It’s time once again for news and views that you can peruse! It’s time for another Weekly Reader! As always, if you have something that you want to share, drop a link in the comments!
‘We started eating them’: what do you do with an invasive army of crayfish clones? (from The Guardian): “Hidde is earning less for the marbled crayfish because, he believes, officials are “wary of creating demand” for the cloned animals, which could promote their breeding and exacerbate the problem. “I may give up, unless they’re prepared to make it worth my while,” he says, admitting he had personally yet to develop a taste for the meat. “I prefer to eat gambas [pawns] when I go on holiday to Spain.”
“Died Suddenly” Is Anti-Vaxxers’ New Favorite Phrase (from Slate): “Another tactic that’s used is “failed to provide context.” Vaccine rumors are intentionally vague. For example, what vaccine? What’s the condition? And so, because they are so intentionally vague, there are different hypotheses that are blended together, allowing proponents to shift from one thing to the other.”
Looking for Amazon alternatives for ethical shopping? Here are some ideas (from NPR): “Still, some organizations — especially small ones — say the money made a huge difference to them. Many shoppers who use AmazonSmile have expressed their dismay on social media and shared the impact the program has had on the charities they support, with some threatening to stop shopping on Amazon and urging others to cancel their Prime subscriptions.”
Acting Out Dreams Predicts Parkinson’s and Other Brain Diseases (from Scientific American): “Not all nocturnal behaviors are RBD. Sleepwalking and sleep talking, which occur more often during childhood and adolescence, take place during non-REM sleep. This difference is clearly distinguishable in a sleep laboratory, where clinicians can monitor stages of sleep to see when a person moves. Nor is RBD always associated with a synucleinopathy: it can also be triggered by certain drugs such as antidepressants or caused by other underlying conditions such as narcolepsy or a brain stem tumor.”
Ad spending on Twitter falls by over 70% in Dec – data (from Reuters): “According to the SMI data, ad spending on Twitter in November fell 55% from last year despite these months traditionally being a time of higher ad spending as brands promote their products during the holiday season.”
Finally, a solution to the Switch’s Joy-Con drift (from The Verge): “Unlike your standard Joy-Cons from Nintendo, Gulikit’s joystick replacements use something called Hall effect sensors to essentially make them drift-proof — the same technology used by Sega’s 90s-era Saturn 3D and Dreamcast controllers. As iFixit points out, the sensors use magnets to detect the joystick’s movement, which means none of the components actually rub up against each other and wear out like the sensors used on Joy-Cons do.”
Meta to Reinstate Trump’s Facebook and Instagram Accounts (from The New York Times): “Just over two years after Donald J. Trump’s accounts were suspended from Facebook and Instagram, Meta, the owner of the platforms, said on Wednesday that it would reinstate the former president’s access to the social media services.”
Yeah, actually, your plastic coffee pod may not be great for the climate (from NPR): “Despite the hype, it’s hard to know how solid the conclusions are in the article that blew up online this week. That’s in part because the article isn’t a formal study that has been peer-reviewed, which means it hasn’t been vetted yet by other experts in the field. The article’s lead author, Luciano Rodrigues Viana, a doctoral student at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi, said in an email to NPR that he hopes to release a peer-reviewed study soon.”
North Dakota weighs ban on ‘sexually explicit’ library books (from NBC News): “In addition to banning depictions of “sexual identity” and “gender identity,” the measure specifies 10 other things that library books cannot visually depict, including “sexual intercourse,” “sexual preference” and “sexual perversion,” — though it does not define any of those terms. The proposal does not apply to books that have “serious artistic significance” or “materials used in science courses,” among other exceptions.”
In parts of Ancient Greece, first-cousin marriage was not only allowed but encouraged, DNA shows (from CNN): “Stockhammer explained the significance of the discovery, saying: “With this knowledge we are basically forced to rethink the social organizations in this period and societies that were behind these amazing works of art and architecture.”
That’s all for today, but don’t worry! I’ll have more reading material for you in just a few short days! Until then, have a great rest of your week and happy reading!
Iacon East 