little babies and their tiny toes and how they laugh when you blow raspberries onto their tummies. But I'm not even sure I have a tummy. I have four heads and four wings and fiery wheels, and my wheels have eyes. That's what we're working with here. No one would ever look at me and say, "Adorable." Perhaps "awe-inspiring," and certainly "ahhhhhhhh!!!" Continued here S33 Valentine's Day: why you should send a love letter not a text - with help from some of English's greatest writers Most of us, these days, communicate via text message, email and posts on social media. The age of the letter, it seems, is past. But there’s something a letter can communicate, that a WhatsApp message or Instagram Story can’t. Having spent a lot of the last ten years thinking about different forms of writing, I want to suggest that we should write more letters – specifically, more love letters. Continued here S24 A less biased way to determine trademark infringement? Asking the brain directly Zhihao Zhang is listed as an inventor on a provisional patent application related to the findings discussed in this article. Does the toothpaste Colddate infringe upon the trademark of Colgate? Some might think this is a no-brainer. But in a 2007 lawsuit between the two brands, Colgate-Palmolive lost on the grounds that the two brands were “similar” but not “substantially indistinguishable.” Continued here S64 Unexpectedly single this Valentine's Day? Here's what to do. In their introduction to the book Supergods, comic book writer Grant Morrison says, “We live in the stories we tell ourselves.” We use superheroes as avatars for our fears, longings, and aspirations. But the sentiment is also a pretty good description of how we process breakups. “A very important part of adapting to a breakup is to make some meaning from the experience,” explains David Sbarra, a professor at the University of Arizona who researches social relationships and health. Continued here S23 Why does the Earth spin? Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. A globe was the first thing I ever bought with my own money. I was maybe 5 years old, and I was really excited to take it home. As I quickly discovered, you can spin it in the direction that the earth actually spins. Continued here S17 Nigerian elections: Eight issues young people want the new government to address As Nigeria prepares for the 25 February presidential elections, it’s interesting to consider what young Nigerians are expecting. There are plenty of them: 52.2 million people aged 18-35. That’s about 28% of Nigeria’s total population and more than the entire populations of Ghana and Benin Republic put together. In spite of the prospects that this number holds, young people in Nigeria are largely marginalised from governance. Continued here S20 What a second-century Roman citizen, Lucian, can teach us about diversity and acceptance People who don’t fit the dominant demographic of where they live can often be asked, “Where are you really from?” In 2017, CNN surveyed about 2,000 people who shared their stories on social media with the hashtag #whereiamreallyfrom. The participants included first- and second-generation immigrants, naturalized individuals and others who were native-born citizens. Continued here S51 'No indication of aliens': spy balloon saga continues to surprise amid rising US-China tension Over the past week, the US has realised and revealed that an active fleet of Chinese spy balloons has been operating across the northern hemisphere for several years. This all started to become apparent when a Chinese balloon, some 60 metres high and carrying a sensor payload of more than a tonne, was sighted by people in offices and homes in Billings, Montana. The white balloon, highlighted against a bright blue sky, was described as like a second moon. Continued here S41 Who moves and who pays? Managed retreat is hard, but lessons from the past can guide us As the cleanup from the Auckland floods continues, and Cyclone Gabrielle hits already saturated parts of the North Island, many people and communities are wondering about the future of their cherished places and homes. The increasing severity of climate-related disasters, and the vulnerability of ageing stormwater infrastructure, are now tangible and visible realities. Continued here S13 Cohabitation: it's time to take legal reform seriously Andy Hayward acted as Specialist Adviser to the Women and Equalities Committee's Rights of Cohabiting Partners Inquiry. The views expressed here are his own and should not be taken as representing the views of the Committee. We live our lives differently today. Marriage is no longer the go-to choice for couples. The marriage rate is now the lowest since records began in 1862 and many couples are instead cohabiting. The unmarried family has become the fastest-growing family type in the UK. Continued here S9 Level Up to Strategic Data Sharing Most organizations have learned how to share data tactically. They’ve put technical infrastructure and processes in place so that they can easily transfer data when necessary to comply with regulations, execute transactions, or provide a service. But far fewer companies have begun to explore the opportunities created by a more strategic approach to data sharing. In today’s digital economy, business leaders need a data-sharing strategy to pursue novel digital solutions — and move in new business directions. Strategic data-sharing practices allow an organization to share data quickly and with control for specific opportunities with specific partners, and to share it repeatedly, with an emphasis on value creation. As strategic data-sharing practices mature over time, purposeful, fast, and creative data sharing becomes the basis for business model innovation and the resulting payoffs. Energy management and industrial automation company Schneider Electric is a case in point. It uses its internet of things platform to share data with its business customers in order to discover and deliver energy management solutions.1 In 2016, company leaders saw IoT as a significant opportunity to develop new products and services based on the monitoring and analysis of connected assets. Along with the data-sharing platform, they developed a tool to collect both structured and unstructured data about the company’s products in use at a customer site, drawing on sensor data and maintenance logs. Using a dynamic risk monitoring algorithm, the tool detects operating risks and their sources, and it allows facility managers who purchase the product to manage the performance of assets themselves or use a Schneider Electric service center. Continued here S57 Australians need good financial advice more than ever to pay for soaring interest rates. Here's how to get it Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Hundreds of thousands of us who took out fixed-rate mortgages in 2020 and 2021 are about to be hit with massive increases in payments. Continued here S12 Valentine's Day: a brief history of the soulmate - and why it's a limited concept One of the difficult things about working on the philosophy of love is that human relationships change, but our dominant images of love tend to remain the same. The stability of these images reassures us that love is something deep, but we can also be trapped by them. The image of the soulmate has been around for a long time, yet our world has changed a great deal and so have our expectations of one another. Continued here S42 The history of referendums in Australia is riddled with failure. Albanese has much at risk - and much to gain The Australian summer has not been kind to the proposal for a First Nations Voice to Parliament. A recent Newspoll shows a majority in favour – at 56% – but with half of those only partly in favour and 37% opposed. There is plenty of material for opponents to work with. That they have been assiduously doing. Some calls for “more detail” are probably a genuine desire for just that – more detail. Others are very likely a cover for outright opposition, or for the holding operation currently being conducted by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Continued here S65 How 'The Last of Us' Avoided Becoming "Disaster Porn" The production designer of HBO’s hit show sheds light on how he built a "beautiful" apocalypse. In The Last of Us, the world ended in 2003. The HBO show’s post-apocalyptic society is one built on scraps, trash, and Gore/Liberman t-shirts — held together by duct tape and a will to survive. It’s what made the world of Naughty Dog’s 2013 acclaimed game so appealing. And it’s what made production designer John Paino the perfect person for the job of bringing that world to life. Continued here S31 Valentine's Day's connection with love was probably invented by Chaucer and other 14th-century poets As an undergraduate, on a tour of Europe, I happened to step into the church where Saint Valentine’s head was kept. The tour guide told us a (likely fictitious) story about Saint Valentine performing forbidden marriages for persecuted Christians under the Roman emperor Claudius Gothicus (possibly 269-270 AD). Valentine was then imprisoned and beheaded in Rome. His saint’s day has since become a celebration of romance. But earlier medieval accounts of Valentine’s life contain no mention of his association with love. Continued here S50 Marry or mingle: The risks and rewards of being single For many people, Valentine’s Day can be an isolating time. The dominant Valentine’s Day narrative insists that to be in a romantic relationship is to be happy. And for many single people, the day can come with pressure to find a partner. The sensationalization of romance on Valentine’s Day puts pressure on people. Singles wonder whether there is something “wrong” with being single (or with them for being single). Couples wonder whether their relationship measures up to the ideal and often break up if they find it doesn’t. Continued here S29 Google's search business doesn't have to be killed by AI chatbots - Google’s parent company Alphabet has lost a hefty US$100 billion (£83 billion) or nearly a tenth of its market value after its new AI chatbot, Bard, botched an answer to a query on an ad promoting its launch. It claimed that the James Webb space telescope took the first pictures of planets outside the Earth’s solar system when in fact it was the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. At the same time, Microsoft saw its shares rise 3% on announcing that it would be integrating ChatGPT into Bing, Office and Teams. Microsoft is a significant shareholder in OpenAI, maker of this much-heralded AI chatbot. Continued here S67 30 Years Ago, The Most Underrated '90s Sci-Fi Movie Confused Everyone Time loops and overpowered psychic energy are two hallmarks of science fiction. In 1998, Sphere took both tropes to the limit of reason. The sci-fi movie made both plot devices confusing as hell, and antithetical to storytelling to boot. And yet Sphere isn’t as bad as its reputation suggests, and it isn’t uninteresting to revisit in 2023. In the 1990s, sci-fi movies based on books by Michael Crichton were all the rage. None were as successful as Jurassic Park, but many, like Congo (1995) and The Lost World (1997), tried valiantly. Sphere is easily the strangest of the bunch, but it’s certainly a better movie than Congo, and easily better than the 2003 Crichton time-travel disaster, Timeline. Sphere is a time travel movie that’s not really about time travel, and also an alien technology movie that’s not about aliens. It’s a mess, but its ideas are worth another look. Continued here S21 Cost of getting sick for older people of color is 25% higher than for white Americans - new research As you age, you’re more likely to get sick. And health problems can affect your financial well-being too. People with health problems spend heavily on health care – the cumulative cost of chronic diseases in the U.S. is nearly $4 trillion a year. And illnesses make it less likely that you can work as many hours as you might have put in otherwise. Getting sick may even mean you have to stop working altogether. Continued here S48 Why the love story of Radha and Krishna has been told in Hinduism for centuries Although it originated as a Christian holiday in honor of St. Valentine, Valentine’s Day has become a global celebration of romantic love, observed by people of many religions and of no religion. Other religions have long had their own myths centered on love. I have observed, in my work as a scholar of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, that in Hindu traditions, there are many stories of divine couples: deities who embody the ideal of love, and whose stories often contain lessons for the rest of us. One couple that has especially captured the imagination of Hindu devotees for centuries is Radha and Krishna. Continued here S70 These Easy Practices Could Significantly Reduce Your Risk of Long Covid It’s never too late to start healthy habits. Whether that's incorporating more vegetables into your lunch or moving for 20 minutes a day. No matter how long unhealthy habits have persisted, healthy habits can always bring benefits. In a world of Covid-19, getting started on a healthy lifestyle can even alter the course of recovery. In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control (C.D.C.) determined that nearly 20 percent of infected adults contracted long Covid. While long Covid has a broad definition, it’s characterized by persistent symptoms like cough, fatigue, depression, and shortness of breath that endure at least three months. Continued here S14 More ethnic minority teachers are needed in UK schools - but teaching can affect their mental health and wellbeing Terra Glowach is a paying member of the Green Party and the University and College Union, as well as the Chartered College of Teachers. But the treatment of ethnic minority staff in schools raises ethical concerns about recruiting them into a workplace which puts significant burdens on their mental health. Continued here S3 65 Years Ago, LEGO Patented Its First Brick. This Vintage Ad Is a Reminder of Why the Brand is So Beloved LEGO bricks haven't changed. Neither has the company's thoughtful purpose. Continued here S30 100 years of the BBC in Wales: an uneasy start and unclear future Three months after the BBC’s first transmission from London, public service broadcasting in Wales began at 5.00pm on February 13 1923. The small studio above a cinema in the centre of Cardiff also served audiences in the west of England. This may explain the very limited amount of Welsh language material broadcast at the outset. To ensure the British Broadcasting Company, as it was then known, was in no doubt about the existence of the native language and culture of Wales, Cylch Dewi (a group of cultural nationalists) arranged the first wireless broadcast of a Welsh-language religious service from Swansea on February 22 1925. By the mid-1920s, they were producing programmes of their own for the BBC, following consultations with E.R. Appleton, Cardiff’s station director. Continued here S32 Bird flu continues to spread in mammals - what this means for humans and wildlife As bird flu continues to decimate poultry and wild bird populations around the world, the virus – a deadly strain called H5N1 – appears to be spreading to mammals. The virus has already been confirmed in foxes and otters in the UK, and more recently in four dead seals. Bird flu refers to influenza A viruses that mainly infect birds. These viruses naturally circulate in wild waterfowl, usually without causing any symptoms. Continued here S22 Studying abroad is poised to make a post-pandemic comeback - here are 5 questions students who plan to study overseas should ask Associate Vice Provost for International Education, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Before the pandemic struck in 2020, the number of U.S. students studying abroad had been pretty much rising steadily each year. Continued here S69 You Need to Watch the Trippiest Superhero Movie on HBO Max ASAP There’s always a temptation to make a superhero who is very aware of the massive franchise they’re a part of. Marvel has two different versions of this — Deadpool, whose R-rated antics mean he’s not technically MCU canon, and She-Hulk, whose adventures on Disney+ forced her to literally climb out of the menu screen and confront a robotic Kevin Feige. In DC, Shazam is the go-to comedic superhero in live-action, and self awareness ripples throughout Harley Quinn. But all these are superhero projects first, and self-aware movies second. In 2014, these priorities were reversed with an incredibly meta movie that focuses not on a superhero who knows he’s an actor, but on an actor who is haunted by his superheroic past. Continued here S61 The Casual Anti-Spectacle of Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show By all measures, last night's Super Bowl halftime show had all the makings of a global spectacle. Rihanna, who has not released a new album since 2016's "Anti," would be taking the stage for the first time in several years. It would be one of her first major public appearances since the birth of her child in May of last year. And it would also, unbeknownst to viewers before the broadcast, double as a pregnancy announcement for the pop star, who is now expecting her second child. Rihanna is one of just a handful of members of true pop royalty, and every element of her Super Bowl performance set the stage for a capital-"M" pop-culture Moment in an age when such moments are few and far between. The performance also signalled a new era for the culturally beleaguered N.F.L. and its strained relationship to the Black celebrity class. After telling Vogue in 2019 that she "couldn't dare" perform at the Super Bowl on account of the N.F.L.'s treatment of Colin Kaepernick, Rihanna has since changed her tune, thanks to a partnership between the league and Jay-Z's sprawling entertainment company, Roc Nation. Formed partly in an attempt to revamp the N.F.L.'s image in the wake of its mistreatment of Kaepernick, the partnership has, at least gesturally, altered the makeup of the halftime show: Last year's was a gallingly belated celebration of hip-hop history, and the first time the genre had been featured prominently at the Super Bowl. Last week, when Rihanna sat down for an interview with this year's halftime-show sponsor, Apple Music, she explained that what she once saw fit to boycott had become an opportunity loaded with both personal and political stakes: "It's important for representation," she said of the halftime show. "It's important for my son to see that." Continued here S28 Five things research can teach us about having better sex, according to a sex therapist Alongside my work as an academic, I am a practising sex and relationship therapist. These practices inform my teaching. Sex can be wonderful, but it can also be tricky. Science may be the furthest thing from your mind when you’re getting intimate with someone. But actually, there’s a lot we can learn from science when it comes to sex. Continued here S43 Our research has shown Indigenous peoples' needs cannot be understood and met, without Indigenous voices Opponents of an Indigenous Voice to parliament say the Voice is merely symbolic and another pointless layer of bureaucracy. They say that what is needed are “practical measures”. However decades of government-led “practical measures” have achieved little measurable progress and in some cases, caused considerable harm to Indigenous communities. So the question is, will the Voice, in delivering Indigenous perspectives direct to parliament, make any practical difference to outcomes for Indigenous peoples? Continued here S47 Content creators and corporations clash in Dungeons & Dragons licensing fiasco The tabletop role-playing game community took a keen interest in intellectual property law in January when changes to the Dungeons & Dragons Open Game License (OGL) were leaked. The OGL is a public copyright licence that allows the general public — anyone from small companies to independent authors — to create content for Dungeons & Dragons under an approachable set of guidelines. Continued here S27 Do trees really stay in touch via a 'wood-wide web'? Here's what the evidence says Trees in a forest might look solitary but they are connected underground by a complex network of thread-like strands of fungi, some of which may only be visible to us as mushrooms on the surface. Through these connections in the soil, trees are widely believed to share food, water and even information, such as warnings of enemy attack. The concept of an interconnected forest has evoked comparisons with the internet, hence the moniker “the wood-wide web”. Nearly all plants form partnerships with fungi living in their roots, together known as mycorrhizas. Some of these fungi sprout mushrooms at the soil surface, but a mushroom is really just the tiny bit we see. Most mycorrhizal fungi live entirely underground, existing only as near-invisible thread-like strands called hyphae that grow out from the roots of plants to explore the soil. Continued here S49 Advantages and challenges of anti-Covid nasal vaccination: the Mathieu Epardaud is one of the co-founders of LoValTech, for which he works as a scientific consultant (unpaid). Contrary to the widely shared popular belief, the primary purpose of current vaccines against Covid-19 is solely to protect against serious forms of the disease in order to prevent the risk of hospitalisations and death… and not to block transmission between individuals. To do this, it would be necessary to aim for a so-called sterilising vaccination: only then could the circle of contamination be interrupted, allowing to stop the pandemic. Continued here S68 'Last of Us' Episode 5 Features the Show's Best Video Game Easter Egg Yet Throughout its first five episodes, HBO’s The Last of Us has featured more than its fair share of video game Easter eggs. From Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) familiar costumes to a variety of music cues, The Last of Us has found countless ways to pay homage to the 2013 game that inspired it. Episode 5, “Endure and Survive,” sees Joel, Ellie, Henry (Lamar Johnson), and Sam (Keivonn Montreal Woodard) make their way through the sewers of Kansas City. While the episode takes a few creative liberties with the journey, it does take them to a location that should seem very familiar to fans of the game. It even features a prop that looks lifted straight from it. Continued here S44 Turkey and Syria earthquake: Long-term funding is needed to support search-and-rescue after major disasters The strong and disastrous earthquake that shook southern Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6 drew attention to search-and-rescue (SAR) operations. The media’s attention raised familiar questions around SAR, including who conducts SAR, what formal and informal SAR teams are available, and how long trapped people are able to survive before being rescued. Referring to an earthquake as a “killer earthquake” ignores the harsh reality that the buildings killed people. Until having an effective earthquake early warning, we need to rely on building codes and urban and physical planning. However, most cities and villages in earthquake-prone areas either do not have or are unable to fully implement seismic codes to prevent construction in high hazard zones and enforce building codes. Continued here S19 A new strategy for western states to adapt to long-term drought: Customized water pricing Even after heavy snow and rainfall in January, western states still face an ongoing drought risk that is likely to grow worse thanks to climate change. A whopping snowpack is good news, but it doesn’t reduce the need for long-term planning. Confronted with a shrinking supply of water for agriculture, industry and residential uses, water agencies have pursued different strategies to encourage water conservation. They have nudged customers to reduce water use, limited outdoor watering and offered incentives to rip out lawns. On the supply side, there are innovative ideas about using heavy rains to recharge groundwater. Continued here S46 French immersion and other regional learning programs: Smart choice for your kids, or do they fuel inequity? PhD student, Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto For the past half-century, school choice initiatives have been intensifying across the globe. Choice policies emphasize school competition and increasing families’ opportunities to select among academic programs. Continued here S26 Magic Mike's Last Dance review: a film about female desire that never fully grasps 'what women want' Magic Mike is back for one last dance in the male stripper franchise’s third and final instalment. After Mike’s (Channing Tatum) furniture business falls into hard times post-COVID, he finds himself working as a bartender. At a charity fundraiser, he meets Max (Salma Hayek Pinault) – a wealthy socialite who offers to pay him to accompany her to London to put on a stage show of male dancers at her theatre. Continued here S15 Fewer Australians are learning Indonesian, and Indonesia could do far more to fix that A 2010 report from a team of Australian applied linguists shows that since 2001, the number of students taking Indonesian language lessons in Australian schools had decreased by at least 10,000 per year. Registrations for Indonesian language courses at the university level in 2019 had plummeted by 63% since its peak in 1992. Continued here S45 NORAD's value is on full display as flying objects shot down over North America It began with a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon flying over Alaska and northwestern Canada. Read more: China violated international laws and standards with its surveillance balloon Continued here Contributors Dharmendra Kumar Priya Ranjan Powered by Blogger.