Our coverage of sams

clean energy tech, design, recycling, adhesives

Clean Energy Tech Needs Design Makeover: Experts

Clean Energy Tech Needs Design Makeover: Experts (Maria)

The author writes, “Companies like Apple and Samsung aren’t the only ones making high-tech devices that are hard to take apart and recycle. So are the manufacturers of critical clean energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicle (EV) batteries — and unlike the consumer tech industry, which is slowly starting to reverse some of its unsustainable design practices, there isn’t much being done about it. … ‘Design for recycling hasn’t really come to that market yet,’ says Andy Abbott, a View article …

climate, Australia, Great Barrier Reef, coral bleaching, recovery

Australia’s Barrier Reef Erupts in Color as Corals Spawn

PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.

Australia’s Barrier Reef Erupts in Color as Corals Spawn (Maria)

The author writes, “Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is spawning in an explosion of color as the World Heritage-listed natural wonder recovers from life-threatening coral bleaching episodes. Scientists recorded the corals fertilizing billions of offspring by casting sperm and eggs View article …

climate crisis, UN talks, Glasgow, Greenpeace, greenhouse gases, Paris Agreement

Greenpeace Chief Warns of ‘Greenwashing’ at UN Climate Talks

Greenpeace Chief Warns of ‘Greenwashing’ at UN Climate Talks (Maria)

The author writes, “The head of environmental group Greenpeace on Thursday warned against efforts by countries and corporations at the forthcoming UN climate talks in Glasgow to ‘greenwash’ their ongoing pollution of the planet. The summit hosted View article …

Brain, meditation, sound, cell phone, apps

Want a New Soundtrack for Your Mind?

For the past several weeks — months? Years? — I have had the very beginning of James Taylor’s “You’ve Got a Friend” in my head. Just the start:

🎵“When you’re down…”🎵

And so it is: “When you’re down” when I’m cooking. “When you’re down” when I’m getting dressed. “When you’re down” when I’m staring blankly at my dog. “When you’re down” when I’m staring at any dog. Occasionally I’ll add “… and troubled,” but that seems superfluous.

“When you’re down” is not playing, far as I can tell, because I am down (or troubled, View article …

Deborah Roberts, The duty of disobedience

Art, Identity, and Invisibility in Texas

The title of Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel, The Invisible Man, referred to the refusal of many white Americans to acknowledge the Black Americans among us. Deborah Roberts’s current exhibition, “I’m,” at the Jones Contemporary Arts Center in Austin, TX, takes Ellison’s insight substantially further.

It’s not just a question of white Americans not seeing African Americans, Roberts contends; it is also a question of white America failing to understand just what Black America is trying to communicate. The inability to understand can have fatal results, as evidenced View article …

Who Needs Halloween in 2020?: This Is the Year the Holiday Has Prepared Us For

A Rare Blue Moon Will Bring a Halloween 2020 Treat to the Skies (Dana)

The author writes, “In this bizarre year, another highly unusual event is headed our way. This year’s Halloween full moon will be visible to the entire world, rather than just parts of it, for the first time since World War II, astronomy educator and former planetarium director Jeffrey Hunt says. … The last Halloween full moon visible around the globe came in 1944, he said. … Want to see the Halloween full moon? It’s so bright View article …

Fatal Errors, Part 2: Shot by Police in Richmond, CA

This is Part 2 of a three-part series. Read Part 1 here.

Like flashbulbs detonating, three bursts of light illuminate the interior of a store in Richmond, CA, accompanied by the sound of three gunshots in quick succession. Pedie Perez stumbles inside through the doorway, bleeding profusely from his torso. He lurches a few steps down an aisle and collapses to the floor, sprawling face upward.

It is approximately 1 a.m. on September 14, 2014. It will be more than six hours before the coroner’s van arrives to pick up his body. It View article …

California Rejected 100,000 Mail-in Ballots Because of Mistakes

Global Brands Benefit From Systematic Exploitation of Uyghur Muslims (Russ)

The author writes, “Big, well-known global companies in the field of clothing, technology and automotive sectors like Abercrombie & Fitch, Amazon, GAP, H&M, Nike, Jack & Jones, Sharp, Siemens, Skechers, ASUS, Apple, Samsung, Huawei, BMW, Volkswagen, Sony, Polo Ralph Lauren, Puma, Victoria’s Secret, Vivo, among others, are using Uyghur Muslims as ‘forced labour’ in their factories in China. According to the report, these minority labour forces in China are being supplied in a systematic way under the revived View article …

Editors’ Picks: Special Uprising Edition

Amid 12 days unlike any other in US history — beginning on May 25, when George Floyd died under the knee of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin — even the most news-conscious Americans have reported feeling unable to keep up with coverage of coast-to-coast protests and incidents.

WhoWhatWhy editors have compiled a broad sampling of not only stories readers may have missed, but also thought-provoking social media posts and opinion pieces on the events. We have included day-by-day summaries with links to the extraordinary reporting of the past week, View article …

Is Boris Johnson Playing Chicken With Donald Trump?

LONDON — During the recent UK general election, a key attack line for the Labour party was to cast Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the lapdog of Donald Trump. Johnson, if elected, would be a pliant English poodle to the pitbull-in-chief and would roll over obediently in post-Brexit US-UK trade negotiations, warned Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

So this week’s decision by the UK government to strike a major 5G infrastructure deal with China’s Huawei has left London’s political cognoscenti befuddled. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) accused Johnson of having “chosen the surveillance state View article …

Dems to Use App for Caucus Results Despite Hacking Fears

ICE, Judges Deny Protections for Disabled Immigrants in Custody (Reader Steve)

The author writes, “Lawyers representing undocumented immigrants detained by ICE allege that courts and government authorities under the Trump administration are not complying with a federal court order that protects mentally disabled immigrants in California, Arizona and Washington.”

Secretary of the Navy Nominee May Have Had Undisclosed Contract With Cambridge Analytica (Reader Pat)

From CBS News: “ Braithwaite, who President Trump has said will be his nominee for Secretary of the View article …

Patriot Games — Chinese Consumers Protect Huawei From Trump’s Attacks

(BEIJING) — With a series of attacks, President Donald Trump tried to make Chinese electronics giant Huawei one of the casualties in the trade war between the US and the Asian superpower. But Chinese consumers have made it an act of patriotism to buy the company’s products.

Amid the escalating trade tensions, Trump seeks, in particular, to cut Huawei’s access to the US and European technology markets. While US national security officials have always been suspicious about the cozy relationship between the tech giant and the Chinese government, Trump has made Huawei the next trade war battleground.

A flashpoint in this View article …

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