Listen To This Story

How Scientists Are Shining Light on Biology Behind Seasonal Affective Disorder (Maria) 

The author writes, “For some, the darkening days of autumn bring more than the annual ritual of turning on the central heating. As the evenings close in and the mornings grow murky, energy ebbs and a heavy sadness settles in. Although seasonal affective disorder (SAD) was only formally recognized by psychiatrists in the 1980s, the link between the seasons, mood and vitality has long been observed. Today, scientists are discovering how closely tuned our biology is to the seasons.”

ICE Wants to Build a Shadow Deportation Network in Texas (Dana)

The author writes, “A new ICE proposal outlines a 24/7 transport operation run by armed contractors — turning Texas into the logistical backbone of an industrialized deportation machine.”

Why Is Trump Autocracy Rising? These Dems Have an Unnerving Answer. (DonkeyHotey)

From The New Republic: “As President Trump’s consolidation of autocratic power gains steam, it’s often been argued that the failures of liberal governance meaningfully helped to bring us to this moment. In this reading, the Biden administration — and other Democratic leaders in recent years — allowed well-intentioned caution and respect for parliamentary safeguards and procedures to hobble ambition, frustrating voters and making them easier prey for demagogues peddling authoritarian governance as our civic cure-all.”

What Was Behind Amazon’s 14,000-Person Layoff? ‘Culture,’ Says CEO (Reader Steve)

From The Seattle Times: “With strong showings in both its retail and cloud computing divisions, Amazon’s financial results for the third quarter soared past Wall Street expectations Thursday, two days after it announced historic layoffs. Heading into Thursday’s earnings report, Amazon was fresh off announcing those sweeping layoffs that hit 14,000 employees, 2,303 of whom are based in the Seattle area. Amazon said cuts could continue into 2026. During an earnings call with analysts on Thursday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy addressed the layoffs for the first time. … ‘Really, it’s culture,’ Jassy said. “If you grow as fast as we did for several years … you end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers.’”

Uncontacted Indigenous Groups Could Vanish Within a Decade Without Stronger Protections, Experts Say (Laura)

The author writes, “From the depths of Brazil’s Amazon to Indonesia’s rainforests, some of the world’s most isolated peoples are being squeezed by roads, miners and drug traffickers — a crisis unfolding far from public view or effective state protection. A new report by Survival International, a London-based Indigenous rights organization, attempts one of the broadest tallies yet, identifying at least 196 uncontacted Indigenous groups in 10 countries, primarily in the South American nations sharing the Amazon rainforest. … The report estimates that nearly 65% face threats from logging, about 40% from mining and around 20% from agribusiness.”

Americans Are Abandoning the Communal Meal (Sean)

From Jacobin: “Consuming food all by oneself is an anomaly in the history of human civilization, a deviation from millennia of tradition. And more and more Americans are doing it.”