In Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities (1930), set in Vienna on the eve of the First World War, the army general Stumm von Bordwehr asks, ‘How can those directly involved in what's happening know beforehand whether it will turn out to be a great event?' His answer is that ‘all they can do is pretend to themselves that it is! If I may indulge in a paradox, I'd say that the history of the world is written before it happens; it always starts off as a kind of gossip.' Last week, with Donald (…)

Jewish Scholars intentionally violate the controversial and discredited IHRA definition of antisemitism which has been a tool for the Trump administration to imprison activists and dismantle higher education
WASHINGTON - Over 32 prominent Jewish scholars of antisemitism, Holocaust Studies, and Jewish History today challenged the Trump administration's authoritarian crackdown on free speech by demonstrating the danger and falsehood of its false claims to care about Jewish safety. The Trump (…)

China has approved the construction of what will be the world's largest hydropower dam, stoking concerns about displacement of communities in Tibet and environmental impacts downstream in India and Bangladesh.
Getty Images An aerial view of a section of the Yarlung Tsangpo River on May 13, 2023Getty Images
The dam, which will be located in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo river, could generate three times more energy than the Three Gorges Dam, currently the world's largest (…)

China recently approved the construction of the world's largest hydropower dam, across the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet. When fully up and running, it will be the world's largest power plant – by some distance.
Yet many are worried the dam will displace local people and cause huge environmental disruption. This is particularly the case in the downstream nations of India and Bangladesh, where that same river is known as the Brahmaputra.
China recently approved the construction of the (…)

Une étude récente a cherché à déterminer la diversité et l'évolution de la pensée des primates et à relier cette diversité à la complexité de leur environnement.
Nous sommes nombreux à nous demander comment pensent les animaux, par exemple comment ils planifient leurs déplacements, comment ils se souviennent de la localisation de certains arbres fruitiers, comment ils choisissent leurs partenaires sociaux ou sexuels. Pour comprendre comment pensent les autres animaux, notamment les (…)