Fuentes (2019), Augustin, Why We Believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being, Yale University Press 2019 ' Agustín Fuentes, a Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University, focuses on the biosocial, delving into the entanglement of biological systems with the social and cultural lives of humans, our ancestors, and a few of the other animals with whom humanity shares close relations. Earning his BA/BS in Anthropology and Zoology and his MA and PhD in Anthropology from UC Berkeley, he has conducted research across four continents, multiple species, and two-million years of human history. His current projects include exploring cooperation, creativity, and belief in human evolution, multispecies anthropologies, evolutionary theory and processes, and engaging race and racism. Fuentes’ books include “Race, Monogamy, and other lies they told you: busting myths about human nature” (U of California), “The Creative Spark: how imagination made humans exceptional" (Dutton), and “Why We Believe: evolution and the human way of being” (Yale). ' 
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Aaryn L Carter et al, The JWST Early Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems I: High Contrast Imaging of the Exoplanet HIP 65426 b from 2−16 μm, ' ABSTRACT We present JWST Early Release Science (ERS) coronagraphic observations of the super-Jupiter exoplanet, HIP 65426 b, with the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) from 2−5 μm, and with the Mid- Infrared Instrument (MIRI) from 11−16 μm. At a separation of ∼0.82′′ (87+108 −31 au), HIP 65426 b is clearly detected in all seven of our observational filters, representing the first images of an exoplanet to be obtained by JWST, and the first ever direct detection of an exoplanet beyond 5 μm.' back

Archie Brown, A peaceful yet radical social transformer: Mikhail Gorbachev leaves a blazing legacy, ' Gorbachev was in failing health in recent years and saddened by the way his greatest achievements – using the office of party leader to dismantle the very system that was the source of his power, and playing the most important part in ending the cold war – were being destroyed. As a boy in a peasant household in southern Russia, he had been especially close to his Ukrainian maternal grandparents. War between Russia and Ukraine in 2022 was for him the ultimate devastating blow. In one of his last interviews a few years ago, he was asked what he thought his epitaph should be. His answer was: “We tried”.' back

Byron Lamont, A new discovery shows major flowering plants are 150 million years older than previously thought, ' A major group of flowering plants that are still around today, emerged 150 million years earlier than previously thought, according to a new study published today in Trends in Plant Science. This means flowering plants were around some 50 million years before the dinosaurs. The plants in question are known as the buckthorn family or Rhamnaceae, a group of trees, shrubs and vines found worldwide. . . . Together with Tianhua He, a molecular geneticist at Murdoch University, we combined skills to show these new fossils of Phylica could be used to trace the Rhamnaceae family (to which Phylica belongs) back to its origin almost 260 million years ago. We did this by comparing the DNA of living plants of Phylica against the rate of DNA change over the past 120 million years, to set the molecular clock for the rest of the family. The finding comes from subjecting data on 100-million-year old flowers to powerful molecular clock techniques – as a result, we now know Rhamnaceae arose more than 250 million years ago.' back

Eromo Egbejule & Festus Iyora, Cry me a river: How gold polluted Nigeria’s sacred Osun river, ' “In Osun, the contamination is through water which flows through communities with over two million people,” Anthony Adejuwon, head of Osogbo-based civic advocacy group Urban Alert, which had run tests on the Osun river, told Al Jazeera. “If Bagega could record [hundreds of] deaths with a population of 7,000, imagine the number of children that will die in the next five years with a population of two million people. In our projection, the casualty figure between now and 2027 is around 100,000. In Bagega, it was just lead poisoning. Here, we have mercury, cyanide and lead.” In 2011, an estimated 400 children died from lead poisoning in Bagega community in Zamfara state and thousands more were found to have excess levels of lead in their blood. Urban Alert said its casualty projection extends to those who take water from the grove back home with them, to places as far-flung as the Caribbean and parts of South, Central and North America. It also said it asked for annual visitor logs for the grove but was told there is no data.' back

Generalized coordinates - Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_curvature, the free encyclopedia, ' In analytical mechanics, generalized coordinates are a set of parameters used to represent the state of a system in a configuration space. These parameters must uniquely define the configuration of the system relative to a reference state.[1] The generalized velocities are the time derivatives of the generalized coordinates of the system. The adjective "generalized" distinguishes these parameters from the traditional use of the term "coordinate" to refer to Cartesian coordinates. . . . Generalized coordinates are paired with generalized momenta to provide canonical coordinates on phase space.' back

Hugh Everett III (1957), "Relative State" Formulation of Quantum Mechanics, ' 1. Introduction The task of quantizing general relativity raises serious questions about the meaning of the present formulation and interpretation of quantum mechanics when applied to so fundamental a structure as the space-time geometry itself. This paper seeks to clarify the foundations of quantum mechanics. It presents a reformulation of quantum theory in a form believed suitable for application to general relativity. . . . The relationship of this new formulation to the older formulation is therefore that of a metatheory to a theory, that is, it is an underlying theory in which the nature and consistency, as well as the realm of applicability, of the older theory can be investigated and clarified.' back

Kjærgaard, Maslin & Nielsen, Neanderthals died out 40,000 years ago, but there has never been more of their DNA on Earth, ' The most significant difference between Neanderthals and ourselves is that they went extinct about 40,000 years ago. The precise cause of their demise still eludes us, but we think it was probably the result of a combination of factors. . . . Perhaps the most surprising fact was evidence of interbreeding that has left traces of DNA in living humans today. Many Europeans and Asians have between 1% and 4% Neanderthal DNA while African people south of the Sahara have almost zero. Ironically, with a current world population of about 8 billion people, this means that there has never been more Neanderthal DNA on Earth. . . . If we don’t want to end up like the Neanderthals, we better get our act together and collectively work for a more sustainable future. Neanderthal extinction reminds us that we should never take our existence for granted.' back

Marilyn Berger, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Reformist Soviet Leader, Is Dead at 91, ' Mikhail S. Gorbachev, whose rise to power in the Soviet Union set in motion a series of revolutionary changes that transformed the map of Europe and ended the Cold War that had threatened the world with nuclear annihilation, has died in Moscow. He was 91.. . . Few leaders in the 20th century, indeed in any century, have had such a profound effect on their time. In little more than six tumultuous years, Mr. Gorbachev lifted the Iron Curtain, decisively altering the political climate of the world. . . . Despite the difficulties he faced, Mr. Gorbachev succeeded in permanently upending the political, economic and social character of what was once the Soviet Union, as well as the entire map of Eastern Europe. But he, more than anyone, knew how far he had fallen short. In an interview during his final days in office, he told The New York Times, “For all the mistakes, miscalculations — or, on the contrary, for all the great leaps — we accomplished the main preparatory political and human work.” “In this sense,” he added, “it will never be possible to turn society back".' back

Matt Richtel, ‘The Best Tool We Have’ for Self-Harming and Suicidal Teens, ' Parents seeking therapy for teenagers who self-harm or suffer from anxiety, depression or suicidal thoughts face an imposing thicket of treatment options and acronyms: cognitive behavioral therapy (C.B.T.), parent management training (P.M.T.), collaborative assessment and management of suicidality (CAMS), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and others. Each approach can benefit a particular subset of people. But for teenagers at acute risk for self-harm and suicide, health experts and researchers increasingly point to dialectical behavior therapy, or D.B.T., as an effective treatment. “As of this moment, it’s probably the best tool we have,” said Michele Berk, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Stanford University.' back

Monica Attard, Protests, ‘biznez’ and a failed coup: journalist Monica Attard on covering the empire Gorbachev allowed to collapse, ' Add to that potent mix 14 largely resentful republics outside of Russia (the most politically and economically important republic of them all), and the result was years of social upheaval, from the Kremlin to the most far-flung corners of the Soviet empire. The reverberation from that upheaval, the breaking apart of a 70-year-old federation of states built on dogma and held together by coercion and fate, is what the world now sees playing out in Ukraine. . . . When the USSR finally collapsed in December 1991, I again felt as I had when I first travelled there in 1983: I was in the land of the brave. Their new world was something neither they nor their forebears could ever have imagined. Now, in 2022, it all seems threatened.' back

Oliver Whang, All Hooting Aside: Did a Vocal Evolution Give Rise to Language?, ' In their paper, the researchers propose that the absence of vocal lips — and their complicating vibrations — in humans was a key factor in the evolution of language in our species. Vibrating in splendid isolation, our vocal cords allowed for subtle changes in inflection and register that characterize our own speech. We reason and cajole, plead and suggest, all in a controlled manner. “This study has shown that evolutionary modifications in the larynx were necessary for the evolution of spoken language,” Dr. Nishimura said.' Nishimura et al (2022) back

Reuters (2022_08_31), Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War, dies aged 91 , ' Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Tuesday at the age of 91, hospital officials in Moscow said. Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, forged arms reduction deals with the United States and partnerships with Western powers to remove the Iron Curtain that had divided Europe since World War II and bring about the reunification of Germany. “Mikhail Gorbachev passed away tonight after a serious and protracted disease,” Russia’s Central Clinical Hospital said in a statement. . . . “Gorbachev died in a symbolic way when his life’s work, freedom, was effectively destroyed by Putin,” said Andrei Kolesnikov, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.' back

Robert D. McFadden, Archbishop Rembert Weakland, Critic of Vatican Orthodoxy, Dies at 95, ' Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, a liberal critic of Vatican orthodoxy who led the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee for 25 years but resigned on the eve of retirement in a scandal over a long-secret love affair with a man, died on Monday at his home in Clement Manor, a retirement community in Greenfield, Wis. He was 95. . . . In the 1980s and ’90s, Archbishop Weakland had been a thorny problem for the Vatican. Addressing issues that troubled many of America’s more than 60 million Catholics, he championed new roles for women; questioned church bans on abortion, birth control and divorce; and challenged the Vatican’s insistence on celibacy for an all-male priesthood.' back