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S1Male birth control breakthrough safely switches off fit sperm for a while  A non-hormonal, reversible and non-toxic male birth control could be a step closer, with scientists successfully targeting a protein that's crucial in making fertile sperm. Knocking this protein out for a period of time would give men control over their protection window, much like oral contraceptives for women – but without other side effects and no long-lasting fertility issues.
Scientists already knew that a serine/threonine kinase 33 (STK33) gene mutation results in the male being sterile. When Baylor College of Medicine researchers found a small-molecule compound that could knock out STK33 temporarily, it produced the same result. While not the first non-hormonal sperm-targeted therapy, this research finds a new target as the science world continues its long quest to find 'the pill' for men.
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S5S6For Ambitious Employees, a Viable Career Path Can Make Up for a Just-OK Manager | Lynda Gratton The spring 2024 issue’s special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.
The spring 2024 issue’s special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.
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S9The surge in hydroelectric dams is driving massive biodiversity loss Around the world, free-flowing natural rivers are being fragmented by dams, weirs and other barriers. It’s one of the biggest, yet least acknowledged, causes of biodiversity loss worldwide.
River fragmentation is a key reason migratory fish populations have declined by 81% since 1970, according to a new report by the Living Planet Index – a rate of wildlife loss six times that of animals that live on land or in the sea.
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S10What the economic data told Rishi Sunak about the best date for a general election The announcement of July 4 for the UK general election took many by surprise. A key question is why it was called then when it did not have to be? The decision to call an election is always a gamble – there is perhaps no right time – and many factors feed into that call.
Legally, a general election had to be called in 2024. Behind the scenes, those in Number 10 will have been modelling when the vote should be held with the help of key economic indicators such as inflation and gross domestic product (GDP), as well as analysing the polls and speaking to focus groups.
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S11Louisiana set to reclassify abortion pills as controlled, dangerous substances - here's what that means Louisiana’s Legislature approved a bill on May 23, 2024, that would reclassify two abortion pills, mifepristone and misoprostol, as “controlled, dangerous substances.” Both pills have a long history of safe and effective use in medication abortions as well as for treatment of miscarriages and other conditions. The bill, which is expected to be signed into law by the state’s governor, makes it illegal to possess either of the pills without a prescription. Surgical and medication abortions are already banned in Louisiana, with few exceptions.
The Conversation U.S. asked twin sisters Jamie Rowen, a legal scholar, and Tami Rowen, an obstetrician and gynecologist, to explain the new law’s implications – both for patients and providers.
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S12A century ago, the women of Wales made an audacious appeal for world peace - this is their story February 11 1924, on board the RMS Cedric: Saw Statue of Liberty glowing in the sunlight. Bitterly cold wind, bright sunshine. At lunch, a press man came to me and said: ‘Mrs Griffiths, I am from the press.’ ‘I have nothing to say,’ I said. ‘Oh!’ said he, ‘we know your story of the Women of Wales movement, we want only your photos – will you come to the top deck when you have finished?’ So [we] trotted up to the top deck first class, where we found four burly photographers awaiting us.
March 12 1924, Los Angeles: A letter was handed to me as I left the station – an anonymous letter, telling us to get out of the United States.
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S13AI Can't Change the Surface Pro's Ugliest Truth Microsoft got a lot right with its new Surface Pro. While the iconic silhouette of the tablet 2-in-1 hasn’t changed, inside, Microsoft’s done everything to make the Surface experience better — and critically, competitive with Apple silicon-based MacBook Airs.
The revamped Surface Pro has an option for a brighter OLED screen, new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips inside for more efficient performance and significantly longer battery life, and a whole host of AI features, like universal live transcriptions, and Recall, which catalogs everything you do on your computer and makes it searchable. Even Surface Pro accessories have been improved. The new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard is more rigid than before, has a larger haptic trackpad, and — for the first time — it works detached from the Surface itself.
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S156 ways to encourage political discussion on college campuses Since early 2017, I have been observing events on college campuses in which students are brought together with peers with whom they disagree to talk about politics. In these sessions, facilitators provide students with guiding questions that help them to understand their peers’ political views.
I conducted follow-up interviews with students a few weeks afterward and, when possible, three years later.
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S16What is a secular state? How South Africa has tried to separate religion and politics The shifting relationship between state and religion has historically been a contested space, and the focus of much scholarship. It is important for observers to understand this unstable boundary, so that neither political nor religious actors undermine democratic freedoms. Calvin D. Ullrich, a theologian and philosopher of religion, examines the evolution of the state-religion context in South Africa.
The primary feature of a secular state is political secularism, which is the attempt to draw distinctions between state and religious institutions and their activities. According to this definition, political secularism did not exist in South Africa at the time it was established as a unified country in 1910. In other words, no meaningful differentiation was made between the mechanisms of statecraft and religious institutions. Instead they were conflated as a violent politics of racial rule became sanctioned by these institutions. This crystallised into the system of apartheid.
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S17Putin's designs on a Baltic island are leading Sweden to prepare for war Gotland has been a popular holiday destination for decades, but recently Swedish commander-in-chief, Mikael Bydén, claimed that Russian president Vladmir Putin “has his eyes” on the island. Concern was further ramped up, showing Gotland was just one part of Russia’s ambitions in the Baltics, in the last few days when Russia published a document suggesting that it needed to reassess the maritime borders in the Gulf of Finland.
That draft decree by the Russian defence ministry, which has since been removed, proposed that Russia wanted to revise its borders with Finland and Kaliningrad (based on a resolution adopted by the Soviet Union’s council of ministers in 1985) and expand its territorial waters.
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S18Scrapping FA Cup replays has upset smaller clubs, but they could still win from being matched against the top sides Football fans delight in historic moments enjoyed by their club. Exeter City supporters for example, will have fond memories of the FA Cup third round match their team played on the wintry afternoon of January 8 2005.
Jubilant scenes greeted the final whistle after the side fought valiantly to secure a 0-0 draw, which gave Exeter City two things worth celebrating. First, as a non-league side in the fifth tier of English football, they had gone toe to toe with Alex Ferguson’s hugely successful Manchester United at Old Trafford. And second, they secured themselves a lucrative replay to decide which team would progress to the fourth round.
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S19Does 'whining' really make you happier? A therapist gives his verdict The Sun interpreted this as: “Whining can actually make us happier – but only in a key setting”. And the Daily Mail as: “Ranting with your friends can actually make you happier, study finds”. But does misery really like company so much that we might enjoy being miserable? Let’s take a closer look at the study.
This process of collective rumination is key to psychotherapy, where it is not only the telling of negative experiences to another, but the experience of having your experiences validated, that has the potential to enable you to feel better – or, at least, less bad.
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S20Haiti: first Kenyan police arrive to help tackle gang violence - but the prospects for success are slim An advance team of Kenyan special forces police have arrived in the troubled Caribbean nation of Haiti. They are part of a larger UN-backed “support” mission tasked with establishing order, pushing back the advances of criminal gangs and allowing the freshly appointed interim government to function effectively.
In total, around 2,500 officers are expected to join the mission from a host of nations, including the Bahamas, Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin and Chad. This multinational police force will do the heavy lifting on the ground. But the bulk of the money to see the mission through will come from the US.
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S21Depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder linked with ancient viral DNA in our genome - new research Around 8% of human DNA is made up of genetic sequences acquired from ancient viruses. These sequences, known as human endogenous retroviruses (or Hervs), date back hundreds of thousands to millions of years – with some even predating the emergence of Homo sapiens.
Hervs represent the remnants of these infections with ancient retroviruses. Retroviruses are viruses that insert a copy of their genetic material into the DNA of the cells they infect. Retroviruses probably infected us on multiple occasions during our evolutionary past. When these infections occurred in sperm or egg cells that generated offspring, the genetic material from these retroviruses was passed on to subsequent generations, becoming a permanent part of our lineage.
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S22S23Election 2024: the stakes are higher than they appear, so quality information is essential With the UK heading for an election on July 4, it can feel like the result is pre-ordained. Labour has maintained a decisive poll lead for over a year and nothing Rishi Sunak does appears to shift the dial.
For a start, there is no possible result in this contest that couldn’t be described as monumental. Should Keir Starmer win, he would have pulled off the most astonishing electoral turnaround in living memory and return Labour to power for the first time in 14 years. Should Rishi Sunak win, he’d practically be defying gravity.
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S24Little evidence suggests Rishi Sunak will benefit from a football feelgood factor by holding a July election - it may even be an own goal Amid the shock of prime minister Rishi Sunak’s unexpected election announcement, it has not gone unnoticed that the July 4 date coincides with this summer’s European Championships in Germany. England and Scotland are competing in the tournament – though UK football fans will be relieved to know that the election won’t interfere too much with their viewing plans. July 4 is a rest day for the tournament, with no matches taking place.
Is this timing purely coincidental or has prime minister Rishi Sunak hoping that a general air of national pride and jubilation around the football will help his chances? If it’s the latter, he may be sorely disappointed.
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