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New NASA images capture birth of a star

<p dir="ltr">The James Webb Space Telescope continues to stun with its images of the universe following the release of an image showing a “fiery hourglass” housing a newborn star.</p> <p dir="ltr">The image of the protostar (a young star that is still unstable and cocooned in a cloud of dust and gas) has offered scientists insight into what stars might look like “in their infancy”.</p> <p dir="ltr">With the star located in the dark cloud L1527 and only visible in infrared light, the image was captured using Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam).</p> <p dir="ltr">The protostar itself is hidden from view within the “neck” of the hourglass shape.</p> <p dir="ltr">"An edge-on proto-planetary disk is seen as a dark line across the middle of the neck," NASA said in <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-catches-fiery-hourglass-as-new-star-forms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a release</a>.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-5b29e609-7fff-75b1-1c05-9a8cee017e57"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">"Light from the protostar leaks above and below this disk, illuminating cavities within the surrounding gas and dust."</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/11/star-birth1.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a photo of a young star using its infrared camera. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI. Image processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI)</em></p> <p dir="ltr">Blue and orange clouds forming above, below and around the protostar that form the hourglass represent empty spaces created as material shoots away from the protostar and collides with surrounding matter, with the colours being caused by layers of dust between the camera and the clouds.</p> <p dir="ltr">The thicker the dust, the more orange the clouds appear, since blue light is unable to escape and be perceived by our eyes.</p> <p dir="ltr">While it may appear small, the disk in the middle of the hourglass is about the size of our solar system.</p> <p dir="ltr">According to NASA, the protostar is relatively young at about 100,000 years old and considered a class 0 protostar, “the earliest stage of star formation”.</p> <p dir="ltr">‘Protostars like these, which are still cocooned in a dark cloud of dust and gas, have a long way to go before they become full-fledged stars,” NASA said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"L1527 doesn't generate its own energy through nuclear fusion of hydrogen yet, an essential characteristic of stars.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-83fc6d66-7fff-9fca-4c7e-d55b846fada4"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">"Its shape, while mostly spherical, is also unstable, taking the form of a small, hot and puffy clump of gas, somewhere between 20 and 40 percent the mass of our Sun."</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Our universe is beautiful. <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAWebb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASAWebb</a> captured a stellar birth which is so poetically nestled in this hourglass shape. A truly stunning marker of time. <a href="https://t.co/8UflbFPdid">pic.twitter.com/8UflbFPdid</a></p> <p>— Shannon Stirone 💀 (@shannonmstirone) <a href="https://twitter.com/shannonmstirone/status/1593026314310934528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">The protostar will get closer to stable nuclear fusion (the requirement to be a star) as it gathers more mass and its core compresses.</p> <p dir="ltr">"The scene shown in this image reveals L1527 doing just that," NASA said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"The surrounding molecular cloud is made up of dense dust and gas being drawn to the centre, where the protostar resides.</p> <p dir="ltr">“As the material falls in, it spirals around the centre.</p> <p dir="ltr">"This creates a dense disk of material, known as an accretion disk, which feeds material to the protostar.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“Ultimately, this view of L1527 provides a window into what our Sun and solar system looked like in their infancy.”</p> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><em>Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI. Image processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI)</em></p>

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These emojis make you ‘old’ according to Gen Z

<p dir="ltr">Language is an ever-evolving thing, full to the brim with nuance and meaning that might not seem obvious upon first glance - and it turns out that emojis are no exception.</p> <p dir="ltr">Members of Generation Z have taken to social media claiming that using certain emojis is a sign that you’re “officially old” and that the popular thumbs-up emoji is actually rude.</p> <p dir="ltr">According to users on Reddit, the official list of “cancelled” emojis includes:</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">❤️ (Red heart)</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">👍 (Thumbs up)</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">👌 (“OK” hand)</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">✅ (Tick or Checkmark)</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">💩 (Poo)</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">🙈 (Monkey covering eyes)</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">😭 (Loudly crying face)</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">👏 (Clapping hands)</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">💋 (Lipstick kiss mark)</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">😬 (Grimacing face)</p> </li> </ul> <p dir="ltr">Many younger users also considered the thumbs-up emoji to be rude, explaining that it gives off a passive-aggressive or even confrontational air.</p> <p dir="ltr">“For younger people (I’m 24 for reference) the thumbs-up emoji is used to be really passive-aggressive,” one person wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s super rude if someone just sends you a thumbs up. So I also had a weird time adjusting because my workplace is the same.”</p> <p dir="ltr">They chalked up the difference in the workplace to a “generational communication culture difference”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Everyone my age in the office doesn’t do it, but the Gen X people always do it,” they wrote. “Took me a bit to adjust and get out of my head that it means they’re mad at me.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Others agreed, saying using it in the workplace makes team members “unaccommodating” and seems “unfriendly”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I understand what you mean, my last workplace had a WhatsApp chat for our team to send info to each other on and most of the people on there just replied with a [thumbs-up emoji],” one commenter said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I don’t know why but it seemed a little bit hostile to me, like an acknowledgment but kind of saying ‘I don’t really care/am not interested’? Don’t know if that’s the way you feel but I got used to it in time and I’m just as bad for sending a thumbs up now.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Another said: ““It’s not that odd to see it as passive-aggressive. Just imagine how would it feel to go into your boss’ room, say something, and then see him turn to you, look you in the eye, and [give a thumbs-up].”</p> <p dir="ltr">But, older users expressed their confusion at this emoji etiquette, with one saying it must be “a younger generational thing”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“So it’s like a sarcastic thing? Man I’m getting old lol,” one wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">Another defended their use of the thumbs up, saying it “means many things”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It means ‘I approve’ or ‘I understood and will obey’ or ‘I agree’. If anything, my only objection would be that some days it might be hard to tell which one it means,” she offered. </p> <p dir="ltr">“But it is generally pretty clear.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s just a way to say ‘i’ve read your message and have nothing to add and I hope and pray to all the gods all the bazillion people in this group chat have nothing to say on it too,’” another chimed in.</p> <p dir="ltr">Linguists have been studying emojis since the appearance of the modern emoji in 2015. In her book <em>Because Internet: Understanding how language is changing</em>, linguist Gretchen McCulloch explains that some emojis, like most of those that have been “cancelled”, are gestures, like the ones we make with our hands while talking.</p> <p dir="ltr">While these can be quite universal, like the thumbs up or smiling emojis, there can also be nuance based on culture and the writing systems people use.</p> <p dir="ltr">With younger people interpreting emojis such as the thumbs-up as “rude” or “old”, it seems there is nuance between generations too.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-3239804b-7fff-1206-dc92-834ccb95a484"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

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“We’ve been expecting you”: Daniel Craig receives royal honour

<p dir="ltr">Daniel Craig has been awarded one of the highest royal honours - the same one held by the character he is most well-known for playing: James Bond.</p> <p dir="ltr">Craig was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.</p> <p dir="ltr">In Ian Fleming’s Bond novel, <em>From Russia With Love</em>, a Soviet spy chief notes that 007 received the honour in 1953, and that it’s “an award usually given only on retirement from the Secret Service”.</p> <p dir="ltr">Outside of fiction, spies aren’t the only recipients of the honour, with diplomats and Brits working overseas also receiving it in recognition of their services to the UK “internationally”.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-478ce96c-7fff-9a7f-a77e-852543e43824"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Craig, who holds citizenship in the US and is listed on the Investiture roll as being from New York, received the CMG in recognition of his service to film and theatre in the 2022 New Year Honours.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">We’ve been expecting you…</p> <p>🎖️The Princess Royal presents Daniel Craig with The Order of St Michael and St George - the same honour held by his character James Bond - in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film and theatre. <a href="https://t.co/X20TP6BogL">pic.twitter.com/X20TP6BogL</a></p> <p>— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) <a href="https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily/status/1582319162307018752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 18, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">He was presented with the medal during Tuesday’s ceremony by Princess Anne, with the royal family sharing a photo of the pair on social media with the playful caption, “We’ve been expecting you”.</p> <p dir="ltr">After 15 years, Craig ended his time as the martini-slinging spy in 2021, starring in the film <em>No Time To Die</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">As for who will take the reins after Craig, Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson told <em><a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/bond-producers-barbara-broccoli-and-michael-g-wilson-on-the-fate-and-future-of-007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Empire</a></em> that <em>No Time To Die</em> wasn’t the end of the story for 007 - but it could take some time to find the actor’s replacement.</p> <p dir="ltr">"When you change the actor you have to reimagine the direction the film's gonna go in. When you hire an actor, you're hoping you're going to spend a decade at least with them and make four or five or six films with them,” Broccoli said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It's not just flicking through <em>Spotlight</em> and saying, 'Oh, there's a guy who's 6'1"' We're going to take our time. We want to get a sense of where we want to go with the series and we want to do that before we bring anybody else on.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d8cb95c6-7fff-c6e0-95a1-43d9141b8e48"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @RoyalFamily (Twitter)</em></p>

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The Crown sparks backlash over plans to recreate Diana’s final moments

<p dir="ltr">Royal drama <em>The Crown</em> has drawn criticism after announcing plans to recreate Princess Diana’s final moments in Paris, with crew members fearing “a line has been crossed”.</p> <p dir="ltr">The show, which stars Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki as Diana, is facing increasing upset over its plotlines and claims of insensitivity in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.</p> <p dir="ltr">Scenes suggesting that Prince Philip had an affair with a female friend are also causing strife for the producers.</p> <p dir="ltr">But, <em>The Sun </em>reports that scenes focusing on Diana’s ill-fated Paris trip in 1997 and the days and hours before the fatal car crash in the Alma tunnel are being worked on, with a source from the show telling the outlet that some crew members are starting to push back on the show’s ideas.</p> <p dir="ltr">“To be going back to Paris and turning Diana’s final days and hours into a drama feels very uncomfortable,” the source said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Finally, some of the crew members are pushing back on the ideas being tabled.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The show always tried to present a fictional version of royal history with as much sensitivity as possible.</p> <p dir="ltr">“But lately, as things get closer to the present day, it feels harder to strike that balance.</p> <p dir="ltr">“With some of those moments still so fresh and upsetting, it feels as though a line is being crossed.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Some production staff are now starting to speak up about their feelings.”</p> <p dir="ltr">A spokesman for Netflix told the outlet that the “exact moment of the crash impact” won’t be recreated or shown.</p> <p dir="ltr">Meanwhile, sources close to Prince William said they expect him to be angered by the show’s reproduction of his mother’s final days for entertainment purposes</p> <p dir="ltr">New scenes alleging then-Prince Charles went against his late mother, suggesting she was too old and out of touch, are also facing criticism - but a <em>Crown </em>spokesman defended the controversial scenes as “fictional dramatisation”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Series five is a fictional dramatisation, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors.”</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7fad5096-7fff-e3ea-5cc4-4edb21d477b4"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @thecrownnetflix (Instagram)</em></p>

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We steered a spacecraft into an asteroid

<p dir="ltr">From seeing further into space than ever before to viewing our neighbouring planets in brand new detail, it’s safe to say more of us are talking about the skies above than in previous years.</p> <p dir="ltr">Now, NASA has made headlines for crashing a spacecraft into a distant asteroid in a historic first for humanity.</p> <p dir="ltr">After leaving Earth last November, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spaceship travelled at a speedy 23,500 kilometres per hour for ten months to reach its target, an asteroid moonlet called Dimorphos.</p> <p dir="ltr">Dimorphos is a relatively small asteroid with a diameter of 160 metres - about the same size as the Great Pyramid of Giza - that orbits Didymos, a larger asteroid boasting a diameter of 780 metres.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6fbbb56c-7fff-3b7c-bda5-0ec6342814cd"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">DART, meanwhile, is approximately the size of a refrigerator - but size isn’t everything.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/dart-collision0.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft is dwarfed by its target, Dimorphos, as well as Didymos, which Dimorphos orbits. Image: NASA / John Hopkins APL</em></p> <p dir="ltr">Located 11.2 million kilometres away from us, Dimorphus might not pose any risk to Earth, but it did serve as a suitable target for NASA to test whether a head-on collision from DART could cause the asteroid to change its orbit.</p> <p dir="ltr">This experiment, which uses a technique called kinetic impact to change the asteroid’s orbit, could determine whether it’s possible to prevent asteroids and other cosmic objects from colliding with Earth and avoid the devastating aftereffects of such a collision.</p> <p dir="ltr">NASA Administrator Bill Nelson explained that the experiment is part of the organisation’s overall planetary defence strategy.</p> <p dir="ltr">“At its core, DART represents an unprecedented success for planetary defence, but it is also a mission of unity with a real benefit for all humanity,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“As NASA studies the cosmos and our home planet, we’re also working to protect that home, and this international collaboration turned science fiction into science fact, demonstrating one way to protect Earth.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Rebecca Allen, an astronomer at Swinburne University of Technology told the <em>ABC </em>that everything from the location of the impact, how fast DART travelled, and even its size are factors that could affect Dimorphos’ orbit.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-15585374-7fff-10ba-cc0e-78c10d40f192"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">"This vending-sized machine spacecraft, will it have enough kinetic impact to drastically or really measurably change the orbit of this asteroid? That's what we're trying to learn,” she added.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/dart-collision1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Shots taken from DART’s onboard camera showed asteroids Dimorphos and Didymos (left), and an up-close look at Dimorphos before DART crashed (right). Images: NASA / John Hopkins APL</em></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>What happens now?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Though DART successfully collided with Dimorphus on Tuesday morning (SGT), we won’t know whether the collision actually resulted in a change in orbit.</p> <p dir="ltr">It will take anywhere from several days to weeks to determine whether it worked, and we can expect to learn more over the coming months.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Over the next two months we’re going to see more information from the investigation team on what what period change did we actually make,” Dr Elena Adams, a DART Mission Systems Engineer, said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“That’s our number two goal, number one was hit the asteroid, which we’ve done but now number two is really measure that period change and characterise how much we actually put out.”</p> <p dir="ltr">In a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-dart-mission-hits-asteroid-in-first-ever-planetary-defense-test" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>, NASA said researchers are expecting the path Dimorphos takes around Didymos to shorten by just one percent, or about 10 minutes.</p> <p dir="ltr">But even this seemingly tiny change can have an impact over time, experts stress.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Just a small change in its speed is all we need to make a significant difference in the path an asteroid travels.” said Dr Thomas Zurbuchen, an associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA’s Washington headquarters.</p> <p dir="ltr">The next few months will also see NASA use telescopes positioned on Earth and in space to observe the outcome of the collision, including measuring changes to Dimorphos’ orbit.</p> <p dir="ltr">Images will also be taken by LICIACube (Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging Asteroids), which deployed from DART fifteen days before the impact, with the European Space Agency’s Hera project scheduled to conduct surveys of Dimorphos and Didymos - with a focus on the crater created by the collision - in 2026.</p> <p dir="ltr">The images will add to the collection of photos taken by DRACO (Didymos Reconnaissance Camera for Optical navigation), which was onboard DART when it crashed. </p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-2ace8485-7fff-36e0-9e45-208735e6bd71"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">As well as shots showing Didymos and Dimorphos, the images depict the rocky terrain of Dimorphos’ surface up close.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/dart-collision2.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>DART’s onboard camera, DRACO, captured the final moments before the spacecraft crashed into the surface of Dimorphos. Images: NASA / John Hopkins APL</em></p> <p dir="ltr">The last photo, taken about one second before impact, was being transmitted to Earth when the craft crashed, resulting in a partial picture.</p> <p dir="ltr">“DART’s success provides a significant addition to the essential toolbox we must have to protect Earth from a devastating impact by an asteroid,” said Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer. </p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-3681f89e-7fff-545a-e424-65d63358e4f2"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“This demonstrates we are no longer powerless to prevent this type of natural disaster.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: NASA / John Hopkins APL</em></p>

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Spinetingling audio of a black hole goes viral, here’s why

<p dir="ltr">Audio that allows us to “hear a black hole” has gone viral online since it was shared by NASA, with listeners describing it as “creepy” and “ethereally beautiful”.</p> <p dir="ltr">NASA first shared the audio taken from the black hole in the Perseus galaxy cluster in May, which it described as a remixed sonification of sound waves discovered in 2003, but a recent re-posting on Twitter has seen it gone viral.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f388abe3-7fff-2cd0-68cf-89aaead1f146"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Here’s how it sounds:</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a ~vacuum, providing no way for sound waves to travel. A galaxy cluster has so much gas that we've picked up actual sound. Here it's amplified, and mixed with other data, to hear a black hole! <a href="https://t.co/RobcZs7F9e">pic.twitter.com/RobcZs7F9e</a></p> <p>— NASA Exoplanets (@NASAExoplanets) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAExoplanets/status/1561442514078314496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Nearly twenty years ago, researchers at the Chandra X-Ray Observatory “discovered that pressure waves sent out by the black hole caused ripples in the cluster’s hot gas that could be translated into a note”.</p> <p dir="ltr">But, said note was too low for humans to hear, being the equivalent of a B-flat 57 octaves below the middle C note on a piano, according to NASA.</p> <p dir="ltr">To create something we could actually hear, scientists used a process called sonification, which is where astronomical data is translated into sound.</p> <p dir="ltr">According to NASA, the  creepy sound was created using sound waves extracted outwards from the centre of the Perseus cluster, with astronomers increasing the frequency by 57 and 58 octaves.</p> <p dir="ltr">A radar-like scan around the image was also used to help us hear sound waves emitted in different directions.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-b422c896-7fff-4c03-4c1f-0b305a6f28e2"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“Another way to put this is that they are being heard 144 quadrillion and 288 quadrillion times higher than their original frequency,” NASA said.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">I was today years old when I found out that sound could travel into space.<br />In fact, NASA released sound waves received from a black hole!<br />Creepy 😲<br />Next, music please? 🎶<a href="https://t.co/myk0laXDV4">pic.twitter.com/myk0laXDV4</a></p> <p>— Elie Habib (@elie_h) <a href="https://twitter.com/elie_h/status/1561773483092320256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 22, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">James Miller-Jones, a Professor of Astrophysics at Curtin University, told the <em><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-24/nasa-audio-black-hole-sounds-viral-hear-space/101360094" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC</a></em> that the frequencies of these sound waves are impacted by gases in the Perseus cluster.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Those sound waves are bumping into regions of dense gas, hotter gas, cooler gas, so they'll move in slightly different speeds in different directions," he explained.</p> <p dir="ltr">"That means they don't have a perfect circular shape. So as they scan around the cluster … it's capturing slightly different pitches."</p> <p dir="ltr">While this isn’t the first time the space agency has <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/technology/hear-recordings-of-space-from-nasa-s-spacecraft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared sounds from space</a>, these sounds of the Perseus cluster differ in that they also use sound waves.</p> <p dir="ltr">"This is the only one that I've seen that is really translating real sound waves into the sonification, and to me that's just a beautiful demonstration of what is going on. It's quite powerful," Professor Miller-Jones said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"It tells us a lot about the cluster, and how energy is transported through it."</p> <p dir="ltr">Kimberly Arcand, the principal investigator of the sonification project, described the sound as “a beautiful Hans Zimmer score with the moody level set at really high” when she first heard it in late 2021.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It was such a wonderful representation of what existed in my mind,” she told <em><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/23/nasa-black-hole-sound/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a></em>, adding that it was a “tipping point” for the project in that it “really sparked people’s imagination”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The idea that there are these supermassive black holes sprinkled throughout the universe that are … belching out incredible songs is a very tantalising thing,” Arcand added.</p> <p dir="ltr">The decision to release the “re-sonification” of the sound waves nearly two decades later came as part of NASA’s efforts to share complex scientific discoveries in plain English with its millions of social media followers.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-afb09788-7fff-6723-82cd-3c0338da2593"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Though some experts have cautioned that NASA’s clip isn’t exactly what you’d hear in space, others argue that it would be realistic to believe that it would be what we’d hear if we had ears that were sensitive enough.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">I'm not religious, but I'm starting to think that those souls sent to Hell actually end up in a black hole.</p> <p>Sound ON to be horrified <a href="https://t.co/75v74pkkhu">https://t.co/75v74pkkhu</a></p> <p>— Paul Byrne (@ThePlanetaryGuy) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThePlanetaryGuy/status/1562065393581277185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Even so, plenty of social media users have shared their thoughts on the sound, making comparisons to the Lord of the Rings and Silent Hill series or sharing it was an image of an intergalactic puppy overlaid.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I can confirm that the black hole noise Nasa released is the sound of hell,” one user <a href="https://twitter.com/SlimeRegis/status/1562005777488945152" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“New genre just dropped: Cosmic Horror,” another <a href="https://twitter.com/cybxrart/status/1561690611983343616" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4a0fce13-7fff-7e3a-478a-a1cb41c49d94"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @NASAExoplanets (Twitter)</em></p>

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Producing electricity from your sweat might be key to next wearable technology

<p>Imagine a world where the smart watch on your wrist never ran out of charge, because it used your sweat to power itself.</p> <p>It sounds like science fiction but researchers have figured out how to engineer a <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/biology/bacterial-biofilm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bacterial biofilm</a> to be able to produce continuous <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/electricity-from-sweaty-fingertips/">electricity fr</a><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/electricity-from-sweaty-fingertips/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">o</a><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/electricity-from-sweaty-fingertips/">m perspiration</a>.</p> <p>They can harvest energy in evaporation and convert it to electricity which could revolutionise wearable electronic devices from personal medical sensors to electronics.</p> <p>The science is in a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32105-6#ref-CR7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">new study</a> published in <em>Nature Communications.</em></p> <p>“The limiting factor of wearable electronics has always been the power supply,” says senior author Jun Yoa, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass),  in the US. “Batteries run down and have to be changed or charged. They are also bulky, heavy, and uncomfortable.”</p> <p>But the surface of our skin is constantly moist with sweat, so a small, thin, clear and flexible biofilm worn like a Band-Aid could provide a much more convenient alternative.</p> <p>The biofilm is made up of a sheet of bacterial cells approximately 40 micrometres thick or about the thickness of a sheet of paper. It’s made up a genetically engineered version of the bacteria <em>Geobacter sulfurreducens</em> to be exact.</p> <p><em>G. sulfurreducens</em> is a microorganism known to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3209890/#:~:text=Interestingly%2C%20Geobacter%20sulfurreducens%20also%20called,electron%20transfer%20through%20the%20biofilms." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">produce electricity</a> and has been used previously in “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-019-0173-x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">microbial fuel cells</a>”. These require the bacteria to be alive, necessitating proper care and constant feeding, but this new biofilm can work continuously because the bacteria are already dead.</p> <p>“It’s much more efficient,” says senior author Derek Lovley, distinguished professor of Microbiology at UMass Amherst. “We’ve simplified the process of generating electricity by radically cutting back on the amount of processing needed.</p> <p>“We sustainably grow the cells in a biofilm, and then use that agglomeration of cells. This cuts the energy inputs, makes everything simpler and widens the potential applications.”</p> <p>The process relies on evaporation-based electricity production – the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-018-0228-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hydrovoltaic effect</a>. Water flow is driven by evaporation between the solid biofilm and the liquid water, which drives the transport of electrical charges to generate an electrical current.</p> <p><em>G. sulfurreducens</em> colonies are grown in thin mats which are harvested and then have small circuits etched into them using a laser. Then they are sandwiched between mesh electrodes and finally sealed in a soft, sticky, breathable polymer which can be applied directly onto the skin without irritation.</p> <p>Initially, the researchers tested it by placing the device directly on a water surface, which produced approximately 0.45 volts of electricity continuously. When worn on sweaty skin it produced power for 18 hours, and even non-sweating skin generated a substantial electric output – indicating that the continuous low-level secretion of moisture from the skin is enough to drive the effect.</p> <p>“Our next step is to increase the size of our films to power more sophisticated skin-wearable electronics,” concludes Yao.</p> <p>The team aim to one day be able to power not only single devices, but entire electronic systems, using this biofilm. And because microorganisms can be mass produced with renewable feedstocks, it’s an exciting alternative for producing renewable materials for clean energy powered devices.</p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=200509&amp;title=Producing+electricity+from+your+sweat+might+be+key+to+next+wearable+technology" width="1" height="1" /></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/electricity-from-sweat-biofilm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/imma-perfetto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Imma Perfetto</a>. Imma Perfetto is a science writer at Cosmos. She has a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Science Communication from the University of Adelaide.</em></p> <p><em>Image: </em><em>Liu et al., doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32105-6</em></p> </div>

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The International Space Station to crash to Earth in 2030

<p dir="ltr">The International Space Station is expected to stay in operation until the end of 2030, after which time it will be crashed into a remote part of the Pacific Ocean, <a href="https://7news.com.au/technology/space/nasa-to-retire-the-international-space-station-by-2031-by-crashing-it-into-the-pacific-ocean-c-5549714" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to newly published plans from NASA.</p><p dir="ltr">Since its launch in 2000, the ISS has orbited 227 nautical miles (420.4 kilometres) above Earth, during which time more than 200 astronauts from 19 countries enjoyed stints aboard.</p><p dir="ltr">After 2030, NASA said the ISS would be replaced by commercially operated space platforms as a venue for collaboration and scientific research.</p><p dir="ltr">“The private sector is technically and financially capable of developing and operating commercial low-Earth orbit destinations, with NASA’s assistance,” Phil McAlister, director of commercial space at NASA, said in a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-provides-updated-international-space-station-transition-plan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.</p><p dir="ltr">“We look forward to sharing our lessons learned and operations experience with the private sector to help them develop safe, reliable, and cost-effective destinations in space.</p><p dir="ltr">“The report we have delivered to Congress describes, in detail, our comprehensive plan for ensuring a smooth transition to commercial destinations after retirement of the International Space Station in 2030.”</p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ddb56a6d-7fff-9f23-f423-5f64adf3a599"></span></p><p dir="ltr">In the International Space Station Transition Report produced by NASA, the organisation said the plan was for the ISS to fall to Earth and land in an area called the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area - also known as Point Nemo.</p><p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/space-iss1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p dir="ltr"><em>The International Space Station has been the source of many scientific innovations and firsts, including the first chilli peppers to be grown in space (Pictured). Image: NASA</em></p><p dir="ltr">Named after the submarine operator in Jules Verne’s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Point Nemo is an area in the ocean that is the farthest from land.</p><p dir="ltr">The area is approximately 4800 kilometres from the eastern coast of New Zealand and 3200 kilometres north of Antarctica.</p><p dir="ltr">The ISS won’t be the first to make Point Nemo its final resting place, with estimates that more than 263 pieces of space debris have been sunk there by the US, Russia, Japan, and European countries since 1971.</p><p dir="ltr">According to the report, the ISS is expected to deorbit in January 2031 and perform thrusting manoeuvres to ensure a “safe atmospheric entry”.</p><p dir="ltr">Though an end date has been set, work will continue on the ISS until the very end, with NASA saying goals for the space lab include using it as an “analog for a Mars transit mission”.</p><p dir="ltr">“The International Space Station is entering its third and most productive decade as a groundbreaking scientific platform in microgravity,” Robyn Gatens, the director of the ISS at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement.</p><p dir="ltr">“This third decade is one of results, building on our successful global partnership to verify exploration and human research technologies to support deep space exploration, continue to return medical and environmental benefits to humanity, and lay the groundwork for a commercial future in low-Earth orbit.</p><p dir="ltr">“We look forward to maximising these returns from the space station through 2030 while planning for transition to commercial space destinations that will follow.”</p><p dir="ltr">During its time in orbit, the ISS has been home to many scientific firsts in space, including the first items to be 3D-printed, the first sequencing of DNA, and growing of lettuces, radishes and chillies.</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-1cd41515-7fff-ce61-9732-a28d780a7c98"></span></p><p dir="ltr"><em>Image: NASA</em></p>

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REVEALED: The two people Queen Elizabeth II will pick up the phone for

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A royal commentator has </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/royals" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">revealed</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that the Queen only speaks to two people within “The Firm” on her phone - and they might not be who you would expect.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Apparently, the Queen has two people who she speaks to the most on her phones and she also apparently has a mobile phone which is said to be a Samsung packed with anti-hacker encryption by MI6 so nobody can hack into her phone,” royal commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti said during his appearance on US podcast </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/royally-us-harry-meghan-kate-and-william-royal-news/id1553314202" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Royally</span></a></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“But the two people she phones the most is said to be her daughter Princess Anne and her racing manager John Warren.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It has also been revealed that the Queen intends to host the Royal Family at Sandringham House for Christmas.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The revelation comes at the end of a difficult year for Queen Elizabeth II, who lost her husband Prince Philip earlier this year and has experienced several health scares in recent months.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The Queen has told everyone she is feeling far better of late and is very much looking forward to welcoming them for Christmas,” a source told </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Daily Mail</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> last week.</span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWtH84uMQCL/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWtH84uMQCL/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by The Royal Family (@theroyalfamily)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The invites have reportedly been sent to Prince Edward, Princess Anne, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie and their families.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Page Six</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> has reported that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle won’t be joining the festivities at Sandringham House.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: Getty Images</span></em></p>

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Billionaire actress Zhao Wei erased from history

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zhao Wei, one of China’s top actresses, has all but vanished from the internet after the Chinese government scrubbed any record of her online.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Serials and chat shows featuring the actress are no longer available on Chinese streaming sites and her name has been removed from online credits for movies she has appeared in.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ms Wei rose to fame in the late 1990s after appearing on China’s highly popular television series, </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">My Fair Princess</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Since then, she has gone on to become a director, pop singer, and businesswoman on top of being an A-list actress.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But, after Ms Wei was accused of being unpatriotic in hiring a Taiwanese actor for a leading role in a 2016 film, she began to run into trouble.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Her hiring decision was overturned and Ms Wei’s business acquisitions soon came under close regulatory and taxation scrutiny.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Last month, a public relations agency she owns was hit with a nationalistic scandal after one of its clients took a selfie during a visit to Japan’s Yasukuni war dead shrine.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Over the weekend, Chinese news sites reported that Ms Wei had fled the country and was spotted at France’s Bordeaux airport.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The crackdown on Ms Wei comes as Beijing’s Cyberspace Administration agency issued a series of instructions for social media and internet operators to “rectify” issues with fan communities.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The new instructions aim to ensure “political and ideological safety in the cyberspace as well as creating a clean internet”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This also means celebrities can no longer be ranked in terms of popularity, talent agencies must be overseen by the Community Party, and fan clubs must be licenced and officially authorised.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Previously, China’s National Radio and Television Administration ordered that actors be banished if their “morality is not noble”, are “tasteless, vulgar and obscene”, or if their “ideological level is low and [they] have no class”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ms Wei has also been accused by the Communist Party-controlled </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Global Times</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of being “entangled in various scandals over the years”, but provides no official reason for her erasure.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Any discussions of why she has been erased is also being censored on social media.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: Getty Images</span></em></p>

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Sean Connery: his five best Bond movies rated

<p>Obituaries for <a href="https://theconversation.com/sean-connery-bond-james-bond-but-so-much-more-149238">Sean Connery</a> all over the world remind us of what a versatile actor he was, starring in films as diverse as Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058329/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Marnie</a> and Brian de Palma’s 1987 <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094226/">The Untouchables</a>. But it is the character of James Bond, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/sean-connery-death-cause-james-bond-007-michael-caine-hated-b1478316.html">which he allegedly came to hate</a>, that film fans will inevitably associate with the rugged features of the Scottish actor who first played the role in Dr. No in 1962.</p> <p>Connery’s Bond embodied the postwar ideal of masculinity, a complex mix of old-fashioned charm and tough virility, loyalty to “Queen and Country”, and relaxed sexual mores. <a href="http://jamesbondmemes.blogspot.com/2012/04/women-want-to-be-with-him-men-want-to.html">Raymond Mortimer</a> wrote at the time, in his review of Fleming’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963): “James Bond is what every man would like to be, and what every woman would like between her sheets.”</p> <p>Like his literary incarnation, the cinematic Bond launched by Connery caused disdain and thrilled audiences of both sexes in equal measures. Reviewing Goldfinger, film critic <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oXxZAAAAMAAJ&amp;q=%E2%80%98The+constantly+lurking+viciousness,+and+the+glamorisation+of+violence+%E2%80%A6+the+carefully+timed+peaks+of+titillation+and+the+skilfully+contrived+sensationalism%E2%80%99&amp;dq=%E2%80%98The+constantly+lurking+viciousness,+and+the+glamorisation+of+violence+%E2%80%A6+the+carefully+timed+peaks+of+titillation+and+the+skilfully+contrived+sensationalism%E2%80%99&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwieiu6wjOHsAhUlQUEAHey1C34Q6AEwAHoECAAQAg">Nina Hibbin</a> remained unimpressed by the Bond formula of “constantly lurking viciousness, and the glamorisation of violence … the carefully timed peaks of titillation and the skilfully contrived sensationalism”. Meantime, the late <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/apr/06/honor-blackman-obituary">Honor Blackman</a>, who played alongside him in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058150/">Goldfinger</a>, described working with Connery as “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dbijDwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PT13&amp;dq=romping+about+on+international+locations+with+the+sexiest+man+ever+seen+on+screen&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiBn_zsiuHsAhVVilwKHe6NAYQQ6AEwAHoECAYQAg#v=onepage&amp;q=romping%20about%20on%20international%20locations%20with%20the%20sexiest%20man%20ever%20seen%20on%20screen&amp;f=false">romping about on international locations with the sexiest man ever seen on screen</a>”.</p> <p>Connery’s Bond may get his Savile Row suit dirty, but he never loses his cool. Ruthless with his enemies, he’s not afraid of hurting many a female villain who threatens the success of his missions. He’s also, of course, an irresistible lover, able to seduce even those, like Pussy Galore, who claim “immunity” to his charms.</p> <p>But is there more to Connery’s Bond than backward machismo and dubious race politics? Here are my top five Connery Bond films, and why you may want to watch them again:</p> <p><strong>1. Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964)</strong></p> <p>A beautiful woman whose spectacular death, and gold-painted lifeless body – remains, for better or worse, one of the most iconic images in the history of the franchise. A squad of female pilots is led by the talented Pussy Galore, whose name is an ironic reference to her sexuality. <em>Goldfinger</em> is a criminal genius, whose plan to make the US gold reserves radioactive in order to increase the value of his own is nothing short of brilliant, and whose laser beam poses a literal threat to <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_James_Bond_Phenomenon.html?id=x9-1QY5boUsC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;source=kp_read_button&amp;redir_esc=y#v=onepage&amp;q=laser&amp;f=false">Bond’s virility</a>.</p> <p>A Korean henchman in a lethal bowler hat is a parody of the quintessential Englishness, which trilby-wearing Connery – a proud Scotsman – also “performs”. These manifestations of ambivalent gender and race politics, more recently picked up in Anthony Horowitz’s sequel Bond novel, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/28/new-james-bond-novel-trigger-mortis-pussy-galore-anthony-horowitz">Trigger Mortis</a>, make it, if anything, even more relevant to watch today.</p> <p><strong>2. Dr No (Terence Young, 1962)</strong></p> <p>Set in Ian Fleming’s beloved Jamaica, hints of Sinophobia lurk in the figure of Dr. No, whose Chinese ethnicity is conveyed through the Asian style of the clothes he wears. The first cinematic “Bond Girl” makes a memorable entrance wearing an equally memorable <a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/ursula-andress-dr-no-honey-ryder-bikini-auction-los-angeles">white bikini</a>. But the fact that Honey Ryder also wears a knife around her waist suggests that she’s more than eye-candy.</p> <p>We’re also told she has used a black widow spider to kill an abusive landlord in the past. Just like Dr. No threatens the authority of white British Bond, so Honey represents a challenge to the patriarchal order he represents. She is a new kind of woman, as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2hC8Frhicg&amp;list=PLGiXHXUUO-jMHt4O8nAslNZ5UBHd_cZZ7&amp;index=10">Andress claims</a>, physically strong and ready to take part in the action.</p> <p><strong>3. From Russia with Love (Terence Young, 1963)</strong></p> <p>The romantic settings – Istanbul, the Orient Express train journey – and the beautiful co-star, Daniela Bianchi, who plays defecting Soviet spy Tania Romanova, may fool us into thinking that this may be a Cold War “Romeo and Juliet” love story. Tania is, however, less interested in Bond and more attracted to the other tempting luxuries of the West that he may help her achieve.</p> <p>The poisoned blade concealed in the toe of villain Rosa Klebb’s shoe, provides another unforgettable moment in the film franchise, and one that insinuates further doubts about Bond’s invulnerable masculinity. And while at the end of Fleming’s novel, Bond is left for dead, in the film, it is Tania’s quick thinking and good aim that saves his life.</p> <p><strong>4. Thunderball (Terence Young, 1965)</strong></p> <p>Still, according to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbean/2020/04/18/all-26-james-bond-films-ranked-at-the-box-office/">Forbes</a>, the highest grossing film of the franchise, <em>Thunderball</em> sees Bond in action in the Bahamas, a place which would remain close to Connery’s heart until his death in Nassau on October 31 2020.</p> <p>As the action unfolds around the beautiful island setting, and its treacherous coastline, Bond’s life is threatened by SPECTRE operative Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), and especially Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi), one of the many phenomenal female drivers in the film franchise – and a woman who is confident enough to ridicule his alleged sexual prowess. But it is the leading Bond Girl, Domino Derval (Claudine Auger), who, again, saves Bond’s life by shooting a harpoon at Largo.</p> <p><strong>5. You Only Live Twice (Lewis Gilbert, 1967)</strong></p> <p>We may raise an eyebrow at Bond’s dubious transformation into a Japanese man, the patriarchal attitudes towards women presented as traditional of Japan, not helped by the lukewarm performance by Mie Hama, who plays what has been described as “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=auaECgAAQBAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=lisa+funnel+lotus+blossom&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjHgOmKkOHsAhUJZcAKHf8ZAowQ6AEwAXoECAYQAg#v=onepage&amp;q=lotus&amp;f=false">servile Lotus Blossom</a>” Kissy Suzuki, but there is enough charisma between the other female roles in the film, Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi) and Helga Brandt (Karin Dor), to make up for Kissy’s submissiveness.</p> <p>Both die, the latter in a spectacularly sadistic execution in a piranha pool. But Helga also very nearly mutilates Bond with a surgical scalpel and chucks a lipstick bomb at him before parachuting herself out of the plane she has been flying. A “bombshell” she may be, but not on the terms set by the men who try to control her.</p> <p>Most of us will cringe, today, at the bottom-slapping, the “man-talk” and the colonial attitudes that we see in the early Bond movies. But Connery’s Bond is more nuanced than we think and his white British masculinity is rarely left unchallenged. He was a Bond for his time.</p> <p><em>Written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/monica-germana-415866">Monica Germanà</a>, University of Westminster. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/sean-connery-his-five-best-bond-movies-rated-149240">The Conversation.</a></em></p>

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5 must-read novels on the environment and climate crisis

<p>Since the start of <a href="https://theconversation.com/volunteering-mutual-aid-and-lockdown-has-shifted-our-sense-of-happiness-141352">lockdown</a>, more of us have taken to our bicycles, grown our own vegetables and baked our own bread. So it’s not surprising it has been suggested we should use this experience to rethink our approach to the climate crisis.</p> <p>Reading some environmental literature – sometimes called “eco-literature” – can also give us the opportunity to think about the world around us in different ways.</p> <p>Eco-literature, has a long literary tradition that dates back to the writings of 19th-century <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199827251/obo-9780199827251-0206.xml">English romantic poets and US authors</a>. And the growing awareness of climate change has accelerated the development of environmental writings.</p> <p><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Animals-People/Indra-Sinha/9781416578796"><em><strong>Animal’s People</strong> </em></a></p> <p><strong>by Indra Sinha</strong></p> <p>Indra Sinha’s <em>Animal’s People</em>, looks at the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/dec/08/bhopals-tragedy-has-not-stopped-the-urban-disaster-still-claiming-lives-35-years-on">Bhopal gas explosion</a> in India – one of the most horrific environmental disasters of the 20th-century. A poisonous gas leak from a US-owned pesticide plant killed several thousand people and injured more than half a million.</p> <p>The main character in the novel, Animal, is a 19-year-old orphaned boy who survives the explosion with a deformed body. This means he must “crawl like a dog on all fours”. Animal does not hate his body, but embraces his animistic identity – offering an unconventional <a href="https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780195394429.001.0001/acprof-9780195394429-chapter-11">non-human perspective</a>.</p> <p>With this wounded “human-animal” figure, Sinha puts forward his critique of India’s postcolonial conditions and demonstrates how Western capitalist domination continues to damage people and the environment in contemporary postcolonial society.</p> <p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/330739/my-year-of-meats-by-ruth-ozeki/9780140280463/readers-guide/"><em><strong>My Year of Meats</strong></em></a></p> <p><strong>by Ruth Ozeki</strong></p> <p>Ruth Ozeki’s novel intermingles themes such as motherhood, environmental justice and <a href="http://dspace.unive.it/handle/10579/15557">ecological practice</a> to explore the appalling use of growth hormones in the US meat industry from a feminist ecocritical perspective.</p> <p>The novel employs <a href="https://academic.oup.com/isle/article/24/3/457/4036100">a “documentary” narrative mode</a> and begins with a TV cooking show – sponsored by a meat company. While filming the show, Jane Takagi-Little, the director, encounters a vegetarian lesbian couple who reveal the ugly truth about the use of growth hormones within the livestock industry. The encounter motivates Jane to undertake a documentary project to uncover how growth hormones poison women’s bodies.</p> <p> </p> <p>Through a deliberate choice to make all her main characters female, Ozeki draws her readers’ attention to nonconforming, atypical female figures who rebel against social or cultural norms inherent in patriarchal capitalist society.</p> <p><a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/103/1031506/disgrace/9780099540984.html"><em><strong>Disgrace</strong> </em></a></p> <p><strong>by J.M. Coetzee</strong></p> <p>In <em>Disgrace</em>, J.M. Coetzee, a celebrated Noble Prize laureate, who is also <a href="https://www.peta.org/blog/nobel-laureate-jm-coetzee-animal-death-camps/">known for his outspoken defence of animal rights</a>, interweaves a brutal dog-killing scene with the gang-rape of a white South African woman by three black men.</p> <p>Praised as one of the South African postcolonial canons, the novel explores complex issues of white supremacy and anticolonial resistance as well as racial and gender violence. It ties these issues with humans’ domination and exploitation of the animals and further challenges our ethical position.</p> <p>The combination of these two acts – the killing of dogs and the rape of a woman – can be read as Coetzee’s ecocritique of the colonial violence against nonhuman beings and the natural environment.</p> <p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/221242/the-man-with-the-compound-eyes-by-wu-ming-yi/"><em><strong>The Man with the Compound Eyes</strong> </em></a></p> <p><strong>by Wu Ming-yi</strong></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-novels-allow-us-to-imagine-possible-futures-read-these-crucial-seven-124216">Climate fiction</a> or the so-called “<a href="https://theconversation.com/cli-fi-novels-humanise-the-science-of-climate-change-and-leading-authors-are-getting-in-on-the-act-51270">cli-fi</a>” takes on genuine scientific discovery or phenomenon and combines this with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/cli-fi-literary-genre-rises-to-prominence-in-the-shadow-of-climate-change-25686">dystopian or over the top twist</a>. This approach underlines the agency of non-human beings, environments or even phenomena – such as trees, the ocean, or a tsunami.</p> <p>Wu Ming-yi’s novel is composed of four different narratives: a Taiwanese university professor, a boy from the mythical Wayo Wayo island and two other city-dwelling indigenous characters. Their stories are viewed in fragments from the multiple perspectives of the “compound eyes”. At the backdrop is a tsunami which causes <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/">the Great Pacific garbage patch</a> to crash on to the eastern coast of Taiwan and the fictionalised Pacific island of Wayo Wayo that brings together all their stories.</p> <p>Wu blends this unrealistic event with the real-life trash vortex to draw our attention to the severe environmental problems of waste dumping and our unsustainable lifestyles.</p> <p><a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1115230/the-overstory/9781784708245.html"><em><strong>The Overstory</strong> </em></a></p> <p><strong>by Richard Powers</strong></p> <p><em>The Overstory</em> is praised by critics for its ambition to bring awareness to the life of trees and its advocacy to an <a href="https://www.unive.it/pag/fileadmin/user_upload/dipartimenti/DSLCC/documenti/DEP/numeri/n41-42/13_Masiero.pdf">ecocentric way of life</a>. Powers’ novel sets out with nine distinctive characters - which represent the “roots” of trees. Gradually their stories and lives intertwine to form the “trunk”, the “crown” and the “seeds”.</p> <p>One of the characters, Dr Patricia Westerford, publishes a paper showing trees are social beings because they can communicate and warn each other when a foreign intrusion occurs. Her idea, though presented as controversial in the novel, is actually <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/12/peter-wohlleben-man-who-believes-trees-talk-to-each-other">well supported by today’s scientific studies</a>.</p> <p>Despite her groundbreaking work, Dr Westerford ends up taking her own life by drinking poisonous tree extracts at a conference - to make it clear humans can only save trees and the planet by ceasing to exist.</p> <p>These are just a few books with a specific focus on environmental issues – perfect for your <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-things-historical-literature-can-teach-us-about-the-climate-crisis-127762">current reading list</a>. To everyone’s surprise, this global lockdown has given us some eco-benefits, such as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/19/lockdowns-trigger-dramatic-fall-global-carbon-emissions">sudden dip in carbon emissions</a> and the huge decline in our reliance on <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/renewable-power-surges-pandemic-scrambles-global-energy-outlook">traditional fossil fuel energy</a>. Maybe then if we can learn from this experience we can move towards a greener future.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139437/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ti-han-chang-602361">Ti-han Chang</a>, Lecturer in Asia-Pacific Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-central-lancashire-1272">University of Central Lancashire</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-must-read-novels-on-the-environment-and-climate-crisis-139437">original article</a>.</em></p>

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Elvis Presley’s grandson dead at 27

<p>Lisa Marie Presley's son and Elvis Presley's grandson Benjamin Keough has died at the age of 27.</p> <p>Reports have said Benjamin took his own life on Sunday. </p> <p>In a statement to TMZ, Lisa's manager, Roger Widynowsk, said, "She is completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated but trying to stay strong for her 11 year old twins and her oldest daughter Riley. </p> <p>“She adored that boy. He was the love of her life."</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CCkdywyJkeo/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CCkdywyJkeo/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Gee 💋 (@justginam)</a> on Jul 12, 2020 at 10:01pm PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>Benjamin followed in his famous family’s footsteps and was also a musician. He also acted in a short film called Rod and Barry.</p> <p>While he kept out of the limelight, no one could ignore the striking resemblance he beared to his world renowned grandfather. </p> <p>“He does [look so much like Elvis]!” Lisa Marie told CMT in 2012. </p> <p>“He was at the Opry and was the quiet storm behind the stage. Everybody turned around and looked when he was over there. Everybody was grabbing him for a photo because it is just uncanny.”</p> <p>Elvis’s daughter admitted she gets “overwhelmed” at times by how much they look alike. </p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CCkdqsNF8H1/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CCkdqsNF8H1/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by ⚡𝚎𝚕𝚟𝚒𝚜⚡ (@elvis.presley_tcb)</a> on Jul 12, 2020 at 10:00pm PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>As for whether Ben inherited his father’s musical skills, she has been cagey on behalf of her son.</p> <p>“He’s doing his own thing right now,” she told Huffington Post in 2013. </p> <p>“I’m going to let him decide when he wants to go out and do what he wants to do.”</p> <p>Lisa has had her own battles in life beyond losing her father and her son, and recently opened up about her addiction to opioids and painkillers. </p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CCkYN1NFXQJ/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CCkYN1NFXQJ/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Elvis Presley (@bighunkalove)</a> on Jul 12, 2020 at 9:12pm PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>In a foreword she wrote for the book The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain by Harry Nelson, she said, “As I write this, I think of my four children, who gave me the purpose to heal,” and that made her think of “the countless parents who have lost children to opioids and other drugs.”</p> <p>She ended the preface by saying that she is “grateful to be alive today” and especially grateful “to have four beautiful children who have given me a sense of purpose that has carried me through dark times.”</p> <p>Benjamin has three sisters, Riley Keough, 31, and twins Finley and Harper Lockwood, 11.</p>

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Prince William and Prince Harry’s “devastating breakdown” revealed in new book

<p>The rift between Prince William and Prince Harry is the most “profound” among the recent generation of the royal family, royal author Robert Lacey said.</p> <p>The biographer, who serves as a historical consultant for the Netflix series <em>The Crown</em>, is set to release the book <em>Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – the Friendships and Feuds </em>in October.</p> <p>“Raised to be the closest of brothers, the last 18 months has seen a devastating breakdown of their once unbreakable bond,” the book’s synopsis reads.</p> <p>In the book, Lacey explains “what happened when two sons were raised for vastly different futures and showing how the seeds of damage were sown as their parents’ marriage unravelled”.</p> <p>Lacey said he had been “astonished” by the information he had uncovered for the book.</p> <p>“I have been astonished and sometimes moved to tears by the fresh details and insights I have discovered in researching this story of family conflict,” he said in a press release.</p> <p>“These two brothers — once inseparable and now separated by much more than mere distance — have been acting out the contradictions that go back into their childhoods and even before that: into their parents’ ill-fated marriage.</p> <p>“We have seen conflicts between heir and spare in every recent generation of the royal family — but nothing so profound as this.”</p> <p>In the 2019 documentary <em>Harry &amp; Meghan: An African Journey</em>, the Duke of Sussex shared a glimpse into his relationship with his older brother.</p> <p>“Part of this role and part of this job, this family, being under the pressure that it’s under, inevitably stuff happens,” he said. “But look, we’re brothers, we’ll always be brothers. We’re certainly on different paths at the moment but I’ll always be there for him and I know he’ll always be there for me.”</p> <p>Another book on royals, <em>Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family</em>, will be released in August. The biography, authored by journalists Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durnad, promises to go “beyond the headlines to reveal unknown details of Harry and Meghan’s life together, dispelling the many rumours and misconceptions that plague the couple on both sides of the pond”.</p>

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Bride demands refund from wedding photographer over Black Lives Matter support

<p>An American wedding photographer said a couple tried to cancel their contract after she expressed her support for Black Lives Matter in a social media post.</p> <p>Shakira Rochelle, a photographer based in Cincinnati, Ohio, shared her support of the movement on her social media pages. The post read: “Shakira Rochelle Photography stands in solidarity with the black community. The black lives matter movement has my endless support.”</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBEt3EblKff/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBEt3EblKff/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">Shakira Rochelle Photography stands in solidarity with the black community. The black lives matter movement has my endless support ✊🏼.</a></p> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/shakirarochellephotographyy/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank"> Shakira Rochelle🌿</a> (@shakirarochellephotographyy) on Jun 5, 2020 at 5:34pm PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>Rochelle later received a text message from a client requesting her deposit back.</p> <p>“We have done a lot of talking and we cannot bring ourselves to support anyone who is so outspoken on matters that simply do not concern them as well as someone that does not believe that ALL lives matter,” the bride wrote on the text.</p> <p>“We … feel that you aren’t stable enough to complete the job we need from you.”</p> <p>Rochelle told the bride that the deposit was non-refundable, as per their signed contract. “I wish you a lifetime of growth and I would like to thank you for your donation to Black Lives Matter,” the photographer concluded.</p> <p>The bride told Rochelle she would be “hearing from our attorney”.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">I love it here. <a href="https://t.co/hKH4WFOSk2">pic.twitter.com/hKH4WFOSk2</a></p> — Q.🍫 (@PINKdot_COM) <a href="https://twitter.com/PINKdot_COM/status/1272880090003771393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2020</a></blockquote> <p>The screenshots of the messages – which Rochelle posted on her personal Facebook account – went on to become viral on social media sites. A Twitter post with pictures of the exchange has received more than 1.1 million likes.</p> <p>On Wednesday, Rochelle released a statement addressing claims that her post was fabricated.</p> <p>“There is a photoshopped screenshot circulating stating that coming forward with this story was a business tactic to make a profit on the BLM movement,” she said.</p> <p>“This is the most incredibly absurd thing I have ever heard. The original post started out private until a friend asked if she could share it. I never had the intentions or the desire to go viral for this or anything else.”</p> <p>Rochelle explained that prior to the incident, she had been booked until winter and was not seeking for more clients.</p> <p>“I have always stood up for human rights and will continue to do so. I have marched with my loved ones as well as alone. My intentions are pure,” she said.</p> <p>“Please know that what you saw from me was the complete story.”   </p> <p>Black Lives Matter protests have been initiated across the US and around the world following the killing of George Floyd in police custody on May 25.</p>

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Psycho turns 60 – Hitchcock’s famous fright film broke all the rules

<p>November 1959. Film director <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000033/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Alfred Hitchcock</a> is at his commercial and critical peak after the successes of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/?ref_=nm_knf_i2">Vertigo</a> (1958) and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/?ref_=nm_knf_i3">North by Northwest</a> (1959). So what does he do next? A black-and-white made-for-TV movie hastily shot, with no big-name actors and a leading actress who takes a shower, and … well, we’ll come to that.</p> <p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/?ref_=nm_knf_i1">Psycho</a> (1960) remains Hitchcock’s most celebrated film. But it is really two films, glued together by the most iconic scene in cinema history.</p> <p>Part one is a run-of-the-mill morality tale. Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) steals $40,000 from her Phoenix employee, and goes on the run. Guilt-stricken, she pulls into a deserted motel and chats with the owner, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins).</p> <p>He seems friendly enough – he makes her sandwiches and talks fondly about his mother – and Marion resolves to return the money.</p> <p>Part two is a whodunnit. Marion’s sister (Vera Miles) and her lover (John Gavin) investigate her disappearance, and trace her steps back to the motel. Soon, they begin to have suspicions about Norman.</p> <p>‘She just goes … a little mad sometimes.’</p> <p><strong>Thriller with a twist</strong></p> <p>A few years earlier, Hitchcock had watched Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1955 psychological masterpiece <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046911/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Les Diaboliques</a> and sought out a similar project – a horrific thriller with a twist ending. He read <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156427.Psycho">Robert Bloch’s novel Psycho</a> – itself inspired by the real-life <a href="https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/ed-gein">Wisconsin killer Ed Gein</a> – and optioned the film rights.</p> <p>Audiences saw things in Psycho that had never been shown before on screen. A toilet flushing. A murderer who goes unpunished. A post-coital Leigh, lying on a bed, dressed only in white underwear, while Gavin stands topless over her.</p> <p>All of Hitchcock’s trademark obsessions are on show: voyeurism, the dominant matriarchal figure, the blonde heroine, the untrustworthy cop.</p> <p>Over his career, Hitchcock had always flouted Hollywood’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93301189">Production Code</a>, those rigid rules that had been in place since the 1930s that prohibited onscreen nudity, sex and violence. Nowhere is Hitchcock’s brazen censor-defying clearer than in Psycho’s “shower scene”.</p> <p>Marion steps into the shower, a shadowy figure rips back the curtain, and cinema’s most visceral scene unspools, brutally, before our very eyes.</p> <p>Hitchcock, the master of suspense, never actually shows knife slicing flesh. Everything is implied, through liberal doses of chocolate sauce, hacked watermelons, Bernard Herrmann’s screeching violins, and Leigh’s blood-curdling screams.</p> <p>In one 60-second scene, Hitchcock shatters all the rules. It’s the most famous of all bait and switches: you expect one thing, but get another. Up to that point, no film had killed off its lead character so early in the story (nowadays, such an audacious twist shows up everywhere, from The Lion King to Games of Thrones). As Leigh slides down the blinding white tiles, arm outstretched, a new kind of cinema is born: twisted, shocking, primal.</p> <p><strong>Inventing the cinema event</strong></p> <p>Hitchcock famously ordered cinemas to not let any latecomers into screenings of Psycho, to keep the element of surprise.</p> <p>Previously, cinema-goers could wander into a film midway through, watch the last half, and then stick around for the restart to catch up on what they had missed. When your leading lady is butchered 45 minutes in, the film makes little sense if you arrive late – hence Hitchcock’s decree.</p> <p>While the reviews at the time of its cinema release were lukewarm, cinema as an “event”, as a communal experience shared by hundreds of people in the dark, began. There were queues around the blocks in cities across America as word of mouth grew. Grossing US$32 million (equivalent to A$468 million today) off a budget of US$800,000 (A$12 million today), Psycho made Hitchcock a very wealthy man.</p> <p>Other elements contributed to Psycho’s enduring influence. Saul Bass’s opening credits, all intersecting lines and sans-serif titles, anticipate the film’s fixation with duality and overlap.</p> <p>Budget constraints meant that Bernard Herrmann could only rely on his orchestra’s string section. Even people who have never seen the film instantly recognise his score.</p> <p>And Anthony Perkins, typecast forever after as the nervous mother’s boy with a dark secret, crafts a performance that is both sweetly disarming and deeply unsettling.</p> <p><strong>Psycho sequels</strong></p> <p>Its reputation has only grown since 1960. Critics and audiences remain transfixed by Psycho’s storytelling verve and its queasy tonal shifts (murder mystery to black comedy to horror).</p> <p><a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/turner-prize-1996/turner-prize-1996-artists-douglas-gordon">Douglas Gordon’s 1993 art installation 24 Psycho</a> slowed the film down to last a full day.</p> <p>Douglas Gordon’s 24 Psycho (1993) video installation pays homage to every frame of the film.</p> <p>Academics have had a field day too, from <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=qx9dDwAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PA4&amp;ots=3sAjXQ_r40&amp;dq=Raymond%20Durgnat%20micro-analysis%20psycho&amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;q=Raymond%20Durgnat%20micro-analysis%20psycho&amp;f=false">Raymond Durgnat’s lengthy micro-analysis</a> to <a href="https://egs.edu/biography/slavoj-zizek/">Slavoj Žižek</a>’s reading of Bates’s house as an illustration of Freud’s concept of the id, ego and superego.</p> <p>Three progressively sillier sequels were made, as well as a colour <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0155975/?ref_=vp_back">shot-for-shot remake </a>by Gus van Sant in 1998. Brian De Palma’s entire back catalogue pays homage to Hitchcock, with whole sections of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070698/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_30">Sisters</a> (1972) to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080661/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_24">Dressed to Kill</a> (1980) reworking Psycho’s delirious excesses.</p> <p>Psycho’s box office success undoubtedly contributed to Hollywood’s abiding fascination with true-crime stories, serial killers, and slasher films.</p> <p>More recently, the TV prequel series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2188671/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Bates Motel</a> ran for four seasons, deepening Norman’s relationship with his mother and tracking his developing mental illness.</p> <p>That series provides a set up for the events at the Bates Motel. Sixty years on, the setting for Psycho continues to exert such a pulsating thrill, even as we watch from behind the sofa.</p> <p><em>Written by Ben McCann. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/psycho-turns-60-hitchcocks-famous-fright-film-broke-all-the-rules-140175">The Conversation.</a> </em></p>

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A chemical engineer explains: What makes pepper spray so intense? And is it a tear gas?

<p>In recent weeks, the world has looked on as governments use chemical irritants to control protesters and riots. Whether it’s tear gas, pepper spray, mace or pepper balls, all have one thing in common: they’re chemical weapons.</p> <p>Chemical warfare agents have been used twice in Sydney in the past week alone. Police <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-07/sydney-police-defend-pepper-spray-use-on-protesters/12330558">pepper-sprayed</a> demonstrators at Central Station, following Saturday’s major Black Lives Matter protest.</p> <p>The next day, tear gas <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-08/tear-gas-fired-into-exercise-yard-of-sydney-long-bay-jail/12332572">was used</a> to break up a fight at Long Bay jail, as prison guards filled an exercise yard with tear gas canisters – also impacting nearby residents.</p> <p>These events followed the deployment of <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/05/politics/park-police-tear-gas/index.html">chemical riot control agents</a> – specifically “pepper bombs” – in Washington DC last week. They were used to clear protesters from a public park so President Donald Trump could walk from the White House to a nearby church for a photo opportunity.</p> <p>The White House made a highlight reel to celebrate Trump’s heroic walk across the street for his bible photo op...</p> <p>US Attorney General William Barr said “<a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2020/06/the-continuing-tear-gas-debate/">there was no tear gas used</a>”, claiming “pepper spray is not a chemical irritant. It’s not chemical.”</p> <p>I’m a chemical engineer and chemist who studies chemicals in the environment. So I thought I’d clear the air about what makes pepper spray such a powerful chemical irritant, and a chemical weapon.</p> <p><strong>What’s inside pepper spray?</strong></p> <p>The active compounds in pepper spray are collectively known as capsaicinoids. They are given the military symbol OC, for “oleoresin capsicum”.</p> <p>The most important chemical in OC is capsaicin. This is derived from chilli peppers in a chemical process that dissolves and concentrates it into a liquid. Capsaicin is the same compound that makes chillies hot, but in an intense, weaponised form.</p> <p>Not all capsaicinoids are obtained naturally. One called nonivamide (also known as PAVA or pelargonic acid vanillylamide) is mostly made by humans. PAVA is an <a href="https://cot.food.gov.uk/committee/committee-on-toxicity/cotstatements/cotstatementsyrs/cotstatements2002/pavastatement">intense irritant</a> used in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/dec/09/pepper-spray-used-in-non-violent-situations-in-prison-pilot">artificial pepper spray</a>.</p> <p><strong>Is pepper spray a tear gas?</strong></p> <p>We’ve established pepper spray is a chemical, but is it also a kind of tear gas?</p> <p>“<a href="https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/riotcontrol/factsheet.asp">Tear gas</a>” is an informal term and a bit of a misnomer, because it isn’t a gas. Rather, tear gas refers to any weaponised irritant used to immobilise people.</p> <p>More specifically, tear gas is often used to describe weapons that disperse their irritants in the air either as liquid aerosol droplets (such as <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a28904691/how-tear-gas-works/">gas canisters</a>), or as a powder (such as pepper balls). This definition distinguishes tear gas from personal self-defence sprays which use foams, gels and liquids.</p> <p>Tear gas canisters typically contain the irritants 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (CS) and phenacyl chloride (CN). Both CS and CN are man-made chemicals discovered in a lab, unlike capsaicin (the traditional ingredient in pepper spray).</p> <p>But despite capsaicin coming from chilli peppers, pepper spray is still a weaponised irritant that can be delivered as an aerosol or powder. It should unequivocally be considered a type of tear gas.</p> <p><strong>Pepper spray as a weapon</strong></p> <p>The chemical irritants OC, CS and CN have military symbols because they are chemical weapons. They are termed “<a href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/06/10/rubber-bullets-protesters-victoria-snelgrove-boston">less-lethal</a>” because they are less likely to kill than conventional weapons. Their use, however, can still <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2020/06/08/tear-gas-and-pepper-spray-can-maim-kill-and-spread-coronavirus/#47f17a2a725f">cause fatalities</a>.</p> <p>Technically, pepper spray and other tear gases are classified as lachrymatory agents. <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-tear-gas-139958">Lachrymatory agents</a> attack mucous membranes in the eyes and respiratory system.</p> <p>Pepper spray works almost instantly, forcing the eyes to close and flood with tears. Coupled with coughing fits and difficulty breathing, this means the targeted person is effectively <a href="https://healthland.time.com/2011/11/22/how-painful-is-pepper-spray/">blinded and incapacitated</a>. Because lachrymatory agents work on <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544263/">nerve receptors</a> that help us sense heat, they also induce an intense burning sensation.</p> <p>The combined effects of pepper spray can last anywhere from 15 minutes to more than an hour.</p> <p>Lachrymatory agents emerged on the <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-introduce-poison-gas">battlefields of World War I</a>. Artillery shells were filled with chemicals such as <a href="https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/05/17/chemical-warfare-ww1/">xylyl bromide and chloroacetone</a> and fired at enemy soldiers. Agents that induce choking, blistering and vomiting were added as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/10/science/chemical-weapons-world-war-1-armistice.html">chemical arms race</a> escalated.</p> <p>In the 1920s, the <a href="https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/bio/1925-geneva-protocol/">Geneva Protocol</a> was enacted to ban the use of indiscriminate and often ineffective chemical weapons on the battlefield. Today, the unjustified use of chemical riot control agents <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/04/201242913130963418.html">threatens to erode</a> the systems that are meant to protect us from the most dangerous weaponised chemicals.</p> <p><em>Written by Gabriel da Silva. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-pepper-spray-so-intense-and-is-it-a-tear-gas-a-chemical-engineer-explains-140441">The Conversation.</a> </em></p>

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Duchess Camilla makes acting debut in charity project

<p>The Duchess of Cornwall has performed her first ever character role since joining the British Royal Family as she joined Oscar winners for a charity reading.</p> <p>Appearing alongside Oscar-winning director Taika Waititi and actors Lupita Nyong’o and Josh Gad, Duchess Camilla took part in the sixth episode of<span> </span>James and the Giant Peach, with Taika and Friends<span> </span>on YouTube.</p> <p>“I’m not much of an actor but I’ll do my best,” Camilla told Waititi, a New Zealand filmmaker, before she began reading the Roald Dahl classic from her Birkhall residence.</p> <p>The Duchess played the part of the Ship’s Captain in the story. One of her lines read: “Holy cats! Send a message to the Queen at once! The country must be warned!”</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4g1wRIMNV9M"></iframe></div> <p>The project is an initiative from the Roald Dahl Story Company to raise funds for Partners in Health, who are working on the front line amid the COVID-19 pandemic.</p> <p>The Duchess, who is royal patron of Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, said in a statement: “I hope this campaign will raise vital funds to support those most in need at this very challenging time – as well as helping families and children currently in lockdown to find a moment of comfort through the joy of reading.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">The Duchess of Cornwall has joined <a href="https://twitter.com/TaikaWaititi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TaikaWaititi</a> and The <a href="https://twitter.com/roald_dahl?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@roald_dahl</a> Story Company for her first character reading in Episode 6 of James and The Giant Peach with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TaikaAndFriends?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TaikaAndFriends</a>. 📖 <a href="https://t.co/lMcITcoDb7">https://t.co/lMcITcoDb7</a></p> — Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClarenceHouse/status/1265629629194416130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2020</a></blockquote> <p>The readings have also been joined by a number of other celebrities, including Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Chris Hemsworth.</p>

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5 novels with a real sense of place to explore from your living room

<p>Everybody knows the concept of “desert island books”, the novels you might pack if you were going to be marooned on a desert island. Thanks to the pandemic, many of us are indeed now marooned, except that instead of lazing on palm-fringed beaches, we’re in lockdown – in urban apartment blocks, suburban terraced houses or village homes.</p> <p>A good book can help us forget about the world around us and also substitute our longing for pastures greener. It can take us from our sofa to the beaches of Thailand (as in Alex Garland’s <em>The Beach</em>) or to the streets of New York (as in Paul Auster’s <em>City of Glass</em>).</p> <p>So, as someone who researches and teaches literature, I’ve chosen five novels that allow me to be elsewhere in my mind, whether that’s a glorious English countryside setting, the streets of a European metropolis, or the urban sprawl of an unnamed Indian city.</p> <p><strong>Kazuo Ishiguro: <em>The Remains of the Day</em></strong></p> <p><em>The Remains of the Day</em> tells the story of Stevens, the aged butler of Darlington Hall, and his ill-judged life choices that saw him being involved, albeit only on the fringes, with British fascism in the interwar years.</p> <p>This allusion to British fascism in particular is something that makes this novel stand out: it is a subject matter not often discussed or even taught.</p> <p>But at the moment, I can particularly take solace in Ishiguro’s beautiful descriptions of the countryside that Stevens – unused to the freedom of travel – encounters during his journey across south-west England:</p> <blockquote> <p>What I saw was principally field upon field rolling off into the far distance. The land rose and fell gently, and the fields were bordered by hedges and trees … It was a fine feeling indeed to be standing up there like that, with the sound of summer all around one and a light breeze on one’s face.</p> </blockquote> <p>As the lockdown drags on, this is a feeling I am longing for.</p> <p><strong>W.G. Sebald: <em>The Emigrants</em></strong></p> <p>This collection of four novellas is predominantly set in England and Germany but also offers glimpses of the US, Egypt, Belgium and Switzerland. Focusing on a different protagonist in each novella, Sebald portrays how the long shadows of the second world war have affected individuals – but also how Germany has engaged with its troubled past.</p> <p>His descriptions of the town of Kissingen’s illuminated spa gardens, with “Chinese lanterns strung across the avenues, shedding colourful magical light” and “the fountains in front of the Regent’s building” jetting “silver and gold alternately” conjure up images of times gone by and a town as yet untroubled by the scourge of antisemitism.</p> <p>Sebald’s narrative is a collage of fiction, biography, autobiography, travel writing and philosophy. His prose is so full of quiet beauty and eloquence that it always helps me forget my surroundings and enter a quiet and contemplative “Sebaldian” space.</p> <p><strong>Patrick Modiano: <em>The Search Warrant</em></strong></p> <p><em>The Search Warrant</em> pieces together the real-life story of Dora Bruder, a young Jewish girl who went missing in Paris in December 1941.</p> <p>Modiano attempts to retrace Dora’s movements across Paris and his book is full of evocative descriptions of quiet squares and bustling streets where she might have spent some time.</p> <blockquote> <p>In comparison with the Avenue de Saint-Mandé, the Avenue Picpus, on the right, is cold and desolate. Treeless, as I remember. Ah, the loneliness of returning on those Sunday evenings.</p> </blockquote> <p>From the first page it is clear that the city of Paris assumes the status of a character – and as readers we can follow the narrator’s (and Dora’s) movements on a map.</p> <p>If we are familiar with Paris, we can picture where they are. By tracing Dora’s possible steps, Modiano evocatively recreates the twilight atmosphere of Paris under occupation.</p> <p><strong>Rohinton Mistry: <em>A Fine Balance</em></strong></p> <p><em>A Fine Balance</em> is a sprawling narrative that takes the reader all the way to the Indian subcontinent.</p> <p>Set initially in 1975 during the emergency government period and then during the chaotic times of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Mistry’s novel focuses on the lives of four central characters whose lives are on a downward spiral, from poverty to outright destitution and, ultimately, death.</p> <p>Mistry does not whitewash the reality of urban poverty in India. His narrative does not hide away from disease or overcrowded slums with “rough shacks” standing “beyond the railroad fence, alongside a ditch running with raw sewage”. His are not places where we might want to be. But as readers, we become utterly engrossed in his characters’ lives – we hope with them, we fear for them and, at the end, we cry for them.</p> <p><strong>Elena Ferrante: <em>My Brilliant Friend</em></strong></p> <p>Elena Ferrante’s novels take me straight to my favourite city of Napoli. Starting with My Brilliant Friend, the four novels chart the intensive relationship between two girls, Elena “Lenù” Greco and Raffaella “Lila” Cerullo, who grow up in a poor neighbourhood in the 1950s.</p> <p>Reading Ferrante’s sprawling narrative conjures up images of Napoli and makes me feel like I am standing in the Piazza del Plebiscito or having an espresso in the historic Caffè Gambrinus. Together with Lenù, I can see Vesuvio across the Bay of Naples, the:</p> <blockquote> <p>delicate pastel-colored shape, at whose base the whitish stones of the city were piled up, with the earth-coloured slice of the Castel dell’Ovo, and the sea.</p> </blockquote> <p>I can feel, hear and smell Napoli around me. Reading about the city might not be as good as being there in person; but, at the moment, it is a close second.</p> <p>Of course, books can’t stop a global pandemic. But, for a short while, they can let us forget the world around us and, instead, transport us to different places, allowing us to at least travel in spirit.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135367/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/christine-berberich-319477">Christine Berberich</a>, Reader in Literature, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-portsmouth-1302">University of Portsmouth</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-novels-with-a-real-sense-of-place-to-explore-from-your-living-room-135367">original article</a>.</em></p>

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