Insect ‘submariners’ don’t implode at depth, leaving oceanic mystery unsolved University of British Columbia
Working memory rapidly updates its priorities after distractions, study finds Medical Xpress
Can Circularity Break the Cycle of Architectural Waste? Common Edge
‘I can’t work in the farce of climate change cruise tourism anymore’: why Antarctic guides quit their dream jobs The Conversation
Climate/Environment
Power Grids Reach Tipping Point as 100F Weather, US Data Center Boom Stress Aging Networks Bloomberg
France, Spain battle ‘monster’ wildfires with more heat on the way AFP
EXTRAORDINARY HEAT IN SOUTH AMERICA
MInd blowing MINIMUM 28.7 Georgetown
GUYANA HOTTEST NIGHT IN HISTORY40c IN WINTER
Insane winter heat in BRAZIL with 38/40C
Next days HUNDREDS of records in Brazil,Bolivia,Paraguay,Peru,Ecuador and Colombia.
Absolutely crazy. pic.twitter.com/Fa1x9HDJ6l— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) July 26, 2026
In recent weeks, there has been a remarkable surge in large, intense, fast-moving, and unfortunately in many cases destructive/deadly wildfires in multiple Northern Hemisphere regions spanning a wide range of climates & ecologies, but they all share one key commonality. [Thread]
— Daniel Swain (@Weather_West) July 27, 2026
How do scientists know if climate change made a heat wave, extreme storm or wildfire worse? The Conversation
Deadly storm in Chile disrupts copper mines and raises AI supply concerns FT
Pennsylvania roads are being coated in radioactive wastewater − here’s why The Conversation
Water
L.A.’s dangerous game of triage as aging water system hits breaking point Los Angeles Times
China?
Chipmaker CXMT vaults to top of China’s valuation with 470% surge in Shanghai debut Channel News Asia
China’s ‘K-shaped’ economy is divided not just by sector, but geography South China Morning Post
India
Sacrificing Pradhan Won’t Save Modi The Wire
Indian Farmers Protest FTAs Abdul Rahman
Syraqistan
Pentagon reports more than 600 Iran war casualties in quiet database update The Guardian
US Envoy Waltz Confirms Munitions Depleted As Iran Strikes Stay Paused Second Night International Business Times
Iran says it will halt strikes as long as US bombing pause holds Business Times
Iran accuses Ukraine of deadly attack on Caspian commercial vessel Al Jazeera
Will #Iran and #Ukraine Enter a Direct Conflict?
🔹Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, said on July 25 that Ukrainian forces had struck an Iranian vessel transporting military cargo between Iran and Russia in the Caspian Sea.
🔹Later, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that…
— Hamidreza Azizi (@HamidRezaAz) July 26, 2026
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports that the Ukrainians struck an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian, killing a sailor. They’re calling this attack “a sign of the Ukrainian regime’s irrational and hostile approach towards Iran”. They reserve the right to… pic.twitter.com/NP1YqUFJwp
— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) July 25, 2026
***
Israeli settlers torch mosques in occupied West Bank DW
Netanyahu, Katz vow to ‘broaden’ campaign of violence in occupied West Bank The Cradle
***
Lebanese army says Israeli attacks hinder its deployment in south Anadolu Agency
***
President Ahmed al-Sharaa: Syria seeking security deal with Israel Al Jazeera
European Disunion
One big winner in War on Iran: US natural gas exporters. Big loser: Europe. Kevin Walmsley
The Disposable Ones: How Albania’s Land-Grabbing State Bred the Flamingo Revolution Untold Mag
China has put a Polish university on its European dual-use exports blacklist. Why? South China Morning Post
Berlin police kill suspect in Pride festival attack after manhunt NBC News
Germany failed to contain AfD. Now it’s just a matter of time before the far-right grabs power. TRT World
Old Blighty
Water outage at London’s Gatwick Airport leaves toilets out of order and restaurants closed NBC News
British water giant nears collapse as privatisation row reignites Euro Weekly
Worker, Hipster, Banker London Review of Books
UK’s Burnham to welcome Zelensky in first foreign leader visit AFP
New Not-So-Cold War
Chevron Is Trying to Keep Its Kazak Assets Out of the Russia-Ukraine War WSJ
Tokayev Calls for Ukraine War Freeze as Black Sea and Caspian Risks Grow Times of Central Asia
Turkish cargo ship sinks near Odesa after missile strike Azer News
Ukraine’s Magura drone heads to America after sinking warships Tech Radar
Poland discusses scenario of Russian provocation using drones disguised as Ukrainian Ukrainska Pravda
Imperial Collapse Watch
Western diplomacy is dead: a post-diplomacy world Ian Proud
Vectors of Fascism: An Interview with Alberto Toscano Communis
South of the Border
Flavio Bolsonaro launches presidential bid to challenge Lula in October election TRT World
Brazil denies visas to US officials amid election interference fears India Today
Brazil Calls Its Ambassador in Argentina for Consultations After Milei Offenses TeleSur
Spook Country
Securities and Exchange Commission is acquiring AI agents to monitor cellphone locations All-Source Intelligence
Trump 2.0
The Sixth Red Scare, Not the Second Un-Diplomatic
Trump Administration Eyes Massive Coal Reserves Under Federal Lands Inside Climate News
Democrats Suck
Haley Stevens’s Palantir Consultant Scandal Draws Attention to Her Record on ICE Truthout
Why 98 Democrats ignored voters and opposed an Israel aid cut Stephen Semler
Democrats favored to win House, underdogs in Senate 100 days out The Hill
Healthcare?
Man Accused of Horrific Crimes Caught Hiding as Pharma Executive Futurism
Your health care bill is incomprehensible. Congress is stepping in. Politico
AI
Nvidia in Talks With OpenAI to Guarantee $250 Billion Financing for Data Center WSJ
OpenAI buys NVIDIA chips to do AI
NVIDIA invests in OpenAI equity
OpenAI uses money to buy more chips
NVIDIA raises prices of chips more
Capex number goes higher to buy chips
Investors are concerned
NVIDIA provides backstop to OpenAI
Investors give more money to OpenAI… https://t.co/gLHtksimWo pic.twitter.com/TQhM8cQf9n
— Boring_Business (@BoringBiz_) July 27, 2026
Emails show how Virginia regulators downplayed data center health concerns Politico
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Your Garbage Truck Is About to Start Spying on You. Your Car Already Did, and Got Fined for It. Auto Wire
US accuses American of allegedly wiping his phone using a ‘duress’ password during border search Tech Crunch
The Accelerationists
Orbital Enclosure Phenomenal World
Antitrust
Monopoly Round-Up: How to Stop the Enshittification of America Matt Stoller
Groves of Academe
Higher Ed Can’t Be Neutral in an Age of Brutality. It Must Choose Democracy.Truthout
Class Warfare
Kansas Amendment Battle Highlights Billionaires’ Efforts to Capture State Courts Truthout
Financial Hardship Linked To Brain Shrinkage, Cognitive Decline StudyFinds
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Re: BREAKING: Nvidia, $NVDA, is in talks to provide a $250 billion financial backstop for OpenAI to lease a massive data center project in Ohio, per WSJ
And this in the FT —
Beware holographic markets
Tokenised securities are mirror images of the real thing but pose new risks
https://archive.ph/ScH5o#selection-1441.0-1445.75
‘…the opportunities to trade second or third-order financial holograms of things like, say, a contract for Tesla vehicle deliveries or election results, have reached new and more distorting levels.
‘Consider, for example, the rise of “perpetual futures”, which never expire and allow traders to speculate on an asset’s price without owning it. Day traders love them, while consumer advocates call them “the most dangerous product in crypto”. But there’s no doubt they’re burgeoning. At a Council on Foreign Relations event last week, Kalshi head of enforcement Robert DeNault said perpetual futures trading on Kalshi had reached $17.5bn since its introduction in May, and “institutional investor interest” was growing fast….’
~~~
Let it come down, in the words of Shakespeare’s First Murderer. Let it all come down.
That’s nuts that. It’s like me speculating financially on the homes of those day traders, even though I don’t own them.
Did somebody say sweaty dynamite?
“Pentagon reports more than 600 Iran war casualties in quiet database update’
Wouldn’t be surprised if the true number is a thousand or to when you add in contractor, special ops troops and regular troops that are being hidden by juggling the books. I’m wondering if some of these wounded troops, when they leave the military and go to a VA hospital, will have their claims denied because they cannot find any record of them being wounded in this region. They could stand there with a missing arm or a burnt face but be told ‘I’m sorry, sir. We have no record of any injuries on your service record.’ Pretty sure stuff like this happened in the Iraq war. If those wounded troops were smart, they should put together own files and documentations of their injuries now.