Happy New Year! Let’s celebrate with some links. Science:

If an octopus is so smart, should you eat it? (gift link)
Ancient elements of cool
Unexpected New COVID Symptoms Arise As JN.1 Variant Continues To Spread (data from here)
Thriving Otters in North America Linked to Nuclear Weapons Tests. Here’s Why.
Gaza, Ukraine, and other conflicts could be accelerating antibiotic resistance
Brain damage caused by COVID-19 may not show up on routine tests, study finds (paper here; some patients will have been enrolled post-vaccination or previous exposure)

Other:

How to Make Room for One Million New Yorkers (gift link)
Israel Knows the Number of Calories Needed for Gazans’ Survival. How Few Is a War Crime? Gazans are collecting weeds to prepare meals and mothers cannot breastfeed because they are so weak. If the moral catastrophe can’t move Israelis, the legal consequences – which may cause even its greatest supporters to turn their backs – should
Breaking Down the Spending at One of America’s Priciest Public Colleges
Long COVID will take your health, your wealth — then it will come for your marriage
Israel Awaits Hamas’ OK to Move Forward With Hostage Release Deal
Barriers keeping homeless families from shelter are not acts of nature — but choices we make
A Surprise Attack on Israeli Troops, a Bloody Battle and a Heroic Rescue in Beit Hanoun
This Year Was A Warning To Republicans Running On Anti-Abortion Platforms In 2024
Between Hamas, Hezbollah and Public Opinion, Israel Finds Itself in a Strategic Bind
A Harvard student sleuth cracks the code on the hidden lives of Louisa May Alcott and other notable women
The Families of the Nova Rave Victims Refuse to Stay Silent Any Longer
Republicans Attacked This Issue All Year — And 2024 Could Be A Tipping Point
This Jewish Scholar Believes Diaspora Jews Must Embrace Exile to Save Judaism
Where Was the Israeli Military? A Times investigation found that troops were disorganized, out of position and relied on social media to choose targets. Behind the failure: Israel had no battle plan for a massive Hamas invasion.
The Hamas Pogrom Demonstrates That Zionism Has Failed, Says Israeli Historian Moshe Zimmermann
Why I can’t stop thinking about Julia Ormond’s story
Tax Cuts Don’t Pay For Themselves. A New Paper Says Medicaid Might.
Graduate Worker Unions Win Major Gains and Strengthen the Labor Movement
Raskin Says Clarence Thomas Should Recuse Himself In Trump Ballot Removal Cases
Microsoft, Musk, and the Question of Unions
RFK Jr.’s campaign of conspiracy theories is PolitiFact’s 2023 Lie of the Year
Biden doesn’t get enough credit for his economic record
HHS plan to revitalize U.S. primary care falls short, experts say
I Know What Nikki Haley Has Gone Through. That’s Why Her Rhetoric on Race Infuriates Me.
As homicides and carjackings increased, D.C. retreated on policing reforms
20 Days in Mariupol: In conversation with Mstyslav Chernov, the Ukrainian videographer, about his Oscar shortlisted documentary, capturing the siege of Mariupol, the horrors of the invasion, and when and how the war ever ends.