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☆ Newly discovered fossils shed light on origins of curious ‘hobbit’ humans
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-06 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

An analysis of newly described Homo floresiensis fossils published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications attempts to answer some of these questions about the tiny human. Liang Bua cave is the only other place where hobbit fossils have been found. The Mata Menge humerus fragment (left) is shown at the same scale as the humerus of Homo floresiensis from Liang Bua. Overall, the research suggested that the hobbit species’ small size remained remarkably constant over a long period. “Every tiny fragment of Homo floresiensis or any other hominin is incredibly important,” Tocheri said.

Persons: floresiensis, —, Mata Menge, Flores Gerrit van den Bergh, ”, Yousuke Kaifu, Liang, Liang Bua, Yousuke, hominins, luzonensis, erectus, Gerrit van den Bergh, wristbones, habilis, Matt Tocheri, wasn’t, Flores, Tocheri, Van den Bergh, van den Bergh, hominin, ” Tocheri Organizations: CNN, Nature Communications, University of Tokyo, Archaeological Science, University of Wollongong, Lakehead University, Smithsonian Locations: Indonesian, Flores, Africa, Java, Asia, Mata, South Africa, Philippines, Australia, Canada, Ontario

☆ How ‘cat lady’ became an insult for women of a certain age
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-27 | by ( Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

CNN —The stereotypical “cat lady” is one of pop culture’s most bizarre characters — and easiest punching bags. And though Vance’s description of “cat lady” didn’t include “crazy,” madness has been associated with “cat ladies” for over a century. “There is something about the independence of cats, something I like about them, which can be linked with a suspicion of independent women,” said Alice Madicott, whose book “Cat Women” prods the “crazy cat lady” stereotype. Many women proudly reclaim ‘cat lady’So-called cat ladies have been reclaiming the term for more than a century. And since Vance’s comments resurfaced this week, “childless cat lady” is now appearing on new merchandise including bumper stickers and yard signs.

Persons: Eleanor Abernathy, “ Big Edie ” Beale, She’s, Robert DeNiro, She’s …, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump’s, Sen, JD Vance, Tucker Carlson, “, ”, Harris, “ We’re, they’ve, ” Vance, Pete Buttigieg, we’ve, Harris “, Fiona Probyn, doesn’t, ” She’s, Rapsey, Vance, ’, haggard, Bastet, Corey Wrenn, Wrenn, Amir Makar, Agnes Waterhouse, Alice Madicott, untameable, Linda Rodriguez McRobbie, couldn’t, ” Rodriguez McRobbie, Havisham, Charles Dickens ’, Rodriguez McRobbie, Jane Austen, Miss Bates, “ Emma ”, Austen, spinsters, Hart Ayrault, Tom Cats, William Henry Ellam, Ken Florey, suffragettes, Big, Susan Michals, ” Michals, Women’s suffragists, suffragists Nell Richardson, Alice Burke, Michals, she’s, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zoë Kravitz, Halle Berry, Catwoman, who’s, Pfeiffer, Kravitz’s, Holly Golightly, Taylor Swift, Raymond Hall, ” Madicott, Swift, Kerstin Emhoff, Harris ’, Ella Emhoff, Jennifer Aniston, ’ —, Swifties Organizations: CNN, University of Wollongong, Democratic, University of Kent, Roman, Getty, Boston Globe, United, American Veterinary Medical Association Locations: Springfield, Australia, Egypt, Alexandria, AFP, Europe, England, “ Grey, New York, United States

☆ Vertical farming: This GigaFarm in Dubai’s desert could produce 3 million kilograms of food
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Rebecca Cairns | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —In 2022, Dubai unveiled the world’s largest vertical farm. Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS)“Not just another vertical farm”GigaFarm’s vertical farming solution is supplied by IGS, a Scottish company founded in 2013. “This is not just another vertical farm, this is something completely different,” says Lloyd, adding that the recycling model could be applied to any urban area. And it’s not just the UAE that’s interested in vertical farming: Qatar is investing heavily in smart farming, and agritech companies are expanding into Saudi Arabia. However, it will take another decade before we see widespread adoption of vertical farming, and more research is required to increase the number of crops that can be grown, Sharma adds.

Persons: Dubai’s Al, it’s, Oliver Christof, “, Andrew Lloyd, you’ve, ”, Lloyd, AeroFarms, Lloyd —, It’s, ReFarm, Rohit Sharma, Sharma Organizations: CNN, Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport, UAE, UN, IGS, University of Wollongong Locations: Dubai, Dubai’s, Dubai’s Al Maktoum, Tech, Scottish, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Ukraine, Russia, Carrefour, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, East, Africa

☆ Phillip Mehrtens: Militants squabble over fate of New Zealand pilot on anniversary of his kidnapping
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Angus Watson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Militant rebels in Indonesia’s restive West Papua are urging their most feared comrade to release a New Zealand pilot held hostage for a year. Mehrtens’ captors initially threatened to kill him unless New Zealand agreed to pressure Indonesia into allowing West Papua to secede from Indonesia, a seemingly impossible demand. West Papua separatist fighters release images of their hostage soon after his capture in February 2023. West Papua National Liberation ArmyFailed rescue effortsGrainy proof of life videos sent by the rebels between February and November 2023 show Mehrtens growing thinner and more unkempt. “The Indonesian response is dictated by the Indonesian military and their view is that they will hunt down this group, kill the leaders and release Mehrtens,” Kingsbury said.

Persons: Eganius Koyega, Phillip Mehrtens, Mehrtens ’, Mehrtens, Koyega, ” Koyega, ” TPNPB, Terryanus Satto, aren’t, hasn’t, Damien Kingsbury, ”, Winston Peters, Christmas Phillip, ” Peters, ” Kingsbury, “, Cammi Webb, Gannon, ’ ”, Webb, ” Webb, TPNB, Andreas Harsono, Prabowo Subianto, “ Prabowo, ” Harsono Organizations: CNN — Militant, New, Koyega, West Papuan National Liberation Army, Free Papua Movement, West Papua National Liberation Army, Indonesian Army, New Zealand, New Zealand Foreign Affairs, New Zealand Government, CNN, Australia’s University of Wollongong, Indonesian, Human Rights Watch, Rights, West Locations: Indonesia’s restive West Papua, Zealand, Nduga, New Zealand, Indonesia, West Papua, Indonesian, Papuan, West, New, Australia, Jakarta, “, ” West Papua, Papua

☆ 6 ways humans are transforming Antarctica from a pristine preserve to a polluted wasteland
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-30 | by ( Rupendra Brahambhatt | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Antarctica was once a pristine preserve, but humans are ruining it. And this past winter, the frozen continent reached record-low sea ice levels. USGS"This region is nearing a threshold of rapid landscape change," researchers noted in 2017. Pauline Askin/ReutersAnd depending on the location, that ice melt could turn up some pretty nasty stuff. What's even more worrisome is that "human impacts are disproportionately concentrated on the most environmentally significant areas of Antarctica," the researchers noted.

Persons: It's, Emma MacKie, Eric Rignot, MacKie, Pauline Askin, huskies — that's, Sharon Robinson, Auscape, Logan Pallin, Wolfgang Kaehler, Rignot Organizations: Service, University of Florida, University of California, NASA, Reuters, huskies, University of Wollongong, ABC News, Tourists, University of Colorado Boulder, British Atlantic Survey, University of San Locations: Antarctica, Irvine, Beaufort, Antarctica's Ross, Australia, Antarctica ., Santa Cruz, Georgia, University of San Francisco

☆ Australian man who faked his own kidnapping to meet mistress ordered to pay police
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —An Australian man who faked his own kidnapping to spend time with his mistress on New Year’s Eve has been ordered to pay back the cost of the police operation to find him. Paul Iera appeared at Wollongong Local Court in New South Wales on Tuesday and was told he’d have to pay the state government around $10,000 for 200 hours worth of police work after his partner reported him missing. The 35-year-old tradesman went to meet his mistress on December 31, but lied to his partner about meeting with his “financial guy,” CNN affiliate 9 News reported. Iera’s worried partner reported the matter to the police minutes before midnight, prompting officers to investigate, 9 news reported. Iera’s lawyer Abbas Soukie issued a statement on his behalf, saying that his client was “pleased to have avoided” a jail sentence.

Persons: Paul Iera, he’d, Paul, Iera’s, Iera, Michael Ong, Ong, Abbas Soukie, Mr Iera, “ Mr Iera, ” Organizations: CNN, Wollongong Local Locations: Australian, Wollongong, New South Wales

☆ Homo floresiensis: The curious case of the hobbit and what its remarkable discovery taught us
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

The Liang Bua cave excavation site, where the fossils of Homo floresiensis were discovered on the island of Flores in Indonesia. A 3D cast of the skeleton of Homo Floresiensis on display at Stony Brook University, part of the State University of New York system. The Liang Bua team named the species Homo floresiensis after the island where the fossils were discovered. Sutikna said that a thick layer of volcanic ash was found just on top of the layer where Homo floresiensis was first found. And above the volcanic ash layer, we did not find any fossils of Homo floresiensis or other ancient animals,” he said.

Persons: Thomas Sutikna, trowel, Liang Bua, Sutikna, ”, floresiensis, Achmad Ibrahim, Saptomo, Tim Wiencis, Mike Morwood, Liang, hobbitus —, floresianus —, Paige Madison, Bert Roberts, Robert Pearce, Bua, Homo erectus, erectus, chimplike wristbones, Lucy, australopithecines, Chris Stringer, “ I’m, ” Stringer, “, luzonensis, Matt Tocheri, Flores, Mata Menge, Flores hobbits, Tocheri, ’ There’s, Stringer, it’s, ” Tocheri, ” Madison, we’re Organizations: CNN, Indonesia’s, Archaeometric Research, Research and Innovation Agency, Stony Brook University, State University of New, University of Wollongong, Sydney Morning Herald, Fairfax Media, AP, Lakehead University, Smithsonian Institution Locations: Indonesian, Liang, Flores, Indonesia, Jakarta, Stony, State University of New York, Australian, Australia, Africa, Java, Asia, London, South Africa, Philippines, Yogyakarta, Canada, Thunder Bay , Ontario, It’s, Madison, Sulawesi

☆ Bruce Haigh, Diplomat Who Helped Battle Apartheid, Dies at 77
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Alan Cowell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Bruce Haigh, an Australian diplomat who brushed aside the protocols of his profession to offer covert support to anti-apartheid figures in South Africa, including the banned newspaper editor depicted in the movie “Cry Freedom,” died on April 7 in Australia. His sister, Christina Henderson, told Australian news outlets that her brother had been medevacked from Laos when a cancerous condition worsened. He died in a hospital in Wollongong, south of Sydney, she said. Over the years Mr. Haigh worked variously as a ranch hand (known on Australian sheep and cattle stations as a jackeroo), an oil rig worker; an Australian Army conscript in Vietnam, a diplomat, a champion of refugees, and a columnist and broadcaster decrying what he considered excessive American influence on Australia’s security and defense policies. But a defining example of his commitment to underdogs and those he saw as oppressed came during his assignment in the late 1970s as a junior diplomat with the rank of second secretary at the Australian mission in Pretoria.

☆ A young couple turned a Coca-Cola truck into a tiny home on wheels and now live rent-free
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A couple converted a Coca-Cola truck to live in while exploring Australia. Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall paid $17,500 for the vehicle and spent 11 months doing it up. "Then we came across the Coca-Cola truck, purchased it in 2021 and started converting it." The 32-year-old spent weekday afternoons and weekends over the next 11 months doing up the 2005 Isuzu truck, which cost $17,500. The couple, who were living in Wollongong, moved into their tiny home on wheels in November 2021 and spent a year living in it while saving cash for their dream trip.

"The exchange rate has been the biggest topic of conversation since we got here," said Jeff Skipper, 50, an electrician. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"Everything is pretty expensive for us," said Valerie, a 47-year old university administrator. read moreSterling hit a record low of $1.0327 on Monday, having plummeted 20% against the dollar this year. "Now it's one dollar to the pound…It's really hit us," said Colin Taylor, a retired telecoms engineer from the United Kingdom who was also visiting San Francisco with his wife. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a currency basket, hit a fresh 20-year high of 114.78 on Wednesday.

☆ Van der Poel convicted, fined after pleading guilty to assault of teenage girls
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Rohith Nair | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sept 26 (Reuters) - Mathieu van der Poel pleaded guilty to assault of two teenage girls on the eve of the world championship road race and the Dutch Cyclist was convicted and fined a total of A$1,500 ($974.85), his lawyer said on Monday. "We went through the relevant events that occurred, he was arrested by police, was interviewed by police and said certain things to the police," Van der Poel's lawyer Michael Bowe told Reuters. Van der Poel has also been allowed to leave the country after he was handed back his passport. The Dutch cycling federation said they and Van der Poel would not comment on the incident. Belgian Remco Evenepoel won the world road race title with a solo breakaway on Sunday.

☆ Cycling’s Holiest Roller: The Vatican Enters the Sports World on Two Wheels
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Joshua Robinson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When a cyclist named Rien Schuurhuis rolls up to the start of this weekend’s world championship road race, he’ll be wearing a curious jersey that no one in the peloton has ever seen before. That’s because the crisp white-and-yellow on his back will represent the sport’s newest, and smallest, racing nation. On Sunday in Wollongong, Australia—against the likes of France, Belgium, and Italy—Schuurhuis is set to be the one-man cycling team of the Vatican.

☆ The creator of the viral Black fetus image will have his illustrations published in a book
▼ + stars: | 2022-01-13 | by ( Amarachi Orie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“Mind the Gap: A clinical handbook of signs and symptoms in Black and Brown Skin,” was first published in 2020. Chidiebere IbeIbe says that a lack of illustrations of skin conditions in Black skin makes it hard for medical students to diagnose them. Ibe is working on a textbook on birth defects in children, which he says will be illustrated with Black skin images. Even in Nigeria, White skin images dominate the medical literature, says Ibe. Ibe plans to become a pediatric neurosurgeon and is also working on a textbook on birth defects in children, which will be illustrated with Black skin images.

☆ At 30, he quit Wall Street and founded one of Australia's leading fast food chains
▼ + stars: | 2019-12-05 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Guzman Y Gomez's co-founder and CEO Steven Marks. Guzman Y GomezSYDNEY — When Steven Marks landed a job at a top Wall Street hedge fund, he thought he had it made. Guzman Y Gomez's signature burrito bowl. Guzman Y Gomez"I had these plans to build a hotel by the beach," recalled Marks. Steven Marks Co-founder and CEO, Guzman y Gomez"I poached the best staff from Latin American restaurants and brought in chefs from Mexico," he said.

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