📌 Austria Election, VPs Debate, Van Gogh

Austria's pro-Russia Freedom Party has become the first far-right political party to win an election in the country since the Nazi era.

Official preliminary results early Monday showed the Freedom Party won 29.2% of the vote, the ruling center-right People's Party 26.5%, the Social Democratic Party 21%, and the liberal NEOS 9%. About 75% of the voting public cast ballots, results showed.

If the final tally stays the same, the Freedom Party will pick up 58 seats in the 183-seat National Council, meaning it will need to form a coalition government, as it did not win a majority.

That could prove difficult as the People’s Party, led by Chancellor Karl Nehammer, said it would not join the Freedom Party under its controversial leader, Herbert Kickl.

Though the party has attempted to distance itself from its Nazi past publicly, Kickl hasn't shied away from alluding to it, campaigning to be “the people's chancellor,” a term once used by another Austria-born politician, Adolf Hitler.

Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz will meet Tuesday in the lone vice presidential debate of the 2024 election.

Walz, the 60-year-old Minnesota governor, and Vance, a 40-year-old US senator from Ohio, have previewed potential approaches for weeks.

Walz is the Democrat who coined “weird” as a go-to pejorative for the Republican ticket. Vance assails the governor’s progressive record as proof Democrats are too far left for voters.

Vance has mocked his fellow veteran’s military service record. Walz hammers Vance’s opposition to abortion rights and his views on family life. Both men have played up their small-town, middle-America credentials.

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat and the 2016 vice presidential nominee, said: “The only advice that matters is to protect the top of the ticket.”

Recalling the 2000 matchup between Republican Dick Cheney and Democrat Joe Lieberman, Kaine said, “Cheney kept attacking (Al) Gore, and Lieberman, instead of defending Gore, tried to make himself likable. ... You can’t leave attacks unanswered.”

Vincent van Gogh’s iconic painting The Starry Night depicts the real-world physics behind cloud and air movement, a study finds.

The painting, made in June 1889, has enamored millions for over a century. It depicts a swirling blue sky, yellow moon, and stars using an explosion of colors and shapes.

Researchers examined the relative scale and spacing of the whirling brush strokes from a high-resolution digital picture and calculated the relative brightness of the varying paint colors.

The study found the picture aligns with a physics rule, Kolmogorov’s law, which predicts atmospheric movement.

Study co-author Yongxiang Huang said, “Van Gogh’s precise representation of turbulence might be from studying the movement of clouds and the atmosphere or an innate sense of how to capture the dynamism of the sky. It reveals a deep and intuitive understanding of natural phenomena.”

Despite research showing the impact of alcohol on health, many Americans are unaware of its connection with cancer.

A report by the American Association for Cancer Research found excessive levels of alcohol consumption increase the risk for six cancers: breast, colon, liver, stomach, head and neck and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Dr. Céline Gounder said “excessive levels of alcohol” equate to about three or more drinks per day for women and four or more drinks per day for men.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism states a standard alcoholic drink equates to a 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine and a 1.5-ounce “shot” of 80-proof distilled spirits or liquor.

Other studies have shown, however, that there is no “safe amount” of alcohol, Gounder said, particularly if you have underlying medical conditions.

Dr. Amy Commander, medical director of the Mass General Cancer Center specializing in breast cancer, said alcohol is the third leading modifiable risk factor that can increase cancer risk after cigarette smoking and excess body weight.

An indoor berry farm in Richmond, Va, aims to grow over four million pounds of strawberries annually in less than 40,000 sq. ft.

Plenty Unlimited said its AI-based system makes it possible to grow produce vertically on 30-foot-tall towers with peak-season flavor year-round almost anywhere in the world.

More than 10 million data points are analyzed by AI each day across 12 grow rooms, adapting each grow room’s environment to the evolving needs of the plants.

Plenty said the farm uses 97% less land and up to 90% less water than conventional farming, while their patent-pending pollination method, using controlled airflow across strawberry flowers, offers “more efficient and effective pollination than using bees.”

“Growing on vertical towers enables uniform delivery of nutrients, superior airflow, and more intense lighting, delivering increased yield with consistent quality,” Plenty said.

The National Park Service (NPS) will invest $254.68 million in 54 projects in 24 states to redevelop or create local parks.

The Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program (ORLP) advances President Biden’s America the Beautiful Initiative, a locally led, voluntary conservation and restoration effort to address the nature and climate crises, improve equitable access to the outdoors, and strengthen the economy.

Established in 2014, ORLP is a dollar-for-dollar matching grant program for community-sponsored park projects with populations exceeding 30,000 residents.

The latest round of funding draws from the most applications received by the NPS in the program’s history. Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz said he was “thrilled to see so many cities receive grants for the first time.”

Actor Damian Lewis drove a flock of sheep across the River Thames on Sunday in homage to a centuries-old tradition.

Lewis is among the thousands granted the honorary title of Freeman of the City of London. In medieval times, this conferred the right to take livestock to market without paying tolls.

Over 1,000 freemen exercised that right on Sunday in the annual London Sheep Drive, many wearing black hats and red cloaks.

Lewis wore his grandfather’s wool coat and carried a crook as he led the throng herding the animals over Southwark Bridge.

Lewis was asked to represent the Worshipful Company of Woolmen, a trade guild dating to the 12th century. He said he was pleased to be part of “this eccentric, very British day, honoring an old tradition.”

There are no plans to bring back other ancient freemen’s privileges, such as the right to carry an unsheathed sword in public and to be escorted home if found drunk.