|
Listen To This Story
 |
Automatic Car Braking Systems Save Lives. Now They’ll Need To Work at 62 mph. (Maria)
The author writes, “The world is full of feel-bad news. Here’s something to feel good about: Automatic emergency braking is one of the great car safety tech success stories. Auto-braking systems, called AEB for short, use sensors including cameras, radar, and lidar to sense when a crash is about to happen and warn drivers — then automatically apply the brakes if drivers don’t respond. … One industry group estimates that U.S. automakers’ move to install AEB on most cars — something they did voluntarily, in cooperation with road safety advocates — will prevent 42,000 crashes and 20,000 injuries by 2025. A new report from AAA finds these emergency braking systems are getting even better, and challenges automakers to perfect them at even higher speeds.”
It’s Time for Outgoing Democrats to Play Hardball (DonkeyHotey)
From The Bulwark: “The problem is that Trump was playing dirty. The Democrats may have turned a double play, but the runner had gone to second anyway and was punching the second baseman in the face. Had Democrats recognized the transformational meaning of Trump’s movement, then instead of prioritizing ‘normal’ legislative activities, they would have put their focus on reforming electoral rules to prevent Trumpism from taking root. Drastic options would have been on the table—things like adding two states to gain four Democratic senators or beginning the effort to abolish the Electoral College. They did none of those things.”
Russia’s War Economy Is Hitting Its Limits (Russ)
From Foreign Policy: “Now that Donald Trump is returning to a second term as U.S. president, ascertaining the true state of Russia’s war economy is more important than ever. Trump’s advisors believe that Ukraine must settle for peace by whatever means necessary ‘to stop the killing.’ Implicit in this argument is the view that Russia has the ability to sustain the war for many years to come. On close examination of the evidence, however, the narrative that Russia has the resources to prevail if it so chooses does not hold.”
Global Warming Is on the Cusp of Crucial 1.5 °C Threshold, Suggest Ice-Core Data (Sean)
The author writes, “Global warming caused by humans might be closer to a crucial climate threshold than current estimates suggest. A study of Antarctic ice cores argues that, in 2023, human-driven warming reached 1.49 °C above pre-industrial levels. … The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that human-induced warming is currently close to 1.31 °C. However, the IPCC does not track warming in individual years; instead, it compares temperature averages calculated over decades, so its figures trail behind current temperatures. And it uses the average temperature between 1850 and 1900 as its ‘pre-industrial’ baseline. But carbon dioxide levels and temperatures were increasing long before 1850, so the standard 1850–1900 baseline doesn’t capture the full picture.”
Of Misogyny, Musk, and Men (Dana)
From Mother Jones: “It’s safe to say Trump’s margin of victory was powered by men, who, those same polls found, voted for him by 55 percent—a few points more than went for him in 2020. Trump looks to have made gains with almost every type of man, especially younger men and Latino men. (Despite a lot of preelection angst, Black men overwhelmingly backed Harris, though Trump increased his margins there, too.) White men of all education levels went for Trump, but white men who didn’t go to college overwhelmingly so. The Trump campaign knew that men were his ticket back to power, and it targeted them—pointedly young men, and men of color—with a sophisticated campaign of grievance and disinformation. And in that, they were massively aided by the manosphere and its billionaire mascot: Elon Musk.”
See How the Inflation Reduction Act Is Affecting Your Community (Laura)
The authors write, “Two years ago, Congress passed the biggest climate bill in U.S. history — the Inflation Reduction Act, which spurred growth in solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles across the country. Since then, money devoted to clean energy — initially estimated at $369 billion, but with the potential to reach up to $1 trillion — has flowed into almost every state, largely in the form of tax credits. But this gusher of cash has also created winners and losers, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the clean energy modeling think tank Rhodium Group. Here is how the Inflation Reduction Act has remade America over the past two years.”
Japan Has a Trucker Shortage. Its Solution Is Novel (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “If it works, expect other major cities around the world to copy the idea to some degree: Japan is building what amounts to a giant ‘conveyor belt road’ from Tokyo to Osaka to ship cargo, reports the Guardian.”
