Tracking War Crimes in Sudan (Sanjana Varghese)

The perpetrators Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary — both armed by foreign powers — have spent almost two years at war, and their battle has laid waste to the country. Many tens of thousands of civilians have been killed. Close to 12 million people have been displaced. There is famine. The U.S. and the …

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Scientists discover a genetic blueprint that could revolutionize global food production: ‘More productive and resilient crops for the future.'(Laurelle Stelle)

To harness the power of the sun and make sugars for energy storage, plants use photosynthesis. But some plants are more efficient at it than others. For the first time, researchers have identified a key step in the transformation between old-fashioned C3 photosynthesis and new and improved C4 photosynthesis — which could lead to the …

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Montana Supreme Court affirms decision in historic youth climate case (Micah Drew and Blair Miller)

Limit on analysis of greenhouse gas emissions is unconstitutional, court rules.The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a district court ruling in the nation’s first constitutional climate change trial, affirming that the youth plaintiffs have a “fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment” while revoking two Montana statutes. The 70-page decision, authored by Chief Justice …

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Scientists making significant progress in advancing climate-smart crops (Anders Lorenzen)

A study released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences has unveiled that a new breeding strategy to create climate-smart crops rapidly has seen significant progress. The new varieties created using this strategy show higher yields under normal climatic conditions and when being exposed to heat stresses they rescue and limit yield losses both for staple grain and …

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An unprecedented surge [in Immigration] (David Leonhardt)

My colleagues and I worked with government officials and outside experts in recent weeks to analyze the magnitude of the recent immigration surge in the United States. We published the results of that analysis this morning. In today’s newsletter, I’ll give you seven highlights, with help from charts by Albert Sun, a graphics editor at The Times. …

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Humanity May Reach Singularity Within Just 6 Years, Trend Shows (Darren Orf)

In the world of artificial intelligence, the idea of “singularity” looms large. This slippery concept describes the moment AI exceeds beyond human control and rapidly transforms society. The tricky thing about AI singularity (and why it borrows terminology from black hole physics) is that it’s enormously difficult to predict where it begins and nearly impossible to …

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