Headlines from February 12, 2013
- A man…who capped his career by terminating bin Laden, has no landing pad in civilian life. #longreads
- He died in custody in 1296…and was declared a saint in 1313. The popes who’ve resigned. #history
- Odds that the next pope could be from Latin America, home to 40% of the world’s Catholics.
- Guilt is our inner police force, but if we give it too much emotional power, we risk turning into a police state. #opinions
- Working harder means working less productively.
- Because mice and human physiology is so different, scientists now think decades of deadly disease research may be kaput.
- Employing genetic techniques, researchers find folk tales cross borders more easily than genes.
- Ant pupae can communicate by sound, and their lives depend on being heard by adults. #nature
- Once spoken by more than 100,000 people, the Texas German dialect nears extinction. #audio
- In a new ebook, Jonathan Gourlay spends 11 years living on the microscopic island of Pohnpei.
- Also by Gourlay: “The Day Borders Got the Wobblies.” #tmn
- The Labrador is the most popular breed in the U.S., but in 136 years of Westminster, it’s never won Best in Show. #dogs
- Dogs understand us better than previously believed, since they’ll steal food in front of us when the lights are out. #animals
- “Searchers of the dead” were corpse-examining helpers who advanced our early understanding of the causes of death.
- Pitchaya Sudbanthad on the history of Pad Thai: “Thus was born the Volksnoodle for an emerging Thai nation-state.” #tmn
- The NBA enters a new data-tracking era, with half the teams now using ball cameras and performance algorithms. #basketball
- Ten NHL early-season surprises.
- Playing [violent video] games can and does stir hostile urges and mildly aggressive behavior in the short term.
- House members stake out aisle seats at the State of the Union for a chance to be seen on television by constituents.
- Graphing the rhetoric of the last 12 State of the Union addresses.
- They would eat penguin and seal, but that is forbidden now. Q&A with the editor of the Antarctic Sun.
- UK officials blame “criminal activity” for widespread discovery of horsemeat in processed beef products. #food
- Mountain Dew to launch breakfast soda packed with a lot of caffeine and a little fruit juice.
- Scientists study patients who experience the little-understood phenomenon of mouth hallucinations.
- The more weed drivers inhale, the worse they do at…staying in their lanes. How high is too high to drive? #drugs
- Three ways to save Detroit, including Objectivists’ plan to buy an island to house a new government. #opinions
- The Atlantic invites readers of every ideology to join its upcoming Atlas Shrugged book club. #reading
- How long it takes to become a millionaire in different countries. #chart
- The London of these new residents relies solely on big ticket regeneration as a means of evolving its history. #tmn
- Everyone dressed like food at the Grammys. #photos
- It’s an ear madeleine. The band Phoenix’s long, strange trip to buying the Thriller mixing board. #music
- Seventeen essays by female writers that everyone should read.