How Decoding Beluga Whales’ Sound May Save Them — and Teach Us About Ourselves

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How Decoding Beluga Whales’ Sound May Save Them — and Teach Us About Ourselves (Maria)

The author writes, “Ever since the earliest known recording of whale song was made in 1949, researchers have been captivated by their communication. … With the emergence of new technologies, insights into their communication are growing. In an era when most whales are protected from hunting but face myriad other threats, researchers are asking: What clues do their sounds hold to better protect them from a noisier, warmer and more unpredictable ocean?”

Trump Administration Says It Might Demolish the Kennedy Center if Court Blocks Renovations (DonkeyHotey)

The author writes, “The Trump administration is, for the first time, threatening the demolition of the Kennedy Center if the arts institution isn’t allowed to follow its plans for the site, including adding President Donald Trump’s name to the front of the building. ‘Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years,’ Justice Department attorney Brantley T. Mayers wrote in a court filing.”

Mystery Meat: Trump Refuses to Say Where His New Flood of Foreign Beef Is Coming From (Sean)

The author writes, “Trump says he has struck a deal to bring 300,000 metric tons of cheaper foreign beef into the United States. There’s one detail he won’t reveal: who the deal is actually with.”

She Spent 7 Months in Legal Hell After Cops Used Flock Surveillance To Identify the Wrong Car (Bethany)

From Reason: “Much has been written about Flock cameras making mistakes — including cases in which innocent people were detained at gunpoint because a camera mistook a 2 for a 7, or misread the state on a license plate. But it’s worse than just imperfect software: All too often, police pull people over, arrest them, and even jail them based on camera misidentifications that officers could have caught with basic scrutiny. There are also numerous examples of officers with access to Flock’s database using it to stalk and surveil people in their personal lives.”

They Braved a World-Famous Six Flags Roller Coaster. Then They Were Rushed to the Hospital for Emergency Brain Surgery (Reader Andrew)

From CNN: “In the span of less than a week this July, surgeons at a Southern California hospital raced to save the lives of two women suffering from alarmingly similar brain hemorrhages. The severe injuries were the kind doctors encounter in patients after high-speed collisions or other violent accidents that cause the brain to twist and slam inside one’s skull. Neither woman, however, had been involved in a crash, fall or other such incident. Instead, they had ridden an extreme roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain, known as X2.”

How These People Used Exercise To Cope With Unbearable Grief (Russ)

The author writes, “Scientists are beginning to study the ways that exercise can help bereaved people navigate loss.” 

As the Danube River Dries Up, World War II Shipwrecks and Mammoth Bones Come Into View (Dana)

From CBS News: “Water levels on the Danube River, the second longest in Europe, have dropped so low because of drought that the hulks of dozens of World War II German battleships — and even the remains of an ancient woolly mammoth — are emerging into view. They are a curious distraction from the summer heat crisis. The Danube’s record-low water levels have also forced power plants to the brink of shutting down, and governments across Central and Eastern Europe are taking steps to conserve electricity. In the middle of the river separating Serbia and Romania, near the Serbian port of Prahovo, a rusty hull is now visible, along with a broken mast where the Nazi flag once flew.”