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“A story of contrasts”: The DNC returns to Chicago — but 2024 promises to be nothing like 1968

By announcing in July that he would not seek a second term, President Joe Biden inadvertently revived an American tradition many experts had deemed dead for a half-century: exciting national party conventions. The last-minute switch of the lackluster Biden with his electrifying Vice President, Kamala Harris — potentially the first female president and first president of Asian and Jamaican descent — makes this convention mostly ceremonial, however, as Harris’ nomination is a foregone conclusion....

Originally posted on salon.com

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New species of extinct walrus discovered in the North Atlantic

Walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) are distinct for their massive, long tusks and fuzzy mustache-like faces, but a recently discovered extinct species looks slightly different from the creature that chilled with Alice in Wonderland. Imagine a walrus-like creature with dentition remarkably similar to modern walruses: A quartet of post-canine teeth, a large lower canine tooth and a short, fused vertical midline on their lower jaw....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Liquid water detected on Mars — but it’s buried deep beneath the red planet’s surface

For as long as humans have dreamt of discovering alien life forms, they have looked to Earth’s red dusty neighbor Mars as a prime contender. Astrobiologists know that water once existed on Mars, and given that water is considered an essential ingredient to creating life as we know it, it strengthens the chances that life forms could have previously existed on Mars… and may even still exist there today....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Exercising to lose weight? Here’s why the results may backfire

Obesity afflicts many people, with a study published earlier this year in the medical journal The Lancet showing that more than 1 billion people — or roughly one out of eight people alive today — struggles with the condition. Along with the social stigma associated with being “fat,” obesity comes with a heightened risk for a wide range of health issues including heart attacks, diabetes, strokes, fatty liver diseases, metabolic disorders, sleep apnea and various types of cancer....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Some may despise scavengers like vultures, but we’d sorely miss them if they were gone

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but it’s fair to assume that vulture looks are an acquired taste. The hook-beaked, scrawny-necked and chunky-bodied birds were immediately described as “disgusting” by English biologist Charles Darwin, although his revulsion was also due to the vultures’ diet of dead animals. Yet that same stomach-churning tendency also causes vultures to be indispensable to human ecosystems, since the rotting carcasses contain dangerous diseases that could spread to humans if not ingested by more iron-stomached scavengers....

Originally posted on salon.com

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World Health Organization updates list of infectious pathogens with pandemic potential

Another pandemic like COVID-19 is all but guaranteed, according to public health experts. Whether it happens next year or a decade from now, these massive public health emergencies naturally happen on a regular basis, especially as our world gets hotter from climate change and more viruses and other pathogens spill over from our diminishing wilderness....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Kamala Harris’ veepstakes turn into a big moment for Jewish Democrats

Former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman made history when he agreed to be Vice President Al Gore’s running mate in the 2000 election. This made him the first observant Jew to ever appear on a national ticket. As a Jewish American who had experienced antisemitism, I was inspired by Lieberman’s nomination and hoped one day a Jew might even rise up to be President of the United States....

Originally posted on salon.com

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An Indigenous tribe is regaining control of its ancestral lands while fighting climate change

The Yurok Tribe are one of the oldest existing communities in California. With a homeland stretching along northern coastal communities from Crescent City to Trinidad, there are estimated to be more than 6,000 Yurok alive in 2024. Yet despite living along the Klamath River for at least 10,000 years, the Yurok have in recent history had very little say over California’s natural resources....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Cancer rates are on the rise for younger generations — and obesity may be a big reason why

Cancer rates are on the rise for younger generations, as a recent study in the journal Lancet Public Health demonstrates. For Generation X and Millennials, the rates for 17 different types of cancers have increased dramatically, with many cases linked to the rise in obesity rates.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) analyzed information from nearly 24 million patients diagnosed with 34 types of cancer (with over 7 million fatal cases) between Jan....

Originally posted on salon.com

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