May 22, 2023 | History, Salon.com
Believe it or not, there once was a time when trans people could be the stars of popular fiction without arousing nationwide controversy and manufactured outrage.
“Even though it’s ‘just’ a short story, it must have resonated with readers because it appeared in one of the most popular magazines of the day.”
May 20, 2023 | History, Salon.com
President Lyndon B. Johnson is one of American history’s most enigmatic figures. Although he is rightly criticized for bungling the Vietnam War, he was also one of the most productive progressives to ever inhabit the White House. Thanks to his knack for parliamentary maneuvering, Johnson passed some of the most important liberal legislation in American history: the landmark civil rights laws of the 1960s, Medicare, Medicaid, consumer protections, federal funding to education and the arts and protecting the environment....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 19, 2023 | Salon.com
Approximately one million species currently face extinction because of human activity. Even for humans who do not value nature for its own sake, the impending wave of extinctions is a serious crisis. One out of five people rely on wild species for their jobs or for food, and billions more use wood for cooking and other day-to-day activities....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 18, 2023 | Salon.com
Plastic pollution arguably poses as much of a threat to humanity’s survival as climate change. It enters our food and water, and therefore our bodies, and has been linked to diseases from infertility to cancer. Plastic pollution is also clogging up our ocean, with giant piles and random junk alike destroying the lives of millions of sea turtles, seabirds and marine mammals....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 17, 2023 | Salon.com
In Greek mythology, Narcissus is a vain young man who falls in love with his own reflection. Clinically speaking, narcissistic personality disorder is the figurative equivalent of that famous story: A narcissist places themselves on a high pedestal and engage in toxic behavior as a result. Hence, narcissists are typically chronically stubborn, entitled and envious, and/or oversensitive to criticism....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 16, 2023 | Salon.com
Pesticides have come under increased scrutiny in recent years. From the discovery that the herbicide glyphosate is in 80 percent of Americans’ urine to concerns that weedkillers’ neonicotinoids in pesticides are killing off bees, scientists keep amassing alarming information about the products ostensibly intended to protect our food. Now a recent study by a nonprofit focused on protecting the environment reveals a new problem with pesticides: They are filled with forever chemicals, a class of compound that is typically used in nonstick and waterproof surfaces....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 15, 2023 | Salon.com
Why are crab fisheries at risk for collapse? Just follow your nose — or rather, theirs.
Crabs use their sense of smell like humans use their eyes and intuition. When young crabs are seeking shelter from predators, they use their sense of smell to eke out a good hiding place. A crab’s sense of smell is vital for its ability to find food....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 14, 2023 | Salon.com
Autistic people don’t get listened to — least of all when they’re talking about their own autism.
“Loads of people saying to me that they thought I could be [autistic]. And then the second you get diagnosed, it’s like a switch flips and people start telling you, ‘you don’t look autistic.'”
May 13, 2023 | Salon.com
Currently, there is so much plastic junk in the ocean that a large garbage patch that is essentially an amorphous island twice as large as Texas that has been formed in the Pacific. When plastic isn’t clogging up our seas, it is creeping into our bodies: Microplastics, or particles five millimeters or less across or in length, have been found in human blood and breastmilk....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 12, 2023 | Gun Control, Salon.com
“Tune into right-wing America’s favorite network, and you’d get the strong impression that leaving your house, especially in any major city, is the equivalent of walking into a war zone,” Salon’s Amanda Marcotte wrote in 2021. Marcotte was referring to the tendency of Fox News to cover the “nonexistent” crime wave in American cities, in turn propagandizing to its viewers about the notion that violent crime was out of control....
Originally posted on salon.com