The singer/songwriter Mamer was raised in Xinjiang, one of ten children for whom singing and playing the two-string dombra lute was as much a part of life as sunrise. Out here - in this land of Turkic tongues and ethnic minorities - traditional music flows from yurts and across the sparsely inhabited steppes. And Mamer's voice, a low, resonant, magical thing, still joins it.

As extreme heat events become more common, humans will increasingly need technologies like air conditioning to survive. But what about the animals?

Just remembering that Dick Cheney secretly intervened in a dispute over the Klamath River in 2001--and caused the biggest fish die-off in US history, with ~77,000 fully grown adult salmon piled on the banks of the river.

My analysis of his year's Economics Nobel is out in EPW! What's wrong with the Economics Nobel this time around? I've written a little commentary arguing that the Prize rewards Eurocentric foundations for (innovation-driven) growth and supports a technology fetish. PDF: https://ingridhk.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/epw_ingrid-harvold-kvangraven.pdf

On the event of James Watson's death, I highly recommend this 2023 commentary from @matthewcobb.bsky.social and Nathaniel Comfort with crucial new insights into the discovery of the double helix. (And also check out Cobb's brand new biography of Francis Crick) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01313-5

Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.

James D. Watson is dead. Stay tuned for some thoughts, based on my research on his biography, to be published soon. While I write that up, y'all can throw tomatoes at this if you like. But I will offer a more nuanced take. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/science/james-watson-dead.html

The world’s biggest manufacturer now has an interest in the world decarbonising

The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, a supporter of Israel and Zionism, personally intervened to block edits on the site’s “Gaza genocide” page, stating that Gaza Genocide, Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, a supporter of Israel and Zionism, personally intervened to block edits on the site’s “Gaza genocide” page, stating that the article breached Wikipedia’s neutrality policy by presenting that Israel is committing genocide, which he says is a “highly contested” claim.

NEW: Jury selection begins in the trial of sandwich guy today. The prosecutors are accusing him of "throwing a meat sandwich" at "point-blank range." POINT-BLANK RANGE 💀 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/jury-selection-begins-case-dcs-sandwich-guy-rcna241563