Новости за 30.05.2017

Lake Nakuru. Brian Rutere

Our ancient ancestors seem to have survived some pretty harsh arid spells in East Africa’s Rift Valley over five million years. Quite how they kept going has long been a mystery, given the lack of water to drink. Now, new research shows that they may have been able to survive on a small networks of springs.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has published a report on the unlawful rounding up of more than 100 Chechen men suspected of homosexuality. The case gained global media attention and considerable public support. Hundreds of people in Europe, America and Australia protested against “gay concentration camps” and “gay genocide” in Chechnya, while thousands signed the petitions of Russian LGBTQ activists and Amnesty International. Three French LGBTQ organisations filed an official complaint to the International Criminal Court against Chechnya’s leader... Читать дальше...

As people on the move continue to make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean, and as relations between the European Union and Turkey face imminent meltdown, fears that Europe is being “flooded” with desperate refugees and migrants seeking a better life continue to abound.

As people on the move continue to make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean, and as relations between the European Union and Turkey face imminent meltdown, fears that Europe is being “flooded” with desperate refugees and migrants seeking a better life continue to abound.

Oh my, she's modest. Twitter

The morning following the Manchester bombing, Katie Hopkins posted an anti-Muslim tirade on Twitter, including a tweet, aimed at TV presenter Philip Schofield, stating that: “We need a final solution” to terrorism.

Flexible foxes can be found in almost any sort of terrain. Indeed, one species, the red fox or Vulpes vulpes, is the most widely distributed land carnivore of all, ranging from the Arctic to North Africa. And where its rivals stick to the countryside, these foxes have made themselves at home in modern towns and cities. Why is this?

Flexible foxes can be found in almost any sort of terrain. Indeed, one species, the red fox or Vulpes vulpes, is the most widely distributed land carnivore of all, ranging from the Arctic to North Africa. And where its rivals stick to the countryside, these foxes have made themselves at home in modern towns and cities. Why is this?

MAX3D

In the quest to discover habitable planets, scientists look for qualities similar to those of Earth. We do this because Earth sustains life, of course, but it falls down when you consider Venus. Based on size, chemistry and position in the solar system, our neighbouring planet is the most Earth-like ever observed. Yet while Earth is the definition of habitable, the planet Venus is a barren, hot, hellish wasteland.

staceycav, CC BY

Manchester’s character, achievements and history were woven into Tony Walsh’s The Place, a poem that Walsh – conjuring the city’s pride, passion and defiance, its unity in diversity – recited to thousands of people who had thronged to the city’s Albert Square following the attack on the Manchester Arena.

Is it smart to take smart drugs? shutterstock

It’s that time of year again. The blossom is on the trees, and university libraries and reading rooms are heaving with students poring over laptops, textbooks and stacks of notes – exam season is here.

The UK has had a chronic lack of investment. shutterstock.com

Scrutiny of the party manifestos has so far been focused on the differences in their “tax and spend” policies. But the approach to investment is just as important. As the economist Marianna Mazzucato said recently on BBC Newsnight, the UK economy desperately needs investment-led growth.

Shutterstock

“Fake news” is the buzzword of 2017. Barely a day goes by without a headline about president Donald Trump lambasting media “bias”, or the spread of “alternative facts”.

RocketLab

The rocket that blasted into space from New Zealand on May 25 was special. Not only was it the first to launch from a private site, it was also the first to be powered by an engine made almost entirely using 3D printing. This might not make it the “first 3D-printed rocket in space” that some headlines described it as, but it does highlight how seriously this manufacturing technique is being taken by the space industry.

The Handmaid's Tale

Don’t overinterpret The Handmaid’s Tale, warned a recent piece in The Atlantic. Comparisons between the dystopian United States crafted by Margaret Atwood in her 1985 novel and Trump’s America have abounded since the latest screen adaptation appeared on US screens this year. But Atlantic journalist Shadi Hami warns that it probably won’t “happen here” – in part because it hasn’t happened anywhere. Yet.

Shutterstock/NataliaDeriabina

Vinyl is back, or so it might seem. For better or worse? I’m not so sure myself. Like a lot of vinyl enthusiasts, I too enjoy the ritual, the feel, the physicality of a real product in my hands. But as soon as I get to the listening part, the sound engineer in me can’t help but feel it’s all a bit of snake oil.

Marcos Mesa Sam Wordley/Shutterstock

Austerity cuts may have contributed to lower rates of teenage pregnancy in England. It may seem a surprising result, but that is what our analysis of cuts by local authorities to teenage pregnancy programmes has concluded.

Shutterstock/Twinsterphoto

People who have had a heart attack are prescribed a number of drugs, often for life. Our latest research shows that one of those drugs – a beta-blocker – may offer no survival benefit to heart attack patients who do not have heart failure.

Sometimes it can be bloody difficult to make your point. It’s a daily problem for politicians, but the stakes change on the election campaign trail; and as the stakes change, so does the speech.

Call me a radical, but I think people should vote for the party that will do the most to increase happiness. If a party’s policies won’t reduce misery and help people have more pleasant, fulfilling lives, what are they good for?