Author: NY TIMES

“Ready, on three,” Jamie Love said to the group of hikers as they huddled for a photo. “One, two, three …”“Don’t die!” they shouted in unison.The dozen or so strangers were gathered at the foot of Temescal Canyon Trail along the Pacific coast in Los Angeles on a cool Saturday morning in mid-December. Several of them, including Ms. Love, 38, who had organized the outing, wore black T-shirts with the bold white text, “DON’T DIE.”The hikers had come together with a shared goal: to extend their life spans through diet, sleep, exercise and whatever technologies might come along.Not present was…

When he joined The Los Angeles Times as its top editor nearly three years ago, Kevin Merida was hailed as a leader who would restore calm to a newsroom that had been buffeted by cost-cutting and corporate ownership battles.Now, he’s exiting with little warning, an abrupt departure that leaves the largest news organization in the West in a state of flux.Mr. Merida told staff members on Tuesday that he was stepping down “after considerable soul-searching about my career.”He did not specify exactly why he was leaving, but he did say that his last day would be on Friday.Patrick Soon-Shiong, the…

Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicNo one on the New York Times pop music staff attends more live shows than Caryn Ganz, the pop music editor. On this week’s Popcast, she reflects on the first full post-pandemic year of live performances, with stadium and arena tours finally back at full strength.That includes reflections on performances by Madonna, the Rolling Stones, 100 gecs, Depeche Mode, SZA, the Cure, Liz Phair and many more.Guest:Connect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in,…

The United States and five of its allies on Thursday carried out military strikes against more than a dozen targets in Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, in an expansion of the war in the Middle East that the Biden administration had sought to avoid for the past three months.The American-led air and naval strikes came in response to more than two dozen Houthi drone and missile attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea since November, and after warnings to the Houthis in the past week from the Biden administration and several international allies of serious consequences if…

They sit in ones and twos in half-destroyed homes. They shelter in musty basements marked in chalk with “people underground” — a message to whichever troops happen to be fighting that day. They venture out to visit cemeteries and reminisce about any time other than now.Ukraine’s elderly are often the only people who remain along the country’s hundreds of miles of front line. Some waited their entire lives to enjoy their twilight years, only to have been left in a purgatory of loneliness.Homes built with their own hands are now crumbling walls and blown-out windows, with framed photographs of loved…

Brianna Michaud’s ’90s childhood was filled with sleepovers at friends’ houses. Her mother sometimes came inside the house and chatted with the parents for a few minutes, but sensitive topics like bodily autonomy, gun safety or technology use — except for the rule that she not watch anything rated PG-13 or higher — weren’t the kinds of things discussed.“It was a different time,” Ms. Michaud, now 35, said.It may come as no surprise that parents are experiencing more anxiety in general these days. There is an increased awareness of issues like sexual abuse and gun violence, said Christy Keating, a…

Buying things in bulk at wholesale retailers can be an all-day affair. Sam’s Club, the store chain owned by Walmart, is trying to make that time shorter: by using artificial intelligence to scan shoppers’ carts so they no longer have to show a receipt at the exit upon checking out.“Eliminating even the few seconds it takes to scan a receipt at the exit door is well worth it,” Megan Crozier, an executive vice president at Walmart, announced onstage this week at the company’s presentation for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.It has long been common practice at stores where…

NASA has chosen the technology to help it land future spacecraft on unmapped planets. Meta uses the technology for artificial intelligence. Chinese engineers have turned to it to encrypt data.And it could represent the next front in the semiconductor trade war between the United States and China.The technology is RISC-V, pronounced “risk five.” It evolved from a university computer lab in California to a foundation for myriad chips that handle computing chores. RISC-V essentially provides a kind of common language for designing processors that are found in devices like smartphones, disk drives, Wi-Fi routers and tablets.RISC-V has ignited a new…

It was a different kind of practice: thoughtful, free and natural. Hutchings was living in Kingston, in southwest London, close to the expanses of Richmond Park. Like Sonny Rollins, who would play his sax on the Williamsburg Bridge in New York, Hutchings took his instruments into the deserted public spaces and conducted his practice under trees, in fields and inside hollowed-out tree trunks, sharing snippets with audiences on Instagram.“Rollins’s sound became bigger, because he was blowing into the noise of New York City, whereas when you’re in nature, your sound becomes smaller, and your dynamic range in small dynamics becomes…

The International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest judicial body, held two days of hearings this week in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.Here’s what to know about the court and the case:What is the court?The court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, was established by the founding charter of the United Nations in 1945 to settle disputes between its member states. Also known as the World Court, the I.C.J. is one of the U.N.’s six main bodies, which include the General Assembly and the Security Council.The court typically has a…