Popular Elsewhere
14:21 UK time, Friday, 2 September 2011
A look at the stories ranking highly on various news sites.
! proclaims the most popular story on the Abu Dhabi-based The National. The American dude culture phrase is then attached to a story about Libya. Confused? Let us explain.
Bradley Hope at the newspaper has found a UCLA student who decided to join the rebels. And Hope portrays the maths student Chris Jeon as someone who sees the whole trip as a bit of a laugh.
Not speaking Arabic, Hope says Jeon has no obvious political leanings, evident in his reasoning to go.
"It is the end of my summer vacation, so I thought it would be cool to join the rebels" Jeon says. Jeon outdoes himself in his explanation for why he bought a single air ticket. "If I get captured or something, I don't want to waste another $800".
There's nothing like a rewriting of Nazi history to get readers clicking on a story. And right there at the top of the Telegraph's most-read list is the headline .
It's based on a book with the title The Politically Incorrect Guide to Latin America. It's trying to question the hero status of historical figures. But despite the arresting headline the article reveals later that there are only suspicions that among the Argentine president's wife's possessions were "treasures" from rich Jewish families killed in concentration camps. These would have come into her contact when her husband, Juan Peron, helped Nazis escape to Argentina after World War II.
The magazine More Intelligent Life has embarked on a series of what it thinks are big questions, the first being
Globalisation editor at the Economist John Parker has a bash at coming up with an answer. In his opinion, London beats New York because it has more power and influence. Although it seems like a pointless question, he points out that it was one that had to be answered by the people who decided where the headquarters of the United Nations would be in New York in 1946. The article gives an idea about how much more complicated it could have been to make the decision now - Parker's decision is not final for the magazine. Four other Economist writers are yet to argue for different cities and, of course, there is an online poll.
In animal behaviour, mourning is one of the characteristics to look out for to judge how advanced a species is. That's why a popular New Scientist article asks .
Of course, scientists can't ask the animals why they are acting the way they are so the article is keen to point out it would be speculative to conclude that signs akin to grief, also seen in gorillas, chimps and elephants, are definitely mourning.
This is all giving the impression that readers are being drawn towards articles which aren't particularly helpful. But that's not the whole story. Because those conscientious readers of the Atlantic are clicking on . Dental hygienist makes a surprising entrance on the list. The article suggests that, as older people increasingly attempt to hold on to their own teeth, demand for hygienists' skills will increase.
