Monthly Archives: March 2021
Sperm whales in 19th century shared ship attack information | Whales | The Guardian
Using newly digitised logbooks detailing the hunting of sperm whales in the north Pacific, the authors discovered that within just a few years, the strike rate of the whalers’ harpoons fell by 58%. This simple fact leads to an astonishing conclusion: that information about what was happening to them was being collectively shared among the whales, who made vital changes to their behaviour. As their culture made fatal first contact with ours, they learned quickly from their mistakes.
The hunters themselves realised the whales’ efforts to escape. They saw that the animals appeared to communicate the threat within their attacked groups. Abandoning their usual defensive formations, the whales swam upwind to escape the hunters’ ships, themselves wind-powered. ‘This was cultural evolution, much too fast for genetic evolution,’ says Whitehead.

And in turn, it evokes another irony. Now, just as whales are beginning to recover from the industrial destruction by 20th-century whaling fleets – whose steamships and grenade harpoons no whale could evade – they face new threats created by our technology. ‘They’re having to learn not to get hit by ships, cope with the depredations of longline fishing, the changing source of their food due to climate change,’ says Whitehead. Perhaps the greatest modern peril is noise pollution, one they can do nothing to evade.
Source: Sperm whales in 19th century shared ship attack information | Whales | The Guardian
Activists call on Coca-Cola, Delta to fight Republican anti-voting bills in Georgia | Georgia | The Guardian
Groups say companies’ support would help kill measures which aim to cut early voting, require voter ID and limit ballot drop boxes
Why mushrooms are the new houseplant everybody’s growing | Life and style | The Guardian
Bolsonaro’s handling of Brazil’s rolling coronavirus disaster is a threat to the world – The Washington Post
Part of the problem is the emergence of a more virulent coronavirus variant in Brazil, one whose rapid spread since January has raised global alarm. “If Brazil is not serious, then it will continue to affect all of the neighborhood there — and beyond,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, warned earlier this month. “This is not just about Brazil. It’s about the whole Latin America, and even beyond.”
Virginia bans cosmetic testing on animals, joining three other states | TheHill
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) has signed the Humane Cosmetics Act, banning cosmetics animal testing and the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.
The method involves testing household products on animals for safety before they are sold on the market for human use.
Virginia is the fourth state to adopt the law, which will go into effect beginning on Jan. 1, 2022, according to ABC News.
Source: Virginia bans cosmetic testing on animals, joining three other states | TheHill
Kentucky moves to expand voting access in rare bipartisan push | TheHill
The state Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would create three days of early voting, including the Saturday before an election. It would let counties set up locations where any registered state voter could cast a ballot, and it would create an online portal that voters could use to make sure their ballots are counted. “We indeed are transforming the way in which we will elect our public officials, and we will ensure the integrity of the ballot to eliminate things like voter fraud, cheating, ballot harvesting and the like,” state Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer (R) said Tuesday.
Source: Kentucky moves to expand voting access in rare bipartisan push | TheHill
Philippines to ban foreigners for 1 month, cap entries as virus surges
The government will limit the number of people permitted to enter the country to 1,500 per day under the ban, which does not apply to diplomats and some medical personnel.
The Southeast Asian country banned the entry of foreigners in principle in March last year to stem the spread of the virus, but gradually loosened the restrictions.
Currently foreigners are allowed to enter the country if they already have visas or have visas issued upon the recommendation of a government agency to which their work is related.
Health authorities say virus cases are on an upward trajectory, and there is a growing alarm within the government after a virus variant was discovered recently.
Source: Philippines to ban foreigners for 1 month, cap entries as virus surges
India: Farmers′ protests give way to new independent journalism | Asia| An in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 16.03.2021
Disappointing coverage by national media
Initially, farmers faced a number of unfounded allegations: they were called secessionists and paid protesters, and were accused of being misled by opposition parties.
Many mainstream media outlets questioned their legitimacy with queries like: “How can they speak English? How can farmers wear jeans?”
The founders of the Trolley Times, who all hail from farming backgrounds, found these accusations insulting. The coverage of the protests seemed superficial. There were no stories coming out from within the demonstrations or about the people who were physically there.
“We had an advantage here — we were a part of the protest,” editor and photojournalist Navkiran Natt told DW. “We knew the language that the farmers used — in this case, Punjabi — but we also knew English and Hindi, which allowed us to reach a wider audience.”
While a number of niche media organizations were also seeking out stories, a lot was lost in translation. They did not speak the same language as the farmers leading the movement.
“Their primary platform is social media,” Natt said. “But our audience is an old farmer, for whom media is synonymous with a physical newspaper.”
Palestinians receive first batch of COVAX-supplied vaccines
A Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman said 38,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine would be used for inoculations as of Sunday, while 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine would be stored “until there is a scientific decision from the World Health Organization”. Source: Palestinians receive first batch of COVAX-supplied vaccines
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