Becca Lewis:

’YouTube’s celebrity culture and community dynamics play a major role in the amplification of far-right content…’

Via ffwd (Medium)

’Native to China’s Yangtze River, these fish grew 23 feet in length, but haven’t been spotted since 2003.…’

Via National Geographic

’Facing a future of fire, drought, and rising oceans, Australians will have to weigh the choice between getting out early or staying to fight.…’

Via The Atlantic

’Despite having 1.4 billion people to Mongolia’s mere 3 million, there’s no such thing as a distinctive Chinese national sound that mixes tradition and modernity in the same way Mongolians do… Why does Mongolian music slap so hard and Chinese music (with a few exceptions) suck?…’

Via Foreign Policy

’The wins include the public’s desire to hear from witnesses and the release of new evidence that’s strengthened the case for impeachment.…’

Via Vox

’Experts in the Japanese phenomena of hikikomori say the condition of extreme social isolation is more widespread than previously acknowledged, and it deserves a clear and consistent definition to improve treatment across the globe.

In an article published in the February issue of the journal World Psychiatry, experts cite a lack of broad clinical understanding of the condition.

Although hikikomori is typically associated with young adults in Japan, the researchers say many of the same criteria of extended social isolation apply to people around the world, including among older adults and stay-at-home parents. A simplified and clear definition will improve the recognition and subsequent treatment for people who suffer from the condition, the authors write.

The article highlights four key aspects of the newly proposed definition of hikikomori:

• Confined at home: The proposed definition clarifies the frequency of time spent outside the home, while still meeting the definition of “marked social isolation.”
• Avoiding people: Some people choose to avoid social situations and interaction not because they’re anxious but because it meets their comfort level. The newly suggested definition therefore removes the avoidance of social situations as a criteria.
• Better defining distress: Many people diagnosed with hikikomori report that they feel content in their social withdrawal. However, as the duration of social withdrawal gets longer, their distress and feelings of loneliness increases.
• Other disorders: Co-occurring mental health conditions such as depression should not exclude patients from also being assessed for and diagnosed with hikikomori. “In our view, the frequency of co-occurring conditions increases the importance of addressing social withdrawal as a health issue,” they write.…’

Via Neuroscience News

Trump expected to be praised for Soleimani killing, but majority say it made U.S. less safe:

’The day after the drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, President Donald Trump was feeling confident. He was so satisfied with how things had turned out that he planned to play golf that morning, according to an extensive New York Times piece that looks at the events surrounding the killing. The president’s advisers though cautioned him against doing that, worried it would send the wrong message at a time when the killing had sent shockwaves across the region.

Even though he was advised against playing golf, Trump was still in a good mood. The president fully expected to be applauded for the killing of Soleimani. The reality proved to be quite different, and the president started to become angry when many critics said he had needlessly escalated the simmering conflict with Iran. As a result, he went around to talk to guests at his properties in Florida and was seemingly joyful to receive praise.…’

Via Slate.

Related: Soleimani and the Dawn of a New Nuclear Age:

’Iranian missile attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq. Deadly chaos in Iran. A sudden halt of the fight against the Islamic State. Utter confusion over whether U.S. troops will remain in Iraq, and even whether the United States still respects the laws of war. The fallout from the Trump administration’s killing of Qassem Soleimani has been swift and serious.

But one potential knock-on effect may not come into clear view for some time: the emergence of Iran as the next nuclear-weapons state, at the very moment when the world appears on the cusp of a more perilous nuclear age. It’s possible that the Reaper drone hovering over Baghdad’s airport last week destroyed not only an infamous Iranian general, but also the last hope of curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.…’

Via The Atlantic

And: Administration Still Struggling to Craft a Coherent Story about the Assassination

’Trump said Soleimani was planning attacks on “four US embassies,” but Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he didn’t see” intelligence about such strikes.…’

Via Defense Secretary Esper says he “didn’t see” intel showing imminent Iranian attacks on embassies – Vox