Month: July 2022

Activism, Climate Change, Eco, Planet, PoliticsLeave a comment

Is accepting the end of humanity the key to climate action? This scholar thinks so.

Fernando Kaskais

“This is not another ‘before it’s too late’ book. This is a ‘what if it’s already too late?’ book.” by Diana Kruzman There’s a part at the end of “Don’t Look Up,” last year’s wildly popular Netflix film about a comet hurtling toward Earth, when a group of people have dinner together on the eve of the planet’s destruction. As the television blares news about the impending impact and the walls begin to shake, a scientist, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, poses a wistful question to his wife, kids, friends, and colleagues: “We really did have everything, didn’t we?”  This scene stood … Continue reading Is accepting the end of humanity the key to climate action? This scholar thinks so.

Living, Philosophy, PsychologyLeave a comment

You’re astonishing!

Fernando Kaskais

Life can be better appreciated when you remember how wonderfully and frighteningly unlikely it is that you exist at all Timm Triplett is associate professor in philosophy at the College of Liberal Arts, University of New Hampshire. He is the author of Morality’s Critics and Defenders: A Philosophical Dialogue (2014). Family lore has it that my grandfather, having spent some time doing business in England and about to return to the United States, received an invitation to seek additional sales opportunities in Scotland. At the last minute, he cancelled the passage he had booked on the Titanic. If the story is true, … Continue reading You’re astonishing!

Eco, Photography, Planet, UnbelievableLeave a comment

Shocking Photos Show Western ‘Fast Fashion’ That Pollute African Beaches

Fernando Kaskais

 by MATT GROWCOOT Photographer Muntaka Chasant has documented thousands of washed-up clothes on a beach in Africa, laying bare the environmental impact of fast fashion. Chasant tells Petapixel that he took a “beating” from the waves in Ghana to capture the powerful and thought-provoking photographs. “I had to step in the water to capture most of the scenes which gave me a thrashing,” explains Chasant. “Documenting discarded unwanted clothes is part of my long-term focus on the geographies of waste — to highlight the environmental cost and burden of fast fashion.” The disturbing pictures taken in the Ghanaian capital city of Accra, show huge … Continue reading Shocking Photos Show Western ‘Fast Fashion’ That Pollute African Beaches

Animals, Curiositys, Science, SexLeave a comment

Blocking a single gene awakens same-sex behavior in male fruit flies

Fernando Kaskais

Turning off a gene called “Myc” has a surprising effect in male fruit flies: They start courting other males. KEY TAKEAWAYS Same-sex sexual behavior is incredibly common. It has been observed in about 1,500 species.   The biological mechanism underpinning the behavior remains elusive.  Now, researchers have identified a gene that prevents male-male sexual behavior in fruit flies. by Karl Gruber Along-standing conundrum in biology is explaining why so many animal species engage in same-sex behavior. From an evolutionary perspective, it appears counterproductive, since same-sex behavior does not produce offspring. Yet, same-sex behavior is incredibly common. So far, about 1,500 species have … Continue reading Blocking a single gene awakens same-sex behavior in male fruit flies

Brain, Curiositys, Music, ScienceLeave a comment

How the Brain Allows the Deaf to Experience Music

Fernando Kaskais

Our sensory systems for hearing and touch overlap to stir a wealth of emotions. BY ELENA RENKEN Evelyn Glennie began percussion lessons around age 12, after losing much of her hearing to nerve deterioration. Her teacher struck a timpani drum and let the sound resonate, wondering aloud how they could make use of the drum’s vibrations. “He asked me to put my hands on the wall of the music room,” Glennie said recently, in a conversation from her home in England. She could feel the first impact of a drumbeat, but she could also feel the vibrations reverberating afterward. “It … Continue reading How the Brain Allows the Deaf to Experience Music

Hypocrisy, Living, Manipulation, PsychologyLeave a comment

The right person

Fernando Kaskais

Contemporary wisdom says that happiness is the measure of a marriage. But is that a harmful way of judging relationships? by Joshua Coleman is a psychologist in private practice and senior fellow with the Council on Contemporary Families. His books include The Marriage Makeover (2004), The Lazy Husband (2005), When Parents Hurt (2007) and Rules of Estrangement (2021). He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is not uncommon in my practice to hear people wonder if they married the wrong person. It’s a painful reality to consider, and something I thought about in my current marriage in the early years after the birth of our twin … Continue reading The right person

Brain, Health, Living, Psychology1 Comment

The Hidden Dangers of Pathologizing Grief

Fernando Kaskais

Prolonged grief has officially been recognized as a mental health disorder. The decision could do more harm than good. BY KATIE C. REILLY THE WEEKEND THAT I graduated from law school, my mother told me that she had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, a neurological disease for which there is currently no cure. As I recalled in a recent essay, I spent the following year watching as her muscles atrophied until she died. A year and a half later, my father was diagnosed with cancer. He successfully completed one round of chemotherapy, but then, less than two years later, … Continue reading The Hidden Dangers of Pathologizing Grief

Art, Health, PhotographyLeave a comment

Dor

Fernando Kaskais

“Que fiz eu pela felicidade deste meu corpo infeliz?” É um pergunta que qualquer doente pode colocar. O que será preciso fazer para não sofrer? A dor empurra-nos para fora do mundo e para dentro do corpo. Obriga-nos a desviar os olhos do mundo e centrá-los em nós. O mundo só está presente se o corpo estiver ausente. Na presença da dor, o mundo desaparece. A dor suspende o raciocínio, suspende o pensamento. Remete o doente para uma existência privada. Continue reading Dor

Curiositys, Science, Space1 Comment

Time isn’t simply just another dimension

Fernando Kaskais

We live in a four-dimensional Universe, where matter and energy curve the fabric of spacetime. But time sure is different from space! KEY TAKEAWAYS According to Einstein’s General Relativity, matter and energy curve the fabric of spacetime, and that curved spacetime determines the motion of matter and energy.  But while spacetime itself is four dimensional, it can be decomposed into three spatial dimensions and one time dimension.  Even though we understand the mathematics governing them magnificently, time has some fundamental differences from every other dimension; here’s what everyone should know. by Ethan Siegel Here’s a question that most of us … Continue reading Time isn’t simply just another dimension

Europe, Globalization, Living, Politics, RacismLeave a comment

The ungreat replacement

Fernando Kaskais

Workers in the West have indeed been repressed – but not by immigrants. The policies of their own governments are to blame John Rapley is a political economist at the University of Cambridge, as well as a senior professor at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study. His latest book is Twilight of the Money Gods: Economics as a Religion and How it all Went Wrong (2017) and his next book (with Peter Heather) is ‘Why Empires Fall: Rome, America and the Future of the West’ (forthcoming in 2023). He lives in London and Johannesburg. One summer evening in 2015, a deranged young … Continue reading The ungreat replacement