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Year: 2019

Odds and Ends 

Modern Apes May Be Smarter Than Our Australopithecus Ancestors

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Four million years ago our ancestors had brains larger than modern apes, but they were probably less intelligent than gorillas or chimpanzees new research indicates. When attempting to estimate the intelligence of extinct species anthropologists have relied on measuring brain case size. Bigger brains are assumed to mean greater thinking power, a theory that generally holds up today after some allowance for body size, at least among mammals. However, Professor Roger Seymour of the University of Adelaide has called that into question. He argues energy consumption, not size, is what…

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Uniform Teeth raises $10 million for its teeth-straightening operations

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Uniform Teeth, the teeth straightening startup that helped me figure out I needed a root canal, has just raised a $10 million round of funding led by Canaan Partners. This brings Uniform Teeth’s total funding to $14 million. With the new funding, Uniform Teeth plans to open two more locations, one in Seattle and one in Chicago, early next year. Uniform Teeth currently operates two locations in San Francisco. By the end of next year, Uniform Teeth plans to open more locations throughout the U.S. The startup takes a One…

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Headlines 

Analysis: Trump has weathered impeachment better than Clinton

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(CNN)First things first: The theme song of the week is the closing credits from Growing Pains. In these, Trump usually comes out looking poorly compared to Bill Clinton, the last president to be impeached. Clinton’s job approval rating stayed higher and the percentage who wanted him impeached and removed from office stayed lower. I’ll make the argument, though, that these figures aren’t telling the whole story. A look at the net favorability rating changes for Clinton and Trump during their impeachment sagas indicates that Clinton was hurt by impeachment in…

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Headlines 

Debate so white: candidates of color miss out as Democratic field narrows

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Despite an increasingly diverse party, Andrew Yang will be the only non-white face on the stage in Los Angeles When the Democratic presidential candidates gather in Los Angeles next Thursday to debate for the sixth time, the stage will look rather different than it did when the contenders first faced off back in June. A field that was initially celebrated for its diversity has been whittled down to seven debate participants: the former vice-president Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Senator Amy Klobuchar, billionaire activist…

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Headlines 

Lawsuit says $44M Ferrari 250 GTO is missing a part

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(SWNS) (SWNS) Fisken has since resold the Ferrari for an undisclosed sum, but is looking to force the delivery of the gearbox, claiming in High Court in London that he purchased the car with the understanding that it could and would be acquired and handed over following the sale. The Times reported that arrangements were being made to do just that, but that the parties disagreed over the specifics, which included a $25,000 fee to the third party, and it never happened.

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Terminally-Ill Scientist Aims To Become “First Full Cyborg”

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Dr Peter Bowman Scott-Morgan is an English-American roboticist suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This degenerative condition pushed Scott-Morgan into a daring approach to counteract it and become, in his words, the “world’s first full cyborg”. The roboticist took to Twitter in October to announce that he was undergoing four medical procedures to improve the quality and length of his life. He claims that he’s now Peter 2.0. Doctors inserted a feeding tube directly into his stomach, a catheter directly into his bladder, and a colostomy bag into his colon.…

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Headlines 

Kentucky: outgoing governor pardons killer whose brother hosted fundraiser

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Pardons of violent offenders, including a child rapist and a man who beheaded a female victim, provoke widespread backlash Days after leaving office, the former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin is facing widespread backlash and calls for an investigation following a number of controversial pardons of violent offenders on his way out the door. Pardons are traditional at the end of a governors term and most of the Republicans more than 400 pardons were for drug offenses. But a number of the pardons were for particularly violent crimes, like a woman…

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Switching broadband provider ‘could save 120’

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Of the customers who said they have not recently negotiated with their provider, 51% said they were paying the same as when they first signed up. Two-fifths who had not attempted to haggle with their provider said it was because they were happy with the current price they were paying. While 71% of those who switched provider said the process was easy, 27% experienced time without an internet connection during the move. What is full-fibre broadband? Compensation for broadband users goes live Natalie Hitchins, Which? head of home products and…

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