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‘Gifted’ Dogs Learn Words Just Like One-Year-Olds, Study Finds (Maria)

The author writes, “Dogs understand many words, and studies support this. In addition to dogs with regular knowledge are ‘gifted learner’ dogs with an extraordinary level of word comprehension. … [Researchers found these dogs] were able to learn words by overhearing them — just like one-year-old children.” 

You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof. (Bethany)

From Slate: “What happens when you do minimal screening before hiring agents, arming them, and sending them into the streets? We’re all finding out.”

Pope Leo Confronts Trump on His Own Terms (Al)

The author writes, “Since his election in May as the first American pope, Leo XIV has become a political and temperamental counterweight to an incendiary American president. A face-off between the two most prominent Americans on the world stage was inevitable, if only for the contrast between President Trump’s blustery inconstancy and Leo’s soft-spoken yet firm dignity. The pope is ‘neither quiet nor shy — if he has something to say, he will say it,’ in the words of his eldest brother, Louis Prevost, a Trump devotee whom the president has hosted in the Oval Office and at Mar-a-Lago.”

The State of Anti-Surveillance Design (Sean)

From 404 Media: “The same sort of algorithms that use your face to unlock your phone are being used by cops to recognize you in traffic stops and immigration raids.  Cops have access to tools that have scraped billions of images from the web, letting them identify essentially anyone by pointing a phone camera at them. Being aware of all the ways your face is being recognized by algorithms and sometimes collected by cameras when you walk outside can start to feel overwhelming at best, and futile to resist at worst.” 

Zombie Fires: How Arctic Wildfires That Come Back To Life Are Ravaging Forests (Laura)

The author writes, “Zombie fires, sometimes betrayed by a plume of steam emerging from the bubbling ground in the frozen forest, were once a rare occurrence in the boreal regions that stretch across the far north through Siberia, Canada and Alaska. But in a rapidly heating world, they are becoming increasingly common. The overwintering burns are small — and often hard to detect – but they are transforming fires into multi-year events and fundamentally altering the soil ecology where they burn, making it harder for forests to regrow.”

Large Black Bear Finally ‘Evicted’ From California Home (Reader Steve)

From KTLA: “A 550-pound black bear that had been living under an Altadena man’s home for more than a month has finally been removed, thanks to help from a wildlife rescue group. ‘I’m relieved — no more banging under the house and smelling him and wondering what’s going on under there,’ Ken Johnson, the homeowner, told KTLA’s Jillian Smukler on Thursday. Johnson said the bear took up residence in the crawlspace beneath his home just before Thanksgiving, and repeated efforts to coax it out didn’t work.”