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Latest Chinese Spy Balloon –– and the Ones Before
Although the January 28th Chinese spy balloon incident went viral over the past week before being shot down on February 4th, there have been three occurrences of these incidents during the Trump administration. Security officials say that these notices were not made public so they would not let China know they had uncovered their technology. However, top officials of the Trump administration––including former President Trump and his director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe––have denied it. New Interest in Spy Balloons Under the Biden administration, there has been a revamped interest in explaining unidentified flying objects. A past Thinker’s Chronicle article
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Humans Can Understand Apes’ Sign Language
Humans have come a long way since Jane Goodall’s groundbreaking research. The famed primatologist studied similarities between human interactions and those of other primates like apes. Now, a recent study has shown that humans can understand apes’ sign language. These gestures include raising their arms, which could signal grooming or hunger; “big loud scratch,” which could mean that another primate should remove insects or dirt from their hair; shaking an object, which could signal sex; and touching, which could mean “climb on my back” or “give me that food”. The experiment and results Researchers from St. Andrews’ School of Psychology
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De-extinction Company Wants to Bring Back the Dodo
Founded by tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm and Harvard University geneticist George Church, Colossal Biosciences announced plans to bring back the extinct flightless bird, the Dodo. The bird stood around one meter tall, weighed about 15-20 kilograms, and is infamously known for its unflinching nature while its peers were killed. The creature literally represents extinction itself––you can’t get deader than a dodo. Paleogenetics Beth Shapiro, lead paleogeneticist and a scientific advisory board member at Colossal Biosciences, has studied the dodo since the science of paleogenetics was in its initial stage. In 2002, she said her team extracted a piece of the
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Breaking Boundaries: The First South Asian American Girl
In an attempt to diversify their products and celebrate different cultures, American Girl released their 2023 Girl of the Year: Kavika “Kavi” Sharma. Coming from the bright streets of New Jersey with aspirations of being onstage on Broadway, Kavi is making history as one of the first South Asian American Girl dolls! Her History and Aspirations Kavi’s story starts off in Metuchen, New Jersey, where she’s an Indian-American girl that loves to sing, dance, and spend time with her friends. She’s only a train ride away from her favorite place to visit, New York, where she loves watching the magic
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Beyonce Makes Grammy History
History was made when Beyoncé snagged her 32nd Grammy to be the person with the largest number of Grammy wins. Early Wins Beyoncé won her first two Grammys in 2001 for “Say My Name” with Destiny Child. The awards were for best R&B song and R&B group or duo performance. However, only one of her thirty-two awards were in a Big Four category: the song “All the Single Ladies” which she helped co-write. In 2008, “All the Single Ladies” won the award for Song of the Year. Since then, while Beyoncé had been nominated several times, she had never won
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DeDisney Dilemma – Governor DeSantis vs Disney
Over the past couple of months Governor Ron DeSantis has had people seriously questioning whether the proverb “any press is good press” is true. Governor DeSantis has been a proponent of the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans Bill” and also the “Stop WOKE Act.” These acts will demolish years of progress on working towards equality by forcing the limitation of discussions involving sexual orientation and gender identity at schools. How Disney Comes In Luckily, these laws have been contested by many and Disney––Florida’s largest private employer––has chosen its side. Initially Disney chose to stay impartial in the matter and not
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Indonesia to Provide Humanitarian Aid to Turkey
A devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake has struck Turkey and Syria, causing widespread damage and loss of life. Officials have reported that over 15,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured in the disaster. The earthquake has also taken the lives of at least three American citizens, according to the US State Department. The quake has resulted in the collapse of thousands of buildings, leaving many people homeless and in need of assistance. Aid agencies are particularly concerned about the situation in northwestern Syria, where over 4 million people were already relying on humanitarian aid. The freezing weather conditions
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