Whoa! When Horses Whinny, They Whistle and Sing At Same Time

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Whoa! When Horses Whinny, They Whistle and Sing At Same Time (Maria)

The author writes, “A horse’s whinny begins as a piercing, high-pitched screech that’s soon joined by a lower, guttural rumble. But the two components of the call don’t differ just in tone — they’re made in entirely different ways, researchers report today in Current Biology. … The observation provides the first experimental evidence that a mammal can produce a whistle and a vocal-fold vibration at the same time.”

‘Don’t Go to the US — Not With Trump in Charge’: The UK Tourist With a Valid Visa Detained by ICE for Six Weeks (Bethany and Mili)

From The Guardian: “When Karen Newton left home in late July 2025, she knew that international travellers were being locked up in immigration detention centres in the US. ‘I was aware,’ she nods. ‘But I never thought it would have any impact on my holiday.’ Karen, 65, had a British passport and a tourist visa. She hadn’t been abroad for eight years, and was keen for some guaranteed sun. … The dream holiday ended abruptly on Friday 26 September, as Karen and Bill were trying to leave the US. When they crossed the border, Canadian officials told them they didn’t have the correct paperwork to bring the car with them. They were turned back to Montana on the American side – and to US border control officials. Bill’s US visa had expired; Karen’s had not. ‘I worried then,’ she says. ‘I was worried for him. I thought, well, at least I am here to support him.’ She didn’t know it at the time, but it was the beginning of an ordeal that would see Karen handcuffed, shackled and sleeping on the floor of a locked cell.”

Files Reveal Epstein Was Offered Chance To Buy US Pentagon, FBI Buildings (Sean)

The author writes, “Emails released in the United States Department of Justice files show that the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was offered the chance to buy into a sprawling building tied to the Department of Defense in 2016, according to United Kingdom broadcaster ITV News. The 84,710-square-metre (101,312-square-yard) complex, located roughly 1.6km (1 mile) from the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, was described in an investor deck as a ‘mission-critical’ site and ‘the only property in Arlington, Virginia other than the Pentagon itself with the ability to meet the space and infrastructure needs of the DOD.’ The proposed purchase price was about $116m. The structure of the deal would have made Epstein a co-owner and, effectively, a landlord to the US government.”

FROM 2025: Taking Stock of the Roberts Court at 20—and the Shadowy Forces That Built It (DonkeyHotey)

From Mother Jones: “Chief Justice John Roberts has led the Supreme Court for 20 years now. In that time, his Republican-appointed majority has completely transformed America and its politics, with many of its most destructive opinions written by Roberts himself. Some effects are already visible in our everyday lives, others are only now coming into focus. The court has rolled back voting rights and greenlit gerrymandering, at particular costs to nonwhite voters. It has allowed unlimited money to warp our politics and empowered the wealthiest elites at the expense of most Americans—a distortion that is reflected in growing inequality. The court ended affirmative action in higher education. It ended the right to an abortion. It made it harder for the government to issue the kinds of rules and regulations that safeguard our health and environment…”

This Is How a Child Dies of Measles (Laura)

From The Atlantic: “The birthday-party invitation said ‘siblings welcome,’ which means you can bring your 11-month-old son while your husband is out of town. You arrive a little disheveled and a little late. Your 5-year-old daughter rushes into the living room, and you make your way to the kitchen, wearing your son in a sling. You find a few moms around a table arrayed with plates of fruit, hummus, celery sticks, and carrots — no gluten, no nuts, no Red 40. These parents care about avoiding pesticides, screen time, and processed foods, and you do too. … Sunbeams through the windows illuminate floating dust motes — and, imperceptibly, microdroplets of mucus carrying the measles virus, expelled from an infected but asymptomatic child who is hopping and laughing among the others. Your daughter breathes that same air, inhaling the virus directly into her respiratory tract. The infected aerosolized droplets will linger in the air for hours, which is partly why measles is among the most contagious diseases in the world.”

What ‘America’ Meant Before 1776, and Who ‘Americans’ Are Today (Reader Steve)

From the Los Angeles Times: “Who gets to be ‘American’? In the United States, it’s become a fiery political question with life-or-death consequences. On one side is Team MAGA, for whom ‘America’ means the US and ‘American’ signifies a US citizen — in many of their minds, specifically a native-born, white, Christian US citizen. They routinely deny that the category of ‘American,’ even if limited to meaning ‘individuals born in the United States,’ includes more than 100 million people who are brown, Black, or Latino. Contrast that with the big-tent conception of ‘American.’ Although it long predates the founding of the United States, it apparently bears repeating in the present day, considering the closing of the Super Bowl halftime show and the number of people offended by its truth-telling.”

From Cubicles To Kitchens: How Empty Offices Are Becoming Homes (Dana)

The authors write, “The room looks like your typical office suite: white walls, low ceilings, gray carpet worn thin from years of foot traffic. But for this vacant office outside Dupont Circle in Washington, DC, real estate developers see potential. Matt Pestronk is the president of Post Brothers, a development company that bought the entire office building back in 2021, along with a neighboring building. Instead of making updates to attract new business tenants, Post Brothers decided to convert the old offices into more than 500 apartments. … Cities across the US are grappling with two parallel problems: too much empty office space and not enough housing. Nationally, office vacancy rates reached roughly 20% in 2024, after years of employees working from home. At the same time, the national housing shortage is in the millions. Cities like Washington, DC, are now betting that by turning vacant offices into homes, one crisis can help solve the other.”