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☆ Wiping Out the Dinosaurs Let Countless Flowers Bloom
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Jack Tamisiea | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Roughly three-fourths of the planet’s species, most notably non-avian dinosaurs, were wiped out. The catastrophe may have even helped flowering plants blossom into the dominant green things they are today. “It’s just bizarre to think that flowering plants survived K-Pg when dinosaurs didn’t,” said Jamie Thompson, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Bath and one of the authors of the study. Flowering plants are known to scientists as angiosperms. But they rapidly diversified as mass extinction loomed.

Persons: “, ”, Jamie Thompson Organizations: University of Bath

☆ From the Women’s World Cup to Wimbledon, a Victory Everyone Can Share
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Vanessa Friedman | More About Vanessa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

If you watch winners in dresses, you think winners wear dresses. And it exists, Ms. Fleshman said, “until someone asks to change it.” Until someone says, effectively, “Wait — why are we doing it this way?”Wait. Wait, why are athletes wearing white shorts and wondering if spectators can tell they are menstruating instead of focusing on doing their job? Wait, why are the armholes of basketball jerseys so enormous that they act like windows to the sports bra? Or so found Hajo Adam, an organizational psychologist at the University of Bath in England, and Adam D. Galinsky in their 2012 paper, “Enclothed Cognition,” which looked at the effect white lab coats have on the wearers.

Persons: Sepp Blatter, Fleshman, “ It’s, Ms, Howard, “, Adam, Adam D Organizations: FIFA, AIBA, University of Bath, Durham University, aha Locations: England

☆ High Interest Rates and Low Savings Could Put Renovations on Hold
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Michael Kolomatsky | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The U.S. housing stock is aging, which means lots of bathrooms and kitchens need remodeling. Moving to a newer home that’s in better shape is out of reach for many people, because a new mortgage will usually come at a much higher interest rate. Eighty percent of interest rates on existing mortgages are below 5 percent, while the average rate for new mortgages was about 7 percent on July 20, according to Freddie Mac. But staying put and paying for a renovation may not be any easier. And faced with recent inflation, it’s no surprise that people are saving less.

Persons: Freddie Mac Organizations: & Bath Association, The New York Times

☆ Why did Russia invade Ukraine? Experts break down Putin's motivations and excuses for launching his war.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Insider spoke to three experts about why it happened, and the motives behind President Putin's move. AP Photo/Evgeniy MaloletkaPutin blamed the WestTaylor said the invasion of Ukraine reflects Putin's "grievances that have been brewing for a long time." For Putin, "Russia has a right to rule Ukraine. At the start of the invasion, Putin blamed NATO's expansion into eastern Europe for forcing his hand, echoing a criticism he has made for years. Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with war correspondents in Moscow, June 13, 2023.

Persons: Putin's, —, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Felipe Dana, it's, George W, Bush, Stephen Hall, Hall, Alexander Ermochenko, Brian Taylor, Thomas Graham, Graham, Evgeniy Maloletka Putin, West Taylor, Taylor, Lithuania — Taylor, NATO didn't, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Omar Marques, They've, Russia's, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Stalin, Zelenskyy, Viktor Medvedchuk, Donald Trump, Trump, Joe Biden, GAVRIIL Organizations: Service, AP, University of Bath, Kyiv, REUTERS, Slavic, of, West, Syracuse University, Yale, NATO, NATO doesn't, Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Getty, Nazis, Nazism, Putin, SPUTNIK Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Bucha, Kyiv, Russian Ukraine, Soviet Union, USSR, Russian, Moscow, Luhansk, Belarus, Asia, of Russia, East, Avdiivka, Europe, Ryazan, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Zelenskyy, Afghanistan, Germany

☆ How Hokusai’s Art Crashed Over the Modern World
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Jason Farago | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

One of the most influential figures in European modern culture never set foot in Europe. But a few years after his death in 1849, when the “black ships” of Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into what’s now Tokyo Bay, Japan’s markets were forcibly opened, and Hokusai’s woodblocks started to flutter over the ocean. In France, in Britain, and soon in America, a whole new kind of art would emerge: born in Tokyo, spanning the whole world. Beautiful and bloated by turns (but well worth the trip), it makes ample use of the MFA’s unparalleled collection of Japanese art. Here you will see more than 100 of Hokusai’s prints, paintings and manga — literally “whimsical sketches” of bathers and courtesans and birds and beasts, which Hokusai published in 15 best-selling volumes.

Persons: Katsushika, Matthew Perry, Hokusai’s woodblocks, Hokusai Organizations: Mount Fuji, Museum of Fine Arts, Mount, Fuji Locations: Europe, Edo Japan, what’s, Tokyo, France, Britain, America, Boston, American

☆ A gamma-ray explosion that was so bright it blinded scientists' equipment is even weirder than first thought
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Scientists marveled at the power of the gamma-ray jet, which likely marked the birth of a black hole. Astronomers have since been trying to work out what could have made the gamma-ray burst so bright, and may finally have an answer. Researchers have discovered that the gamma-ray explosion ejected a jet with an unusual structure which dragged a large amount of stellar material along with it. The analysis demonstrates that the most extreme explosions do not obey the standard physics assumed for normal gamma-ray bursts, he said. Still, according to O'Connor, this finding "a massive step forward in our understanding of gamma-ray bursts," the "equivalent Rosetta stone of long GRBs."

Persons: marveled, —, Brendan O'Connor, Levan, Gladys Kober, O'Connor, NASA’s, Alexander van der Horst, Hendrik Van Eerten, Eleonora Troja, it's, Van Eerten Organizations: Service, George Washington University, Hubble, NASA, ESA, CSA, Radboud University, NASA’s Goddard Space, University of Bath, University of Rome

The flooding has already killed 300 animals at the Nova Kakhovka zoo, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. Satellite images show a close-up view of the Nova Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power facility before and after the dam collapse on June 6, 2023. Satellite images show homes along the Dnipro River before and after the Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed. Several Ukrainian regions that receive some of their water supply from the reservoir of the Nova Kakhovka dam are making efforts to conserve water. Local residents carry their personal belongings on a flooded street after the Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed, in Kherson, Ukraine, on June 6.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, ”, Ihor Syrota, ” Syrota, ” Olena, Alina Smutko, Ruslan Strilets, Strilets, António Guterres, Vladyslav Musiienko, Martin Griffiths, Griffiths, ” Griffiths, Zelensky, Oleksandr Prokudin, Maxar Technologies Griffiths, Mohammad Heidarzadeh, Heidarzadeh, Vladimir Saldo, Rafael Grossi, ” Grossi Organizations: CNN, Reuters, Reserve, Nova, Ukrainian Defense Ministry . United Nations, ”, UN Security, Dnipro, Maxar, Maxar Technologies, University of Bath, Science Media, Russian Foreign Ministry, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, UN Locations: Nova, Ukraine, Russian, Kyiv, Moscow, Russia, Dnipro, Kherson, Reuters Ukrainian, Zaporizhzhia, England, Dnipropetrovsk, Kryvyi

"(This) creates a very good defending position for Russians who expect Ukrainian offensive activity,” Matysiak said. Russia has denied responsibility and accused Ukraine of sabotaging the dam to deflect from what Moscow said were Ukrainian military failures. "For Russians the reason to do it would have been to stop the Ukrainian counteroffensive, obviously. For Ukraine, the breach might have provided a way of distracting the Russians while Kyiv launches its counteroffensive, she added. Patricia Lewis, Research Director for International Security at the Chatham House think tank, said the situation helps Russia even if the Ukrainian counteroffensive later makes inroads.

Persons: Ruslan Strilets, Ben Barry, Maciej Matysiak, ” Matysiak, Strilets, Mohammad Heidarzadeh, Heidarzadeh, Dmytro Kuleba, Marina Miron, Patricia Lewis, they're, Aiden Nulty, Ben Tavener, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Kyiv, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Stratpoints Foundation, University of Bath, Civil, Engineering, University of Warwick, Reserve, Nova Kakhovka, King's College, International Security, Chatham House, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Dnipro, Kyiv, Nova, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Russia, Kherson, Crimea, Britain, London

☆ Video from Ukraine shows an entire house washed away in floods after a crucial dam was destroyed
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A video shared online shows a house being washed down the Dnipro River. An expert told Insider the dam explosion is a "disaster" and will cause catastrophic flooding. The video, which was first published on Telegram and has since been verified by the BBC, shows the red roof of the large house as it is flushed down the Dnipro River. The house in the video was later identified by BBC reporter Adam Robinson, who shared aerial pictures of it from June 2020. Dr. Stephen Hall, a politics lecturer at the University of Bath, told Insider that the explosion is a "humanitarian disaster" that will have several implications in the weeks to come.

Persons: —, Adam Robinson, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Dmitry Peskov, Al Jazeera, Stephen Hall Organizations: Service, Reuters, The Guardian, BBC, Kremlin, University of Bath, Dnipro Locations: Russian, Kherson, Dnipro, Ukraine, Nova, Russia, Ukrainian

☆ Ivy League professor of ultra-popular 'monk class': These 3 changes can make you more resilient than most
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

To pass Justin McDaniel's "monk class," University of Pennsylvania students must ditch their phones — and voices — for 30 days. The class's stringent rules, modeled after actual monk practices, aren't meant to socially isolate the students. "We exercise to build muscle and endurance, but we don't practice emotions," McDaniel, a humanities professor who practiced as a monk for nearly a year at age 21, tells CNBC Make It. The monk class is supposed to be like "shock therapy," a crash course to jolt students into mindfulness: Spending a month with fewer distractions helps students become more aware of their physical surroundings and emotions, he says. In the class, McDaniel teaches that doing one thing at a time is the best way to stay present.

Persons: Justin McDaniel's, —, McDaniel, epiphanies Organizations: University of Pennsylvania, CNBC, Twitter, of Bath, Social Networking, Netflix, Stanford University

☆ Drone attacks that shook Moscow showed Russians they can no longer trust Putin to protect them, expert says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Drones hit residential buildings in Moscow for the first time in its war with Ukraine. An expert said it "brought the war to the streets" for Russians and may shake their faith in Putin. People shelter inside a subway station during an air raid alert, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 29, 2023. Other recent attacks on Russian soil — which Ukraine has also said were not its responsibility — have been closer to Ukrainian territory. Moscow is the capital of Russia, which perceives itself as a great country, rightly or wrongly."

☆ A Russian legislator called the drone attacks on Moscow the 'new reality' for Russian citizens
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Russian legislator said the drone attacks on Moscow are the "new reality" for Russian citizens. Alexander Khinshtein, a member of the Russian Parliament, called the attack "a new reality we will have to recognize," according to CNN. Russian officials said eight drones attacked Moscow on Tuesday, and three buildings were hit. Some other Russian sources reported far more drones involved in the attack, which Russia is blaming on Ukraine. Dr. Stephen Hall, a Russia expert at the University of Bath, said the drone attack "certainly has brought the war to the streets in Moscow like nothing else."

☆ How to trade this week's retail earnings reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Fred Imbert | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The home-improvement giant has also exceeded earnings expectations by 3.2% over the past 10 years. However, Home Depot shares are typically muted after the company reports earnings. Ross Stores, which also reports Thursday, has beaten earnings expectations 82.5%, too. The company has beaten analyst expectations 77.5% of the time, and its earnings per share have exceeded estimates by more than 3%. The company is slated to report earnings Thursday.

☆ How on-demand delivery services hobbled America's biggest city
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

But even the largest city in the country isn’t designed to handle the rise of online ordering and the influx of delivery workers. The way New York City handles these issues will shape the response in other major cities. “People view delivery workers as dirty, smelly and taking up too much space,” said Wood, a member of Workers Justice Project, an advocacy group for delivery workers in New York City. The growing dependency on e-bikes has been driven by demands on delivery workers, including faster delivery and bigger areas to cover. “But delivery workers are on the front lines of this and it’s even more necessary for them.”

Coronations at Westminster Abbey go back almost one thousand years. Like Charles III, William had his coronation at Westminster Abbey. Gross says coronation blunders do not become truly significant for monarchs until their reign starts to go wrong. A “beautiful and symbolic” silver cross containing a piece of the so-called True Cross will lead King Charles’ coronation procession in London next month. Meanwhile, gun salutes will sound from military bases and ships at sea to mark the moment Charles is crowned King.

☆ Macron: France's 'tone deaf' president faces backlash over Taiwan comments
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Luke Mcgee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

In it, he said that Europe must not become “just America’s followers” when asked about the prospect of China invading Taiwan. One said that Macron is “simply tone deaf to everything happening in the world. They were surprised to see Macron’s comments so soon after that meeting. For all that Macron’s comments could be put down to a president under pressure at home doing things on the world stage to create a distraction, his comments on Taiwan have done real damage to the fragile transatlantic relationship. It might not have been his intention, but Macron’s comments have come at a yet unknown cost.

☆ The hat: Mathematicians invent 'einstein' tile that never repeats
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Called “The hat” because it vaguely resembles a fedora, the elusive shape is an “einstein” (from the German “ein stein,” or “one stone”). “I’m not really into math, to be honest — I did it at school, but I didn’t excel in it,” Smith said. “The hat,” however, is an aperiodic tile, meaning it can still completely cover a surface without any gaps, but you can never identify any cluster that periodically repeats itself to do so. How ‘The hat’ worksThere’s nothing inherently magical about “The hat,” according to Kaplan. “We’re not trying to protect it in any way,” Kaplan said.

☆ Zadie Smith Never Meant to Write a Play
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Emily Bobrow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Zadie Smith did not intend to write a play. Brent won, and Ms. Smith had to write something for the celebration. “I feel guilty that all of this is my fault,” Ms. Smith says over the phone from her hotel in Boston, just before her play’s recent run at Harvard’s American Repertory Theater. She explains that it has been both “extraordinary” and discomfiting to watch her words performed to packed houses. “I’m in awe of people who work in this form because real-time rejection is not something I’m used to.”

☆ Gen Zers are basing their travel plans on where TV shows like 'The White Lotus' are set
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Gen Zers and millennials are turning to movies and TV shows for travel inspiration in a trend dubbed set-jetting. This includes a boom in bookings for the hotels in Hawaii and Italy "The White Lotus" was filmed at. In particular, travelers have been scrambling to visit the resorts where the first two seasons of HBO's hit "The White Lotus" were set. When season one was broadcast, web traffic to the Four Seasons Maui resort increased 425% year-over-year, Four Seasons told Bloomberg. To visit the Taormina hotel for a week in July, many of the lower-priced options have already sold out and two-person rooms start at around $3,500 per night.

☆ Third Point Pulls Plan for Proxy Fight With Bath & Body Works
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Dean Seal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bath & Body Works has been criticized by Third Point for its financial performance. Dan Loeb ’s Third Point LLC no longer plans to nominate candidates to the board of Bath & Body Works Inc. after the retailer added a director endorsed by the hedge fund. The appointment will stave off a proxy battle by Third Point, which has criticized the retailer for what it called excessive executive pay and lagging financial performance.

☆ ‘The Wife of Bath’ Review: Chaucer’s Unfiltered Heroine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Tom Shippey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The Wife of Bath, pictured in the Ellesmere Chaucer manuscript, ca. 1400There are 32 pilgrims who set out on the journey that frames Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” with two more coming along later. Many of these are mere cyphers (like the five guildsmen, not differentiated), but 23 get brief descriptions in the “General Prologue,” and the same number get to tell tales. Only three of the 34, however, are female—the Prioress, her accompanying Nun, and the Wife of Bath—and though they all tell a tale, only the first and last receive a detailed description. This marked gender underrepresentation is very largely redressed by the Wife of Bath, who has stolen the show from Chaucer’s time to now, and become (nearly) everyone’s favorite character.

☆ An Indoor Pool Area Offers an Escape Without Ever Leaving the House
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Nancy Keates | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Steven Romero and Martie Kilmer are well-versed in bathhouses. Mr. Romero, 58, who retired as an eBay vice president and founded Critical Path Software, first encountered ancient bathing facilities as an exchange student in Istanbul in high school. Ms. Kilmer, 53, a sculptor and home stylist, learned to appreciate the creation of bathing ceremonies in a drier version from sauna-like steam baths known as maqii in Alaska, where her parents, both teachers, moved from Oregon when she was in high school.

☆ Lab-grown meat could be served up for dinner soon. What does it taste like?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

It has a capacity of 600 liters, or 159 gallons, allowing the company to produce 6,000 pounds of cultivated meat per year. Right now, Singapore is alone in allowing the sale of cultivated meat to consumers, having issued a green light in late 2020. Yet delivering on the promise of lab-grown meat won’t just come down to regulators. CNN“The promise of cultivated meat [is] to bring forth a taste and texture component, and to deliver sustainability,” said Gautam Godhwani, managing partner at Good Startup, a Singapore-based venture capital firm that has invested in eight cultivated meat startups. “I think the whole of the cultivated meat industry will go hybrid first,” Ivy Farm’s Dillon said.

☆ Britain braces for winter of strike action as nurses walk out
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Sarah Young | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Unions are seeking double-digit pay rises to keep pace with inflation that hit 11.1% in October, the highest in 41 years. Union estimates forecast more than 1 million working days will be lost in December, making it the worst month for disruption since July 1989. Walk-outs in rail by RMT members, which started in June, are the union's biggest action for over 30 years, while for nurses, it is the first ever national strike action in the Royal College of Nursing's (RCN) 106-year-old history. MORE PROMINENT UNIONSThe walk-outs end decades of relatively stable industrial relations in Britain, compared to European neighbours such as France and Spain. "I think the world that we're in is one where we get more prominent union activity," Pickering said.

☆ Activist Dan Loeb boosts stake in Bath & Body Works and seeks board shake-up, shares jump
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Third Point's Dan Loeb hiked his stake in Bath & Body Works to 6% as the activist investor said he might push for board changes to improve governance issues at the retailer, according to a new regulatory filing. Shares of Bath & Body Works jumped about 5% in premarket trading Friday. Loeb said he might seek changes in board composition if the issues at hand don't resolve quickly. Bath & Body Works didn't immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. Last month, Bath & Body Works reported quarterly earnings that were more than double what analysts had anticipated.

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