She made history in the fall of 2005 as the first woman to be elected chancellor

Ironically, we may one day look back and judge that one of Merkel’s greatest legacies for the EU was to open the door to women’s political leadership in Germany—so that a new leader could emerge who would reverse many of her policies. Though Merkel may not be the savior of Europe some have made her out to be, she may have paved the path for a new leader who could be

Physicists observationally confirm Hawking’s black hole theorem for the first time

“It is possible that there’s a zoo of different compact objects, and while some of them are the black holes that follow Einstein and Hawking’s laws, others may be slightly different beasts,”

How Mildred Thompson’s Vibrating Canvases Envisioned Our World As It Could Be

The paintings she made in Atlanta were informed by color theory—she juxtaposed contrasting and complementary hues with each other to ensure that the canvases popped. In her famed “Magnetic Fields” series (1990), Thompson considered the theory that magnetic waves were yellow when seen on an ultraviolet scale.

Source of a Weird Quantum Sense Found in an Actual Migratory Bird For The First Time

When you're as tiny as a European robin, crossing the continent for the winter is no small feat. We now know its secret to keeping on track over vast distances – an innate ability to harness the weirdness that sits at the heart of quantum physics.

4,400-Year-Old Shaman’s Snake Staff Found in Endangered Finnish Wetland

The shaman’s staff would have been used in a religious or spiritual ceremony. Perhaps it was even used to communicate with the dead

Collective – shocking exposé of needless deaths in Romania

The cynicism and indifference to suffering is truly horrible, and a kind of insidious evil rises from the screen like carbon monoxide, and also a terrible sadness. There is a moment ... when Tolontan and his colleagues are shown a secretly filmed video of maggots wriggling in a patient’s incompetently dressed wound. If that was in a fictional film, the metaphor would be dismissed as too obvious. Finally, Tolontan and his team are shown discussing sinister communications they have had from the intelligence services, telling them to be careful, for their families’ sake.

The real-life plan to use novels to predict the next war

One German official says the AI prediction system had already given Angela Merkel’s government a few months’ warning of the rebel insurgency in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province, where security forces are battling with militants trying to set up an Islamic state. But the early warning system is still in development: the aim is to eventually be able to predict conflicts 12-18 months in advance.

Millions of tons of plastic are trashed every year. But what if we used it to pave our roads?

“Road material is relatively inert, a solid block of asphalt,” noted Troutman. “In fact, the largest source of microplastics on the planet is abrasion of tires.”

There aren’t enough trees in the world to offset society’s carbon emissions – and there never will be

viewing natural ecosystems as “climate solutions” gives the misleading impression that forests can function like an infinitely absorbent mop to clean up the ever increasing flood of human caused CO₂ emissions.

EU, US launch initiative against ransomware

Cybercriminals shut down the largest gasoline pipeline system in the U.S, run by a company called Colonial, and the U.S. operations of meat processing company JBS in May. In Ireland, a ransomware attack crippled the country's health care system the same month. Security experts have pointed to cybercriminal groups based in Russia for the attacks.

Bitcoin is a Giant Ponzi Scheme

This isn’t an article about whether or not Bitcoin will continue to grow or crash and burn. That will depend on the public’s irrational exuberance versus the iron will of hundreds of governments who want to continue to oppress and control their citizens with a monopolistic currency stranglehold. It will be one of the most violent battles of our time.

Rumours swirl that China’s top spycatcher has defected to the US

Any defection would be embarrassing for the Chinese Communist Party ahead of its centenary on July 1. Propaganda has been ramping up and large boards with a red-emblazoned "100" have been hung above shops and along busy streets.The Chinese Communist Party has more than 91 million members.

The acceleration of the Delta variant around the world is raising questions about its origin, transmissibility, hotspots, and potential for vaccine resistance

However, the emergence of variants of concern, where mutations have resulted in altered virus characteristics (increased transmission and disease severity, reduced vaccine effectiveness, detection failure) have had deleterious health consequences.

Why artist Eileen Agar’s 'womb magic' speaks to our times

As subsequent events were soon to confirm, it was rather optimistic of the artist Eileen Agar to declare in 1931 that the “feminine type of imagination” she identified as “womb magic” was a force capable of countering the “rampant and hysterical militarism” rising across Europe.

Toward Deep Decarbonization

Batteries and hydrogen have emerged as two promising technologies for enabling this next level of economy-wide deep decarbonization, as they both allow low-cost renewable electricity to be stored and used to reduce or eliminate emissions in applications ranging from cars and trucks to steel and cement production

10 June 2021 Annular Solar Eclipse

The New Moon will cover the Sun's center, leaving its outer edges to form the characteristic annulus or “ring of fire” during this annular solar eclipse. Weather permitting, people in parts of Canada, Greenland, and Russia will be treated to the annular phase of the only annular solar eclipse of 2021.

Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data

Fossil fuel use is the primary source of CO2. CO2 can also be emitted from direct human-induced impacts on forestry and other land use, such as through deforestation, land clearing for agriculture, and degradation of soils. Likewise, land can also remove CO2 from the atmosphere through reforestation, improvement of soils, and other activities.

Maerten van Heemskerck’s right altar wing with female donor (around 1540)

 

Definition of Violence against women

The violence against women indicator presents you with data on:

• Attitudes toward violence: The percentage of women who agree that a husband/partner is justified in beating his wife/partner under certain circumstances

• Prevalence of violence in the lifetime: The percentage of women who have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner at some time in their life

• Laws on domestic violence: Whether the legal framework offers women legal protection from domestic violence

Microsoft removed 'Tank Man' images on Tiananmen Square's anniversary

Microsoft blocked images and videos around the world of "Tank Man," the unidentified protester during China's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

June 4 marked the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre

June 4 marked the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The Chinese government's attacks on freedom of expression have continued in the years since, with Tibet recently ranked the least free country in the world. But the fight for freedom will never cease.

Can Elites Start the Climate Revolution?

We need to get smarter in the way we use power, not find new “green” ways to do the same dumb things. Nevertheless, with its brutish appeal, the new F-150 might just transform the electric-vehicle market in the United States.

Magazines Are Swapping Out Celebrity Covers for Artworks by Famous Artists in a Bid to Stay Relevant

Last summer, after weeks of protests precipitated by the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, two of the country’s most recognizable magazines used their covers to make a statement. And they each turned to artists—not photographers—to do it. 

How the world’s richest defend their wealth, with help from a dedicated industry

The book, subtitled “How billionaires pay millions to hide trillions,” offers insiders’ accounts of what’s described as the “wealth defense industry” — made up of a coalition of professionals from advisors to lawyers and accountants — and how it deploys anonymous shell companies, family offices, offshore accounts and trusts to help the world’s richest people shield their wealth from tax collectors.

Pope says Brazil has no salvation

the religious of the diocese of Campina Grande (PB) met Pope Francis and asked the Brazilians for a blessing. In a relaxed manner, the pontiff smiled and fired: “You have no salvation. You drink a lot of cachaça and pray little”.

EU imposes new economic sanctions on Belarus over ‘hijacked’ flight

EU leaders triggered new economic sanctions against Belarus and punitive measures against its national airline as a dissident taken from a “hijacked” Ryanair flight was paraded on the country’s television news apparently confessing to crimes against the state.

Exactly How Helpless Is Europe?

As for the United States, its efforts to limit China’s power and influence will be enhanced if Europe is on board and increasingly united. Creating a new and sustainable trans-Atlantic partnership begins by recognizing that Europe is far from helpless and can do much more to defend itself in the decades ahead.

Melting ice in Antarctica could trigger chain reactions

The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, found that as Earth continues to heat up, the land underneath the Antarctic ice sheet will become more exposed. As a result of that process, wind patterns will shift, and rainfall will increase over Antarctica, which could trigger processes that speed up ice loss

‘Catastrophic’: Sierra Leone sells rainforest for Chinese fish plant

Two legal campaign groups, the Institute for Legal Research and Advocacy for Justice (ILRAJ) and Namati Sierra Leone, have written to the government, under the 2013 Right to Access Information Act, demanding to see the environmental and social-impact assessment studies, and the report showing that the beach was, as claimed, the most suitable place for construction “in terms of bathymetry, social safeguards (minimum resettlement costs) and environmental issues”. They are also seeking a copy of the grant agreement between China and Sierra Leone.

Archaeological Discoveries Suggest Ancient Women Were Waaay More Powerful Than You May Believe

Taking her name from the dig site of Wilamaya Patjxa, the ancient teen was buried with an array of tools used for hunting large animals: a projectile, a knife, and other miscellaneous items geared towards processing game.

Promising Young Woman

Pushing thirty, and defined by a hideous crime involving her bosom friend, Nina, emotionally scarred medical school dropout, Cassie, knows firsthand that some wounds never heal. Leading an uneventful existence, still living with her parents, waiting tables at a cheap coffee shop to earn a living, Cassie has found the perfect way to deal with the painful past

The warrior women who fought their enslavers

Hall discovered that four women were involved in the 1712 revolt in New York, an uprising by enslaved Africans who killed nine of their captors before being, in some cases, burned at the stake. One pregnant woman was kept alive until she gave birth and then put to death (the execution was delayed, says the report, because the baby was “someone’s property”). Until now, it was assumed only men took part in this revolt.

Ballet Dancer-Turned-Artist Madeline Hollander Sees Choreography Where Others See Only Chaos

“The absurdity of that search tells us something about [what it means to be] human—thrashing around in the dark to find meaning and a solution to something very existential.”

World Donkey Day

Today is World Donkey Day, and what better way to celebrate them than to share a few of the things that make these intelligent, curious animals who they are?

Portugal said to be 5th most corrupt

more than 80 percent of those surveyed said bribes were a generalised practice in Portugal

Julião Sarmento (1948 - 2021)

Sarmento studied painting and architecture at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts. He began exhibiting film, video, sound, painting, sculpture, installation and multimedia in the early seventies, but also developed several site-specific projects. He has exhibited his work extensively around the world in solo and group shows. Sarmento represented Portugal at the Venice Biennial in 1997. His work is represented in several museums and private collections, including an artist room showing at London's Tate Modern in 2010.

Protecting UK fishing waters is one of the Royal Navy's oldest tasks

Protecting UK fishing waters is one of the Royal Navy's oldest tasks, but Downing Street's decision to send two warships to the Channel Islands is a deliberate posture after France's initial threat to cut off electricity to the islands

The Book of Charlatans provides an unusual glimpse into the street life of medieval Islamic societies

In the medieval city of Tinnis, on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, a prophet was legendary for his ability to cure lepers and resurrect the dead. His sanctity was so great that even creatures of the sea would pay him homage. When he strolled along the shore, the fish leapt from the waters to kiss his feet. But the creatures were drawn to something besides his spiritual purity: he had coated his toes with a potion—one part human feces, one part basil, and one part Persian gum resin, all mixed with jasmine oil—that worked like catnip on fish. The Artuqid emir Rukn al-Din Mawdud, whose kingdom spanned the region of the Tigris River in what is now southeastern Turkey, was fascinated by such schemes. Perhaps he sensed that his own power, too, was only a fleeting illusion

Today, World Press Freedom Day, is a reminder that the struggle for freedom in Tibet is also a struggle for information

Tibetans who blog, share information or contact Tibetans in exile about their experiences of CCP rule are inevitably imprisoned. Meanwhile, independent journalists are blocked from accessing Tibet. Information that makes its way out of Tibet does so rarely and at great risk.

Carbon loss from forest degradation exceeds that from deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

Spatial–temporal dynamics of aboveground biomass (AGB) and forest area affect the carbon cycle, climate and biodiversity in the Brazilian Amazon. Here we investigate interannual changes in AGB and forest area by analysing satellite-based annual AGB and forest area datasets. We found that the gross forest area loss was larger in 2019 than in 2015, possibly due to recent loosening of forest protection policies. However, the net AGB loss was three times smaller in 2019 than in 2015. During 2010–2019, the Brazilian Amazon had a cumulative gross loss of 4.45 Pg C against a gross gain of 3.78 Pg C, resulting in a net AGB loss of 0.67 Pg C. Forest degradation (73%) contributed three times more to the gross AGB loss than deforestation (27%), given that the areal extent of degradation exceeds that of deforestation. This indicates that forest degradation has become the largest process driving carbon loss and should become a higher policy priority.

International Dance Day

ITI Centres and Cooperating Members, prominent figures of the global dance communities and dance companies contributed more than three-hour’s beautiful dance performances videos to this online celebration. These performances, from different continents of the world, can be dances of classic and contemporary, in solo, pas de deux and group, on a stage or on any space, happening in a real venue or online. All of them combined together, are an excellent expression of the cultural diversity and the resilience of human being when facing difficulties. Just as the slogans in the International Dance Day introduction videos, let us dance together in all corners of the world to create light in the dark.

Charles Michel: out!

 

How the Spiraling Installations in Yayoi Kusama’s New Berlin Retrospective Hold Up a Mirror to Our Anxious and Repetitive Modern Lives

The indexical approach sheds light on the enduring complexities that hide in plain sight in Kusama’s obsessively painted and warping world. Though pleasurable for all the senses, a plunge into Kusama’s work offers little reprieve from the anxieties and shifting realities outside. Each decade of her oeuvre is packed with frantic energy and emotion. Boundaries are crossed, one’s psychological stamina is tested. There is a sort of endlessness to each installation that creates a frenzy of seeing as chaotic and constant as a TikTok feed.

Marie-Denise Villers: Young Woman Drawing (1801) [The painting was the cover image on ARTnews for the 1971 publication of Linda Nochlin’s article “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”]

 

Secrets of a tree whisperer: ‘They get along, they listen – they’re attuned’

Suzanne Simard revolutionized the way we think about plants and fungi with the discovery of the woodwide web. The ecologist's new book shares the wisdom of a life of listening to the forest

World Book and Copyright Day

reading and the celebration of World Book and Copyright Day, 23 April, we can open ourselves to others despite distance, and we can travel thanks to imagination

Biden vows to slash US emissions by half to meet ‘existential crisis of our time’

Joe Biden has called upon the world to confront the climate crisis and “overcome the existential crisis of our time”, as he unveiled an ambitious new pledge to slash US planet-heating emissions in half by the end of the decade.

Nomadland

A woman in her sixties, after losing everything, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad

World on the verge of climate ‘abyss’, as temperature rise continues

The six years since 2015, have been the warmest on record, and the decade beginning up to this year, was the warmest ever.

Scientists suggest that trippy hallucinations and dreams influenced prehistoric cave art

Reduced oxygen resulting from the use of torches in narrow enclosed spaces likely triggered hypoxia, resulting in out-of-body experiences, researchers report

The infiltration and undermining of Europe's economy and society by organised crime

The SOCTA 2021 provides an overview of the current state of knowledge on criminal networks and their operations based on data provided to Europol by Member States and partners and data collected specifically for the SOCTA 2021. In trying to overcome the established, and limiting, conceptualisation of organised crime groups, this assessment focuses on the roles of criminals within criminal processes and outlines how a better understanding of those roles allows for a more targeted operational approach in the fight against serious and organised crime.

Jorge Peixinho: "Sax-blue"

Daniel Kientzy, saxophones

Male brain blood vessels became denser, thinner and twisted

Male and female mouse brains, as they aged, became marked by distinct differences in the blood vessel and neural stem cell systems. Female brain blood vessels became thicker but they weren’t crowded.

Louise Bourgeois

 

Nalini Malani: Utopia!?

Witness describes seeing George Floyd 'slowly fade away'

Williams, a former wrestler who said he was trained in mixed martial arts including chokeholds, testified Monday that he thought Derek Chauvin used a shimmying motion several times to increase the pressure on Floyd. He said he yelled to the officer that he was cutting off Floyd's blood supply.

Understanding Heidegger on Technology

The  Nazis  were  opposed  to  the  two  dominant  forms  of government  of  the  day  that  Heidegger  associated  with  “global technology,”  communism  and  democracy.  In  another  of  Heidegger’s infamous  political  remarks,  made  in  that  same  1935  lecture,  he  claimed that  “Russia  and  America,  seen  metaphysically,  are  both  the  same:  the same  hopeless  frenzy  of  enchained  technology  and  of  the  rootless organization  of  the  average  man.”  The  Nazi’s  rhetoric  about  “blood  and soil”  and  the  mythology  of  an  ancient,  wise,  and  virtuous  German  Volk might  also  have  appealed  to  someone  concerned  with  the  homogenizing consequences  of  globalization  and  technology.  More  broadly,  Heidegger’s thought  always  was  and  remained  illiberal,  tending  to  encompass  all matters,  philosophy  and  politics  among  them,  in  a  single  perspective, ignoring  the  freedom  of  most  people  to  act  independently.  The  ways  in which  liberal  democracies  promote  excellence  and  useful  competition were  not  among the  political  ideas  to  which  Heidegger’s  thought  was open.  His  totalizing,  illiberal  thought  made  his  joining  the  Nazis  much more  likely  than  his  condemning  them.

New Covid vaccines needed globally within a year

Survey of experts in relevant fields concludes that new variants could arise in countries with low vaccine coverage

A petition in support of a suspended teacher who showed students a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed has passed more than 50,000 signatures

The school, in Batley, near Bradford, West Yorkshire, is facing calls to reinstate the teacher after a petition in support of him reached more than 50,000 signatures in two days

Arashiyama mankai (Cherry blossoms of Arashiyama)

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)

10 seconds more electricity than the entire studio over the past 2 years

French artist Joanie Lemercier spent the past few years working to lower the carbon footprint of his studio only to learn that his first “drop” of NFT artworks on Nifty Gateway “consumed in 10 seconds more electricity than the entire studio over the past 2 years.”

NFTs and the market places that sell them are touted as an alternative to a Wall Street-dominated financial system

If the hype is to be believed, it is a system ripe with democratic potential, will eke power from the art world’s elites and hierarchies, and will allow artists to create, sell, trade and be paid on their own terms

What an artwork is? (what is no more than a fraud?)

It’s mildly interesting to see what Beeple’s early art influences were: punk drawer Zak Smith, cartoon painter Victor Castillo, and, interestingly, Martín Ramírez, the self-taught former janitor who made most of his work while institutionalized in a California mental hospital, and developed his own private, haunting lexicon of images. Beeple dedicates an entire series of “Everydays” to redoing themes from Ramírez, whom he refers to as a “tard.”

A guide to Iannis Xenakis's music

A Greek man in his early 20s fights for his homeland as part of the Communist resistance at the end of the second world war. Shrapnel from a blast from a British tank causes a horrendous facial injury that means the permanent loss of sight in one eye. He is sentenced to death after his exile to Paris (a sentence that was later commuted to a prison term, with his conviction finally quashed with the end of the junta in 1974). By the time he returns, he has become one of the leading creative figures of the century: an architect who trained, worked, and often transcended the inspiration of his mentor and boss, Le Corbusier; an intellectual whose physical and mathematical understanding of the way individual particles interact with each other and create a larger mass - atoms, birds, people, and musical notes 

A failure to eliminate racial discrimination will continue to force innocent people to flee and fear for their lives

Violent and deadly attacks against Black, Brown, Asian and Indigenous people, toxic language, and daily and sustained racially charged acts have rightly forced painful - but necessary - conversations to re-examine prejudice, privilege, the way we view the world, and most importantly how we act. We must take this opportunity to work towards a world that is not just against racism, but is actively anti-racist.

Las Abejas (The Bees) is a Christian pacifist civil society group of Tzotzil Maya formed in Chenalho, Chiapas in 1992

As the Zapatista Army of National Liberation uprising took place in 1994, Las Abejas stood in solidarity with Zapatista ends and principles, but not their violent means. Las Abejas paid a high price for their support when the December 1997 massacre in Acteal killed 45 members praying in a church.

The Threat of Cascading Extinctions on Earth Could Be Greater Than We Thought

In the delicately tangled web of an ecosystem, snapping certain anchor lines can bring the whole thing tumbling down faster than severing other threads

Dark Matter

Sholette, a politically engaged artist, argues that imagination and creativity in the art world originate thrive in the non-commercial sector shut off from prestigious galleries and champagne receptions. This broader creative culture feeds the mainstream with new forms and styles that can be commodified and used to sustain the few artists admitted into the elite.

Tibetan monasteries barred from organising religious festival

These days all the religious activities in Tibetan monasteries are directly controlled by Monastic Management Committees, which comprises a group of Chinese government officials who are permanently stationed in the monasteries. The committee replaces the centuries-old tradition of senior lamas overseeing the study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism. 

Womanhood, as Seen by 12 Inspiring Female Photographers

To celebrate International Women’s Day, "we" invited 12 photographers – who have either contributed to or been featured on AnOthermag.com – to send us an image in response to the brief of ‘womanhood’. Here are their brilliant submissions

The Bride

a revealing, unfinished painting, titled The Bride and found in his studio after his death from pneumonia in February of 1918. On the right hand side is a scantily clad female figure, her legs akimbo, her pubic region portrayed in meticulous detail. Over the top of this, the artist has begun painting a patterned skirt, which presumably would have obscured the subject’s nether regions. Viewers have often wondered what is happening beneath the hefty drapery covering the protagonists of The Kiss and other such works, and if The Bride is anything to go by, the answer is a lot.

Girlhood (It’s complicated)

commemorates the anniversary of woman suffrage by exploring the concept of girlhood in the United States, but also how girls changed history in five areas: politics, education, work, health, and fashion. We argue that girlhood has an unexpected and complicated history and that girls, like suffragists, used their voices to make a difference.

How Nefertiti Became a Powerful Symbol in Contemporary Art

Since its discovery in the early 20th century, the bust of Nefertiti, a work of limestone and stucco crafted by the sculptor Thutmose around 1345 B.C.E., has cemented the ancient Egyptian queen’s relevance as a global pop-culture icon. 

Tibet ranked as the joint-worst place in the world for civil rights and political freedoms

summary of political rights and civil liberties in Tibet is expected to be released later this year. It is likely to include further restrictions on freedom of religion, the detention of Tibetans who criticise the Chinese government or carry out peaceful protests, torture and the ongoing “vocational training” programme, which last year saw at least 500,000 rural Tibetans encouraged or coerced to move from the land they have historically stewarded and into menial jobs.

Dissenting Artists Around the Globe Were Jailed and Killed at an Alarming Rate Last Year, According to a New Report

The survey found that governments may be using the pandemic as a pretense to crack down on artists.