In a new study, participants tended to judge faces appearing against backgrounds featuring houseplants or bookcases as more trustworthy and competent than faces with a living space or a novelty image behind them. Gender and facial expression also appeared to influence judgments. Research led by Paddy Ross, Abi Cook and Meg Thompson at Durham University,...
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Inspired by Llamas, the Desert and Mother Earth, These Craftswomen Weave Sacred Textiles
In northern Chile, Teófila Challapa learned to weave surrounded by the hills and sandy roads of the Atacama Desert. “Spin the threads, girl,” her grandmother told her a half a century ago. Aymara women like Challapa, now 59, become acquainted with wool threads under blue skies and air so thin that outsiders struggle to breathe....
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As Shipping Costs Rise, Galleries Get Creative
‘Shipping has become a nightmare,’ says Mihai Nicodim, owner of Nicodim Gallery (Los Angeles and New York City). ‘It almost doubled. When the pandemic hit, we were getting quotes that quadrupled overnight.’ Talk to any dealer right now about shipping costs and you are likely to get the same reaction. Dealers responding to a survey for the Art...
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Elevated Temperatures and Climate Change May Contribute to Rising Drug and Alcohol Disorders
Hospital visits from alcohol- and substance-related disorders are driven by elevated temperatures and could be further affected by rising temperatures due to climate change, according to new research by environmental health scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The study, which is published in the peer-reviewed journal Communications Medicine, is likely the first comprehensive investigation of...
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The FTC, 1Health.io, and Genetic Data Privacy and Security
A genetic testing company publicly stored consumers’ genetic data with no encryption. The FTC stepped in. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has finalized an order with 1Health.io (formerly Vitagene), a genetic testing company that was the subject of a June 2023 FTC complaint. 1Health.io, to quote the FTC’s recent press release, “left sensitive genetic and health data unsecured,...
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Nigeria’s Slick Netflix Epic, Jagun Jagun, Explores a Rich Past That Also Reflects the World Today
Netflix’s recently released film Jagun Jagun (The Warrior) is set in pre-colonial Nigeria and follows the story of a feared warlord named Ogunjimi. While playing out in the past, it is steeped in contemporary universal cultural, political and socio-economic realities. The first 15 minutes of the movie establishes that the story is centred on a...
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New Research Reveals Extreme Heat Likely to Wipe Out Humans and Mammals in the Distant Future
A new study shows unprecedented heat is likely to lead to the next mass extinction since the dinosaurs died out, eliminating nearly all mammals in some 250 million years time. The research, published in Nature Geoscience and led by the University of Bristol, presents the first-ever supercomputer climate models of the distant future and demonstrates how...
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New Research Findings: Understanding the Sex Life of Coral Gives Hope of Clawing It Back from the Path to Extinction
For the first time, scientists have mapped the reproductive strategies and life cycle of an endangered coral species, offering hope it can be clawed back from the path to extinction. The purple cauliflower soft coral, Dendronephthya australis, is endemic to south-eastern Australia, with the largest populations historically found in the Port Stephens estuary in New South...
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New Recycling Method Fights Plastic Waste
Almost 80% of plastic in the waste stream ends up in landfills or accumulates in the environment. Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists have developed a technology that converts a conventionally unrecyclable mixture of plastic waste into useful chemicals, presenting a new strategy in the toolkit to combat global plastic waste. The technology, invented by ORNL’s...
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The Alexander McQueen Fashion House and Sarah Burton Announce the End of Their Collaboration
The Alexander McQueen fashion House and Creative Director Sarah Burton today announce the end of their collaboration after two decades together. The Spring-Summer ’24 fashion show in Paris in September will mark the conclusion of a highly successful partnership that began when Sarah Burton became Creative Director of the fashion House in May 2010, having...
