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A climactic mystery about a year that gave summer a deadly pass may have been solved. Using new ice core techniques, scientists have concluded that the dark, chilly year of 1831 was due to the massive eruption of a volcano north of Japan. · The year 1831 was a very nasty one in terms of weather. Across the globe, temperatures dropped by an average of 1 °C (1.8 °F). The British Isles were inundated with rain to the point where it was one of the…

The recent decision by Meta to scale back its reliance on third-party fact-checkers has reignited debates about the future of combating misinformation online. Fact-checking, once seen as a cornerstone in the fight against fake news, is increasingly under scrutiny. Critics argue that its reactive approach and reliance on public trust may not suffice in an era where false narratives spread at unprecedented speed. · This shift by one of the…

Colonialism & a Flawed System of Equality · Lady Tureiti Moxon is chairwoman of the National Urban Māori Authority and managing director of Te Kohao Health. In the New Zealand herald on the 14^th^ January she is quoted as claiming that the proposed Regulatory Standards Bill, currently under consideration by the Ministry for Regulation, poses a dangerous direct threat to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the rights of Māori. · She is quoted as saying it…

The liberal world order, which was strongly promoted by the United States after the end of the Cold War, seems to be nearing the end of its current phase.  · The world is already witnessing a rise in political populism, nationalism and protectionism. These trends may also spread further to other regions of the globe.  · US President Donald Trump appears unwilling to counteract these movements. In fact, his decisions may exacerbate the…

Mount Taranaki is set to gain the legal rights of a person under the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill, which will become law on 30 January 2025. · The dormant volcano will now be represented by a panel of eight, including four traditional owners and four Crown representatives. · The legislation, passed by Labour in 2023, recognises Mount Taranaki, alongside its companion peaks, as a living ancestor with its own identity and rights. ·…

2024 has been a year in space that has seen successes, failures, a clutch of firsts, and some goodbyes – not to mention a long-distance probe rescue, spacesuits on the catwalk, and a couple of cosmic oddities. Let's have a look back. · One of the big firsts in 2024 came from SpaceX as it finally managed to fly its Starship into space without blowing up. That's not bad for the world's largest rocket, which dwarfs even the Apollo era Saturn V,…

Shortly after Donald Trump’s inauguration eight years ago, half a million people headed onto the streets of Washington DC to protest the new president. · Now, as Mr Trump prepares for his return to office, an attempt to repeat the event and stir up mass resistance to the Republican fell flat. One unimpressed attendee described it as “disappointingly tiny”, while another said turnout was “unfortunate”. · For an event that billed itself as the…

A clever new set of glasses may offer new hope to people with macular degeneration. By copying the structure of a fly's eyes, the specs are claimed to "fill in" the missing section of the wearer's view of the world. · Macular degeneration is one of the leading causes of blindness, affecting the center area of the retina. That area is known as the macula. · In one of the two main forms of macular degeneration, light-sensitive cells in the…

The extended evolutionary synthesis (EES), championed in Evolution Evolving by Kevin Lala and colleagues, offers a fresh perspective on evolution. · This approach argues that development, influenced by environmental conditions, plays a role in driving evolution alongside natural selection. · The book challenges the mid-twentieth-century modern synthesis, which frames evolution solely around random genetic mutations and their selection. · The…

Captain Harold Ruegg, Administrator for the Ross Dependency, opened Scott Base, New Zealand’s permanent Antarctic research station, during a ceremony on Ross Island on January 20th, 1957. · Ruegg gave a short speech to a small crowd which included Sir Edmund Hillary, Admiral George J. Dufek, and other officers from McMurdo Station, the nearby American logistical support base. Appropriately, as the base was named after the British explorer…