• Anthropology.net reports on the recent discovery in China of two skulls a hundred thousand years old, possible remnants of a hitherto-unknown hominid species.
• blogTO reports on the boom in the Toronto tech community.
• Language Log breaks down the linguistics, specifically word lengths, of audiobooks.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money reports on the difficult ( Read more... )

• Language Hat reports on the Wenzhounese of Italy.
• Language Log writes about the tones of Cantonese.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money writes about the costs of law school. (They are significant, and escalating hugely.)
• Marginal Revolution reports on the problems facing the Brazilian pension system, perhaps overgenerous for a relatively poor country facing rapid ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes that the redevelopment of Toronto's Port Lands is continuing.
• Crooked Timber argues that climate denialism exposes the socially constructed nature of property rights.
• D-Brief notes the reburial of Kennewick Man.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes there is no sign of a second planet around Proxima Centauri.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at life in ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes the amazing spike upwards in temperatures for this weekend.
• Dangerous Minds shares photos of some stark war memorials of the former Communist world.
• The Dragon's Gaze reports on brown dwarf HIP 67537b.
• The LRB Blog looks at Donald Trump's interest in a Middle Eastern peace settlement that looks as if it will badly disadvantage the ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes concerns in Church and Wellesley about a spike of reported anti-gay violence.
• Crooked Timber looks at the shambolic mess that is the Republican healthcare plan.
• Language Hat links to an article concerned with the question of how to try cracking the Indus Valley script.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that the malevolence and incompetence of ( Read more... )

Urban Toronto's Jack Landau reports on the interesting new renovations expected for Casey House, Toronto's long-standing HIV/AIDS hospice.

The 1875-built William R. Johnston House-formerly known as the Grey Lady of Jarvis Street-is now awash with colour, as exterior details appear at the Jarvis and Isabella construction site. The home is becoming ( Read more... )

David Rider and Jennifer Pagliaro describe in the Toronto Star how the Province of Ontario will not only be supporting but actually funding supervised injection sites in Toronto. This harm reduction strikes me as critical, especially as fentanyl approaches.

Overdose deaths of more than 250 Torontonians a year is a preventable “epidemic,” the city’ ( Read more... )

The New Scientist's Clare Wilson reports on a massive drop in new HIV infections in London that is more easily explained by growing use of PrEP, the prophylactic use of new HIV drugs to prevent infections.

Gay men who defied medical advice seem to have changed the course of the HIV epidemic in the UK - for the better ( Read more... )

The National Post hosts Diana Mehta's Canadian Press article noting how Toronto is preparing for the imminent onslaught of fentanyl. This CBC report suggests some is already here: Can civic leaders prepare before its effect hit hard?

The fentanyl-fuelled opioid crisis that has wreaked havoc in British Columbia is moving east, and the mayor of ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes that TTC tunnels will get WiFi in 2018.
• Border Thinking's Laura Augustín shares some of Edvard Munch's brothel paintings.
• Centauri Dreams looks at the latest science on fast radio bursts.
• Dangerous Minds shares some of the sexy covers of Yugoslavian computer magazine Računari.
• Dead Things looks at the latest research into dinosaur eggs.