From The Atlantic (which has become a hybrid of The New Yorker and Time ... still not sure how I feel about this):
On the wretched state of dialysis treatment in America (yet another infuriating health care topic):
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/-8220-god-help-you-you-39-re-on-dialysis-8221/8308/
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/dirty-coal-clean-future/8307/
From The New Yorker:
On bananas, their blight, and how genetic-modification and/or breeding may save them:
On Belgium, its widening cultural/political rift, and potential separation: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/10/110110fa_fact_buruma (abstract only)
On the innocuous toppling of a Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad in 2003, how it became the iconic image of the Iraq War, and how it was spun to project a false sense of victory:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/10/110110fa_fact_maass
From Smithsonian:
On the inner-workings of the Colosseum, now open to visitors:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Secrets-of-the-Colosseum.html
On the rising problem of wild pigs, how they plague Texas, and possibly the rest of the country:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/A-Plague-of-Pigs-in-Texas.html
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Arcimboldos-Feast-for-the-Eyes.html (for those of you in or near DC, you should definitely visit this exhibit at the National Gallery)
From National Geographic:
On the advent of world's seven-billionth person (7 billion!), the first article in a series looking at the development of the global population, ensuing problems, and potential solutions in the next century:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/seven-billion/kunzig-text
On the impressive (and often overlooked) Native American Indian mound city near St. Louis:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/cahokia/hodges-text
And from The Economist:
On when bad things happen to good people: http://www.economist.com/node/17851369?story_id=17851369 (in Pakistan) and http://www.economist.com/node/17851285?story_id=17851285 (in Russia)
On continuing crises on opposite sides of the Atlantic: http://www.economist.com/node/17851265?story_id=17851265 (Haiti one year after the earthquake) and http://www.economist.com/node/17857371?story_id=17857371 (Cote d'Ivoire and its neighbors)
So, overall, some good news and some bad to start off the year. Stayed tuned and stay informed.
ps. Here's an update on the Sudanese referendum vote: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/world/africa/16juba.html?scp=4&sq=sudan&st=cse
Reading about that Vietnamese cave is so, so cool - I want to go there. Want to become a spelunker with me? As long as we stick to large caves, I think I could manage to avoid feeling claustrophobic.
ReplyDeleteAnd I read that clean coal article too - very interesting, with some encouraging descriptions of the technology (especially because my knee jerk reaction has always been to roll my eyes when someone mentions it).
ReplyDeleteYes! I've always wanted to spelunk. Let's go to Vietnam this summer and go caving. Then I can write a long, crazy travel memoir with monsoon rains, menacing border guards, junky motorcycles, helpful villagers, delicious foods, and incredible caverns--and you can provide the photographs. Cool?
ReplyDeleteYes. The article seems to suggest that monsoon rains make these caves "impassable" for about six months of the year. Sounds maybe like an excuse to learn how to scuba dive?
ReplyDeletemaybe someday in my life I'll have time to read any or all of these things...
ReplyDeletesaw this today and thought you'd enjoy! http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/freakonomics-radio-waiter-theres-a-physicist-in-my-soup-part-i/?hp
I NEED to listen to this podcast haha