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Everyday chemicals affect brain, IQ — study

"Clean" may not be the same as "Safe" Photo Siyavula Education/Flickr, CC BY-SA

By Barbara Demeneix, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN) – Sorbonne Universités  May, 2017 All vertebrates – from frogs and birds to human beings – require the same thyroid hormone to thrive. Every stage of brain development is modulated by thyroid hormone and, over millions of years, the structure of this critical hormone has remained unchanged. But, increasingly, the trappings of modern life are preventing it from playing its critical role in human brain development. Thyroid hormone signalling is very vulnerable to interference by chemicals that can scramble the endocrine communication routes between cells. These endocrine disruptors, as they are called, include

Trump-Kim smackdown leaves South Koreans cold

JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs May 13, 2017 For a while it looked as though Donald Trump was the white horse on a cresting wave of right-wing demagogy rushing to break over liberal democracies world-wide. But the defeat of Trump’s neo-Nazi fellow travellers in Holland and France, and now the election this week of a left-liberal administration in South Korea, leaves the United States President looking more like the grimy spume left on the sand by the retreating tide. The election to the South Korean presidency on May 8 of Democratic Party leader Moon Jae-in is primarily a demand by the

Journalism at risk from surveillance, data collection: UNESCO report

By Julie Posetti May 3, 2017 The ability of journalists to report without fear is under threat from mass surveillance and data retention. Released this week, my UNESCO report Protecting Journalism Sources in the Digital Age shows that laws protecting journalists and sources globally are not keeping up with the challenges posed by indiscriminate data collection and the spill-over effects of anti-terrorism and national security legislation. Examining legal changes to how sources are protected across 121 countries between 2007-2015, I found that calls, text messages, and emails made in the process of reporting are increasingly exposed. In particular, they can be

Venezuela spins at the rim of a black hole

JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs May 5, 2017 Venezuela is being sucked into a political and social vacuum because neither its local leaders nor regional players have the slightest idea where the country of 30 million people should be heading or how to get there. The awful probability is that the vacuum will be filled by violence. That’s usually what happens when human societies lose their way. For over a month Venezuela’s cities have been in turmoil as supporters of the opposition Democratic Unity Movement (MUD) alliance demand that President Nicolas Maduro be removed and that new presidential elections be held.

Press freedoms at tipping point: RSF

Press freedom is declining globally, warns Reporters Without Borders/Reporters sans frontières, today releasing the 2017 World Press Freedom Index showing press freedoms “in the worst state we have ever seen.” “Once taken for granted, media freedom is proving to be increasingly fragile in democracies,” said an RSF analysis. Authoritarian regimes and dictatorships are not the only culprits for abuse, it said. “In sickening statements, draconian laws, conflicts of interest, and even the use of physical violence, democratic governments are trampling on a freedom that should, in principle, be one of their leading performance indicators. ” Even the leading European democracies  have declined, notably Finland and the Netherlands, said RSF.

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