NATIONS
CNN
A trove of leaked U.S. Pentagon intelligence documents that surfaced in April 2023 painted a pessimistic picture of the war in Ukraine, with one assessment explicitly predicting that fighting in the Donbas region was heading toward a stalemate throughout the year. The documents indicated that Russia was unlikely to achieve its goal of capturing the entire Donbas, while Ukrainian forces also lacked the troop strength and supplies needed for decisive breakthroughs.
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STEM
Popular Science
Chronic pain can be objectively measured from brain signals recorded in daily life, scientists demonstrated for the first time in a study published in Nature Neuroscience in May 2023.
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SPORTS
NPR
An NCAA medical committee formally recommended removing cannabis from the organization's list of banned substances in June 2023, arguing that marijuana does not enhance athletic performance and that disciplinary enforcement belongs at the school level rather than through national testing. The Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports called for a harm-reduction approach emphasizing education and support over punitive suspensions for student-athletes who use cannabis.
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CULTURE
Brewminate
The quest to calculate pi stretches back nearly 4,000 years, beginning with early approximations in Babylon around 3.125 and ancient Egypt near 3.1605 that both landed close to but short of the true value.
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