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Runners mixed on plan to move Olympic marathon out of Tokyo 1. Runners are all over the course regarding the IOC's plan to move next summer's Olympic marathon from Tokyo to Sapporo in pursuit of a cooler climate. 2. The IOC decided to relocate the race after seeing competitors collapse in extreme heat at the world championships last month in Doha, Qatar, but Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is vigorously challenging the proposed change. 3. Organizers are concerned about the steamy conditions in Tokyo, especially after 28 of 68 starters failed to finish the women's marathon and 18 of 73 men didn't complete the course in Doha. Those races were run at midnight, with the women's event starting at 32.7 degrees C (91 degrees F). 4. Ethiopian runner Lelisa Desisa won that men's race, but he said Thursday the conditions were "dangerous" and that the sport's governing bodies -- worlds are organized by the International Association of Athletics Federati...

Bio Hotels Japan sets new green standard in hospitality 1. Living toxin-free is impossible in modern times, but plotting a quick wellness getaway at a hotel with an ecologically-conscious approach to delivering services is more than doable, Japanese environmental activist Kazuhiko Nakaishi says. The representative director of Bio Hotels Japan says a night at one of these idyllic sanctuaries reminds guests of the importance of being a good steward of the planet while teaching that caring about one's self and about nature can go hand in hand. "It's impossible to live free of chemicals. But in a hotel, if it's just for a night or two, you can get a true, raw, organic experience. An organic holiday is a good place to start," says Nakaishi. "Whether it's the food, cosmetics, bed linen or just the atmosphere, I want the guests to unwind in a stress-free environment. If they then decide to adopt any element of the organic (lifestyle) it would be immensely gra...

Why the 'midlife crisis' is a myth 1.  Middle age is often seen as life's pivot point. A hill has been climbed and the view over the other side is unsettling. As Victor Hugo said: "forty is the old age of youth" and "fifty the youth of old age." 2.  The idea adults in midlife face a dark night of the soul -- or desperately escape from it, hair plugs flapping in a convertible's breeze -- is deeply rooted. Studies show the great majority of people believe in the reality of the so-called "midlife crisis," and almost half of adults over 50 claim to have had one. But is it actually real? 3.  There is good evidence a midlife decline in life satisfaction is real. Population surveys typically find both women and men report the lowest satisfaction in middle age. The Australian HILDA survey locates the lowest life satisfaction at age 45, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics singles out the 45-54 age bracket as the glummest. 4.  Middle age ...

Is trauma handed down through generations? 1. Saleem says he can still see the faces of the young men he shot. More than a decade after sniper duty in the Lebanon-Israel war of 2006, he still has nightmares. “In this region we have a saying that a young man is like a rose …” He breaks off for a moment and then does not finish the sentence. 2. Saleem’s first marriage broke down after the end of the war. His children stayed with him. He admits he was probably hard to live with. “I never talked about the war. I never talked about it at all. I locked everything away.” 3. After the war he drove refuse lorries for a while. Now he is a taxi driver. He has remarried but he doesn’t speak to his new wife about the war. “I don’t like to leave the children,” he says. “I don’t like to be outside the house at night. For years and years I didn’t want to talk about it at all, but now I look online at night to try to understand.” 4. Saleem’s experiences since the war sounds familiar to...

Economic Incentives Don’t Always Do What We Want Them To  On their own, markets can’t deliver outcomes that are just, acceptable — or even efficient . 1.  At least since Adam Smith and his famous B’s (“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest.”), a fundamental premise of economics has been that financial incentives are the primary driver of human behavior. Over the last few decades, this faith in the power of economic incentives led policymakers in the United States and elsewhere to focus, often with the best of intentions, on a narrow range of “incentive-compatible” policies. 2.  This is unfortunate, because economists have somehow managed to hide in plain sight an enormously consequential finding from their research: Financial incentives are nowhere near as powerful as they are usually assumed to be. 3.  We see it among the rich. No one seriously ...

1. The climate activist from Sweden was the star of the UN climate summit. Her remarks reminded us what leadership, courage and sacrifice look like. 2. At the 2019 annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, a 16-year-old climate activist took the mantle of global leadership usually reserved for the US president. 3. Donald Trump’s decision to not participate in the UN climate summit illustrated just how devastatingly Trump’s climate-denying policies have undermined America’s role in the world as a force for good, and how his actions could contribute to the destruction of the futures of countless billions. Meanwhile, Greta Thunberg called him – and other world leaders – out for their malign neglect in failing to address the single most existential threat humanity faces, while revealing the energy with which a new generation of leaders is determined to act. 4. Each year, leaders come to New York and remind us of the promise of the United Nations – the notion that the ...

The government on Friday decided to follow the family-name-first order when using the Roman alphabet to write Japanese names in official documents, in a break from the long tradition of reversing it in line with other languages such as English. "In a globalized world, it has become increasingly important to be aware of the diversity of languages that humans possess. It's better to follow the Japanese tradition when writing Japanese names in the Roman alphabet," education minister Masahiko Shibayama said at a press conference. Shibayama proposed the idea and won approval from his fellow cabinet ministers at a meeting on Friday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said details still need to be worked out but the government will step up preparations for the change. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology will decide whether to ask the private sector to follow the government's decision, according to Suga. Critics doubt whethe...

Dangerous science in China 　 　　　　　　　　 1. A Chinese researcher stunned the medical world by announcing that he had altered the DNA of embryos, resulting in the births of twin girls with enhanced protection against infection. In the ensuing uproar, doctors, scientists, ethicists and governments denounced the project, demanded an investigation and the suspension of more work by the scientist until its effects and implications are better understood. Gene editing may be inevitable, but this is not the way to do science. But projects of this nature are likely to become ever more common, and the science profession and society as a whole must better prepare for this grim future. 2. On paper, He Jiankui looks like an ordinary scientist. He received a PhD in biophysics from Rice University and did postdoctoral research at Stanford before returning to China. He, who was according to his Stanford advisor “super bright” and “at the cutting edge of trying to apply new technologies to biology,” ...

1 WASHINGTON — Humans are transforming Earth’s natural landscapes so dramatically that as many as one million plant and animal species are now at risk of extinction, posing a dire threat to ecosystems that people all over the world depend on for their survival, a sweeping new United Nations assessment has concluded.        2 The 1,500-page report, compiled by hundreds of international experts and based on thousands of scientific studies, is the most exhaustive look yet at the decline in biodiversity across the globe and the dangers that creates for human civilization. A summary of its findings , which was approved by representatives from the United States and 131 other countries, was released Monday in Paris. The full report is set to be published this year.                                                           ...