8 Crested Ibises Released in Hakui City Decades After Becoming Extinct in Japan

Listen To This Story

8 Crested Ibises Released in Hakui City Decades After Becoming Extinct in Japan (Maria)

The author writes, “Eight crested ibises were released into the wild in a north-central Japanese town, decades after the birds went extinct in the country. The endangered birds flew from their wooden cages at a ceremony Sunday in Hakui City in the Noto region, where they were last seen in the wild. They were raised at a conservation center on Sado Island … The white birds, native to East Asia, are admired for their orange-pink hues under their wings and bright red marks around their eyes.”

Trump Should Come Clean About His All-Too-Obvious Decline (Reader Jim)

From The Guardian: “American presidents don’t have a stellar record of transparency about their health problems. After a polio diagnosis that caused paralysis of his lower body, Franklin Delano Roosevelt used a wheelchair to get around, but went to great lengths to conceal it from the public. John F Kennedy suffered debilitating back pain, but most Americans never had a clue, seeing only a vigorous and youthful politician. And, more recently — and infamously — Joe Biden’s White House staff worked to conceal his age-related decline, until that was no longer possible. After a disastrous debate performance and belated press coverage, Biden called off his re-election bid in 2024. So perhaps it’s no surprise that we don’t know very much about Donald Trump’s mental and physical health, except for what we can see with our own eyes. But even that is plenty.”

Why Was a Pregnant Woman Thrown to the Floor by Dutch Police? (Sean)

The author writes, “A viral video appears to show police violently taking down the pregnant wife of a Palestinian man from Gaza facing deportation proceedings. The footage shocked millions. The silence surrounding it may reveal something deeper.”

California Election Chief Threatened to ‘Throat-Punch’ Staff. Now He’s on the Ballot — And Running the Vote (Reader Steve)

From the San Francisco Chronicle: “A California election official who threatened to have an employee dragged out by her hair and to ‘throat-punch’ others is making final preparations for Tuesday’s primary election, in which his name appears as a candidate on the ballot. The Shasta County Board of Supervisors allowed Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis to stay on the job despite back-to-back personnel investigations finding that he routinely mistreats staff, casually threatens physical violence, has asked them to do things they consider illegal and has campaigned on his own behalf while on the job — in violation of election law — according to hundreds of pages of personnel records obtained by the Chronicle.”

Hackers Simply Asked Meta AI to Give Them Access to High-Profile Instagram Accounts. It Worked (Dana)

From 404 Media: “Hackers say that they used Meta’s AI support chatbot to break into a host of high-profile Instagram profiles by asking the support bot to change the email address associated with the target account. The claims coincide with a series of high-profile Instagram account takeovers, including the Barack Obama White House account, the Chief Master Sergeant of Space Force’s account, and Sephora’s account. The news shows the extreme risk associated with offloading support or critical functions to an AI chatbot. Users who have had their accounts stolen say that there is no way to escalate their problem to a human. In that it was pushing AI support to all accounts across Facebook and Instagram, and that it would have the ability to reset passwords and perform other critical account maintenance functions: ‘Solutions, not just suggestions,’ the feature’s product page says. ‘Account security and recovery.’”

Nearly One-Fifth of Americans Are Consuming Water With High Levels of Nitrates (Laura)

From Inside Climate News: “Close to 20 percent of Americans are exposed to water polluted with high levels of potentially cancer-causing nitrates, known to come mostly from agricultural runoff, according to new research published this month. In a first-ever review of nitrate levels in public water systems across the country, the Environmental Working Group found that 6,114 of them — from heavily agricultural rural areas to major cities, including Los Angeles, Phoenix and Philadelphia — have elevated levels of nitrates, affecting 18 percent of the country’s population, or roughly one in five people, between 2021 and 2023.”

The Real Reason Exercise Makes You Stronger Isn’t What You Think (Mili)

The author writes, “Exercise may be training your brain just as much as your body. Researchers discovered that certain brain cells stay highly active even after a workout ends, and those lingering signals appear to help the body build endurance over time. In experiments with mice, blocking these brain cells prevented improvements in stamina, even when the animals still exercised normally.”