The Invention of the Police

Why did American policing get so big, so fast? The answer, mainly, is slavery.
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Bats: The hunt for the origins of SARS-CoV-2 will look beyond China

The virus may have been born in South-East Asia. An intriguing observation: the low incidence of covid-19 in South-East Asia, particularly in Vietnam despite no lockdowns.
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'It took genius to chisel these buttocks' – the top 10 bottoms in art, chosen by our critic

They are ‘the founding curves of the Renaissance’. As Yorkshire Museum calls on collections worldwide to display their best behinds to boost attendance after coronavirus, we name our favourites.
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Climate change: Polar bears could be lost by 2100

Scientists say we have time to save polar bears if we act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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App Lets You Destress By Screaming Into Icelandic Wilderness

2020 has been a stressful year. Iceland wants to help. A group developed an app that will let you record and broadcast a scream, pent up by the pandemic, into the Icelandic wilderness.
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Cheap, popular and it works: Ireland's contact-tracing app success

Irish-made app has more than 1.3m downloads, in stark contrast to the UK’s efforts
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Incredible new species of walking sharks discovered in Australia

Scientists documented four new species of walking shark that they say have developed the ability to walk very recently. Walking sharks use their fins to physically walk along the seafloor rather th…
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The women who sleep with a stranger to save their marriage

Some Muslim women believe they must marry a new man before they can return to their first husband.
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How Taiwan beat the coronavirus

Taiwan has reported only seven deaths so far from Covid-19. Everything is mostly reopened, and the only signs of Covid-19 are the frequent temperature checks and the expectation to wear masks on the subway. Here's what it did right.
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Japanese capsule carrying pieces of asteroid Ryugu will land on Earth Dec. 6

The landing site is in the Outback of South Australia.
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Scientists warn of rapid melting of Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday glacier’

Thwaites glacier is losing ice at an accelerating rate, threatening catastrophic sea-level rise
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Meet the company that sells your lost airplane luggage

If you’ve ever permanently lost a checked bag, your stuff probably ended up for sale at a store in Scottsboro, Alabama.
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United Isn’t Alone. A Wave of Layoffs Could be Coming.

A wave of layoffs seems to be coming in the airline industry as new domestic quarantine rules slow the travel rebound.
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How the Buddha became a Christian saint

It was only in the 19th century the West became aware of Buddhism as a religion in its own right – but the Buddha had been a Christian saint for centuries.
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Chevalier de Saint-Georges

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745 – 1799) was a champion fencer, classical composer, virtuoso violinist, and conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris. The son of a wealthy married planter, and his wife's African slave. The black Mozart
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Meet the company that sells your lost airplane luggage

If you’ve ever permanently lost a checked bag, your stuff probably ended up for sale at a store in Scottsboro, Alabama.
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American Passports Are Worthless Now (Map)

Oh the places you can’t go
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Finland Launches National Artificial Intelligence Program: AuroraAI

AuroraAI: Finland's National Artificial Intelligence Program is rolled out, and will be fully available in 2022.
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Health warning: Alcohol industry can cause lifelong harm to your baby - Michael West

Are powerful vested interests behind Liberal MP Richard Colbeck's delay in adopting stronger health warnings for pregnant women. “HEALTH WARNING: Alcohol can cause lifelong harm to your baby.”
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An Italian glacier is turning pink. And that's not good news

A glacier in Italy is turning pink because of algae -- a development that will make the ice melt faster, a scientist studying the phenomenon says.
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Why China's Race For AI Dominance Depends On Math

Forget about “AI” itself: it’s all about the math, and America is failing to train enough citizens in the right kinds of mathematics to remain dominant.
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The room of the dead: how a museum became a halfway house for bones and spirits

Overwhelming on a human scale, the Indigenous remains held at the South Australian Museum speak to a terrible stain on Adelaide’s past. But justice is coming
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American businesses have the power to change China’s behavior. Time to step up.

Condemning Beijing's appalling human rights violations and growing political repression should be easy.
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The parrots that understand probabilities

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