2025.02.25

US threatens permanent visa bans on trans athletes based on sex markers
Exclusive: State department memo directs officers to bar those deemed to misrepresent birth sex on applications
Joseph Gedeon in Washington
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/25/visa-ban-transgender-athletes

How to change your settings to make yourself less valuable to Meta
https://johnoliverwantsyourraterotica.com/

Federal bill couples ending taxes on tips with banning sub-minimum wage
Democrats in Nevada push bill that would provide further relief for tipped workers who can be paid as little as $2.13
Michael Sainato
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/25/nevada-end-taxes-on-tips

Mars once had an ocean with sandy beaches, researchers say
China’s Zhurong rover finds evidence of shoreline buried deep underground
Nicola Davis Science correspondent
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/feb/24/mars-ocean-sandy-beaches-radar-data-suggests

Early poems about Merlin portray him as environmentalist, say scholars
Re-examination of Welsh poems dating back to 10th century show Myrddin as prophet concerned by human interactions with nature
Steven Morris
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/25/early-poems-about-merlin-portray-him-as-environmentalist-say-scholars

Grace Slick on sex, drugs and Jefferson Airplane: 'I was sober in the 80s. That was a mistake'
Tim Jonze
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/feb/25/grace-slick-on-sex-drugs-and-jefferson-airplane-i-was-sober-in-the-80s-that-was-a-mistake

‘My life expectancy is short’: America’s most vulnerable – in pictures
From train hoppers to addicts and prostitutes, Mark Laita’s photo series unpicks the complex life stories of those who exist on society’s fringe
Mee-Lai Stone
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2025/feb/25/mark-laita-america-most-vulnerable-in-pictures

Seven planets to be visible in night sky for last time until 2040
Maddie Molloy
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yd4z15r54o