z-other-galley
Ancient mummy DNA provides scientific evidence that colonization brought smallpox to the Americas
NEW YORK | Ancient mummy DNA recovered in Chile has yielded the firmest evidence yet that European colonization brought smallpox to the Americas. Smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases in human history before it was eradicated in 1980, largely thanks to vaccination. For centuries, the virus had killed about one-third of the people it […]
Music Review: Charli xcx remains one of pop’s great contrarians on ‘Music, Fashion, Film’
NEW YORK | When Charli xcx released the barely two-minute, glitched-out “Rock Music,” the first single from “Music, Fashion, Film,” she was almost immediately labeled a provocateur. The song, with its hyperpop affectations and cheeky, lyrical dedication to craft — “I think the dance floor is dead/So now we’re making rock music” — confused and […]
Dry, hot summers are putting Dutch dikes at risk and threatening German river trade
WADDINXVEEN, Netherlands | Jeroen Wouda and Dirk Boom walk slowly along a Dutch dike, prodding at the bone dry surface with metal rods and scanning the parched grass for patches of green that could give away the location of a leak. In a scene that brings to mind the fictional Dutch boy who heroically plugs […]
Fishing closures are becoming routine as record heat warms rivers in the US West
LIVINGSTON, Mont. | Trout need cool water to survive, but record heat this summer has driven water temperatures to lethal levels for fish. Wildlife officials are banning fishing during certain hours on rivers and streams across the U.S. West, following an exceptionally dry winter and amid widespread drought. Lower water levels mean rivers can heat […]
At colleges, the AI boom means everyone wants to dabble in computer science
With no background in coding, Faith Maeba, a psychology major, was reluctant when her mother first suggested she enroll in classes on artificial intelligence. But the senior at Virginia Commonwealth University began to see it differently as she looked into graduate psychology programs that explore human behavior in the workplace, which is quickly being upended […]
‘Sopranos’ actor Vincent Pastore, known for playing mobsters and tough guys, dead at 80
NEW YORK | Vincent Pastore, a veteran actor who played mobsters and tough guys, and was best known for portraying Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero on “The Sopranos,” has died. He was 80. Bob McGowan, who managed Pastore since his run on “The Sopranos,” told The Associated Press that he learned of his death Saturday from […]
At creative reuse centers, old art supplies get a new life at a fraction of the cost
NEW YORK | Charlene Catalano was looking for a ball of green-and-white yarn to crochet this year’s winter scarf. Instead of going to a big-box retail store, she found what she needed at Brooklyn Creative Reuse, along with gently used crochet kits, hooks, labels and other bits. It all cost just $6. “Nowadays, art is […]
Of thee I sing: A guide to US patriotic songs, from ‘The Liberty Song’ to Jay-Z and Kanye West
NEW YORK | The history of American patriotic songs offers a lesson about the different ways you can say you love your country. Composers have celebrated endurance under fire ( “The Star-Spangled Banner” ) and invoked divine approval (“God Bless America”). While Toby Keith’s “Made in America” dares anyone to question American eminence, Woody Guthrie’s […]
AP Exclusive: Child soldiers recount horrors of Sudan’s war and presence of Colombian mercenaries
KHARTOUM, Sudan | The teenage boy’s hands and legs were shackled to the anti-aircraft gun mounted on a pickup as Sudanese warplanes attacked. He saw another child chained to the steering wheel. As their captors sought cover, the terrified children were ordered to stay and shoot down the jets over the capital, Khartoum. If they […]
Malls, once symbols of American consumer culture, are splitting. Some are dying as others thrive
LIVINGSTON, N.J. | I wasn’t a mall rat. Growing up in the 1970s, I didn’t hang out much with my friends at my local mall in New Jersey. The Livingston Mall, which opened in 1972 with stores including Bamberger’s, Sears and Hahne & Co., may have been a bustling social scene for my peers. But […]