Mahathir Mohamad, the father of modern Malaysia, is backing the man he sacked as his deputy and saw imprisoned on charges of sodomy to be prime minister, in an attempt to unseat the scandal-ridden incumbent. In a remarkable political U-turn ahead of a general election next year, Mahathir now says that his former protege Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s most … Read more
Their structures are still standing more than 1,500 years after the last centurion snuffed it: now the Romans’ secret of durable marine concrete has finally been cracked. The Roman recipe – a mix of volcanic ash, lime (calcium oxide), seawater and lumps of volcanic rock – held together piers, breakwaters and harbours. Moreover, in contrast … Read more
For almost a century, Neandertals were considered the ancestors of modern humans. But in a new plot twist in the unfolding mystery of how Neandertals were related to modern humans, it now seems that members of our lineage were among the ancestors of Neandertals. Researchers sequenced ancient DNA from the mitochondria—tiny energy factories inside cells—from … Read more
Newspaper columns usually talk politics or policy, but not this one. Today I want to discuss an emotion: contempt. “The action of scorning or despising” is the dictionary definition. “The condition of being held worthless.” Contempt is the thread that runs through much of the worst barbarism in today’s Britain. When Grenfell Tower burned down, … Read more
Creativity is one of the great challenges for machine intelligence. There is no shortage of evidence showing how machines can match and even outperform humans in vast areas of endeavor, such as face and object recognition, doodling, image synthesis, language translation, a vast variety of games such as chess and Go, and so on. But when … Read more
Horse breeding records are some of the most impressive efforts to chronicle animal lineages in human history, with some stretching back thousands of years. Yet decoding the genetic origins of today’s horses has proved remarkably difficult. Now, a new study finds that nearly all modern horse breeds can be traced to two distinct, ancient Middle Eastern … Read more
It is said that honesty is the best policy. Sadly, People nowadays have become less honest with each other than in the past, which makes living these days harder. Our serious problem today is not simply that many people routinely tell lies. It’s just that people have departed from the truth for one reason or another. In … Read more
People gathered outside the Supreme Court in Washington on Monday, the last day of the court’s term.CreditStephen Crowley/The New York Times WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court was shorthanded for most of the term that ended Monday, and it responded with caution, setting a modern record for consensus. “Having eight was unusual and awkward,” Justice Samuel … Read more
Acare home is raided by the Border Agency. Staff are removed as they have no identity documents and are working long hours in poor conditions. The home, it turns out, is being used as a conduit for trafficking women into the UK. This is a true story, told recently by a social care professional to … Read more
Credit: Activision Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered is finally getting a standalone release. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered is finally getting a standalone release. The game drops on PS4 next Tuesday for $39.99. That’s not a huge surprise. The standalone release was leaked as recently as last week. The game lands on June 27th, … Read more