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.
|
Listen To This Story
 |
Flower Power on Indian Farms Helps Bees and Boosts Livelihoods (Maria)
The author writes, “Planting flowers beside food crops on farms in India attracts bees, boosts pollination and improves crop yield and quality, researchers have found. The research, the first Indian study of its kind … [was] published in the Journal of Applied Ecology and was carried out in South India by ecologists from the University of Reading, UK, and the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, India. The scientists focused on the Moringa crop, a nutrient-rich ‘superfood,’ and its essential pollinators — bees. By planting companion marigold flowers and red gram crops alongside Moringa trees in orchards, the research team increased the abundance and diversity of flower-visiting insects, ultimately improving pollination and boosting crop yield.”
Idaho Asks Supreme Court to Allow Enforcement of State Abortion Ban (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “Idaho asked the Supreme Court on Monday to allow enforcement of the state’s abortion ban as it applies to emergency rooms, after federal courts blocked that aspect in a legal challenge from the Biden administration. Idaho’s law allows state officials to prosecute or revoke the professional license of doctors who perform abortions unless it was necessary to prevent the woman’s death, or the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest.”
From Niagara Falls to Texas to Gaza, a Horrifying Look Into the Abyss of a Post-Truth Future (DonkeyHotey)
From The Philadelphia Inquirer: “In the ever-shrinking world of a free and fair media, the recent weeks have brought an explosion of untruth and a stepped-up war on reality. With democracy increasingly staring into the abyss both at home and abroad, propaganda and censorship are the double-edged sword of rising dictatorship. And now with violent hacking coming from both sides of the blade, it is indeed an increasing struggle to cling to the dream of truth-flavored sanity.”
‘We Will Coup Whoever We Want!’: The Unbearable Hubris of Musk and the Billionaire Tech Bros (Sean)
The author writes, “Challenging each other to cage fights, building apocalypse bunkers — the behavior of today’s mega-moguls is becoming increasingly outlandish and imperial.”
More People Are Dying in Puerto Rico as Its Health Care System Crumbles (Laura)
From The Washington Post: “Health services across this self-governing island have been deteriorating for years, contributing to a surge in deaths that reached historic proportions in 2022, an investigation by The Washington Post and Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism has found.”
Why Doesn’t the US Have More Passenger Trains? (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “With a busy transcontinental network of 254,000 miles of tracks at its height a little over a century ago, America moved on trains. Today, the United States’ passenger rail system is an echo of its former self, with swathes of the network unused or surrendered to freight. Over the last century, the United States shifted its focus — and investments — away from passenger railroads and toward travel by cars and planes. That may be starting to change.”
Sports Illustrated Published Articles by Fake, AI-Generated Writers (Dana)
From Futurism: “There was nothing in Drew Ortiz’s author biography at Sports Illustrated to suggest that he was anything other than human. ‘Drew has spent much of his life outdoors, and is excited to guide you through his never-ending list of the best products to keep you from falling to the perils of nature,’ it read. ‘Nowadays, there is rarely a weekend that goes by where Drew isn’t out camping, hiking, or just back on his parents’ farm.’ The only problem? Outside of Sports Illustrated, Drew Ortiz doesn’t seem to exist. He has no social media presence and no publishing history. And even more strangely, his profile photo on Sports Illustrated is for sale on a website that sells AI-generated headshots, where he’s described as ‘neutral white young-adult male with short brown hair and blue eyes.’”
