All posts filed under: Debate

Debate

How to Assess the Damage of the Iran Strikes

Published by José

[ad_1] In August 1941, the British government received a very unwelcome piece of analysis from an economist named David Miles Bensusan-Butt. A careful review of photographs suggested that the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command was having trouble hitting targets in Germany and France; in fact, only one in three pilots who claimed to have attacked the targets seemed to have dropped their bombs within five miles of the sites. The Butt report is a landmark in the history of “bomb damage assessment,” or, as we now call it, “battle damage assessment.” This recondite term has come back into public usage because of the dispute over the effectiveness of the June 22 American bombing of three Iranian nuclear facilities. President Donald Trump said that American bombs had “obliterated” the Iranian nuclear program. A leaked preliminary assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency on June 24 said that the damage was minimal. Whom to believe? Have the advocates of bombing again overpromised and underdelivered? Some history is in order here, informed by a bit of personal experience. From …

Scientists Detect Deep, Rhythmic Pulse Coming From Inside the Earth

Published by José

[ad_1] “This has profound implications…” DJ Earth Scientists have discovered a heartbeat-like pulse emanating from inside the Earth beneath the continent of Africa, which they believe will one day rip the continent into pieces. In a new study published today in the journal Nature Geoscience, a team of European and African scientists explain how they used chemical signatures to examine this inner-Earth heartbeat, explaining that molten chunks of mantle — the rocky layer found between the Earth’s surface and core — are surging together through rift zones, or weak areas of volcanos where magma is likeliest to break through our planet’s crust. These internal surges have settled into rhythmic bursts of pulsing plumes. Which, while fascinating to imagine, effectively means that bursts of molten rock are pushing against the African continent’s crust — and over millions of years, will likely tear the continent apart, making way for a new ocean basin. Researchers focused on the Afar region of Ethiopia, a volcanic area where multiple rift zones are located, collecting and analyzing around 130 samples of …

Positive early experiences may buffer suicidal thoughts in those with trauma symptoms, new study finds

Published by José

[ad_1] A new study published in the journal Death Studies suggests that positive childhood experiences can reduce the impact of trauma-related stress on suicidal thoughts in young adults. Researchers found that even among college students who reported symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and a history of adverse childhood experiences, those who recalled more supportive, affirming experiences from childhood were less likely to report suicidal ideation. The findings offer evidence that early-life support may serve as a protective factor for suicide risk later in life—even in the presence of trauma. The study underscores the importance of both preventing early adversity and fostering positive relational experiences during childhood, especially in light of growing mental health concerns among college-aged populations. Posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a mental health condition that can develop in response to traumatic events. Symptoms include distressing memories, avoidance of reminders, emotional numbness, negative changes in beliefs and mood, and feelings of disconnection from others. These symptoms can cause psychological pain and lead to a sense of hopelessness, both of which are known contributors …

Death of a Tree | Benjamin Swett

Published by José

[ad_1] Some years ago I published a book called New York City of Trees. On facing pages of photographs and text, it presented portraits of fifty-five trees in the city’s five boroughs. One was of a Callery pear in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. A mid-sized tree covered in white blossoms each spring, glossy green leaves in the summer, and a mass of orange-yellow leaves in the fall, the species is a familiar sight in cities across the US. At the time of my book’s publication it was the second most widely planted species in Manhattan, after the honey locust. Growing on the east side of Eleventh Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets, this particular tree stood out for the way its rounded crown, framed by the brick building behind it, glowed in a shaft of late afternoon sun filtered between a post office building and a sanitation depot across the street. I first saw it while walking with my wife, Katherine, in late April 2002, and in that aura of sun the leaves shone …

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Published by José

[ad_1] Ta-Nehisi Coates delivers a searing and deeply personal examination of Black life in America through Between the World and Me, a book structured as an extended letter to his teenage son. This National Book Award winner transcends traditional memoir boundaries, weaving together personal narrative, historical analysis, and urgent social commentary into a work that demands confrontation with uncomfortable truths about American society. The Power of Epistolary Intimacy Coates constructs his argument through the intimate framework of paternal guidance, addressing his son Samori directly throughout the text. This epistolary approach transforms what could have been another academic treatise on race into something far more visceral and immediate. The father-son dynamic infuses every observation with stakes that feel life-and-death urgent, because for Black bodies in America, they often are. The author’s voice carries the weight of someone who has survived the “streets” of Baltimore, navigated the intellectual awakening of Howard University, and emerged as a clear-eyed observer of American racial dynamics. His prose style borrows from the urgency of journalism—his primary profession—while maintaining the lyrical quality …

Microloan Apps May Be Poised to Destroy the Economy

Published by José

[ad_1] We love microlending, don’t we, folks? Unlike old-school credit cards, with their days-long approval processes and prior credit minimums, buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) apps — companies like Klarna and Afterpay — offer hard-up customers instant financing options to buy the junk they crave the instant they see it. In the United States, purchases made with these apps currently don’t even affect your FICO credit score — or at least, they never used to. That’s all about to change this fall, when Fair Isaac Corp, one of the largest credit scoring bureaus, is slated to begin factoring BNPL data into individual credit scores, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The move is a huge deal for the financial sector and US consumers, marking the first time FICO has ever specifically reckoned with a particular type of loan — as opposed to treating all loans equally — FICO vice president of scores and predictive analytics Ethan Dornhelm told the WSJ. Up until now, lenders have mostly been kept in the dark regarding how much debt individual …

Sleep helps stitch memories into cognitive maps, according to new neuroscience breakthrough

Published by José

[ad_1] Stay informed on the latest psychology and neuroscience research—follow PsyPost on LinkedIn for daily updates and insights. A new study by neuroscientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sheds light on how the brain creates internal maps of space. Their research in mice reveals that while some brain cells quickly encode specific locations, it takes a broader ensemble of neurons and repeated experiences—along with sleep—to form a coherent mental map of the environment. The study, published in Cell Reports, supports the idea that cognitive maps are built through a gradual process involving not just specialized “place cells” in the hippocampus, but also a group of neurons that initially respond only weakly to specific locations. Over several days of exploration and sleep, these weakly tuned neurons begin to work together with place cells, forming coordinated patterns that reflect the layout of an environment. The researchers were interested in a longstanding question in neuroscience: How does the brain go from recognizing individual places to constructing a complete internal map? Since the 1970s, scientists have known that …

RFK Jr. Is Globalizing the Anti-Vaccine Agenda

Published by José

[ad_1] This week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. used his address to a global vaccine summit to disparage global vaccination. The conference was organized by Gavi, the world’s leading immunization program, and in a recorded speech, Kennedy accused the organization of collaborating with social-media companies to stifle dissenting views on immunization during the coronavirus pandemic and said it had “ignored the science” in its work. He criticized Gavi for recommending COVID-19 shots to pregnant women, and went deep on a discredited study that purported to find safety issues with a tetanus vaccine commonly used in the developing world. “In its zeal to promote universal vaccination,” Kennedy claimed, Gavi “has neglected the key issue of vaccine safety.” Kennedy’s remarks confirmed what The New York Times first reported in March: that the United States, Gavi’s third-largest donor, would stop pledging money to the organization. (Congress, which has always had final say over Gavi funding, has not yet weighed in.) They are also the first indication that the U.S.’s rejection of global vaccine campaigns stems from the Trump administration’s …

This Week’s Bestselling Books + More News

Published by José

[ad_1] Welcome to the Saturday edition of Today in Books, where it’s all Book Riot, all the time. Here are the biggest news stories we covered this week. Meet The Freedom to Read Teen Advocacy Toolkit, a robust program and toolkit built for library workers, educators, and community organizations working with today’s young people to support and bolster teen advocacy and activism.  While intellectual freedom and library support are the focus of The Freedom to Read Teen Advocacy Toolkit, it is adaptable and flexible to meet the interests and concerns in any community. Presented annually since 1967, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards are among the most prestigious given to books for young readers. They are given every year in June in three categories–picture book, fiction, and nonfiction–to books published in the United States between June 2024 and May 2025. Three judges, selected by the editor in chief of The Boston Globe, choose the slate of winners and honorees in each category. The 2025 awards were announced on June 23. Love speculative fiction? Then you’re going to want to …