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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.
Delight as Dolphins Are Spotted in New York’s Bronx River (Maria)
The author writes, “Dolphins have been spotted frolicking in New York City’s Bronx River, an encouraging sign of the improving health of a waterway that was for many years befouled as a sewer for industrial waste. A pair of dolphins was seen gliding through the river’s waters on Monday, the New York City Parks Department confirmed, near a small park in the city’s Bronx borough. … ‘It’s true – dolphins were spotted in the Bronx River this week!,’ the Parks Department gleefully tweeted.”
South Dakota Gov. Noem Threatens Charges for Abortion Pills (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, along with the state’s Republican attorney general, said Tuesday the state will prosecute pharmacists who dispense abortion-inducing pills following a recent Food and Drug Administration rule change that broadens access to the pills. The Republican governor and South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley released a letter to South Dakota pharmacists saying they are ‘subject to felony prosecution’ if they procure or dispense abortion-inducing drugs. The state bans all abortions except to save the life of the pregnant person.”
No Water’s Edge: Russia’s Information War and Regime Security (Sean)
From the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: “Moscow’s fixation on regime security and the interaction between domestic and foreign policy has been continually highlighted across the past decades and currently continues apace.”
In (and Above) Beverly Hills, Police Are Watching (Sean)
From Bloomberg: “On July 9, a man at the intersection of Reeves and Charleville in Beverly Hills, three blocks from Rodeo Drive, methodically went down a line of parked cars, checking door handles. Several hundred feet above him, a camera-equipped drone operated by the Beverly Hills Police Department watched unobserved through a telephoto lens that can read a license plate a half-mile away. The machine, operated by a pilot in a control room about a mile north, followed the man for roughly 90 minutes as he made his way to the city limits and left. No crimes were observed, according to the drone flight logs from that day, part of months’ worth of similar records reviewed by CityLab. The suspect likely never knew the drone was there.”
Racist Beauty Standards Leave Communities of Color More Exposed to Harmful Chemicals (Laura)
From Environmental Health News: “Racist beauty standards are driving the use of beauty products that are often contaminated with chemicals that alter the human endocrine system, cause organ damage, and spur cancer in communities of color, according to new research. Chemical straighteners and skin lighteners — beauty products frequently used among Black and Asian Americans — sometimes contain harmful ingredients such as formaldehyde, mercury and endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and have been linked to health problems such as uterine and breast cancer, kidney and nervous system damage and more.”
Fluke Discovery of Ancient Farming Technique Could Stabilize Crop Yields (Mili)
The author writes, “While studying food diversity in 2011, environmental scientist Morgan Ruelle, now at Clark University, accidentally stumbled across one possible technique that could help stabilize dipping crop yields. The once widespread practice is now only used by small farms in places like Caucasus, Greek Islands, and the Horn of Africa. Despite being incredibly simple, most of the agroecology community weren’t aware of it. Yet farmers have been using this technique for more than 3,000 years across at least 27 countries. It may have even been what gave rise to agriculture in the first place.”
Discovery in India Reveals Intimate Details About Lives of Some of the Largest Dinosaurs (Dana)
The author writes, “To pry open the mysteries of our planet’s past, scientists typically study rocks and fossilized bones. Eggs are an often overlooked but extremely rich source of information, with birds, reptiles, dinosaurs and a few oddball mammals laying them on land for more than 200 million years. Rare fossilized eggshells can illuminate the behavior and diet of ancient creatures, expose changes in climate, and shed light on how our prehistoric relatives lived and communicated. And now, an ‘eggciting’ discovery in India announced [last] week has revealed intimate details about the lives of some of the biggest dinosaurs to walk the Earth.”
