Preparing for a swine flu pandemic that never materialized may have inadvertently caused the reemergence of an extinct H1N1 virus, leading to the 1977 “Russian flu” pandemic. <https://theconversation.com/preparing-for-a-pandemic-that-never-came-ended-up-setting-off-another-how-an-accidental-virus-release-triggered-1977s-russian-flu-236297> #science #health #history
Trump’s lie about Haitian immigrants eating pets (it’s been confirmed to be a lie) wasn’t a surprise, writes a food historian. It follows a long American history of peddling ugly rumors about immigrants stealing and eating pets. Racists have long twisted dietary rules and preferences of different groups to divide people and dehumanize immigrants. <https://theconversation.com/no-immigrants-arent-eating-dogs-and-cats-but-trumps-claim-is-part-of-an-ugly-history-of-myths-about-immigrant-foodways-239343> #USPolitics #Food #History #Immigration
Israel's recent attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon mark a dangerous escalation, pushing the region closer to all-out conflict, which both sides have spent the last year trying to avoid. A full-scale war could devastate both countries and potentially draw in Iran and the U.S. – here’s some essential background from a professor of #history and peace studies: <https://theconversation.com/a-weakened-hezbollah-is-being-goaded-into-all-out-conflict-with-israel-the-consequences-would-be-devastating-for-all-239469> #news #Israel #MiddleEast
#TikTok was in court today to overturn a U.S. law that would force the video app to divorce from its China-based parent company or be banned. It’s the latest development in a lengthy saga over the app that many politicians in Washington fear is a security risk. But why is TikTok controversial? Here’s a quick rundown of reads from #cybersecurity, #socialmedia and legal experts: <https://theconversation.com/tiktok-ban-goes-to-the-court-5-essential-reads-on-the-case-and-its-consequences-239160> #news #technology
When and how people domesticated #horses has long posed an archeological mystery. Over the past 20 years, data seemed to converge on the idea that horses were first domesticated in sites of the Botai culture in Kazakhstan, where scientists found large quantities of horse bones at sites dating to the fourth millennium BCE. But now, new analyses suggest revising this long-standing hypothesis for how humans domesticated horses. <https://theconversation.com/domesticating-horses-226800> #science #history #archaeology
The U.S. still has an active presence in #Syria, and recent assaults by US-backed fighters marked the worst clashes there in nearly a year. A political scientist says a continued presence risks prolonging America’s entanglement in a protracted and costly conflict with no clear end in sight, while antagonizing NATO ally Turkey. <https://theconversation.com/us-military-presence-in-syria-carries-substantial-risks-but-so-does-complete-withdrawal-235569> #USPolitics #News #WorldNews
Curators from the Smithsonian will be diving for balloons, scooping up signs and hoping to score some hot dish at the [#DNC](https://newsie.social/tags/DNC) this week. We talked to three of them about how they select items to be used in the future to explain what's going on now (republished on [@medium](https://me.dm/@medium)) [https://medium.com/@ConversationUS/how-smithsonian-curators-scavenge-political-conventions-to-explain-the-present-to-the-future-d90a8cb99f80](https://medium.com/@ConversationUS/how-smithsonian-curators-scavenge-political-conventions-to-explain-the-present-to-the-future-d90a8cb99f80) [#News](https://newsie.social/tags/News) [#USPolitics](https://newsie.social/tags/USPolitics) [#DNC2024](https://newsie.social/tags/DNC2024) [@histodons](https://a.gup.pe/u/histodons)
The price of asthma medication has soared in the U.S. over the past decade and a half. The pharmaceutical company Teva sells QVAR RediHaler, a corticosteroid inhaler, for $286 in the U.S. In Germany, Teva sells that same inhaler for $9. <https://theconversation.com/asthma-meds-have-become-shockingly-unaffordable-but-relief-may-be-on-the-way-222858> #health
For decades, it has been common for people to throw around terms like “voodoo politics,” “voodoo economics,” “voodoo science” and “voodoo medicine” to reference something that they think is ridiculous, idiotic or fraudulent. But voodoo is an extremely problematic term with a deeply racist history. [https://theconversation.com/how-the-word-voodoo-became-a-racial-slur-220205](https://theconversation.com/how-the-word-voodoo-became-a-racial-slur-220205) [\#racism](https://newsie.social/tags/racism) [#history](https://newsie.social/tags/history) [@blackmastodon](https://a.gup.pe/u/blackmastodon) [#BlackMastodon](https://newsie.social/tags/BlackMastodon)
Gay Black men are more likely to test themselves for [#HIV](https://newsie.social/tags/HIV) and engage in less risky sexual behaviors than gay men of other races, when appropriate care is available, several studies have shown [https://theconversation.com/lack-of-access-to-health-care-is-partly-to-blame-for-skyrocketing-hiv-rates-among-gay-black-men-206375](https://theconversation.com/lack-of-access-to-health-care-is-partly-to-blame-for-skyrocketing-hiv-rates-among-gay-black-men-206375) [\#LGBTQ](https://newsie.social/tags/LGBTQ) [@blakmastodon](https://a.gup.pe/u/blakmastodon) [#BlackMastodon](https://newsie.social/tags/BlackMastodon) [#health](https://newsie.social/tags/health)
If history had taken another path, bar codes would look dramatically different today. Pictured: Here’s some of the options that were being considered, and the bull’s-eye was a favorite ⬇️ “Even in their wildest dreams, [the committee members] could not have imagined how consequential their decision ended up being,” writes Jordan Frith of Clemson University. [https://theconversation.com/how-we-almost-ended-up-with-a-bulls-eye-bar-code-219194](https://theconversation.com/how-we-almost-ended-up-with-a-bulls-eye-bar-code-219194) [@histodons](https://a.gup.pe/u/histodons) [#histodons](https://newsie.social/tags/histodons) [#history](https://newsie.social/tags/history) [#technology](https://newsie.social/tags/technology)
17th-century New England farmers moved a mind-staggering amount of stone to build walls – an estimated 240,000 miles of barricades, most stacked thigh-high and similarly wide. That’s long enough to wrap Earth 10x at the equator – and is larger in volume than the Great Wall of China, Hadrian’s Wall in Britain and the Egyptian pyramids at Giza COMBINED. [https://theconversation.com/new-england-stone-walls-lie-at-the-intersection-of-history-archaeology-ecology-and-geoscience-and-deserve-a-science-of-their-own-216701](https://theconversation.com/new-england-stone-walls-lie-at-the-intersection-of-history-archaeology-ecology-and-geoscience-and-deserve-a-science-of-their-own-216701) [\#agriculture](https://newsie.social/tags/agriculture) [#history](https://newsie.social/tags/history) [@histodons](https://a.gup.pe/u/histodons) [#Histodons](https://newsie.social/tags/Histodons)
The UN’s Genocide Convention, in its 75 years, has not stopped genocide. Far from it. But there is some value to the international treaty. [https://theconversation.com/the-landmark-genocide-convention-has-had-mixed-results-since-the-un-approved-it-75-years-ago-219296](https://theconversation.com/the-landmark-genocide-convention-has-had-mixed-results-since-the-un-approved-it-75-years-ago-219296) [\#history](https://newsie.social/tags/history) [@histodons](https://a.gup.pe/u/histodons) [#Histodons](https://newsie.social/tags/Histodons) [#humanrights](https://newsie.social/tags/humanrights) [#genocide](https://newsie.social/tags/genocide)
1957: Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, and there's concern of the U.S.' shortage of Russian speakers to monitor Soviet activity 1958: Congress authorizes funding to strengthen education in foreign language 2023: A new report shows the study of languages other than English experienced an unprecedented drop of 16.6% since 2016 “This creates greater risks for national security,” explains a professor: [https://theconversation.com/fewer-u-s-college-students-are-studying-a-foreign-language-and-that-spells-trouble-for-national-security-198135](https://theconversation.com/fewer-u-s-college-students-are-studying-a-foreign-language-and-that-spells-trouble-for-national-security-198135) [@academicchatter](https://a.gup.pe/u/academicchatter) [#academicchatter](https://newsie.social/tags/academicchatter) [#HigherEd](https://newsie.social/tags/HigherEd) [#ForeignPolicy](https://newsie.social/tags/ForeignPolicy)
Henry [#Kissinger](https://newsie.social/tags/Kissinger) is dead at the age of 100. Here's one Cambodian's verdict "I’m a scholar of the political economy of Cambodia who, as a child, escaped the brutal Khmer Rouge regime with four siblings... In both a professional and personal sense, I am aware of the near 50-year impact Kissinger’s policies during the Vietnam War have had on the country of my birth." That impact was destruction, death and trauma. [https://theconversation.com/henry-kissingers-bombing-campaign-likely-killed-hundreds-of-thousands-of-cambodians-and-set-path-for-the-ravages-of-the-khmer-rouge-209353](https://theconversation.com/henry-kissingers-bombing-campaign-likely-killed-hundreds-of-thousands-of-cambodians-and-set-path-for-the-ravages-of-the-khmer-rouge-209353) [@histodons](https://a.gup.pe/u/histodons) [#News](https://newsie.social/tags/News)
Same-sex relationships and gender beyond a strict cisgender binary was more common in ancient Greece and Rome than many people today assume, if we look at the surviving writings 🏳️🌈 [https://theconversation.com/ancient-texts-depict-all-kinds-of-people-not-just-straight-and-cis-ones-this-college-course-looks-at-lgbtq-sexuality-and-gender-in-egypt-greece-and-rome-210182](https://theconversation.com/ancient-texts-depict-all-kinds-of-people-not-just-straight-and-cis-ones-this-college-course-looks-at-lgbtq-sexuality-and-gender-in-egypt-greece-and-rome-210182) [\#LGBTQ](https://newsie.social/tags/LGBTQ) [#History](https://newsie.social/tags/History) [#Histodons](https://newsie.social/tags/Histodons) [@histodons](https://a.gup.pe/u/histodons)