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Cuttlefish Adapt Dazzling Camouflage to Hunt Prey: Study (Maria)
The author writes, “Cuttlefish use dazzling camouflage to disguise themselves while stalking their prey. New video footage reveals even more about their dramatic mimicry techniques, including how they transform to look like a non-threatening object such as a leaf or coral. ‘These are masters, the hypnotists of the underwater world,’ says Matteo Santon at the University of Bristol, UK.”
The Heartlessness of the Deal: How Trump’s ‘America First’ Stance Sold Out Ukraine (DonkeyHotey)
From The Guardian: “In Donald Trump’s world, everything has its price. There is no place for sentiment in his politics. Common values cannot secure loans for military aid. And the US president does not care who controls the blood-soaked soils of east Ukraine, so long as he can access the rare earth minerals that lie beneath. The peace Trump will negotiate is not about justice. There is no deeper moral or morality here except for who ‘got it done,’ and Trump has signaled that he is ready to pressure Ukraine and Europe to provide concessions to entice Russia to sign on the dotted line. All that’s left for him is to hash out a price.”
Top DOJ Official Offers New and Different Explanation for Dropping Charges Against Eric Adams (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “The Justice Department on Wednesday offered a striking and contradictory new explanation for why it is seeking to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, with a top official arguing that the charges against the mayor are not well supported in law. In a thread on X, Chad Mizelle, chief of staff to Attorney General Pam Bondi, criticized the basis of the charges against Adams and suggested that the case might not be winnable. His comments — made shortly before acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove appeared before a federal judge to justify dropping the case — are at odds with what Bove has said previously, that the decision to drop the charges was not based on the evidence or the legal theories in the case.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene Bought Tesla Stock After Named as Chair of DOGE Subcommittee (Dana)
From Forbes: “Just weeks after being named chair of the House subcommittee overseeing Elon Musk’s efforts to slash what he deems wasteful spending, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) bought thousands of dollars of shares in Tesla.”
‘It Violates Who We Are as a Nation.’ Ex-Federal Workers From WA Angered by Firings (Reader Steve)
From The News Tribune: “A small group of federal workers from Washington state came forward Wednesday to detail firings among their ranks by the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency. … ‘It violates who we are as a nation,’ said Gregg Bafundo, former lead wilderness ranger at the U.S. Forest Service’s Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and a former U.S. Marine for a combined 18 years. Bafundo said he wasn’t offered severance upon his firing late last week and that he had heard ‘a number of people are being denied unemployment claims because they were fired for poor performance, which we all know is a lie.’”
Microplastics: Are We Facing a New Health Crisis — and What Can Be Done About It? (Sean)
The author writes, “There’s a growing body of evidence about how widespread microplastics have become — across land, sea and air — and the impact they could be having on human health. Some experts believe we are in the midst of a plastic health crisis. Microplastics have now been detected throughout the human body — including the blood, lungs, liver and even lower limb joints. Scientists have found evidence of microplastics in our brains, and further studies have revealed how these microplastics are accumulating and rapidly rising in our brains.”
Bonobos Recognize When Humans Are Ignorant, Try to Help (Dana)
The author writes, “A lot of human society requires what’s called a ‘theory of mind’ — the ability to infer the mental state of another person and adjust our actions based on what we expect they know and are thinking. … There’s some mixed evidence that other animals have a limited theory of mind, but there are alternate interpretations for most of it. So two researchers at Johns Hopkins, Luke Townrow and Christopher Krupenye, came up with a way of testing whether some of our closest living relatives, the bonobos, could infer the state of mind of a human they were cooperating with. The work clearly showed that the bonobos could tell when their human partner was ignorant.”
