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Theodore Ell’s new book, “Lebanon Days,” spans the tumultuous period from 2018 to 2021, which include the country’s economic collapse, Covid, and the horrific explosion in Beirut’s port in August 2020. Ell’s book exudes reality to anyone who has lived in Lebanon. He describes vividly the Lebanese sense of fun, the nightclubs in East Beirut where patrons could drink and dance till dawn – and had done even in the depths of the civil war.

Nearly half of all dementia cases could be delayed or prevented altogether by addressing 14 possible risk factors, including vision loss and high cholesterol. That is the key finding of a new study published in the journal The Lancet.

If AI alignment is the serious issue that OpenAI believes it to be, it is not just a technical problem to be solved by engineers or tech companies, but also a social one. That will require input from philosophers, but also social scientists, lawyers, policymakers, citizen users and others.

Activists are calling for a U.S. arms embargo on Israel, which the Democratic Party’s new national platform does not include. Dov Waxman, a scholar of Israel studies, explains what is behind the U.S.’s relationship with Israel and the strategic reasons why an arms embargo is, at best, a remote possibility.

Differences over politics and policy have a long history of being divisive, of course. But it’s one thing to disagree over substantive matters such as tax rates or foreign aid and something very different to undermine the legitimacy of your opponents. It’s the difference between framing those who disagree with you as fair and equal competitors or as enemies who must be defeated.

Since 5G’s rollout, which coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, it was accompanied by all manner of conspiracies and falsehoods, notably that it was causing or spreading the pandemic, and that vaccines contained computer chips that would allow us to be controlled from a distance via 5G technology. Don’t believe the fabrications.

Alain Delon’s death at the age of 88 brings down the curtain of one of postwar European cinema’s most important film stars. Known for his striking “movie star” look – chiselled features, piercing blue eyes – and magnetic screen presence, Delon portrayed characters who seemed on the surface to be effortless and suave.