Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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MDMA may have protected Nova attack survivors from trauma, study suggests
Lucy Williamson Middle East correspondent Oren Rosenfeld / BBC Michal is one of the festival-goers who believes MDMA helped her during the attack As dawn approached on the morning of 7 October 2023, many of the partygoers at the Nova music festival near Gaza’s border took illegal recreational drugs like MDMA or LSD. Hundreds of…
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Ros Atkins on… the week after the Oval Office row
It has been another week of intense diplomacy around the war in Ukraine, especially after last week’s tense exchanges between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. While the US, the UK and the EU all set out their positions, Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine continued. The BBC’s Analysis Editor Ros Atkins takes…
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Syrian government still faces insurgent threat from Assad loyalists
Hugh Bachega BBC Middle East correspondent•Beirut Getty Images In January, days after the first-month anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime in a lightning Islamist-led rebel offensive in Syria, a group of young men – some of them armed – were gathered, checking their phones in the nearly empty interior ministry headquarters in Damascus.…
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Mother ‘gutted’ after Make-A-Wish trip cancelled
A mother has been left “gutted” after a Make-A-Wish trip to Disneyland Paris for her terminally ill daughter Daisy, five, was cancelled due to disruption to Eurostar services following the discovery of an unexploded bomb. Toni Mannion, 38, said she had been “looking forward to making some special memories”, but was unable to take alternative…
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UN evacuation attempt disrupted by deadly shooting
Several people have died in South Sudan after an attempt by the UN to evacuate members of the national army came under fire, the UN has said. One crew member died when a UN helicopter was shot at, a statement from its mission in South Sudan, Unmiss, said. It added that an injured South Sudanese…
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Creator of AI Gaza video shared by Trump on how it was made
When President Donald Trump’s announced a proposal to “take over” the Gaza Strip last month, Solo Avital and his partner created an AI video intended as satire. It was briefly posted on social media but than removed. Weeks later, the president himself shared the video on Truth Social platform. In an interview with BBC News,…
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SpaceX rocket spins out of control in test flight failure
A SpaceX rocket exploded shortly after it was launched from Texas on Thursday, grounding flights and triggering warnings about falling spaceship debris. No injuries or damage have been reported but images from those in Caribbean Sea island nations show fiery debris raining from the sky. This was the eighth mission to test the rocket, and…
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Donald Tusk announces military training plans for all men in Poland
Work is underway to make all men in Poland undergo military training, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. In a speech to the Polish parliament, Tusk said the government aimed to give full details in the coming months. Efforts are being made to “prepare large-scale military training for every adult male in Poland,” he told the…
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SpaceX rocket explodes, raining debris from sky for second time in a row
A SpaceX rocket exploded shortly after it was launched from Texas on Thursday, grounding flights and triggering warnings about falling spaceship debris. SpaceX confirmed the un-crewed ship had suffered “a rapid unscheduled disassembly” during its ascent into space, and lost contact with the ground. The massive SpaceX Starship, the largest rocket ever created, spun out…
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Africa’s week in pictures: 1-6 March 2025
A selection of the week’s best photos from across the African continent and beyond: Esa Alexander / Reuters A reveller sees the bright side of life at the Cape Town Pride celebration in South Africa on Saturday. Luc Gnago / Reuters Four-year-old Maëlis Kouakou dresses up for Mardi Gras, or Shrove Tuesday, in Abidjan, Ivory…
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