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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>22 January, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>There’s Only One Thing to Call Biden’s New Scandal: Political Malpractice</strong> - And that’s assuming things don’t get worse. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/theres-only-one-thing-to-call-bidens-new-scandal-political-malpractice">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Is Columbia Kicking Out a Beloved Preschool?</strong> - The Red Balloon is part of the university’s progressive history, but it may not have a future. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-education/why-is-columbia-kicking-out-a-beloved-preschool">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Hotter Planet Takes Another Toll on Human Health</strong> - A new hypothesis about heat waves, redlining, and kidney stones. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/a-hotter-planet-takes-another-toll-on-human-health">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Republican Debt-Ceiling Madness Is About to Begin Again</strong> - Holding the debt limit hostage could have dire economic consequences for Americans. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/republican-debt-ceiling-madness-is-about-to-begin-again">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is Prince Harry’s “Spare” a Political Manifesto?</strong> - His own feelings about the value of the monarchy, he writes, are “complicated.” - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/is-prince-harrys-spare-a-political-manifesto">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<li><strong>Dobbs didn’t end the anti-abortion movement</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="March for Life in Washington D.C." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5PocrMazo-A5AP9zrkAWS2t_c3s=/304x0:5168x3648/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71891733/1246394426.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Anti-abortion protesters gather on the National Mall ahead of the March for Life on January 20, 2023. | Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The end of <em>Roe v. Wade </em>was a decades-long goal. It’s not clear what’s next for the movement.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xr3vbg">
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Friday’s March for Life, the most prominent national anti-abortion event, is the first since last <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23559583/roe-abortion-dobbs-reproductive-rights">June’s landmark Supreme Court decision to overturn <em>Roe v. Wade</em></a><em>, </em>bringing into focus how much further activists want to go now that they’ve achieved the goal of overturning the national right to abortion. But despite a push for a nationwide abortion ban and other restrictions, current legal and political realities don’t support that vision.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aOGpoL">
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National polling about abortion rights indicates that most Americans — 61 percent, according to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/13/about-six-in-ten-americans-say-abortion-should-be-legal-in-all-or-most-cases-2/">Pew Research Center</a> data from June — support abortion access to some degree. Voters in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/us/abortion-rights-ballot-proposals.html">California, Vermont,</a> <a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-abortion-vote-recount-e874f56806a9d63b473b24580ad7ea0c">Kansas</a>, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/09/michigan-abortion-amendment-results-2022-00064778">Michigan</a>, and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-kentucky-abortion-3fa387a4cdc355d50a223f4788aa0ae8">Kentucky</a> all chose to protect abortion rights in their states after the Supreme Court dismantled the federal right to an abortion in the <em>Dobbs v. Jackson</em> case this summer. The Food and Drug Administration has expanded access to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/03/health/abortion-pill-cvs-walgreens-pharmacies.html">medication abortion mifepristone</a>, enabling certain pharmacies to dispense that medication with a prescription. Though some states have enacted, or attempted to enact, draconian anti-abortion measures, legal challenges have sometimes stayed those decisions or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/05/us/south-carolina-abortion-supreme-court.html#:~:text=The%20South%20Carolina%20Constitution%20provides,personal%20and%20private%20considerations%20imaginable.%E2%80%9D">invalidated them entirely</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bV7cqP">
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Yet politicians continue to push federal anti-abortion measures such as Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) September proposal for a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/13/abortion-graham-republicans-nationwide-ban/">national ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy</a>. States legislatures, too are trying to enact restrictive laws like <a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-georgia-atlanta-government-and-politics-2684684dc929966c1647094883cda2f8#:~:text=ATLANTA%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20The%20Georgia,that%20had%20resumed%20days%20earlier.">Georgia’s six-week ban</a> and <a href="https://states.guttmacher.org/policies/texas/abortion-policies">Texas’s</a> near-total ban on abortion, creating an environment in which, as legal historian Mary Ziegler told <a href="https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/2023/01/17/1149516775/fresh-air-for-jan-17-2023-the-future-of-abortion-law-in-the-u-s?showDate=2023-01-17">NPR’s Fresh Air on Tuesday</a>, “what was once a constitutional right not very long ago is now a crime in large swathes of the country.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8GRoso">
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However, now that activists have achieved the end of a constitutionally-protected right to abortion, there’s no overarching goal, but rather a series of smaller, disparate ones — some of which are proving difficult to accomplish.
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</p>
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<h3 id="KixKHY">
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Anti-abortion activists got what they wanted — for now
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hgs47h">
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Decades of anti-abortion activism — the 50th anniversary of the March for Life is almost exactly 50 years to the day after <em>Roe </em>was decided<em> — </em>culminated in the US Supreme Court’s decision in <em>Dobbs. </em>The energy, funding, and influence of the movement had been oriented toward this exact goal; a network of well-organized and powerful right-wing groups including the Susan B. Anthony Foundation and the National Council for Women, two anti-abortion advocacy organizations, had consistently poured money and resources into the fight since the 1980s, and now their efforts finally paid off.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Iva0PU">
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Now, some anti-abortion activists are demanding more. “We don’t end as a response to Roe being overturned,” Jeanne Mancini, the president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/20/us/politics/abortion-republicans-roe-v-wade.html">told the New York Times Friday</a>. “Why? Because we are not yet done. Let me say that again: We are not yet done.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xZmA51">
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Absent an overarching goal, leaders in the movement had expressed concern that anti-abortion<strong> </strong>activism would fizzle — and some are concerned that, without sustained effort, that could still happen.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BJxTcT">
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“We have to work very hard to make sure we keep our eye on the prize, that we don’t say, ‘Hey, <em>Roe v. Wade</em> is overturned. We’ve done our work. Now it’s time to go home.’ I would say, to be transparent, that was a concern of ours,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/20/anti-abortion-demonstrators-pack-dc-00078849">said on Friday</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lqOT2A">
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Still, anti-abortion leaders said they were pleased by attendance at this year’s march taking it as an indication that there’s still energy around the movement. But how that energy will be directed is the question.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ndJKDv">
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State-level legislation <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/04/1096154028/the-movement-against-abortion-rights-is-nearing-its-apex-but-it-began-way-before">has always been a priority</a>; that’s how some of the most onerous restrictions on abortion have come into effect since <em>Roe </em>was overturned. There could be additional state-level efforts to restrict abortion by legislative action or to explicitly amend state constitutions to deny the right to abortion.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sED3Qe">
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<a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23559583/roe-abortion-dobbs-reproductive-rights">As Vox’s Marin Cogin</a> wrote Friday, those kinds of state-level actions upended the lives of many women in the wake of <em>Dobbs:</em>
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kbz2US">
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Overnight, a generation of women born with the constitutionally protected right to an abortion saw it taken away. While earlier restrictions and legal challenges had meant that some women, particularly in the South, were living with a de facto ban before the fall of <em>Roe</em>, formally losing that right has had serious implications for people of reproductive age, plunging many women into uncertainty and forcing them to consider how a rapidly shifting political landscape could affect some of the biggest decisions of their lives.
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y3g2jT">
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For people trying to navigate a post-<em>Roe</em> world, alternatives to surgical abortion, such as medication abortion and even contraception, could become a target for the anti-abortion movement. Activists could seek to restrict access to the medication mifepristone, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarket-drug-safety-information-patients-and-providers/information-about-mifepristone-medical-termination-pregnancy-through-ten-weeks-gestation">which is used to end a pregnancy within ten weeks of gestation</a>. As <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/11/pharmacies-anti-abortion-pills-00077349">Politico</a> reported earlier in January, some anti-abortion groups are planning pickets in front of pharmacies in states where mifepristone will be available come February; some states, including Missouri and Kansas, are even considering bans on obtaining mifepristone by mail or at a pharmacy.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qrdAWz">
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Anti-abortion groups could also <a href="https://revealnews.org/podcast/the-long-campaign-to-turn-birth-control-into-the-new-abortion/">target hormonal contraception</a>. That might look slightly different than legislative actions around medication and surgical abortion — as an investigation from the outlet Reveal found, such actions could also include undermining trust in, or providing unreliable alternatives to birth control like the pill or IUDs.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CPaIEW">
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As Dr. Taniqua Miller, an OB-GYN and professor at the Emory School of Medicine, told Vox’s Cogan, “I think that there is the thought: Will there be a slippery slope? Will contraception be available in the future? And I don’t think that we can really speak to that.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IWQ6Pv">
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Graham’s 15-week proposed ban has thus far failed to gain significant political or legislative traction; in a tightly divided Senate and a House with a weak Republican majority, the likelihood of passing that kind of legislation right now is low. And seeing anti-abortion candidates’ poor performance in the midterms seems to have mitigated any real political appetite for such a ban.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="umDqQr">
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In the near future, efforts to further restrict abortion in the US will likely be more piecemeal, focusing on a variety of different measures like prosecuting abortion providers, as <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/state-abortion-rulings-post-dobbs-begin-defining-scope-of-rights">Texas’s abortion ban allows</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MgTtot">
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Whatever energy the movement maintains, the focus will be splintered in different directions, inviting the possibility of stasis, indecision, and infighting. What’s more, though activists have grabbed the brass ring of overturning <em>Roe</em>, actually legislating abortion bans or restrictions has become something of a game of whack-a-mole when that legislation comes up against court challenges and the will of voters.
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</p>
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<h3 id="cW7uRY">
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There are going to be road blocks for anti-abortion activists
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FuFPay">
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But the <em>Dobbs </em>decision didn’t make abortion illegal across the country, it just negates the federal right to abortion under the 14th Amendment, which outlines the right to due process and legal protection under the law. In the extremely conservative, traditionalist reading of the Constitution that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/26/opinion/justice-alito-reproductive-justice-constitution-abortion.html">Justice Samuel Alito</a> employed in writing the majority opinion in <em>Dobbs, </em>the right to abortion under the 14th Amendment doesn’t exist because it’s not explicitly in the text. It also, by proxy, negates <em>Planned Parenthood v. Casey</em>, the 1992 case which amended <em>Roe v. Wade</em> to allow states to place some restrictions on abortion access, but none that would be overly onerous.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BTEtoX">
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“We have a tendency to think of banning abortion as an on-off switch,” Rachel Rebouché, the dean of Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/9/10/23344663/south-carolina-gop-vote-legislation-abortion">told Vox back in September</a>. But in a post-<em>Dobbs </em>landscape, the legal complexities around abortion legislation have only increased, she explained at the time.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2UxQqb">
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The <em>Dobbs</em> decision punts laws around abortion access down to the state level, where many legislatures — like Georgia’s, for example — already had laws on the books severely limiting abortion access. With <em>Roe </em>and <em>Casey </em>gone, those laws could ostensibly go into effect, but they are far from settled. In Indiana, for example, a highly restrictive abortion ban implemented shortly after <em>Dobbs</em> was decided is wending its way through the state’s courts. That legislation <a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-indiana-legislature-9dda020bf811f19e6254915ca1324edc">has been stayed since September</a>, as a lower court judge determined that the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-indiana-legislature-9dda020bf811f19e6254915ca1324edc">ban likely violated the state constitution’s right to privacy</a>.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BUFiqa">
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In cases like Indiana’s, abortion clinics can reopen while challenges to abortion bans make their way through the courts, but it’s a delicate tightrope to walk. As <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/07/us/az-abortion-providers-mental-health/index.html">clinics in Arizona </a>experienced this past fall, the ability of abortion clinics to provide care can change by the day, causing chaos and serious distress for providers, not to mention the people seeking care. And in <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/state-abortion-rulings-post-dobbs-begin-defining-scope-of-rights">states like Idaho</a> the bans are still allowed to go ahead, albeit with some changes, despite those legal challenges.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aHCx3r">
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Taking a look at the November 2022 midterms, too, is indicative of some of the challenges anti-abortion activists will face as they try to push the movement forward. As Linda Greenhouse, a former New York Times reporter wrote in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/18/opinion/abortion-culture-wars.html">an opinion piece for the paper</a>, some of the most extreme anti-abortion candidates for office, like Doug Mastriano, who advocated an abortion ban without exceptions when he ran for governor of Pennsylvania, lost their contests. Even those who initially trotted out extreme positions and later tried to tone them down, like Blake Masters in his US Senate race, were often unsuccessful.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uUkVj7">
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Even this year’s March for Life didn’t see the big political names it’s drawn in the past, as <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/20/anti-abortion-demonstrators-pack-dc-00078849">Politico reported</a>; House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was the highest-ranking elected Republican to speak. He promised that the <em>Dobbs </em>decision was “only the first phase of the battle” against abortion, and in a sense he’s right; however the movement tries to move forward after its post-<em>Roe</em> victory, any further restrictions won’t go through without long, complex, and often unpopular fights.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>The “zombie” fungus in The Last of Us, explained by a biologist</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_KI5IlIALV_BTQSeP_xlwxmU054=/109x0:980x653/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71890489/anna_torv_pedro_pascal_0.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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A new HBO show, <em>The Last of Us, </em>is about a fungi-fueled apocalypse. Above, lead characters Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Tess (Anna Torv) discover a human body that was taken over by a fungus. | Liane Hentscher/HBO
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The good news: You’re safe if you’re not an ant.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6sqUiA">
|
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|
|
The scariest shows and movies are often the ones rooted in reality — about psychopathic serial killers, late-night home invasions, and AI robot dolls. Zombie apocalypses typically don’t count.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZQBRno">
|
|||
|
|
But a new show on HBO, called <em>The Last of U</em>s, presents a compelling case that perhaps there’s such a thing as a realistic zombie. Or realistic-ish. And it’s definitely scary.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8lvf6H">
|
|||
|
|
The premise of the show, which is based on the popular video game of the same name, isn’t that different from your typical post-apocalyptic horror story: US cities are crumbling, there are rabid humans everywhere, and a manly man has to protect a young girl as they travel across the country.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0VGyIg">
|
|||
|
|
The zombies, however, are truly inspired. More specifically, they are inspired by nature — by real zombies that live on Earth.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NAGcsJyIdL5Pj8J70_xC4-DnO0o=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24370050/pedro_pascal.jpg"/> <cite>Liane Hentscher/HBO</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Pedro Pascal, of <em>The Mandalorian</em> and <em>Narcos</em>, stars in HBO’s <em>The Last of US </em>as Joel Miller, the lead protagonist.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hPxafA">
|
|||
|
|
In the show, which premiered last Sunday, it’s not a virus that turns people into brainless automatons but a kind of fungus called Cordyceps. The fungus takes over their minds and bodies and makes them want to spread the fungus to the uninfected.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yNCjVG">
|
|||
|
|
This fungus is real.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="urhbQM">
|
|||
|
|
In tropical, subtropical, and even temperate forests around the world, there are many species of fungus in the genuses Cordyceps and Ophiocordyceps (these fungi were formerly called just Cordyceps) that infect insects like ants and other invertebrates. And they do essentially turn them into zombies. The fungi take over their minds and bodies, causing them to behave in such a way as to spread spores to others of their kind.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iB3p0q">
|
|||
|
|
The fungi were popularized in 2016 by the show <em>Planet Earth</em>, which captured an Ophiocordyceps parasitizing a bullet ant. And it was actually the clip below — in which the fungus causes the ant to climb up a branch, before killing it and sprouting a spore-producing mushroom from the ant’s head — that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZkCBHmeeMg&t=77s">inspired</a> the game’s creator, Neil Druckmann.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="WuPQER">
|
|||
|
|
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;">
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Brwyl7">
|
|||
|
|
So, the fungus is real and it can turn bugs into zombies. That’s pretty rad. But does it pose a threat to us?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gRFLR8">
|
|||
|
|
A comforting fact is that people have been eating Cordyceps for centuries now without turning rabid. It’s a traditional Chinese medicine, used to treat kidney disease and other ailments. Even wellness brands are now marketing it.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2o76RV">
|
|||
|
|
But to be sure — because one really can’t be sure enough, right? — I reached out to Charissa de Bekker, a mycologist who researches Ophiocordyceps. A professor of biology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, de Bekker has not seen the show but is familiar with the game. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bfJGAG">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>To be clear, the fungus in the show </strong><em><strong>The Last of Us </strong></em><strong>is real, right? </strong>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6m5YDN">
|
|||
|
|
Yes. Cordyceps and Ophiocordyceps fungi are real and infect insects in the wild. There are many different species out there.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="el7seW">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Many!? How many? </strong>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7b5Ukh">
|
|||
|
|
Researchers have described at least 30 Ophiocordyceps species that parasitize ants, but we know there are many more, because every ant species that gets infected has its own specialized Ophiocordyceps species.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BPmcZV">
|
|||
|
|
There are also Ophiocordyceps and Cordyceps fungi that infect other insects like wasps and flies. We also see this go beyond insects to arthropods like spiders. Then there’s a whole other group of fungi, in the order Entomophthorales, that does manipulation as well — and these species don’t look anything like Ophiocordyceps.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WyctKT">
|
|||
|
|
Manipulation has evolved multiple times across the fungi kingdom. The biodiversity of these fungi is probably really high, we just haven’t discovered them all yet.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HFSz9ZLv4g-3ZLlk7c0ZPnCUmK4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24370061/GettyImages_1136255968.jpg"/> <cite>Kevin Wells/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A type of Cordyceps fungus growing on a bullet ant near Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, Costa Rica.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EeUkmFySHBQ33Z0wAOCMSiMrYtk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24370101/GettyImages_667506816.jpg"/> <cite>Quang Nguyen Vinh/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Another kind of “zombie” fungus grows out of a dead winged insect in a rainforest in Vietnam.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qKvErR">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>How do these fungi manipulate their hosts in the wild?</strong>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3GUNd4">
|
|||
|
|
What we see, specifically with ants, is that they pick up spores [which are kind of like seeds for fungus] when they go out to forage for food. The spore infects the ant and fungal cells start growing inside its body.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hIIA3E">
|
|||
|
|
In the beginning, this ant might act normally. But eventually, it stops participating in the foraging efforts of the colony. It doesn’t communicate well with its nest-mates anymore.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dsFcNL">
|
|||
|
|
And then this ant starts to become hyperactive and no longer has the same daily rhythms of the other ants. Most carpenter ants, for example, forage during the nighttime, but the infected ant basically becomes active all the time.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/S1Gp8O3MILL3aEoQVki_xxd_OCQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24370074/GettyImages_1341415598.jpg"/> <cite>Reza Saputra/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A “zombie” fungus sprouts a fruiting body (mushroom) out of an ant in Indonesia.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="31Dd2O">
|
|||
|
|
At one point, the infected ant wanders off from the colony to find a spot in the forest to climb and bite [down on the twig or vine]. This is where the fungus will quickly start to consume everything inside, which kills the host. The fungus uses that energy to sprout a stock with a fruiting body — the mushroom, if you will — which has spores that will fly out and infect more ants.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NyIGB4">
|
|||
|
|
By climbing higher up in the forest, the ant basically helps the fungus spread its spores. The specific spot it chooses to climb may actually help with the development of the fungus.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kxdwQX">
|
|||
|
|
This whole process could take days or weeks, or even months. What you often see in zombie movies, or <em>The Last of Us, </em>things happen a lot quicker. In nature, things take some time.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2YSARJ">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Are Ophiocordyceps actually controlling the minds of ants? </strong>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8qF76Y">
|
|||
|
|
We think this fungus is secreting certain chemicals that can bind to or interact with receptors or other sorts of proteins that are related to the nervous system, and normally give rise to different behaviors. For instance, these could be receptors that normally would bind to dopamine or serotonin, that might then elicit a certain type of behavior. We’re still very much in the process of trying to figure that out.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gIszIr">
|
|||
|
|
We certainly think it’s more than just this fungus gnawing away on some brain tissue because the behavior is so specific.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rFnEdE6pAqShyRY_KXy4BzUmB1o=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24370090/the_last_of_us.jpg"/> <cite>Liane Hentscher/HBO</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A zombie is plastered to the wall by the Cordyceps fungus in Episode 1 of <em>The Last of Us.</em>
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0wi8qV">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Would you call these infected hosts “zombies”? Is that scientifically accurate? </strong>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J2LJrY">
|
|||
|
|
If you compare it one-to-one with zombies from pop culture, it’s not completely accurate. These insects are very much alive, whereas in fictional movies zombies are often undead. These ants infected with Ophiocordyceps are not dead and walking around.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T4LV91">
|
|||
|
|
What makes real-life hosts similar to fictional zombies is that they are behaving in such a way as to benefit the parasite, not the host.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aE4vGt">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Is there any reason to believe that a fungus like this could infect a human body and turn us into zombies? </strong>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N7Y0CD">
|
|||
|
|
The very short answer is: No.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SN42OL">
|
|||
|
|
Everything in the human body is so different from the insects that these fungi normally infect, including our physiology, our nervous tissue, and our body temperature. Even if the fungi were able to cause a small infection, the machinery that is needed for the fungus to do such a precise manipulation is simply not there.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H3gGVU">
|
|||
|
|
These fungi evolved strategies to manipulate specific insect hosts over millions and millions of years. They’re not generalists. Each species only knows how to deal with one particular insect.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XtOtxG">
|
|||
|
|
We don’t see the fungi specialists just jumping from one ant species to another, let alone from an ant species to another insect. Spreading from ant to human is just such a big jump.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9oC00A">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>In the show, a fictional epidemiologist suggests that climate change could make harmful fungi more tolerant to warmer temperatures. As a result, they could more readily jump to warm-blooded humans. Is that a real concern?</strong>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9hGIuU">
|
|||
|
|
That’s actually a <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/fungi-climate-change-medicine-health/">real concern</a> that medical mycologists have [about harmful fungi like <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/index.html">Candida auris</a>, not Cordyceps], though that’s not my expertise.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cKeqDD">
|
|||
|
|
Most fungal infections are skin infections — or if, say, you’re an immunocompromised patient, certain spores that normally are benign might settle in your lungs and cause a problem. But most fungi don’t happily grow at our body temperature. Most of them actually prefer lower temperatures.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CzB1tJ">
|
|||
|
|
Some experimentation shows that fungi could, perhaps, adapt to higher temperatures, as they adapt to a warming world. You can imagine that if their optimal temperature comes closer to our body temperature, fungal infections could become more of a problem.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="719Vkh">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>In the show, the fungus spreads through bites, not spores. That’s not how it would actually work if these fungi-infected zombies were real, right? </strong>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="60wtVs">
|
|||
|
|
If you play the game, you’ll see that spores do play a role in spreading infection. But no, the fungus wouldn’t spread through biting. Generally, across the fungal kingdom, going from one spot to another, or from one host to another, is done by spores.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZuEwIz">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>I’m a big fan of fungi. They decompose plants, they can be psychedelic. They’re also delicious. Is it unfair that Cordyceps are the villain in the show?</strong>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uaXPSe">
|
|||
|
|
It’s great that, finally, fungi are hip and happening. I hope the show sparks some interest in fungi in general, because they’re incredibly fascinating organisms. They’re more important than people might think.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0T5a4Qmz9ms1kSY258T4c-0tNLs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24370097/GettyImages_1278471400.jpg"/> <cite>Luis Espin/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A Cordyceps fungus grows out of a wingless insect on a leaf in Ecuador.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MtBGhn">
|
|||
|
|
They are very much the villain in the show, and that’s generally how we see parasites, because they make us sick. But in nature, they’re actually super important and just as important as all the other organisms.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dRBSvI">
|
|||
|
|
They keep everything in check. If ants, for instance, weren’t pestered by certain parasites — not just Ophiocordyceps but anything else that makes them sick — then their numbers might get out of control. You might get an overpopulation of certain species. Taking out a parasite like this fungus might be like taking out a predator from the ecosystem, and that could cause biodiversity to decline.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BHXywo">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>I’m kind of afraid to ask, but how common are fungi, in general? </strong>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TSAhGZ">
|
|||
|
|
Not to scare you, but in every breath of air you take there will be fungal spores. Most of them are not harmful to us — most spores you’re inhaling right now are benign, or fungi that don’t know how to deal with our body, so you will never even notice them. But they are everywhere.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Jacinda Ardern is a global icon — but she’s still a politician</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/y8k2jbAbX0gSf2uMJg4809tZjCw=/760x0:6836x4557/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71890422/1457516856.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced her resignation on January 19, 2023. | Kerry Marshall/Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Ardern led New Zealand through some of its biggest crises, but the country’s political winds are shifting.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YzlJbA">
|
|||
|
|
After nearly six years leading New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern’s tenure as prime minister will come to an end February 7, as her Labour Party <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/labour-party-support-reaches-new-low-in-poll/N2RHE26O35FYRMC2AGV5BVB4SQ/">dips in the polls</a> and the country appears poised for a recession.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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It’s also the end of at least one phase of her international prominence. Ardern didn’t become famous because of New Zealand’s primacy in the international order, but rather because of who she was, and her specific responses to the national and international catastrophes that defined her tenure. She was celebrated for her leadership through <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2019/3/14/18266624/christchurch-mosque-shooting-new-zealand-gunman-what-we-know">a white supremacist mass shooting at two mosques in the city of Christchurch</a>, and through the Covid-19 crisis — two moments that put her in stark contrast to bombastic, autocratic<strong> </strong>leaders like former US President Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, in addition to making her a symbol for young women in leadership.
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Citing burnout after five and a half years in office, Ardern announced Thursday that she would step down prior to the end of her term and wouldn’t seek reelection. “I know there will be much discussion in the aftermath of this decision as to what the so-called ‘real’ reason was,” <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealand-pm-ardern-says-will-not-seek-re-election-2023-01-19/">she told a news conference Thursday</a>. “The only interesting angle you will find is that after going on six years of some big challenges, that I am human.”
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Ardern was not the first woman prime minister in New Zealand’s history, but was the youngest ever PM and gave birth while in office, pushing her further into the international spotlight as a young, feminist leader at a time — at least in many Western countries and the US in particular — when older men seemed to retain their grip on power despite social progress.
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But domestic politics, not international acclaim, determine a country’s leadership within a democracy, and Ardern’s Labour Party has plummeted in the polls as the economic fallout from the Covid-19 crisis sets in. New Zealand’s post-Covid economy is pointed toward a recession, and child poverty — one of Ardern’s causes — continues to rise, bringing about dissatisfaction from both the left and the right.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H0Hafc">
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By every conceivable metric, Ardern met the moment during the two major crises that defined her administration, and her gifts for communication, empathy, and collaboration were well-suited to those crises. She remains popular within the Labour Party and was, until recently, more popular than the overall party in public opinion polling. However, as economic circumstances change and New Zealanders are eager to move on from Covid-19, Ardern’s counterpart in the conservative National Party, Christopher Luxon, has been gaining ground in the polls, indicating that the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54519628">majority Labour won in 2020</a> could come to an end in October, when Ardern has called for elections.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z3pf3A">
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Though Ardern’s announcement caught international observers by surprise, it was perhaps less of a shock to New Zealanders, Kathy Smits, a professor of politics and international relations at the University of Auckland, told Vox. “The historical example that really comes to my mind, and to a lot of people’s minds, is in Britain after the war — [Winston] Churchill was voted out in 1945. He led Britain through the war and was an incredibly popular prime minister, and yet people were ready for a change,” she said. “I think in this environment, there’s something kind of similar going on there.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="IXkfdg">
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Like many countries around the world, New Zealand is ready for a change
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nV64ac">
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Ardern rightly won international plaudits for her response to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53861456">2019 shootings</a> at the Al Noor mosque and Linwood Islamic Center in Christchurch, which killed 51 people. The shooter was <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/3/15/18267163/new-zealand-shooting-christchurch-white-nationalism-racism-language">an avowed neo-Nazi and white nationalist</a> who used semiautomatic weapons to carry out the slaughter. Ardern immediately connected to the Muslim community and committed the government to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-zealand-mosque-shootings-country-helping-pay-christchurch-shooting-victims-funerals-regardless-immigration-status/">paying funeral costs for victims</a>. Her decisive but emotional and empathetic response projected her onto the international stage early in her leadership; her proposal shortly after the shooting to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newzealand-shooting-parliament/new-zealand-votes-to-amend-gun-laws-after-christchurch-attack-idUSKCN1RM0VX">ban semiautomatic weapons</a>, too, demonstrated her ability to act boldly in the public interest.
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That was in particularly stark contrast to the US which, despite consistent mass shootings, has largely<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.vox.com/23142734/america-mass-shooting-gun-violence-control">failed to enact meaningful policy change</a>, barring <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/6/23/23180893/senate-gun-control-bipartisan-bill-2022-pass">a bill of tailored reforms passed last year</a>.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I8BTdf">
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“The thing that Jacinda is really, really great about is communication — kind of the symbolic dimensions of leadership, bringing people together. She’s really good at that,” Smits said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="prfusN">
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But as important as Ardern’s global profile is, there’s no getting around the hard facts of domestic democratic politics. Inflation continues to batter economies across the globe; in New Zealand, that’s playing out in particular in the housing market. Many New Zealanders make their income through real estate — owning and renting properties. But skyrocketing housing prices, Smits explained, combined with high interest rates, have crippled that sector of New Zealand’s economy and helped push the country toward a recession. It’s also squeezed the housing market, making <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2022/02/12/new-zealands-housing-crisis-is-worsening">affordable housing difficult for many New Zealanders to find</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zoZHAN">
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Ardern also failed to make significant headway on <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/child-poverty-in-nz-report-says-severe-deprivation-for-60000-remains/LJ3NF7D6G5VW6TD2KTFSDOYVOE/">child poverty in New Zealand</a>, which is among the highest in the Western world. “It’s really at quite shocking levels,” Smits said, <a href="https://www.childpoverty.org.nz/#:~:text=In%202020%2F21%20one%20in,European%20children%20(10.9%25).">particularly among Māori and Pacific populations</a>. Though Ardern’s administration managed to decrease the percentage of children in poverty marginally during her tenure, critics argue that the government <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54444643">didn’t go nearly far enough</a>, especially given that it was one of her <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/22/jacinda-arderns-budget-made-progress-on-poverty-but-its-not-mission-accomplished">major policy issues</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sRW5Q0">
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Furthermore, New Zealand has a fairly low tax rate, despite that taxes or some form of income are needed to fund social programs like the kinds that would help alleviate childhood poverty. But Ardern’s party refused to implement capital gains taxes on income — with Ardern saying that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newzealand-politics-taxation/new-zealand-pm-ardern-surprises-with-decision-against-capital-gains-tax-idUSKCN1RT07O">such a tax hike would never occur under her leadership</a>.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RCynAK">
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Those domestic issues have made Labour vulnerable from both the right and the left; more progressive politicians and voters are disappointed with the party’s inability to make real and significant headway on social issues — in part because the government refused to take necessary measures to raise money that would support social programs, Smits said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rv9aaL">
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But perhaps more than a defeat for Labour, the next elections could be more of a return to form for New Zealand’s Parliament, which operates on a <a href="https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/government-in-new-zealand/">mixed member proportional system</a>. That means any one party is unlikely to get a clear, overwhelming majority of seats, requiring coalition government.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9OUQI2">
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And after several years of crisis within the National Party, opposition leader <a href="https://theconversation.com/luxon-takes-the-controls-can-the-former-air-nz-ceo-make-national-straighten-up-and-fly-right-172767">Christopher Luxon</a> seems to have strengthened his party’s position sufficiently to pull in some Labour defectors, Smits said, although it’s too early to tell what the outcome of the next election will be.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9dwbOG">
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It’s not just New Zealand that’s ready for a change; Brazil’s Bolsonaro was ousted by former President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva last year. In Italy, the far-right Giorgia Meloni replaced technocratic Prime Minister Mario Draghi last year, and in 2021 longtime German Chancellor Angela Merkel stepped down after 16 years in power.
|
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</p>
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<h3 id="Evs0OS">
|
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Ardern’s impact is significant and will likely outweigh her government’s inadequacies
|
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v6BQHb">
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Western feminists have embraced Ardern, and rightly so, as a politician who balances power with compassion; a woman who had a baby while also guiding her country through some of the most challenging years in recent memory.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2yjqe6">
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Leaders like <a href="https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1616115224452685824">Hillary Clinton</a>, World Health Organization Director-General <a href="https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1616203546327945216">Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus</a>, and former Australian Prime Minister <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/transcript-of-julia-gillards-speech-20121010-27c36.html">Julia Gillard</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JuliaGillard/status/1615954991705128960">tweeted</a> in support of Ardern and the impact of her time in office, with Gillard saying, “Her example has been a shining light to many, especially women.”
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</p>
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<div id="fYUeS7">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
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.<a href="https://twitter.com/jacindaardern?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="jacindaardern">@jacindaardern</span></a> showed the world a new style of leadership by deciding to foreground kindness and empathy. Her example has been a shining light to many, especially women. I congratulate her on all she has achieved to date and wish her well in this next phase of her life.
|
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</p>
|
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|
— Julia Gillard (<span class="citation" data-cites="JuliaGillard">@JuliaGillard</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/JuliaGillard/status/1615954991705128960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2023</a>
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</blockquote></div></li>
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</ul>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rr2tlw">
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Ardern’s symbolic impact, in addition to her leadership, will likely be a major part of her legacy. Ardern took her child, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/25/jacinda-ardern-makes-history-with-baby-neve-at-un-general-assembly">Neve, to a United Nations General Assembly meeting in 2018</a>, when she was just three months old — making history in the process. She was the first elected leader to give birth in office since <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44568537">Benazir Bhutto</a> did the same in 1990, and only the second ever to do so.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l61SPi">
|
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|
Ardern’s style, too, is a marked shift not only from the machismo of autocratic leaders like Trump and Bolsonaro, but the often-combative nature of politics generally, as Richard Shaw, a politics professor at Massey University in New Zealand, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/jacinda-ardern-resigns-new-zealand-prime-minister-mother-icon-rcna66485">told NBC Thursday</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pw1FYh">
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“I think what she offered to the world actually was a model for doing democratic politics that does not rely upon abusing other people,” Shaw said. “She never uses the term ‘enemy’ to describe anybody.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jNYep4">
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Though it’s probably not the driving force behind her resignation, Shaw said, that particular leadership style had also fixated<strong> </strong>“the political right, and the misogynists in particular, and the anti-vaxxers and the fringe dwellers in our political community” on Ardern.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rN9rfh">
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|
It’s impossible to know just what Ardern’s legacy will be, but her power as a symbol not just of a successful leader — who is also a woman and a mother — had arguably the same effect as former President Barack Obama’s election as America’s first Black president. Both set a new standard for progress, even if their domestic policies didn’t live up to progressive ideals. But more than just the fact of her being a woman, a mother, and a world leader, she presented a compelling model of how leaders could behave and make decisions, even difficult ones, with clarity and compassion.
|
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</p>
|
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Justin and Forest Flame show out</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ravishing Form and Ruling Dynasty please</strong> -</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India women start favourites against West Indies in T20I tri series</strong> - The tri-series is significant as it is the last tournament before the Women's T20 World Cup which South Africa is hosting next month.</p></li>
|
|||
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>WFI’s emergency general council meeting called off</strong> - The Sports Ministry had suspended WFI’s assistant secretary Vinod Tomar “with immediate effect, to ensure proper functioning of WFI” on January 21</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rohit Sharma reveals change in batting style, underlines importance of attacking bowlers</strong> - India secured a comprehensive eight-wicket win against New Zealand in the second ODI to secure their seventh consecutive ODI series</p></li>
|
|||
|
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</ul>
|
|||
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
|||
|
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<ul>
|
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|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Special remission programme: 189 Maharashtra jail inmates to be released on Republic Day</strong> - The prisoners are selected on the basis of age, time spent in jail, disabilities, health etc, he added.</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Works on to host largest religious congregations in Pathanamthitta</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Budget session of Kerala Assembly to begin on Monday</strong> - Eighth session to start with policy address by Governor; Budget to be presented on February 3</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>BSF conducts ‘Ops Alert’ exercise to step up security on Indo-Pak border along Gujarat & Rajasthan ahead of Republic Day</strong> - The BSF will carry out special operations in forward and depth areas as well as creeks and ‘Harami Nalla’ as part of the exercise.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pakistani girl staying illegally in Bengaluru arrested</strong> - The girl married a 25-year-old security guard from Uttar Pradesh, whom she met through a dating app a few months ago, and entered India through the porous India-Nepal border</p></li>
|
|||
|
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</ul>
|
|||
|
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
|||
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<ul>
|
|||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Turkey condemns ‘vile’ Sweden Quran-burning protest</strong> - Turkey earlier called off a visit by Sweden’s defence minister Pal Jonson over the planned protest.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Hiding from Putin’s call-up by living off-grid in a freezing forest</strong> - Adam Kalinin has been camping in the Russian wilderness since September to avoid fighting in Ukraine.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Zelensky adviser says West’s ‘indecision’ is killing Ukrainians</strong> - Zelensky adviser tells West to “think faster” as pressure grows on countries to send tanks to Ukraine.</p></li>
|
|||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>France’s Macron proposes big rise in defence budget</strong> - France’s president details plans for a seven-year budget of €413bn to transform its armed forces.</p></li>
|
|||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>River Drina: ‘Embarrassment’ of beauty spot’s plastic waste</strong> - An activist calls the River Drina waste an “embarrassment” and says it’s been like it for 20 years.</p></li>
|
|||
|
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</ul>
|
|||
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|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
|||
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<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Archaeologists discovered a new papyrus of Egyptian Book of the Dead</strong> - Dubbed the “Waziri papyrus,” scholars are currently translating the text into Arabic. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1911466">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The weekend’s best deals: The newest MacBook Pros, Kindle Kids, iPad Air, and more.</strong> - Dealmaster also has gaming peripherals, portable storage, and Microsoft Surface. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1911644">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Musk testifies in fraud trial, points out that not everyone believes what he says</strong> - Musk denies impact on Tesla stock price in case over false “funding secured” tweet. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1911612">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>US school runs lights 24/7/365: The smart lights have been broken since 2021</strong> - “We’ve been doing everything we can to fix this,” says school official. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1911551">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>300+ models of MSI motherboards have Secure Boot turned off. Is yours affected?</strong> - The shortcoming has left users susceptible to malicious bootloaders for 18 months. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1911594">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
|||
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|
<ul>
|
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|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How can you tell the difference between a nerd and someone with a BDSM fettish?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
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<div class="md">
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Ask them what a dungeon master is
|
|||
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</p>
|
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</div>
|
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HikerTrash46"> /u/HikerTrash46 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10i1ptj/how_can_you_tell_the_difference_between_a_nerd/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10i1ptj/how_can_you_tell_the_difference_between_a_nerd/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Yesterday, our mailman spotted me through the window masturbating.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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I guess he’s wondering now how I knew where he lives.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/vartha"> /u/vartha </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10i7qoo/yesterday_our_mailman_spotted_me_through_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10i7qoo/yesterday_our_mailman_spotted_me_through_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>a bear and a rebbit smoking a joint</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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A bear was smoking a joint, leaning on a tree when a rabbit came by. Bear saw the rabbit and invited him to smoke along, and rabbit joined.
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</p>
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After the they smoked one, the bear who was preaty high already asled the rabbit,
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</p>
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Bear: do you feel anything? Rabbit: no Bear: hmm, lets smoke another one then
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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And then they smoked another one. Bear was stoned like hell, he could hardly stand and was dreaming about some honey. He asked the rabbit,
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</p>
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Bear: Do you now feel anything? Rabbit: nope Bear: daamn
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</p>
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And he proceeded to role another one, because he was pissed that the rabbit didnt feel anything, so he roled the biggest one yet, and they smoked it.
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</p>
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After a while of just laying down, the bear all exausted looks the rabbit,
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</p>
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Bear: Now you have to feel something?
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</p>
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Rabbit: i told you after the first one that i dont feel anything… I dont feel my legs, hands and all of my torso…
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</p>
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Ps. Its hard to write it in english since is not my native language. I hope it turned out well.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Minerc15"> /u/Minerc15 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10i915b/a_bear_and_a_rebbit_smoking_a_joint/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10i915b/a_bear_and_a_rebbit_smoking_a_joint/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>found on an e-mail from2004 from my uncle who has sinced passed r.i.p. jack!(long,somewhat nsfw)</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so “profound” that the professor shared it with colleagues via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now enjoy it as well.
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</p>
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Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
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</p>
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Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.
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</p>
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One student, however, wrote the following:
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First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let’s look at the different religions existing in the world today.
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</p>
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Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions, and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.
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</p>
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With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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This gives two possibilities:
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</blockquote>
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<pre><code> 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. </code></pre>
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So which is it?
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If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year, that, “it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,” and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then Number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over.
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</p>
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The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct…leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting “Oh my God.”
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</p>
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THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/oregon300"> /u/oregon300 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10hxvtt/found_on_an_email_from2004_from_my_uncle_who_has/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10hxvtt/found_on_an_email_from2004_from_my_uncle_who_has/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A koala bear is smoking a blunt in a tree</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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A lizard comes along and says “what are you doing?”. The koala bear says “I’m getting high man”. The lizard responds “what do you mean?”…. Rather than explain it to the lizard the koala bear convinces him to partake of the blunt.
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</p>
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Shortly after partaking, the lizard says to the koala “dude my mouth is so dry. I gotta get some water”….so the lizard goes down to the river to get a drink and accidentally falls in. A crocodile sees this happen and goes “what’s going on with you?!”. The lizard tries to explain what he just did to get cottonmouth but instead says “look just go ask that koala in that tree over there.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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So the crocodile gets out of the river, walks over to the tree, looks up and says “hey you!”
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</p>
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The koala looks down at the crocodile and says “shittttttt man. How much water did you drink?!?”.
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</p>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/bsbeatty"> /u/bsbeatty </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10hlulx/a_koala_bear_is_smoking_a_blunt_in_a_tree/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10hlulx/a_koala_bear_is_smoking_a_blunt_in_a_tree/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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</ul>
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