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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Good News About New York City’s Beech Leaf Disease Battle (Maria)
The author writes, “There is a worm growing in Brooklyn — millions of them actually — and, for a microscopically thin nematode not quite as tall as this letter I, it moves surprisingly fast. The nematode, known to ecologists as Litylenchus crenatae mccannii and discovered in 2012, causes beech leaf disease. It nests in the beech’s buds, replicates wildly, and causes havoc for its leaves, eventually killing the tree. … [Arborist Malcolm Gore] and his team have been spraying the base of [Prospect Park’s] beeches with a fertilizer that, if things go as planned, will activate the trees’ natural defenses.”
Deaths in the New Mexico Desert Surge After Texas’s Border Crackdown Reaches El Paso (Dana)
From News from the States: “On a hot morning in September, after hours of trekking through the Chihuahuan desert, Abbey Carpenter and her partner James Holeman spotted a pile of scattered bones. Near a yucca plant, a human jawbone lay partially buried in the sand. Around it were vertebrae, femurs, and ribs. Next to the bones, they saw a woman’s purple underwear with two tiny hearts on the corner and a Salvadoran passport. The bones were among six sets of human remains they found that month.”
Australian Deported From US Says He Was ‘Targeted’ Due To Writing on Pro-Palestine Student Protests (Sean)
From The Guardian: “An Australian man who was detained upon arrival at Los Angeles airport and deported back to Melbourne says United States border officials told him it was due to his writing on pro-Palestine protests by university students. Alistair Kitchen said he left Melbourne on Thursday bound for New York and was detained for 12 hours and interrogated by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials during the stopover in Los Angeles. The 33-year-old said he was ‘clearly targeted for politically motivated reasons’ and said officials spent more than 30 minutes questioning him about his views on Israel and Palestine.”
The Colorado River Is Running Low. The Picture Looks Even Worse Underground (Laura)
The author writes, “The dwindling flow of the Colorado River has alarmed the American West for years, but the water losses happening underground are even worse, according to a new study that uses satellite data to measure groundwater supplies across the Colorado River Basin. The research found that the region lost 27.8 million acre-feet of groundwater since 2003, roughly the same volume as the total capacity of Lake Mead — the nation’s largest reservoir — and that the decline accelerated rapidly over the past decade. These groundwater losses accounted for more than twice the amount taken out of reservoirs in the region during that time.”
The Invisible Killer: PM 1 Pollution Uncovered Across America (Mili)
From Science Daily: “A groundbreaking 25-year analysis using satellite technology has now mapped PM 1 levels across the US, uncovering how wildfires, vehicle emissions, and industrial byproducts have shaped the air we breathe. Although regulations have improved air quality over time, rising wildfire activity poses a growing challenge. This new dataset gives scientists and regulators a vital tool for targeting the most harmful pollutants and protecting public health.”
The History (and Rejection) of Military Parades (Al)
The author writes, “On October 23, 1789, President George Washington traveled north to Boston. In his first term, Washington visited every state. He toured one side of the state and returned down the other side. He stopped in local towns, visited mills and ports, attended multiple religious services of different denominations every Sunday, and dined with leading citizens. … As Washington stopped outside of Worcester, Massachusetts, he received word that the local militia planned to parade and demonstrate for him. He declined to participate. ‘I conceived there was an impropriety in my reviewing the Militia, or seeing them perform Manoeuvres,’ he noted in his diary. As a ‘private Man, I could do no more than pass along the line,’ Washington wrote to the local commander.”
Biting, Stinging, Red Imported Fire Ants Are Closing in on the DC Area (Reader Steve)
From Washingtonian: “They’re aggressive. Disturb them and they’re likely to swarm you, biting ten to 20 times per attack and injecting venom that causes an intense burning sensation, followed by itchy blisters. Scientists know them as Solenopsis invicta Buren and Solenopsis richteri Forel, but you can call them Red Imported Fire Ants. And they’re getting close to the DC area.”
