The unexpected science hiding in Dante’s ‘Inferno’ Popular Science
Scientists create miniature nuclear fireball to understand how radioactive dust is born Interesting Engineering
Study Finds Pro Chess Players Make Better Moves When They Decide Faster StudyFinds
I Went Looking for the Origins of Clothing and Nearly Got Hypothermia ZME Science
Climate/Environment
National drought severity and coverage index reaches highest level in more than a decade Balanced Weather
Heat Dome Update: Europe Braces for Record-Breaking Late May Heatwave Severe Weather Europe
Scientists Say Huge Dam Blocking the Bering Strait Could Slow Effects of Climate Change Futurism
Airborne Toxic Events
Why experts, emergency crews haven’t been able to find a solution to Garden Grove chemical threat Orange County Register
Garden Grove chemical crisis: Live evacuation maps, closures and updates Los Angeles Times
Ebola
Attacks on Ebola centres intensify in eastern DRC amid outbreak fears Al Jazeera
Over 1000 cases barely a week past detection.
Soon to be the 2nd largest Ebola outbreak ever, and echoing the 2014 mega-outbreak in all the worst ways.
A thread outlining the huge challenge that looms, and some thoughts on what must be done:https://t.co/Ig3tjEZsDW
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) May 24, 2026
Ebola: The disease of compassion, and the price of when “we” became “me” Your Local Epidemiologist
Hantavirus
Has everyone seen this new NHS UKHSA guidance for ANDV?
***FFP3 RESPIRATORS ***
For EVERYONE in Healthcare
Patients & Staff
In contact w suspected cases
And contacts
I kid you not
Hell hath frozen over
👏👏👏https://t.co/efMMEZqf9H pic.twitter.com/H3PYwW2R53
— Barry Hunt (@BarryHunt008) May 24, 2026
China?
Iran war, China thaw complicate U.S. support for Taiwan WaPo. “U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have been “paused,” a senior U.S. military official said…”
Huawei Touts Chipmaking Breakthrough to Shorten Gap With TSMC Bloomberg
At Least 90 Dead in China’s Worst Coal Mine Disaster in over 16 Years Yomiuri Shimbun
You Don’t Understand China! Sinocities
Southeast Asia
This is pretty insane: the U.S. just tried to literally re-colonize part of the Philippines.
They did so under the so-called “Pax Silica” initiative, the brainchild of – surprise, surprise – an ex-Palantir guy named Jacob Helberg who now runs U.S. economic “diplomacy” from the… pic.twitter.com/RRIT5nvgpO
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) May 25, 2026
India
Why has India’s ‘sweet spot’ turned into so bitter? India Inside Out by Rohan Venkat
Syraqistan
Malaysia prepared to take Israel to ICJ over treatment of Gaza flotilla activists Anadolu Agency
After Netanyahu, the System Remains Savage Minds
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250,000,000 Reasons Why Trump is Backing Away From a Deal with Iran Larry Johnson
Sen. Lindsey Graham Backs Trump’s Suggestion To Tie Any Iran Deal To Expanding Abraham Accords Antiwar
***
MAJOR!!
Hezbollah reveals its possession and implementation of night vision and thermal vision equipped fpv drones!
This means that stealth night ops by Israeli forces invading South Lebanon, that were thought to be a solution for daytime fpv dron attacks by Hezbollah (Haddatha… pic.twitter.com/c7ztQBXNL0— Hadi Hoteit | هادي حطيط (@HadiHtt) May 24, 2026
Old Blighty
Revealed: Palantir’s NHS tech is ten times slower than current system Democracy for Sale
Labour’s summer cost of living policies reduce it to the Groupon administration The Canary
European Disunion
Major EU countries push for tougher China policy ahead of Brussels debate South China Morning Post
European Gas Storage Can’t Survive 3 More Months of Hormuz OilPrice
New Not-So-Cold War
Oreshnik Post-Strike Analysis Simplicius
Rising Ukrainian losses Events in Ukraine
No EU membership for Ukraine; not even a quarter of one percent sliver of GDP from the rich European pie for Ukraine. Aside from that, Europe is bravely prepared to fight to the last Ukrainian male (and we’re rapidly approaching that last Ukrainian male)https://t.co/TtlsELhzPy
— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) May 24, 2026
Ukraine’s Secret Al Qaeda Invasion Of Africa Kit Klarenberg
The Arctic & Baltic Fronts Of The NATO-Russian New Cold War Are Dangerously Merging Andrew Korybko
RAF jet carrying defence secretary has signal jammed near Russian border BBC
South of the Border
Hasan Piker And Medea Benjamin Served Subpoenas For Their Trip To Cuba: Report Huff Post
Bolivia: Working People Stay in the Streets to Protest Paz amid Labor Leadership Absence Left Voice
all socialists should be learning from the tactics of the bolivian people and the indigenous communities there. they aren’t just on strike, they’re putting up roadblocks around the major cities, they’re actually shutting the economy down.
— Monte🔻 (@bruegels_muse) May 23, 2026
Remember that the Mexican working class achieved these real tangible victories by creating their own political party just over 10 years ago.
Not engaging in entryism into a neoliberal party. A fact that the DSA, Hasan Piker left refuses to reconcile with https://t.co/1Z69BJ5m97
— Nick Cruse 🥋 (@SocialistMMA) May 24, 2026
Backlash Grows as Venezuela Approves Overflight of US Military Aircraft for Embassy Drill Orinoco Tribune
Democrats Suck
AOC takes more steps toward 2028 run for president Axios
The liberal establishment doesn’t take repression seriously Alec Karakatsanis
The Accelerationists
The CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, admits that the trillions of dollars being used to build data centers and power grids will come from ordinary people’s savings accounts and pension funds, and says it is mandatory.
He says America needs trillions in AI infrastructure spending,… pic.twitter.com/YFlKK8tVHw
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) May 25, 2026
Silicon Valley takes its AI pitch to the pope Politico
JD Vance’s Top Donor Suggests Pope Leo XIV is Tool of Antichrist Letters from Leo. From November, still germane.
Screening Room
At the Cannes Film Festival, We Saw the Center of Gravity Shifting IndieWire
‘We’re expanding the cinematic toolbox’: AI fault lines on show at Cannes The Guardian
AI
Our Famously Free Press
The Digital Media Oligarchy: Who Owns Online News? FAIR
The Feed Is Fake New York Magazine
Groves of Academe
California State University renews controversial systemwide contract with OpenAI Long Beach Post
The Matthew effect in AI summary London School of Economics
You’ll never guess the university:
Am genuinely shocked by this anecdote. I cannot recall seeing this ever happen at college in the 1990s. pic.twitter.com/vAfMt5M7FE
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) May 24, 2026
Mr. Market Feasts on Societal Collapse
The Stock Market Has Never Been So Good When People Have Felt So Bad WSJ
Economy
Despite high gas prices, drivers aren’t expected to hit the brakes on Memorial Day travel The Hill
Casino Nation
How Prediction Markets and Crypto Firms Steamrolled a Watchdog Agency New York Times. Not archived yet.
Class Warfare
Meat Packing Industry Wage-Fixing Continues with Cargill Lockout UFCW 7
They just formed the biggest tech worker union in the US. The plan is to take on AI and industry layoffs Blood in the Machine
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
