You could be forgiven for never having heard of The Butler’s Night Off, an obscure 1951 Canadian film that was a little bit of noir, a little bit of comedy and a whole lot of forgettable. Indeed it would have been forgotten entirely, were it not for a small part played by a 20-year-old actor whose character name was simply listed as “a crook” and whose real name, as p…
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Scrolling through social media these days, you’ll see that loud extremists continue to dominate COVID-19 discourse. At one pole are the denialists who argue—incorrectly—that COVID is “just a cold.” At the other are those who suggest that no meaningful progress has been made in controlling its devastation. The truth, of course, is somewhere in the middle.
We h…
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Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that the world had reached a new tipping point, with more than half of global energy investments going into clean and renewable technologies. But that spark of good news in an otherwise grim year for the climate seems to have largely sidestepped Africa. The continent received only 2% of global green energy investments in 2023, d…
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If the benefits of physical activity were distilled into a pill, everyone would be on it. Studies show that moving improves nearly every aspect of health: boosting sleep, strength, and mental well-being while slashing the risk of chronic conditions and premature death. What’s more, studies show that exercise has a positive impact even when done in very short chunks and with no equipment or fa…
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“This year, there are worse ticks than many of us have ever seen in our lives,” says Janet Foley, an epidemiologist at the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
Ticks are roaming American forests in greater numbers this year than any in recent memory leaving thousands of humans at risk for lyme disease, say public health officials. And things could get …
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South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) issued a warning urging people to stop eating deep fried toothpicks. Videos of people preparing and eating the toothpicks have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram in recent months, and appear to be especially popular in South Korea.
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As businesses, schools and other organizations were forced to quickly, and sometimes haphazardly, move their operations online amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they embraced a number of tools making that shift possible. Among them: Zoom, a video conferencing service that’s seen a huge increase in usage by everyone from teachers to coworkers to friends looking to host group hangouts with one an…
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In 2018, Rachel Cullen began receiving new followers to her account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. A writer based in northern England, she often used the platform to promote her work, so the uptick didn’t immediately raise alarm bells. “My Twitter presence is significant enough that I initially didn’t quite catch on to what was happening,” she said.
As the new follow…
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During the opening scene of Power Slap: Road to the Title, the TBS show debuting last week that features the emergent sport of slap fighting, striker Chris Thomas steps into a square and calls “right three.” He’s indicating to the official that on a count of three, he will wind up and smack his opponent, Chris Kennedy, with all the velocity and power available to him …
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Alison Phillips, an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University, grew so, so tired of using the elliptical machine in her home, day after day, for over a year during the pandemic. First off, the repetition was aching her feet. But even worse, it hurt her mind. “It’s boring,” says Phillips. “Same thing, all the time.” So two weeks to the day after Phi…
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