Índex per August 8, 2016 a TIME Magazine

CHINA Chairman Mao Zedong's 1958 campaign to eliminate "four pests," including sparrows, disastrously tipped the ecological balance. Predator-free locusts destroyed crops, exacerbating a national famine that killed millions. AUSTRALIA Bounties offered by the government of Tasmania for the Tasmanian tiger played a part in causing the eventual extinction of this apex predator in 1936. The marsupial had been considered a pest in the Australian island-state. U.S. A 20th century federal extermination program nearly killed all gray wolves in the U.S. Their 1995 reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park stopped elk from overgrazing and increased biodiversity.…

Rumaan Alam has one of the summer's biggest literary sensations, Rich and Pretty--a first novel that, like many debuts, draws upon the author's life story. "It's a not uncommon experience for gay boys, young men and even older men to spend a lot of time in the company of women," Alam says. "When I was a little boy, all of my pals were girls, and when I went to college the same held true, and then when I left college and went into the workforce, I worked at fashion magazines, and it's a place where women really run the show." Women take center stage in Rich and Pretty, a novel whose title describes its two protagonists. Unemployed Sarah luxuriates in her wealth, and libertine, lovely editor Lauren lives a life…

"This is the real world that we live in," said Bernie Sanders on the afternoon the Democratic National Convention opened. He was trying--unsuccessfully--to calm the cascade of boos and jeers from his supporters after he repeated his support for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Reality is not an easy sell in politics. For the first half of my professional life--the 25 years after the 1968 presidential campaign--liberal Democrats had trouble accepting political reality. Then it was the Republicans' turn, a 25-year descent into xenophobia and hatred that culminated in the nomination of Donald Trump. And so the crucial question for the Democrats in Philadelphia was the one posed, implicitly, by Sanders: accept reality or retreat into utopian fantasies. This is a particular problem for liberals, who dream of a better world,…

60 ATHLETES TO WATCH No apparatus is more precarious for female gymnasts than the balance beam. Staying on the beam--which is 4 ft. off the ground, 16 ft. long and just 4 in. wide, not much wider than a credit card--is challenge enough, never mind trying to make an art out of getting off it. Yet at the recent Olympic trials in San Jose, Calif., Simone Biles flipped to one edge and propelled herself into the air, turning two backflips and then a twisting somersault with a nearly inhuman hang time. "I know exactly how difficult that move is because I worked so long and so hard on it," says Shannon Miller, who won gold on the beam at the 1996 Olympics. "When Simone does it, you just get so…

The most decorated Olympian of all time feels he still has something to prove. After his historic eight gold medals in 2008, Michael Phelps struggled to find a life outside the pool. While his body carried him to six more medals in 2012, his mind wasn't in it. He was arrested for drunk driving in 2014, leading to a stint in rehab----and a renewed sense of purpose. "I tried to bite off more than I could handle in 2012, but I want to be here now," Phelps says. Now engaged, with a nearly 3-month-old son, Phelps sees Rio as a chance to bring his soul back to swimming; he'll race in the 100-m and 200-m fly and the 200-m individual medley as well as some relays. Expect these Games to…

When Usain Bolt pulled out of the Jamaican trials in July because of a hamstring injury, shudders were felt far beyond the sprinting-obsessed island nation. Since exploding onto the world scene at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bolt, who will turn 30 on Aug. 21, has been the most dominant and marketable force in his sport. Could the world's fastest human really miss out on his last Olympics? His rivals, however, knew better. "Come on, man," said U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin, Bolt's longtime adversary. "He's Usain." Bolt has made a habit of entering major races with nagging injuries and underwhelming tune-ups, then winning anyway. In Rio, Bolt will shoot for an unprecedented career haul: nine straight Olympic races----the 100 m, 200 m and 4 × 100-m relay in Beijing, London and…

Seconds after winning an Olympic gold medal, most athletes don't start dreaming of the next one. But Kerri Walsh Jennings does. At the 2012 Olympics, in a patch of sand spread near Buckingham Palace, Walsh Jennings and her playing partner, Misty May-Treanor, had just clinched a third straight beach-volleyball gold. May-Treanor was planning to retire, but Walsh Jennings was sure she still had something left. And so while exchanging postmatch hugs with their vanquished opponents, fellow Americans April Ross and Jennifer Kessy, Walsh Jennings whispered to Ross, "Let's go get gold in Rio." "I have no idea where it came from, truly," Walsh Jennings says now, sitting on the sand in Manhattan Beach, Calif., before a June practice. "Something deep in my subconscious was just like, You're going to want…

After swimming together in the London Olympics, the Campbell sisters have their sights set on a more impressive goal in Rio: becoming the first siblings to share the Olympic podium in an individual swimming race. No brother or sister pair has ever done it. But there's reason to think Cate, 24, and Bronte, 22, have a shot. They earned their country's two spots in the 100-m freestyle by racing the clock--and each other--to the wall in record time. Cate recorded the fastest time in the world this year, and Bronte clocked a time that bests the U.S. record. Being sisters hasn't curbed their ambition, both say, although Cate joked to Australian reporters that "sometimes I think I would prefer if we swam a different stroke." Their mother was a synchronized…

LOVE IT Michelle Obama joined James Corden for "Carpool Karaoke," slaying songs like "Single Ladies" and "Get Ur Freak On" (with an assist from Missy Elliott). During a recent gig, Rihanna reminded fans to enjoy the concert--and not play smartphone games: 'I don't want to see you catching any Pokémons up in this b-tch.' A college student in London designed a set of press-on nails that double as a subway card, thanks to a microchip. A Guardians of the Galaxy ride is coming to Disneyland; it's reportedly based on a fortress from the first film. An 86-year-old woman in Altrincham, England, fought off a mugger in a supermarket by hitting the assailant over the head with a packet of bacon, according to police. The creators of Disney's upcoming Moana revealed…

How is the fight against impeachment going? I am being judged for a noncrime. What is happening in Brazil is not a military coup, but it is a parliamentary coup. It is a coup of a process that is affecting the institutions, eroding them from the inside, contaminating them. So I believe this fight, it requires a weapon. We live in a democracy and respect democracy. The weapon in this fight is debate, explanation and dialogue. What is your plan if you return to power? It is essential that we are able to reform the political system. At the same time, we have a major challenge: Brazil has to grow again. And it has to grow again in a way that is not against the interests of the millions of…

The word empowerment has become the rallying cry of mainstream feminism, with virtually any act performed enthusiastically by a woman--from washing her hair to posting her bikini photos--now designated as "empowering." But while everyone from Unilever to the Republican Party has embraced the background noise of "empowerment," this frenzy has done almost nothing to change our society's structures or understanding of authority. Women are still drastically underrepresented anywhere that genuine power resides in the U.S., especially in business and politics. And save for Hillary Clinton's nomination, there has been precious little movement on that front in recent years. By advising women to fight this sexist norm through empowerment--the feeling of inner potency, not the material gain in status--the feminist movement has started to sound like a branch of the self-help…

The fact that humans live longer than ever before cuts both ways, because the more time we spend on the planet, the more things can go haywire in our bodies and our minds. It's a particular challenge for neurologists who want to keep our brains healthy. For decades, they have worked to create drugs to prevent, delay or treat cognitive decline in the 5 million older Americans who live with dementia. A miracle pill remains elusive--but researchers are making strides in understanding nonpharmacological strategies that might keep the brain alert and working at close to its younger pace. So far, they've identified social engagement and learning new things as activities that may slow or stave off cognitive decline and Alzheimer's. Not every kind of intervention works the same, and some…

The nation has been here before: Operatives apparently working undercover for a paranoid President break into the Washington headquarters of the Democratic National Committee months before the party convenes to select its presidential nominee. The breach is detected, and--at least in 1972, the first time this happened--the fuse is lit on a slow-building, world-shaking scandal named for the scene of the crime: Watergate. Over the decades since, there have been efforts, never quite right, to dub this or that scandal the next Watergate. But now the sequel has clearly arrived, a heavily digitized remake that announced itself with a dirty trick worthy of Richard Nixon's plumbers: the posting of nearly 20,000 DNC emails, some acutely embarrassing, on the see-it-here site WikiLeaks. It was the cyberwar equivalent of an armor-piercing shell,…

In 2004, when Allyson Felix was 18 and prepping for her first Olympics, she trained with a teammate who was pushing 30. She swore that would never be her. "And here I am in the same position, probably looking so old to those kids who are training with us," says Felix. "But I completely get it now. If you love it, why not?" Felix announced herself as one of the world's great sprinting talents with a silver medal in the 200 m at those 2004 Games, then paid off that promise with another silver and four golds in 2008 and 2012--tying Jackie Joyner-Kersee for the U.S. women's track medals record. Felix won't get the chance to win gold in both the 200 m and 400 m in Rio; she missed…

The winner of the Olympic decathlon has been hailed as the world's greatest athlete ever since King Gustav V of Sweden bestowed the honor on Jim Thorpe at the 1912 Stockholm Games. It isn't mere hyperbole: the decathlon is a grueling two-day test of speed (100-m dash, 110-m hurdles, 400 m), endurance (1,500-m run), agility (long jump, high jump, pole vault) and strength (shot put, discus, javelin). Over the past four years, no one has been better at it than Oregon native Ashton Eaton, 28. Eaton, who's married to Canadian heptathlon contender Brianne Theisen-Eaton, won gold in London and hasn't lost a major competition since. At the 2015 world championships, Eaton broke his own world record. Should he win in Rio, he'd become the first back-to-back Olympic decathlon champ in…

On Feb. 21, one day after turning 15, Ren Qian walked to the edge of a platform in Rio de Janeiro and plunged the equivalent of a three-story building. Delivering a back 2½ somersault and a half twist, the young diver slid into the pool with barely a ripple. The judges awarded Ren a perfect 10, cementing her victory in the 10-m platform diving World Cup event and establishing her as the latest in a line of Chinese diving prodigies cultivated by the state. "They must start between the ages of 3 to 4," says Yu Lianming, who has coached top divers for decades in China's vast network of state-run sports schools. When Ren returns to Brazil in August, she'll be the prohibitive favorite in the high dive--and a critical…

The palace theatre in London's West End has seen many hits over the years, Les Misérables among them. But surely nothing can compare to the hysteria surrounding its latest tenant, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the eighth installment of the saga. Nine years after the final novel's publication, J.K. Rowling's beloved characters are back in a two-part play created by Rowling, playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany. Anticipation has been feverish; producer Sonia Friedman has compared the endeavor to opening a Star Wars movie in a single cinema. And yet there has been little advance word since previews opened. Rowling and her acolytes have successfully persuaded early viewers to keep silent about the play's many secrets. The uncharitable might surmise that this is to cover up negative word…

DIED Marni Nixon, 86, the soprano whom TIME called the Ghostest with the Mostest in 1964 for dubbing the singing voices of stars in Academy Award--winning movie musicals, including Deborah Kerr in The King and I (1956), Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961) and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964). Youree Dell Harris, a.k.a. Miss Cleo, 53, the actor famous during the 1990s for playing a Jamaican psychic (her catchphrase: "Call me now!") in infomercials for Psychic Readers Network. She played the role until 2002, when the company settled deceptive-advertising charges with the Federal Trade Commission by agreeing to pay a $5 million fine and forgive about $500 million in outstanding customer charges. INDUCTED New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza and Seattle Mariners center fielder Ken Griffey Jr.…

A century ago, chicken barely registered in the meat-heavy American diet. So how did it become the country's most consumed animal protein, besting beef and pork? In her new book, Tastes Like Chicken: A History of America's Favorite Bird, Emelyn Rude traces the evolution. Poultry first became popular out of necessity during WW II, as rationing saved beef and pork for the soldiers. When the war ended, chicken producers engineered new breeds to whet consumer appetites--bigger, juicier and better for grilling, which had become a popular cooking method in the midcentury suburbs. Meanwhile, a 1961 report from the American Heart Association warned people against eating too much beef. Within a few years, Americans had wholeheartedly embraced poultry, especially dishes like fried chicken and McDonald's McNuggets--which were, ironically, no healthier than…

1 THE HIGHEST-PAID CEOS RUN SOME OF THE WORST-PERFORMING COMPANIES A study of 429 large-cap U.S. companies, done from 2006 to 2015 by MSCI ESG Research, a firm that analyzes corporate governance, found that total shareholder returns for companies with CEO pay that exceeded the sector median--by as much as 39%--performed worse than companies with less excessive pay. 2 MEN'S EMPLOYMENT PLAYS AN OUTSIZE ROLE IN DIVORCE A study from Harvard University found that an unemployed husband married after 1975 was 33% more likely to get divorced within a year than a fully employed man, all other things being equal. 3 BEING TRANSGENDER IS NOT A MENTAL DISORDER A study published in The Lancet Psychiatry suggests that feelings about gender identity are not the primary cause of transgender people's mental…

CLEAN YOUR AIR-CONDITIONER FILTERS Do this at least once every three months; a filthy filter can lead to poor airflow or the freezing-up of your unit's evaporator coil. (Plus, it can add 5% to 15% to your AC bill.) Filters typically costs less than $10. RAISE YOUR THERMOSTAT A TAD You'll trim your AC bill by up to 3% for every degree you raise the temperature. Research shows the body can adapt to new temperatures in just a week or two. USE FANS Any type of fan, but especially a ceiling fan, can circulate cool air throughout your home, removing some of the burden from your AC. Be sure the ceiling fans turn counterclockwise to maximize airflow. DON'T BLAST EMPTY ROOMS If your AC vents or units are in use…

For some 125 years, we have been asking too much of the Olympic Games. Universal brotherhood? Tell it to the fans who saw blood in the water when the Soviet Union met Hungary in water polo in 1956, or heard the chants of "U-S-A" when the Americans beat the Soviets at ice hockey in 1980 during the depths of the Cold War. Idealized sportsmanship? Not as long as positive drug tests remain a staple of Olympiads. For host nations, the Olympic torch can be a seductive illusion, as Brazil is finding out. How long will it be before the mention of Rio no longer conjures thoughts of Zika and raw sewage? Yet somehow the Games still deliver more than enough: of beauty, of drama, of excitement, of joy. When the…

In Brazil, the pain of the 2014 World Cup still sears. Germany embarrassed the host country, 7-1, in the semifinals, sparking a national mourning period that hasn't ended. "We will never forget," says Rio resident Sergio Duarte. "We cannot forgive." Winning Brazil's first-ever Olympic soccer gold won't erase that hurtful memory. But in this soccer-mad nation, a home-field triumph would go a long way toward purging the ghosts. Much of the burden for that falls on Neymar, the Barcelona star who will be Brazil's face of the Games. Considered a potential heir to Pelé, he missed the World Cup disgrace with fractured vertebrae. Should he lead Brazil past defending champion Mexico and deliver gold in Rio, it will be more than redemption. Brazil will cheer its favorite game again, and…

Tokyo's summer heat has infiltrated the national training center, rendering bows a little sticky and dismounts a little slack. But Kohei Uchimura, the defending Olympic all-around title holder, lands his jumps with a panther poise that belies their caliber of difficulty. He does not appear to sweat. Uchimura--who boasts six consecutive all-around world titles, double that of any other tumbler in history--is quite possibly the greatest male gymnast of all time. "With today's scoring," he says, "if you don't move like a robot or a machine, you won't get the points." But Uchimura also brings artistry to accuracy. The son of two gymnasts and brother to another, his destiny was set at the age of 3, when he began tumbling at his parents' gym in the southern city of Nagasaki.…

Among the many concerns hanging over the Rio Games is that Brazil is ground zero for the mosquito-borne Zika epidemic, which has infected millions of people and caused the severe birth defect microcephaly in at least 2,000 babies. Fear of contagion, which can also come through sexual contact, has prompted several high-profile athletes to drop out and discouraged fans. Pregnant women, especially, have been advised to steer clear. While the risk is real, health authorities say the likelihood of widespread Zika infections at the Olympics is low. A July study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine estimated between six and 80 new cases of the virus among travelers during the Games. One reason: August is winter in Brazil, when there are fewer mosquitoes out. Olympic venues will also…

Ellen page, who played a pregnant teen in Juno, goes fantastically further in a new tale of accidental motherhood. In Netflix's Tallulah, Page's homeless, wandering title character finds herself stealing a baby from a neglectful New York City trophy wife (Tammy Blanchard) in order to grift the mother (Allison Janney) of an old flame. The scam is that Janney is the babe's grandma, but Tallulah allows herself to fall in love--with Janney's gracious home, with Janney herself, with the kid. A road warrior dropped into Manhattan bourgeois life, Page brilliantly alternates between rebellion and hard-earned comfort. Janney (of The West Wing and Masters of Sex) is reliably great. What's more exciting is that Tallulah, getting a limited theatrical release on July 29, is immediately available to subscribers the same day.…

Hahn, 43, may be best known as the measured Rabbi Raquel on Amazon's Transparent, but she's a barrel of raunchy laughs in the new comedy Bad Moms (July 29). She plays Carla, a single mom who prefers partying over PTA meetings. How much did the premise of the movie resonate, as a working mom yourself? So much. Motherhood has been such a sanctified subject. There are amazing exceptions, Mommy Dearest being one. But we haven't seen an R-rated comedy focused on motherhood. The movie is a cathartic escape, but there was something that felt so dear, which is that we are so tough on ourselves and this idea of letting it go. Have you encountered parents with the same lack of guilt Carla feels about her parenting decisions? My mom…

Time goes by so quickly once you become a parent. Actually, time goes really slowly because you're always pretending you're talking to a mouse who runs a cheese store or building Lego cars or something else so boring you'll even sneak looks at your phone to go on Facebook and see your friends' kids. But the opportunity to train your child to bring fame and fortune to the family does go by fast. My son Laszlo is 7. And we have not even chosen his Olympic sport. I explained to Laszlo that in order to get into the 2028 Games, he needed to pick a sport right away. "That's definitely not going to happen," he said. "Running around, sweating, for a long time, 200 hours, I would definitely not want…