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.
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Far Out: Meteorite Strike Captured on Canadian Couple’s Doorbell Camera (Maria)
The author writes, “A doorbell camera on a Canadian home captured rare video and sound of a meteorite striking Earth as it crashed into a couple’s walkway. When Laura Kelly and her partner returned home after an evening walk in July, they were surprised to find their walkway littered with dust and strange debris, according to the Meteoritical Society, which posted the video with its report. They checked their security camera and saw something slamming against their entranceway, producing a cloud of smoke and a crackle. The pair reported what they found to the University of Alberta’s Meteorite Reporting System, and the curator, Chris Herd, examined samples of the debris to confirm its interstellar origins.”
Presidential Inauguration Fact Check: Analyzing Claims From and About Trump (Sean)
From USA Today: “President Donald Trump was sworn in [yesterday] at the U.S. Capitol, returning to the White House after winning a second term in the 2024 election. The USA Today Fact Check Team [monitored] the inauguration ceremony, other addresses from Trump and former President Joe Biden and reactions from around the country to sort fact from fiction and add context where needed.”
Portland Goes Where Seattle Won’t on Homelessness (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “Portland just elected a new mayor, an outsider who’s never served in public office. Keith Wilson, a truck company CEO, swept into office in a landslide on the strength of one pledge: to stand up 25 emergency shelters around town to end Portland’s chronic street homelessness. In his first week on the job, he’s already opened two shelters with 200 beds. ‘We are here to come together to treat the crisis on our street like a crisis,’ Wilson said in early January. I think he means he’s not going to just look the other way.”
Searching for Justice and the Missing in the New Syria (Laura)
From The Intercept: “As the country starts to rebuild and shape its new government after more than 50 years of dictatorship, Syrians are grappling with a complex search toward accountability for the war crimes committed by the Assad regime. Throughout Assad’s rule, the government imprisoned, tortured, and executed thousands of people. Its military killed thousands more during the civil war, targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals, with bombs and chemical warfare. Various rebel factions have also been accused of human rights abuses. While the overthrow has brought an end to the fighting, scars of the war threaten the newfound peace.”
Americans Are Ditching Traditional Health Care for Something Cheaper — And Riskier (Reader Jim)
From Vox: “Fed up by unaffordable costs and insurance denials, more and more Americans are fleeing the conventional health care system. Many are seeking to cut out the government and insurers entirely by pooling their money together to cover their own bills, turning to what are called health cost-sharing ministries. Originally a faith-based alternative for those with religious objections to traditional insurance, this uniquely American way to pay for medical care has been secularizing and surging in popularity over the last decade, alongside growing distrust in our health system.”
Simon Never Linked the Pain in His Hands and Feet to Multivitamins — But a Pathology Test Did (Mili)
The author writes, “A growing number of consumers are presenting with symptoms linked to high levels of vitamin B6, pathologists say, while the supplement industry goes unpoliced.”
Black Hole Myth Busted: They Don’t Suck Anything In (Dana)
The author writes, “Black holes are the densest objects in the Universe, with at least several Suns worth of mass collected in a region that’s so small, even objects moving at the speed of light can’t escape from it. Although these objects exert a tremendous gravitational force, they don’t ‘suck matter in’ any differently than neutron stars, white dwarfs, stars, or planets do: they just gravitate normally. Despite the common picture of black holes sucking everything in from their surroundings, that’s not how they work at all. Black holes don’t suck; that’s just the most common myth about them.”
