All posts tagged: defy

Politics Home | Defy “Orthodox Economists” To Invest Billions In Reindustrialisation, Labour MPs Urge Burnham

Politics Home | Defy “Orthodox Economists” To Invest Billions In Reindustrialisation, Labour MPs Urge Burnham

Published by Sam Flores

Andy Burnham holds a National Economic Council meeting at No 10 North at Heron House in Manchester, July 24, 2026 (Christopher Furlong/Pool Photo via AP/Alamy) 3 min read2 hr Exclusive: Andy Burnham has been urged by a new group of Labour MPs to defy “orthodox economists” and invest billions in creating and sustaining one million production-based jobs in Britain. The demand comes from the first policy paper of the newly launched Reindustrialisation Research Group (ReRG). Currently counting 44 Labour MPs as members, it aims to emulate the European Research Group (ERG), which brought Eurosceptic Tories together and wielded considerable influence under the last Conservative government. The ReRG’s inaugural research paper calls on Burnham’s government to create an additional one million jobs in production-based industries above their current level over the next decade, telling the new Prime Minister to prioritise not just the “Makerfield test” but also the “Maker-things test” to deliver a new political economy. It argues that Britain’s “most vulnerable neighbourhoods are concentrated in deindustrialised areas and coastal communities” and …

Some birds defy overall plunge in numbers

Some birds defy overall plunge in numbers

Published by Sam Flores

LOS ANGELES — Bird multitudes are slipping away on a global scale, but a new study offers hope for how we can be better neighbors to feathered friends. Researchers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo knew, like everyone else in the bird world, that 3 billion birds have been lost in the last half century, but they wanted to know more about why. So they looked at changes in air pollution, light pollution, summer heat and eight other environmental and demographic conditions that affect birds. To their surprise, they found some species are doing well in some places with bad air or bright nights, thanks to what nature put in the birds’ survival toolkit. Eva Moylan with Song sparrow. (Clinton Francis) “Our study shows pretty convincingly that we are losing birds in some places, but we’re also gaining birds at local populations in other areas, so it’s not dire across the board.” said Clinton Francis, a Cal Poly biological sciences professor and co-author on the new study published in Current Biology. In some parts of the West …

One Step Beyond: Two Cats Defy Mere Instincts

One Step Beyond: Two Cats Defy Mere Instincts

Published by Jenni Sidey

I’m so busted. The academic article, “Emotion regulation, procrastination, and watching cat videos online” (2015), found out my vice. Yes, I watch cat videos! But one video caught my eye because it triggers our frequent topic: The mind. In this case, the mind of a cat. Basic online research uncovers our current knowledge about many cat behaviors considered “instincts”:  Hunting, feeding, play, scratching, scent marking, territoriality, grooming, elimination, body language, fear/defense, social bonding, reproduction, maternal protection, climbing, hiding, perching, and stress responses. Considering these facts, suppose a female cat (a “queen”), who has previously had kittens, comes across a stray kitten both terrified and raging defensive. How would the queen react instinctually? Fear? Defensive behavior? Territory protection? Various stress responses? Watch this short video and see what happened in one case. Several hours of research found no expert even hinting any behavior like this queen displayed toward the hostile kitten. If cats operate solely by instinct, this queen has a lot of explaining to do. I found no indication that any adult cat would: 🐱See …

England fans defy police pleas as 5,000 beers bought on eve of World Cup opener

England fans defy police pleas as 5,000 beers bought on eve of World Cup opener

Published by Sam Flores

England fans bought more than 5,000 beers as hundreds defied police pleas to move on from a Dallas pub ahead of the Three Lions’ World cup opener. Thomas Tuchel’s team kick off their campaign against Croatia with the hopes of a nation resting on their shoulders and captain Harry Kane believing this is one of their best opportunities to win a major tournament. England fans across the globe will have their eyes on the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium on Wednesday evening as their team look to match Sir Alf Ramsey’s heroes of 1966. Kane said “it’s one of the best opportunities we will have as a team to win it” and recognised the anticipation of fans, adding: “I want the fans to have that excitement, whether they’re here or back home.” Many of those supporters stayed out until late on Tuesday night at the Londoner Pub in the US city, with some in fancy dress and draped in St George’s flags. England fans are asked to leave by Dallas Police at the Londoner Pub (James …

Is the GOP Starting to Defy Trump?

Is the GOP Starting to Defy Trump?

Published by Sam Flores

Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Overcast | Pocket Casts A couple of weeks ago, several Republican senators not only criticized President Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” in a private meeting but “screamed” at Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, according to Senator Ted Cruz on his podcast. “There were multiple senators yelling at the attorney general, saying this feels like self-dealing,” Cruz said, presumably echoing broader criticism that this fund seemed more like a slush fund for Trump’s allies and supporters. The administration has defended the fund as open to everyone. But Blanche announced this week that the administration was scrapping the plan. Whether the senators’ motivation was moral or simply practical—do they really need another headache before the midterms?—the headline is the same: Are Republicans finally pushing back on Trump? Beyond this fund, Senate Republicans also forced Trump to abandon his request for nearly $1 billion in ballroom security funding. And yesterday, House Republicans broke ranks to rebuke Trump’s war in Iran, directing him to withdraw U.S. forces or win …

Scientists find hundreds of inherited DNA patterns that defy classic Mendelian genetics

Scientists find hundreds of inherited DNA patterns that defy classic Mendelian genetics

Published by Jenni Sidey

For more than a century, heredity has been framed through the tidy logic of Mendel’s pea plants: traits pass from parent to offspring by fixed genetic rules. But a new mouse study suggests that chemical marks layered on DNA can sometimes slip past those rules, carrying inherited effects in ways standard genetics does not fully explain. That does not mean the basic laws of genetics are suddenly obsolete. It does mean they may not tell the whole story. In this case, researchers found that DNA methylation, a chemical tag that can turn genes on or off without changing the DNA sequence itself, sometimes passed across generations in ways that did not follow the classic patterns of dominance, recessiveness, or simple parental contribution. Looking across three generations of mice, the team identified 522 cases on non-sex chromosomes where inherited methylation patterns broke Mendel’s rules. Those cases made up about 7% of the epigenetic inheritance patterns they tracked, a share large enough to suggest these exceptions are not just biological curiosities. “Non-Mendelian patterns of inheriting epigenetics could …

China’s Huawei touts chip design breakthrough in bid to defy U.S. sanctions

China’s Huawei touts chip design breakthrough in bid to defy U.S. sanctions

Published by Sam Flores

SHANGHAI — Chinese tech giant Huawei said Monday that it had achieved a breakthrough that would allow it to make cutting-edge chips within five years, touting the news as a milestone in Beijing’s effort to circumvent U.S. technology restrictions. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. With the United States and China vying for global dominance in artificial intelligence, U.S. sanctions that began in 2019 have largely cut Huawei off from global makers of semiconductor chips, the tiny brains that power everything from smartphones to computers to cars. Washington has also limited Beijing’s access to chip design software and semiconductor manufacturing equipment such as lithography machines, leading the Chinese government to invest billions into developing its own semiconductor supply chain. Huawei said Monday at a tech conference in Shanghai that by 2031, its high-end chips would have transistor density equivalent to 1.4-nanometer processes, which is considered the industry’s cutting edge. That compares with the 7 nanometers China’s most advanced chipmaking capability is currently thought to be, and …

What Is the Philosophy of Law and Does it Defy Justice?

What Is the Philosophy of Law and Does it Defy Justice?

Published by Sam Flores

Summary The philosophy of law’s central conflict is between Natural Law (a higher moral order) and Legal Positivism (state-enforced rules). It asks a dangerous question: what makes a law truly legitimate rather than just legal? Ancient Greek thinkers like Plato and Aristotle established that justice is the essential foundation for a well-ordered society. The Speluncean Explorers case illustrates the intense clash between written law and moral necessity in extreme circumstances. Show more   Though it emerged as a formal academic field in the 20th century, the roots of the philosophy of law are embedded in the very origins of Western thought. Usually conflated with ethicists, philosophers debated whether law is merely a tool of state power or a reflection of a higher cosmic order. Thus, from the divine decrees of the ancient world to the modern clash between Natural Law and Legal Positivism, this discipline asks the most dangerous question of all: what makes a law legitimate rather than merely legal?   Historical Overview Zeus holding a thunderbolt, discovered in Smyrna in 1680, by Pierre Granier, via Louvre Museum   As a social phenomenon, law has …

US House Members Defy Leadership, to Force Vote on Ukraine Aid

US House Members Defy Leadership, to Force Vote on Ukraine Aid

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) – A U.S. House of Representatives petition to ⁠force ⁠a floor vote on providing security aid to ⁠Ukraine and imposing new sanctions on Russia reached the 218-signature threshold to move ahead on Wednesday, the ​latest successful bid by lawmakers to defy the chamber’s Republican leadership. California Representative Kevin Kiley, who switched his party affiliation to independent from Republican in March, signed ‌the “discharge petition” on Wednesday, giving it enough ‌signatures to force a vote in the House, likely in early June. While many members of Congress from both parties have strongly supported Ukraine since ⁠Russia launched its full-scale ⁠invasion in February 2022, some of President Donald Trump’s closest Republican allies – including House and ​Senate leadership – have grown cooler since he returned to the White House in January 2025. U.S. aid to the Kyiv government has slowed sharply even as Russia and Ukraine have been pummelling each other with missiles, drones and artillery, with no end to the war in sight. Peace talks are stalled, with Ukraine rejecting Putin’s ​demand …