Tabla de contenidos para January 30, 2017 en TIME Magazine

LIFE AT 1600 The Jan. 23 cover story examining life in the White House--which included advice from Obama Administration staffers to their incoming counterparts--was "informative, entertaining and inspiring," wrote John Chomiczewski of Collingswood, N.J. Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush's open letter to Malia and Sasha Obama struck a particular chord, prompting NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie to describe the two as "women of goodness and grace" and former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson to note that we need "more civility like this." Their "words of wisdom," wrote Vogue.com's Madeleine Luckel, "would serve people at any stage of life well." PERILS OF THE PODIUM David Von Drehle's Jan. 23 story on Meryl Streep's anti-Trump speech at the Golden Globes drew heated reactions. Sue Mattingly of Meriden, Conn., "appreciated" his idea that…

Testifying in a $2 billion suit brought by game creator ZeniMax Media over the creation of the Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg pulled back the curtain on his deal for the company and Facebook's VR ambitions. Here are three key revelations: STEEP COSTS Zuckerberg revealed that Facebook paid $3 billion to acquire Oculus VR--$1 billion more than the reported value of the deal when it closed in 2014. He said in court that he expects to invest at least that much over the next decade to grow the technology. CUTTHROAT COMPETITION Zuckerberg's approach to finalizing the Oculus deal exemplifies the fast-paced competition in Silicon Valley. In a text message cited as evidence, the CEO urged executives to "keep pushing forward until we have something we…

After five long years, it appears California's drought is finally letting up. Thanks to a recent string of storms, more than a third of the state has now welcomed healthy precipitation, and California's snowpack--a crucial source of water as the year progresses--has reached nearly twice its seasonal average in some parts of the Sierra Nevada. That's a dramatic improvement over last summer, when literally every inch of the state experienced drought conditions. It's also welcome news for Californians, who have faced a series of water restrictions since Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in early 2014. Farmers have been forced to spend heavily to maintain yields. But the state's water struggles are far from over. For one, nobody knows for sure how long these rains will last. Although…

Danger seemed to shadow the space career of Eugene Cernan, who died on Jan. 16 at 82. On a space walk outside the Gemini 9 spacecraft in 1966, his visor fogged up and his suit overheated. On Apollo 10, three years later, his lunar module spun out of control just a few miles above the surface of the moon. It was only as commander of Apollo 17 in 1972, the very last lunar landing, that Cernan would enjoy the perfect mission, spending three days exploring the moon's surface. He left with a few words for posterity. "We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return," he said, "with peace and hope for all mankind." Nearly half a century on from his moon walk, Cernan is now among…

Video games may have risen to popularity as (relatively) mindless distractions that often feature violent and/or sexist imagery. But in the future, they may well make the world a better place--or at least that's the argument of Asi Burak, a video-game creator, and Laura Parker, a journalist, in their new book, Power Play. In lieu of focusing on, say, Grand Theft Auto, the authors highlight a range of "games for change"--like Re-Mission, which enables young cancer patients to bust virtual cancer cells with microscopic robots in an effort to help them during treatment. Or the iCivics platform, a game from former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor that lets players make the same decisions as lawmakers, judges and Presidents. Or virtual reality, which could be an invaluable way to impart…

A roundup of new and noteworthy insights from the week's most talked-about studies: 1 TURMERIC'S HEALTH BENEFITS MAY BE OVERBLOWN A new review in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry found that the main chemical in turmeric--the golden spice championed as an anti-inflammatory superfood--may have few, if any, of those health benefits, though more research is needed. 2 MORE KIDS ARE EATING FAKE SUGAR A study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that the number of children who eat or drink artificial sweeteners (e.g., aspartame or sucralose) nearly tripled between 1999 and 2012, rising from less than 9% to about 25% of kids. 3 THE APPENDIX MAY HAVE A PURPOSE Research on 533 mammal species in the journal Comptes Rendus Palevol found that appendixes, viewed…

The weather may, in fact, be a harbinger of health trouble. The age-old claim that drastic changes in temperature can spur sickness seems to be based, at least in part, on science. In a recent study, Swedish researchers analyzed more than 20,000 nasal swabs from people who'd gone to the doctor feeling under the weather and found that, indeed, flu outbreaks first appear about a week after winter's first cold spell. Why? Airborne particles containing flu virus can spread more easily in cold and dry weather, the study authors wrote. Wearables can detect changes that signal an oncoming cold. Stanford University School of Medicine researchers gave 60 people health trackers (like the iHealth Pulse below) and analyzed 2 billion pieces of data they captured, including heart rate, sleep, fitness and…

It was a brief stop, but Donald Trump wouldn't have missed it for the world. In late October, the Republican nominee traveled to Washington for a ceremonial ribbon cutting for his new Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House. "Under budget and ahead of schedule. So important. We don't hear those words too often in government, but you will," Trump said. "Today is a metaphor for what we can accomplish for this country." Reporters covering the event got the message: Trump was promising to bring his much vaunted--mostly by himself--private-sector experience to fixing the public sphere. Two weeks later, on the night of his victory over Hillary Clinton, the President-elect of the United States put the matter plainly. "I've spent my entire…

You hadn't read the books before. What made you want to do the series? I was looking forward to acting as a character again and not as myself. I'd spent a large chunk of the year before on a variety show, Best Time Ever, that was all-encompassing. I was proud of it, but it was exhausting. I was just anxious to get back to acting. Since How I Met Your Mother, you've taken on some villainous roles: in Gone Girl, American Horror Story and now this. How does Olaf compare evilness-wise? He's probably the most dastardly, but he's villainous in a family-friendly way. So he can be over-the-top terrible. You don't have to spend a lot of time with motivation or backstory. There's an absurdist freedom to Olaf. Any theories…

LOVE IT 'We both love chicken Alfredo.' Gracie Rainsberry, 10, after meeting her identical twin sister, Audrey Doering, for the first time. The girls were born in China and adopted by different American families. British actor Idris Elba is auctioning off a date to raise money for a charity supporting girls' education in Africa. Scientists named a newly discovered primate species the Skywalker hoolock gibbon because, among other reasons, they are huge Star Wars fans. Chris Rock, Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari, Dave Chappelle and Jerry Seinfeld (not pictured) showed up for a surprise superstar set at New York City's Comedy Cellar. NBC will revive pioneering sitcom Will & Grace, with the show's original cast, later this year. TIME's weekly take on what popped in culture LEAVE IT Los Angeles sushi…

You're both the first woman and the first black person to run the National Book Foundation. How does it feel to be twice a first? You know, it's sad. There shouldn't be so many firsts still in the year 2017. You'd think it would feel like some kind of triumph, and it does--obviously it says something about your own personal career. But you don't ever want to be the only one in the room. For the first National Book Awards under your leadership, three of the four winners were black. Did that feel good? Yeah! But then, should it be so unusual? It's wonderful to see people from different backgrounds having their work celebrated--people from rural backgrounds, people who did not come up going to the best universities, who are…

'This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.' Donald Trump, vowing to fight inner-city poverty, factory closures, educational deprivation, crime, gangs and drugs in his Inaugural Address as U.S. President on Jan. 20 'No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain.' Theresa May, U.K. Prime Minister, setting out her negotiating position ahead of the United Kingdom's "Brexit" from the European Union, on Jan. 17 Davos The World Economic Forum hosted world leaders to find solutions for the future GOOD WEEK BAD WEEK DeVos The Secretary of Education nominee flubbed basic questions at her confirmation hearing 300,000 Number of pennies that a Virginia man delivered to the DMV in wheelbarrows to cover the sales tax on two cars, in protest of how inconvenient the DMV…

A Nigerian military jet mistakenly bombed a camp for internally displaced people in the town of Rann on Jan. 17, killing at least 70, including nine humanitarian workers, and injuring more than 100. The fighter jet struck the camp twice while hunting for members of Boko Haram. Alfred Davies, a Doctors Without Borders field coordinator who took this photograph, told TIME he had "no words to describe the chaos" that followed the bombing. The Nigerian air force has launched an investigation into the strike.…

It's an old story: A wise man walks into the kingdom of an angry and mistrustful king and says, "Go out and find me one truly good man." The king puts on a disguise and for the next year talks to every person he meets, not only in his own kingdom, but in all the neighboring kingdoms, and in the end he returns and reports that this mythical creature, this truly good man, cannot be found. "Some came close," says the king. "But when I really examined them, they were, in their hearts, all bad." And so the wise man goes to the next kingdom, where the king is loving and kind, and he says, "Go out and find me one truly bad man." This king, too, fails at his…

[The following text appears within a diagram. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual diagram.] START Your taste in princes tends toward ... You know what? Americans fought a revolution in order to not have to care. Just watch Atlanta Diamonds or rhinestones? the caustic sex appeal of Prince Harry the duty-bound Prince William Siblings should be more like ... Anna and Elsa Cain and Abel A sovereign is to be ... revered, as Thomas Hobbes suggested feared, per Niccolò Machiavelli The better Bond: Sean Connery Daniel Craig Do you prefer ... the poetry of Lord Byron or the poetry of Queen Beyoncé? Breakfast: Croissant Scone The more accurate portrayal of romantic love was ... the gore of Gone Girl The Notebook's happily ever after THE TUDORS A brooding King…

How McDonald's put fries in the freezer and meals in motion to change the way the world eats: BURGER ASSEMBLY Turning art into science, 1948 The McDonald brothers' "Speedee Service System" applied Henry Ford's method to burgers, assigning discrete steps to each worker, supported by equipment like lazy Susans and infrared warming lights. MEALS IN A BAG Putting the knife in sit-down dining, 1948 The pioneering brothers replaced glassware and silverware with disposable utensils, eliminating the need for dishwashers or bussers and introducing Americans to a plateless, tableless mobile meal. GOLDEN ARCHES Building a highway-compatible culture, 1952 Kroc wanted the swooping arches to be visible from the highway--and as ubiquitous as church steeples. It wasn't until the 1960s that they migrated side by side to become the now iconic M-shaped…

DIED Brenda Barnes, former CEO of the Sara Lee Corp., at 63. Barnes made headlines in 1997 when she resigned as Pepsi-Cola's North America chief to be a stay-at-home mom. Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon, 86, a photographer who was married to Queen Elizabeth II's sister, Princess Margaret. She divorced him in 1978 after 18 years of marriage. William Peter Blatty, 89, author of the horror novel The Exorcist. His screenplay for the 1973 movie won an Academy Award. Jimmy Snuka, the Fijian former professional wrestler known as Superfly, at 73. DESIGNATED Twenty-four new national historic landmarks in the U.S., including a Native American burial ground in Kansas and the site of the 1970 Kent State University shootings in Ohio. HIRED Nigel Farage, the British politician whose campaign for the…

Thanks to everything from pop culture to college propaganda, when students arrive on campuses today they expect--with varying levels of inclination and trepidation--to have a really good time, filled with sex, booze and partying. But this wasn't always the case. During the colonial era, most students were relatively humble middle-class men studying to be ministers like their professors, and most colleges were, as one historian described it, a "veritable straitjacket of petty rules." Essentially every detail of their lives was controlled, and there were substantial penalties for deviance. So what changed? First came the arrival of the wealthy sons of elite families, who were less interested in learning and more interested in ratifying their families' hoarding of wealth and power through a diploma. Predictably, they had a lower tolerance for…

LONG-LASTING BIRTH CONTROL The number of women using highly effective and long-acting forms of birth control, like intrauterine devices (IUDs), has risen, reducing unplanned pregnancies. LESS ACCESS A recent study of Texas abortion restrictions found that distance matters. The counties where the closest facility was at least 100 miles away saw a 50% drop in abortions. INCREASED DEMAND As more facilities closed in Texas, counties with an abortion-providing clinic saw a 16% drop in procedures, possibly because of an inability to meet demand.…

In the final days before Inauguration, Donald Trump's top aides huddled in hushed meetings in New York City and a cookie-cutter federal building near the White House to struggle over a key unsettled question: Who exactly would have access to the new President once he moves into the White House? The businessman turned politician spent weeks after the election playing host to a large and diverse set of visitors, from 1980s celebrities to Kanye West to corporate CEOs to politicians of all stripes. At the same time, he has maintained an open-door policy for top aides, resisting efforts by staff and even his wife to curtail phone calls at all hours. More often than not, this time with Trump is more than just social. Unlike the man he replaces, Trump…

The fight of David Brock's life ended on a billionaire's rooftop overlooking Manhattan's Upper East Side. It was election night around 9:30 p.m., and he was alone after hopping across the city for return-watching parties with wealthy donors, including investor George Soros. Standing high above Sutton Place, Brock got a text from a reporter that confirmed his creeping fears that Hillary Clinton would lose to Donald Trump. "I had my little cry, and that was that," Brock tells TIME, before dipping into morbid humor. "It was good to be on that roof in case you had to throw yourself off." Brock has spent all of his adult life fighting over the Clintons, first as a conservative muckraker who discovered the sexual-harassment claims of Paula Jones, sparking the fuse for Bill…

I've recently been asked a lot about what a Donald Trump presidency really means for the state of women in our country. The prevailing view has been that women took a hit when Trump won. It's been characterized as "women feel despair," "women think there's no hope anymore" and "women feel like they've gone back in time." Those sentiments are understandable, considering the Access Hollywood tape revealed in October and something that was much more personal for me: his suggestion that women facing sexual harassment in the workplace should just "find another career." But I tend to be an optimistic person who tries to find the good in almost everything. So let's start with what else Trump has said about women. He's said that he loves women and that he's…

M. Night Shyamalan's new movie, Split, is about a man with multiple personalities competing for control of his mind and body. James McAvoy plays Kevin, who developed 23 personalities in the aftermath of childhood trauma. The most nefarious of these kidnap three young women and lock them in a dreary basement. As the women struggle to find a way out, Kevin's many personae devolve into a violent struggle for control. Shyamalan, 46, has long been fascinated by dissociative identity disorder (DID), the controversial diagnosis once known as multiple-personality disorder. He dreamed up Split's main character 15 years ago; as with most of his films, he wrote the original screenplay himself. Shyamalan is interested not just in the ways in which the condition hints at untapped human potential--he cites DID patients…

Barry isn't the only writer with a new book featuring gunslingers, cowboys and life on the frontier. Here are three more to rope you in: WORLD, CHASE ME DOWN By Andrew Hilleman Real-life Robin Hood Pat Crowe, a kidnapper with a social-justice mission, served as source material for this novel THE MAN WHO SHOT OUT MY EYE IS DEAD By Chanelle Benz This collection includes a western story about a brother-sister bandit duo, plus tales of escapades in other genres LITTLE HEAVEN By Nick Cutter Three mercenaries take a job investigating what may be a New Mexico cult; mayhem ensues, blending western and horror conventions…

My eldest daughter was christened in an elegant Swedish church just off Fifth Avenue in New York City, not too far from Trump Tower. The minister was a striking woman with white-blond hair and green satin robes. She and the ceremony were both lovely and somewhat restrained. And, just like at my wedding, I had no idea what was going on because almost everything was said in Swedish. Not that it mattered. I'm so religiously ignorant, I didn't know the meaning of most of those christening traditions. To me, it felt like we were expressing some core human instinct to bind our child to the community. We were making a commitment to her: you're one of us, we're responsible for you. Every civilization has some form of this communion, I'm…