Innehållsförteckning för January 21, 2022 från The Week Magazine

We are just past the one-year anniversary of Jan. 6, and our Last Word this week gives a view of the riot from the vantage point of the Capitol Police, and it’s a terrifying read. For hours, rioters battered officers into senselessness, slamming poles into helmets and crushing hands. But to me the behavior of the crowd is in some ways less important than that of the demagogues and enablers who were hoping to harness the power of the mob. Many of the rioters were deeply confused and wildly misled by fringe media. On the other hand, the enablers, from President Trump on down, had a very clear goal in mind: subverting the results of the election by pressuring lawmakers not to certify the vote and flipping the choice to…

The mayor of Kent, Wash., has apologized for disciplining an assistant police chief for expressing Nazi sympathies by giving him two weeks of paid leave. Assistant Chief Derek Kammerzell has displayed Nazi insignia, made Holocaust jokes, and altered his office nameplate to read “Obergruppenfuhrer.” After a public outcry, Mayor Dana Ralph said that Kammerzell “will not be coming back to work.” Snap, formerly known as Snapchat, is suing to trademark the word “spectacles.” The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has rejected Snap’s application to trademark the name of its digital glasses, noting that “spectacles” is a common term for eyewear. Snap, however, argues that “‘spectacles’ is an old-fashioned term,” and that it’s “not commonly understood to mean eyeglasses.” In other news Build Back Better on hold without Manchin Sen. Joe…

Peter Dinklage longs for the days when he could leave his house without a phone camera being aimed in his direction, said Kyle Buchanan in The New York Times. The actor, who was born with dwarfism, became a global celebrity after being cast as the sly Tyrion Lannister in HBO’s smash Game of Thrones. Even “when you’re walking down the street with your kid, people take your picture without asking,” he says. Dinklage, 52, knows such complaints can sound churlish. “Everybody is like, ‘You have a great life. What’s wrong with me taking your picture?’ But it’s just on a human level, I’m not a zoo animal. Let’s say I’m having a really bad day and you’re right in my face. Am I supposed to smile for you? And…

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of NewYork drew taunts from Republicans this week after she tested positive for Covid-19 following a vacation to Miami. The progressive firebrand, 32, said she was experiencing symptoms despite being vaccinated and boosted. Critics called AOC a hypo-crite for going maskless at outdoor events in Florida, including a drag-queen show brunch where she was photographed hugging partygoers and talking to them at close range. “If I had a dollar for every lockdown politician who decided to escape to Florida over the last two years,” GOP Gov. Ron De Santis said in response, “I’d be a pretty doggone wealthy man.” AOC sparked more controversy after critics mocked her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, for wearing opentoed Birkenstocks while dining with her at an outdoor café. “If Republicans are…

Wendy Murphy Boston Herald The guilty verdict for Ghislaine Maxwell last week should bring “welcome relief” to those victimized by Jeffrey Epstein, said Wendy Murphy. But Maxwell’s conviction for serving as the procurer of underaged girls for Epstein shouldn’t mark the end of the investigation into their sex-trafficking ring. Maxwell is rightly being held accountable for her role in finding and grooming girls for Epstein and his wealthy, powerful friends—but “none of the men who took advantage of Maxwell’s ‘services’ has been charged.” This circle consists of many prominent businessmen, politicians, actors, and academics. One of the girls Maxwell procured, Virginia Giuffre, has sued Britain’s Prince Andrew—an Epstein buddy—for allegedly having sex with her when she was a teenager. But Giuffre did not participate in the trial against Maxwell, which…

An Irishman was arrested in Bucharest for allegedly breaking into Romania’s presidential palace at 4 a.m.—after drunkenly mistaking it for his hotel. The unnamed man managed to reach the third floor of the massive palace—the second-largest government building in the world after the Pentagon—having somehow evaded security. After sobering up, he told police he’d been partying in Bucharest’s old town, and couldn’t recall entering the 3,000-room palace. “It is a mystery how this guy managed to get in,” a source told The Irish Sun. Lola, a 3-year-old cocker spaniel from Leeds, U.K., is causing double takes with a luxurious blond coif that has people asking if she’s wearing a wig. “We are constantly stopped,” said owner Rebecca Dobson, 22. “Because the hair on her head is such a different color…

MEXICO Rafael Cardona La Crónica de Hoy Mexican authorities are now instructing us to fend for ourselves in the fight against Covid, said Rafael Cardona. Faced with a surge in infections, especially among children, you’d think that Health Minister Jorge Alcocer would be pushing to make more kids eligible for vaccines. Argentina, after all, is giving shots to kids as young as 3, while Chile vaccinates children at 6. But Mexico only began vaccinating 15-year-olds in November, and there are no plans to further expand eligibility. Instead, Alcocer recently told parents to simply treat their kids’ inevitable Covid infections with tea, acetaminophen, and, in his words, “what mothers use, VapoRub, and all those things.” Certainly we’re familiar with the pungent salve made of camphor and menthol; we’ve been using the…

People suffering from irritable bowel disease (IBD) have 50 percent more microplastics in their stool than those without the condition, reports the New York Post. Researchers at China’s Nanjing University in Science examined fecal samples from 52 people with IBD—a category that includes conditions such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis—and a similar-sized control group. They found that participants with IBD had 41.8 pieces of microplastic per gram, compared with 28 pieces for the control group. The findings show correlation and not causation: There is no evidence that microplastics, pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters wide, trigger or exacerbate IBD. But the study does hint at a link. By one estimate, humans ingest a credit card’s worth of plastic every week. “Human ingestion of microplastics is inevitable due to…

by Jean Chen Ho (Viking, $26) The enduring friendship at the heart of Jean Chen Ho’s debut work “rings beautifully true,” said Ilana Masad in NPR.org. Fiona and Jane have been friends since second grade, but we first see them together as teenagers, when they’re as close as can be, two daughters of Taiwanese immigrants driving around Los Angeles in a beatup car, both so real that “they begin to feel like people you’ve hung out with.” Ho “also has a knack for rendering their darker, meaner thoughts,” and to show the elastic strength of the pair’s bond, she separates and reunites them while the book cuts back and forth across time. Surprisingly, “the most moving parts” are about the friends’ origins, said Tammy Tarng in The New York Times.…

The Bright Ages by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry (Harper, $30) You’ve probably heard it said that the Middle Ages were grim, yet “nothing could be further from the truth,” said Eleanor Janega in Slate. Finally, two historians have produced a concise account that brings out the fun in appreciating the era’s complexity. These were times, after all, when the Catholic Church drove scientific progress and “art, beauty, and luxury had a central place in life.” The Bright Ages, in bringing that out, proves to be nuanced history “that almost anyone can enjoy reading.” Powers and Thrones by Dan Jones (Viking, $35) Dan Jones’ longer new history of the Middle Ages focuses more exclusively on political and military events and trends, said Emily Michelson in The Washington Post. Jones’…

Peacemaker John Cena’s knucklehead of a superhero, who carries out assassinations in the name of peace, has landed his own series after being introduced in last summer’s The Suicide Squad. James Gunn directs, creating, thus far, a generic mix of humor and comicbook action. HBO Max Naomi She’s not from Krypton, but the Black teenager played by Kaci Walfall in this new CW series has plenty in common with Superman, including superpowers. Ava DuVernay developed the show, whose episodes are available to stream for free a day after their cable debut. CWtv.com The Umbrella Academy My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way wrote the comic-book series—about a group of misfits raised as foster children by a wealthy Professor X–like figure; the show has heaps of style and wry humor, and really…

Contrary to popular belief, alcohol-free wine can be more than just grape juice, said Jessica Sulima in Thrillist.com. Though many nonalcoholic wines are sweet beverages made without fermentation, de-alcoholized wines “taste closer to the real deal,” because they are true wines that have had the alcohol removed. Below, a few worth trying: Teetotaler Red ($23). Canadian-based Teetotaler imports Spanish wines and removes the alcohol. The red, made from Tempranillo grapes, delivers “notes of oak, cherry and plum.” Sovi Red Blend ($32 for a fourcan pack). California-based Sovi debuted with an alcohol-removed canned rosé, but their “slightly effervescent” red blend is the standout. It “drinks like a great lambrusco.” Thomson & Scott Noughty Sparkling Rosé ($20). Produced in Germany, this full-bodied sparkler has a floral nose and notes of strawberry…

Anova Precision Cooker Nano “If you like to experiment in the kitchen, you might have fun with a sous vide cooker.” This affordable immersion circulator performs “on par with much more expensive machines,” and is “impressively easy to use.” $129, anovaculinary.com Source: Wirecutter.com Breville Joule Smaller yet more powerful, Breville’s 1,100-watt, app-controlled cooker heats water more rapidly and maintains precise temperatures “with perfect accuracy.” The sleek, waterproof device’s magnetic base allows it to stand upright without a clamp. $200, breville.com Source: Cook’s Illustrated FoodSaver FM2435 Vacuum Sealer Though you can cook sous vide using a zip-top plastic bag, a vacuum sealing provides the best results. A bonus: Once food is vacuum-sealed and cooked to perfection, it will last in your fridge for about a month. $89, walmart.com Source:…

Krisp cleans up your audio during online meetings. “A truly wonderful miracle of modern technology,” the app uses AI to isolate your voice while blocking background noise, including from pets and keyboards. Forest is a free game that rewards you for not sneaking looks at texts and other screen distractions by growing an image of a tree for as long as you resist the urge. “Get several focus sessions per day under your belt and you’ll have yourself an adorable little forest.” Stretchly encourages regular breaks from computer work, forcing the issue by projecting a big, unmovable window in front of whatever you’re working on. Available via the developer’s website (hovancik.net), the desktop app lets you set the time interval. myNoise.net is a background sound generator that lets users tinker…

Consumer prices rose 7 percent in the past year, said Reade Pickert in Bloomberg, the biggest increase since 1982. The Labor Department data “bolsters expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin raising inter-est rates” as early as March. Testifying before Congress this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated that the central bank was prepared to raise rates several times in 2022 to cool the economy. Prices for automobiles continue to drive the inflationary surge, a symptom of supply chain issues. But home prices and rents have surged as well, giving inflation “an enduring tailwind.” Investing: Trader wins case against Robinhood A truck driver from Connecticut was awarded $29,460 in damages this week over Robinhood’s decision to halt stock trading last January, said Natasha Dailey in Business Insider. Jose Batista filed…

The touchy-feely CEO retreat Tech entrepreneurs are seeking to optimize their emotional skills at weekend boot camps, said Allison Levitsky in Protocol.com. “Tgroups—where the ‘T’ stands for training—are well-known to Stanford MBAs, around 85 percent of whom participate in one” before graduating. But these “touchy-feely” retreats are catching on more broadly as a way for startup founders “to practice empathy, vulnerability, and giving and receiving feedback.” The downside: T-groups encourage a level of sharing “that would make many people cringe.” Many utilize “feelings charts,” an uncomfortable tactic for tech types “who aren’t used to talking” so openly. The nonprofit Leaders in Tech, which runs T-groups for startup executives, counts the CEOs of MasterClass, Good Eggs, and Change.org among the alumni of its retreats—which run $6,250 for a weekend. Don’t let…

Jonathan Guilford Reuters Breakingviews Toyota has won a historic victory, said Jonathan Guilford—in a war that has become ever less important. For the first time since 1931, General Motors was outsold domestically by another automaker. The crown now belongs to Japan’s Toyota, which racked up 2.3 million sales to overtake its Detroitbased rival. Toyota’s advantage was a decade in the making. The company had been a pioneer in the just-in-time manufacturing model of “keeping no more parts in stock than necessary.” But after the Fukushima earthquake severed Toyota’s supply chains in 2011, it realized semiconductors were one product it couldn’t afford to gamble with in the event of another devastating shock. In 2021, when “the chip supply crisis forced nearly every major car manufacturer to idle production capacity,” Toyota emerged…

Betty White’s small-screen career was one for the record books. In February 1939, a then 17-year-old White danced in front of the cameras for an experimental TV broadcast, and over the following eight decades was rarely absent from the medium. Though best known as a comedic actress, she was likely the first solo female talk show host in history and one of the few successful female producers of the 1950s. Dubbed the First Lady of Television, she worked on comedies, dramas, game shows, commercials, and televised parades. White had her most memorable roles in two classic sitcoms, as the nymphomaniacal Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the delightful but dim Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, and cultivated a sunny, chipper persona that belied a…

Sidney Poitier was America’s first Black movie star. In a string of leading roles in the 1950s and ’60s, the tall, charismatic Bahamian upended a long tradition of Black actors playing entertainers or servants and gave audiences something unprecedented: Black characters with poise, dignity, and authority. He was the first Black nominee for a Best Actor Oscar, for his portrayal of an escaped prisoner chained to a white racist in 1958’s The Defiant Ones. Five years later he became the first to win that Oscar, in his role as an itinerant handyman who helps a group of nuns build a church in Lilies of the Field. His fame hit a peak in 1967, when he starred in three major hits: To Sir, With Love, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner—a…

Peter Scott-Morgan is slowly transforming himself into the world’s first advanced cyborg, said LaVonne Roberts in InputMag.com. Diagnosed in 2017 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, the British robotics scientist was given two years to live. ALS affects the motor neurons in the brain, leaving victims unable to walk, talk, or eventually swallow or breathe. But Scott-Morgan, who is almost completely paralyzed, sees salvation in robotics. “Paralysis is an engineering problem,” the 63-year-old says. The answer is to become “the most advanced human cybernetic organism ever created.” Scott-Morgan now uses his eyes to type out text that’s spoken by a synthesized voice approximating his old one. His face has been scanned to produce a 3D-animated avatar that he wears on his chest during public appearances; recent improvements will allow his…

Amanda Carpenter The Bulwark Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s groveling humiliation “wasn’t the worst part” of his cringeworthy appearance on the Tucker Carlson show last week, said Amanda Carpenter. Cruz begged the demagogic Fox News host for forgiveness for using the phrase “violent terrorist attack” to describe the Jan. 6 insurrection. The Republican senator protested that he’d applied it only to those who assaulted police—but that didn’t placate Carlson, who said Cruz had “lied” about the rioters, slandered all Trump supporters, and was aiding and abetting the Democrats’ persecution of those arrested at the Capitol. Desperate to get back into the Trumpist right’s good graces, Cruz allowed that while he’s repeatedly used the word “terrorist” to describe antifa and BLM activists who “assaulted cops,” it was wrong to apply it to…

GERMANY Theresa Crysmann T-online.de Every schoolchild knows that natural gas and nuclear energy are not “green energy sources,” said Theresa Crysmann. Natural gas may be less polluting than oil, but its largest component is methane, which is 25 times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide. And nuclear plants excrete radioactive waste, “glowing mountains of rubbish” that must be stored for thousands of years. Yet the European Commission, the European Union’s executive branch, has decided that the only way to hit its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is to reclassify natural gas and nuclear power as sustainable. It’s preposterous, like “announcing a weight-loss program and then declaring cherry cake and sausage to be diet foods.” The commission has included nuclear and natural gas on its list…

Pope Francis is worried that too many young people “prefer pets to children,” said Celia Viggo Wexler in NBCNews.com. The Holy Father last week complained there are too many “selfish” couples in Western nations who “do not have children because they do not want to, or they have just one, but they have two dogs, two cats.” As a woman quite content with my one child, I found his remarks “insulting,” as did many other women and animal lovers. With its widely ignored ban on “artificial contraception,” the church has made it clear that it sees the value of women “primarily as mothers.” In recent decades, women finally are getting the chance to have careers and live “as fully and as ambitiously as men.” So “get used to it, Holy…

by Ann Marks (Atria, $40) “You will surely close this book feeling inspired,” said Marion Winik in The Washington Post. Many mysteries previously obscured the life of Vivian Maier, a nanny who a decade ago won posthumous fame as a world-class street photographer. But author Ann Marks has performed “herculean” work to piece together a portrait of Maier that helps explain why the eccentric loner amassed 140,000 photo images that she mostly left in storage as undeveloped negatives. Marks argues that Maier overcame a traumatic childhood and mental illness to fashion a life built around her photographic endeavors. Because the “engrossing” biography Marks has written is interlaced with reproductions of Maier’s exceptional snapshots of American life, reading the book is “like attending a wonderful slide lecture.” Unfortunately, “the book is…

Amanda Gorman makes the rest of us look like slackers, said Kevin Young in The New Yorker. In the year since she delivered an original poem at Joe Biden’s inauguration and became, at 22, an instant celebrity, she has recited poetry at the Super Bowl, co-hosted the Met Gala, appeared on the cover of Vogue, and published three No. 1 best-selling books. For the last of those, a work titled Call Us What We Carry that is also her first complete poetry collection, Gorman took it upon herself to give voice to every human on earth by putting into verse what it has felt like, collectively, to live through the current pandemic. Not that she’d recommend anyone else following her example. “Never attempt to write a book in three…

The calorie counts that began appearing on restaurant menus some years back may be doing more good than anyone expected, said Dennis Thompson in The Buffalo News. A new study from a team at Harvard indicates that menu items introduced at franchise restaurants since calorie labeling went nationwide in 2018 contain 25 percent fewer calories than dishes introduced in previous years. By and large, chain restaurants did nothing to cut calories on existing menu items. But the apparent desire to offer customers lighter fare, coupled with previous studies indicating that Americans have cut their calorie consumption by 4 to 6 percent since 2018, suggests that the numbers now crowding menus could be encouraging people to make healthier choices. Don’t be so sure, said Jaya Saxena in Eater.com. A 2015…

Be skeptical. “Makeup has become a minefield”—thanks to the rise of a category called clean beauty. Vague marketing terms such as “all-natural” and “toxin-free” don’t have regulated definitions, and say little about product ingredients. Research brands. Though “clean” means something different to every company, some do take their mission seriously. NakedPoppy employs scientists who vet its products for potential irritants and carcinogens, and Credo Beauty is another trusted brand. “Dermatologists can help cut out the guesswork.” Know your chemicals. “Even if you’re a clean-beauty skeptic, there are ingredients that should likely be avoided.” Parabens, for example, are preservatives that “have raised concerns about possible hormonal effects, including cancer.” Still, “chemical” isn’t a dirty word. Even water is a chemical, and many synthetic chemicals are perfectly safe. Source: The Wall Street…

The National Math and Science Initiative (nms.org) makes advanced science and math classes available to students from all walks of life. The organization’s College Readiness Program, in place at 1,400 public high schools around the country, gives support to both students and teachers, providing coaching and mentoring that helps teachers launch advanced programs and students succeed in rigorous classes. After just one year, partner schools see an average 41 percent increase in Advanced Placement class participation; NMSI puts a special focus on bringing AP-level classes to low-income communities and to military families. NMSI has trained more than 5,200 STEM teachers, and in 2020 launched a program to develop Black educators in partnership with 11 historically Black colleges. Each charity we feature has earned a four-star overall rating from Charity…

Good week for: Feuds, after former President Trump blasted fellow Republicans who don’t admit they’ve had vaccine booster shots, calling them “gutless.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump protégé widely seen as a possible rival for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, recently refused to answer whether he’d been boosted. Getting the jab, after British doctors treating men who’ve had Covid reported that the virus sometimes damages blood vessels in the penis, causes impotence and a permanent reduction in its size. Mandates, after North Korea launched a campaign to pressure citizens to produce more human and animal poop for fertilizing crops. North Koreans who fail to meet their manure quota will be fined and not allowed into public food markets, the government said. Bad week for: Military surplus, after the Norwegian military…

Cynthia Nixon’s real life is actually more interesting than many of the parts she has played, said Gavanndra Hodge in The Sunday Telegraph (U.K.). The Sex and the City star was raised in a bohemian Manhattan home that was a magnet for liberal activists, and in 2018, she ran, unsuccessfully, for governor of NewYork. But one of the most controversial chapters of her life began in 2004 when—a year after splitting from the father of her first two children—she began dating a woman, education activist Christine Marinoni. Nixon was by then a huge star, and the reaction was noisy. “It was really hard,” she recalls, “because not just straight people but LGBT people kept trying to shove this narrative down my throat, that either I had been secretly closeted…

Matt Lewis The Daily Beast In the wake of Donald Trump, Democrats “had one job—don’t be crazy,” said Matt Lewis. But they’re blowing it. If Democrats wonder why they’re likely to get creamed in the midterms by a party “unwilling to condemn an insurrection,” just consider some recent policy decisions. The short-lived walkout by the Chicago teachers’ union reminded voters that it was mostly Democrats and teachers who imposed the prolonged, pandemic-related closure of schools over the past two years. In New York City, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced last week his office would ask for jail time only for the most egregious crimes, and let people convicted of robberies, assaults, and even gun possession go free. “This is happening at a time when violent crime is up dramatically…

“Americans of all types now appear to live in constant fear that someone is going to take something from them. Mostly, we are afraid that someone will invalidate the core beliefs that we rely on to help us make sense of the world. If the U.S. should fail, America’s destruction will take place inside its own borders because we conflate being wrong with failing or losing. Our destruction will come from those of us who are so damned right all the time. The ones who refuse to listen, who will never even bother to consider other people’s viewpoints and who will protect their worldview with their lives.” Brian Broome in The Washington Post…

UNITED KINGDOM  Clare Foges The Times Britons are so afraid of being called racist that they are turning a blind eye as girls are abused, said Clare Foges. A decade ago, we were shocked to learn of the mass sexual exploitation of girls by a network of British Muslim men in the northern English town of Rotherham. A 2014 report revealed that between 1997 and 2013, an estimated 1,400 girls—almost all white and working-class—were raped, some of them doused in gasoline and told they’d be burned alive if they dared report the assaults. The rapists, mostly men of Pakistani descent, got away with it for years because of “cultural squeamishness.” Police, social workers, and local government officials feared that they’d be smeared as racist and Islamophobic if they pointed out…

ISRAEL Richard Shavei-Tzion The Jerusalem Post Israel’s ultra-Orthodox elite has lost all claim to the moral high ground, said Richard Shavei-Tzion. Many top members of the Haredi community have rallied together in defense of Chaim Walder, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi and children’s author who died by suicide last month after at least 22 people accused him of sexually abusing them as minors. It’s a pedophilia scandal much like the one that shook the Catholic Church—but with a crucial difference. Rather than condemning Walder, Haredi leaders have “added acid to the open wounds” of his victims by hailing this rapist as a great educator and intellectual. One obituary in a Haredi newspaper lamented how Walder was “taken in the prime of life.” But he was not taken. Walder chose to kill himself…

At least 15 Republican candidates for secretary of state in 13 states have publicly doubted the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, despite no evidence of significant fraud. In all but one of those states, Wisconsin, the secretary of state oversees the electoral process.NPR At least 57 people who took some part in the Jan. 6 attempt to overturn the election are currently running for elected office, including some who breached the Capitol and face criminal charges. More than two dozen are running for Congress, the state legislature, or other statewide office; at least five are running for governor.Politico In his first year in office, President Biden gave both fewer news conferences and fewer media interviews than any of the last five presidents did in their first…

“A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works.”Journalist Bill Vaughan, quoted in Forbes “People love to feel superior to their past.”Fran Lebowitz, quoted in The Daily Telegraph (U.K.) “It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive.”Somerset Maugham, quoted in Arts Journal “Three o’clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.”Jean-Paul Sartre, quoted in The Browser “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”Oscar Wilde, quoted in Mental Floss “A people’s generosity rarely extends to making the effort to uncover the injustices committed in their name.”Simone…

Sound for your ears alone Mind-controlled earbuds and invisible headphones were among the sci-fi highlights at this year’s CES, the giant annual electronics show in Last Vegas, said Shara Tibken and Dalvin Brown in The Wall Street Journal. The annual tech event is always an opportunity to view some “flat-out bonkers” tech projects. This year, French startup Wisear unveiled earbuds that are programmed by a neural interface that “can let you do things like play music or answer a call without having to physically move at all.” Tiny electrodes in the buds record your brain and facial activity, and AI “transforms the signals into controls.” But if you’re sick of wearing anything in your ears at all, Noveto has a solution. Its product looks like a soundbar sitting on your…

A team of British scientists has developed an artificial intelligence system that can predict with remarkable accuracy whether a patient is on course to develop dementia, a breakthrough that could revolutionize the diagnosis of the disease. The AI was fed data from more than 15,300 people, with an average age of 72, who had attended memory clinics across the U.S. The data included medical records, results from tests on memory and cognitive performance, and family health history. Out of that group, 1,568 were diagnosed within two years as having dementia after an assessment by a panel of experts. The AI successfully predicted who would receive a diagnosis with 92 percent accuracy, reports The Times (U.K.)—that’s nearly 10 percentage points more accurate than standard, humanbased screening methods for the neurodegenerative disorder.…

by Joe Moshenska (Basic, $35) The life of John Milton, author of Paradise Lost, “defies a simple recounting of facts,” said Nathan Pensky in The Boston Globe. How can anyone today assess the poet’s impact on our notions of Satan and hell without knowing the man, and how can we possibly know a man who lived in England four centuries ago and was also a scholar, a statesman, a self-professed prophet, and a revolutionary who fully endorsed the 1649 beheading of King Charles I? In his “strange but captivating” new book, Joe Moshenska, a professor of English at Oxford University, tosses aside convention to imagine his way into Milton’s head. Moshenska makes his experience of Milton’s writing part of the story. He also fills in gaps in the record with…

Anna Della Subin is the author of Accidental Gods, a study of the many men, from Julius Caesar to Gandhi, who have been deified by contemporaries. Below, Subin recommends the books on religion, myth, and history that have most inspired her. Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson (1986). I often revisit Carson’s lyrical meditation on love, language, and loss, which weaves together deep readings of Sappho, Plato, and other ancient Greek authors to reflect on desire, sacred and profane. This book opened up new perspectives for me as to what literature could do. The Geography of the Imagination by Guy Davenport (1981). Reading Davenport taught me how to write. In this inimitable essay collection, he roves across literatures and cultures, from prehistoric cave paintings to modernist poetry, teasing out surprising connections…

Claudia Goldin The Wall Street Journal One silver lining of the pandemic is that it has reduced the career price that working moms are expected to pay, said Claudia Goldin. “It’s no secret that women have always spent more time caring for their children and parents than men,” and this has damaged their careers and earnings. Before the pandemic, mothers were more likely to select “flexible” positions than fathers. Careers that paid more tended to require workers to be on call all the time. But the shift toward remote work during the past two years has ushered in “a massive new coordinated equilibrium.” We have learned that many tasks that once demanded travel and accessibility don’t actually need to be done in person. It’s enabled the on-call parent to accomplish…

Readers didn’t turn to Joan Didion for uplift. Dread, loss, and dissolution were consistent themes in a career that spanned six decades and scores of novels, essays, memoirs, and screenplays. Emerging in the 1960s as a leading practitioner of New Journalism, which combined on-the-ground reportage and literary style, Didion tackled subjects as diverse as John Wayne, the Black Panthers, and Haight-Ashbury hippies in terse, cleareyed pieces compiled in Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968) and The White Album (1979). “Pathetically unequipped children” adrift in “a social vacuum,” she called the hippies in the former collection’s celebrated title piece. In subsequent books she explored Central America (1983’s Salvador), Cuban immigrants (1987’s Miami), and American politics (2001’s Political Fictions). Her biggest commercial success came in her 70s, with The Year of Magical Thinking,…

Other famous names who died while The Week was on break for the holidays. Desmond Tutu, exuberant Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town who won the Nobel Peace Prize for using his pulpit and soaring oratory to help topple the South African system of apartheid, and who became a leading champion of peaceful reconciliation under Black majority rule, died Dec. 26, age 90. Sarah Weddington, Texas lawyer who in 1971, at age 26 and with almost no legal experience, appeared before the Supreme Court to successfully argue Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that would lead to the legalization of abortion across the U.S., died Dec. 26, age 76. Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University biologist who was called Darwin’s natural heir for his pioneering studies of social behavior in ants and other…