The skies of southern Australia turned a hazy orange this week as a dust storm reduced visibility, prompting health warnings and creating scenes reminiscent of an apocalyptic movie, rather than a late-autumn day. The storm was driven by powerful winds carrying dust from the drought-stricken ground of South Australia into the neighboring states of Victoria … Read more
It is easy to forget that Jacinda Ardern is a former prime minister of New Zealand. Standing in line at a cafe in Cambridge, Mass., wearing a suit by the New Zealand designer Juliette Hogan, with sneakers and gold hoops, she flashes a disarming smile and says to call her “just Jacinda.” As she orders … Read more
Who are you calling over-the-hill? The truth about brain ageing
Most birds go for ease when looking for drinking water. But the sulfur-crested cockatoos in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, often prefer to quench their thirst with a challenging puzzle. In the city’s western suburbs, some of the birds have figured out how to use public drinking fountains. The mohawked parrots deftly use one foot … Read more
In the Hulu drama “Nine Perfect Strangers,” now in its second season, Nicole Kidman plays Masha, the unorthodox director of an unorthodox wellness retreat. Alpine trekking, dangerously cold ice plunges, hallucinogens — they’re all on the menu. Her approach might be unexpected, some might even say illegal, but Masha insists her motives are pure. “It’s … Read more
New Zealand’s Parliament on Thursday suspended three opposition lawmakers over their performance of the haka, a traditional Māori dance, as a protest while the body was considering a contentious bill last year. In a party-line vote, lawmakers voted to suspend Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, the co-leaders of the Te Pāti Māori party, without pay … Read more
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Dystopian thriller “Soylent Green” ends with the hero discovering that the mystery food that sustains New York’s citizens, and whose name the movie bears, is actually made of human beings. Reports that Meta Platforms may … Read more
new video loaded: New Zealand Parliament Suspends Lawmakers for Haka Dance Protest transcript Back transcript New Zealand Parliament Suspends Lawmakers for Haka Dance Protest Co-leaders of the Te Pāti Māori party, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, were suspended on Thursday without pay for 21 days, and another member of the party, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, was suspended … Read more
The technology that powered Covid vaccines may also lead scientists to a cure for H.I.V. Using mRNA, Australian researchers said they were able to trick the virus to come out of hiding, a crucial step in ridding the body of it entirely. The research, published last week in Nature Communications, is still preliminary, and so … Read more
In the movie “Jurassic Park,” a character proclaims there is nothing to fear from a towering Brachiosaurus, because it’s a “veggie-saurus” that eats only plants. Littlefoot, the “Longneck” dinosaur in the “Land Before Time” series, chows down on leaves, or “tree stars.” But while pop culture and general scientific opinion have agreed for decades that … Read more