Reading

Life in the big city can be many things. But mostly it is hard, expensive, and exhausting. Occasionally, it can smell like poop. Above all, it is confounding. So, when the city seems to be throwing all kinds of confusing omens and symbols your way, why not turn to a little divination to see what the city is really trying to tell you?

THE SUBWAY LOVERS

Two young lovers make out, unashamed, while others watch in horror, disgust, and morbid curiosity.

UPRIGHT: Lust, passion, desire.
REVERSED: Seriously, get a room. This is a C train at rush hour.

THE APARTMENT HERMIT

They tried every trick in the book. They blocked motions on spurious grounds. They lied to members. They stitched up the debate. Yet still, the Palestine solidarity movement inflicted a major defeat on the government at the Labour Party Conference last week.  Labour now officially accepts that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and demands […]

As the Israeli government enters the third year of ethnic cleansing in Gaza, mothers keep bringing new Palestinians into the world.

The post Mothers in Gaza Give Life to the Next Generation of Palestinians Despite Genocide appeared first on The Intercept.

A party conference is a chance to face the country, lean into your base, give supporters something to rally behind — and cause your opponents to pause for thought. The announcement of plans for compulsory ID cards in the run-up to Labour’s annual get-together seemed a stunning miscalculation for this reason. Like many, I oppose […]

“Goose is a jam band. Geese is indie rock. They both have new albums. They’re also both on tour. Confused? We can help.”
— New York Times

FREDDIE: Hey, Eddie.

EDDIE: Hey, Freddie.

FREDDIE: So Eddie, I’m putting together a playlist for the Audubon event.

EDDIE: Who’s on it?

FREDDIE: I got Geese.

EDDIE: Goose?

FREDDIE: No, Geese.

EDDIE: More than one?

FREDDIE: It’s just the one. Geese.

EDDIE: I’m saying. Geese is more than Goose.

FREDDIE: I’m glad you think so. I tried for Goose, too, but no luck.

EDDIE: What went wrong?

FREDDIE: They led me around and around and around for nothing.

What role, if any, does the observer play in fundamental physics? A cosmologist lays out the leading theories in the field

- by Aeon Video

Watch on Aeon

Uncertainty is stressful. This researcher has found a surprising antidote to the anxiety of waiting: playing video games

- Video by the University of California

Watch on Psyche

How can you have a picture of the world when your brain is locked up in your skull? Neuroscientist Dale Purves has clues

- by Asif Ghazanfar

Read on Aeon

Conscientiousness is constantly touted as a virtue, so what’s life like for people with the opposite trait – disinhibition?

- by Janan Mostajabi

Read on Psyche

Renewables, EVs, and AI itself are straining the grid. These researchers have ideas to evolve it.

The post The Power Grid Is Struggling. Can AI Fix It? appeared first on Nautilus.

Last summer, we dreamed of Trojan horses. It was never going to be a revolution, but there remained some optimism, articulated through gritted teeth. Dull, politically unimaginative, rarely going far enough: when Keir Starmer was elected, it was clear that all of the above would probably continue to apply — after all, dreary politeness had tainted […]