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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Humpback Whale Makes Record Journey From South America to Africa (Maria)
The author writes, “A humpback whale has journeyed more than 13,000 km [8,078 miles] from South America to Africa, which researchers say is the longest distance ever recorded for an individual whale. New research published in Royal Society Open Science recorded sightings of a male humpback whale, initially spotted near the coast of Colombia and recorded nearly a decade later near Zanzibar, Africa. Co-author Ted Cheeseman, a whale biologist based at Southern Cross University, said the distance travelled was almost twice the typical migration . … The discovery was made possible by Happywhale, a platform Cheeseman co-founded, which enabled researchers, citizen scientists and whale watchers to record sightings and then identify individual whales by their flukes.”
Inside Story: Hezbollah, Iran, and the Downfall of Assad (Dana)
The authors write, “The sudden downfall of Bashar Al-Assad has raised a number of questions about the thinking and roles of his supporters. First and foremost, Russia — the most powerful foreign ally of the Syrian government — played a pivotal role as events unfolded. According to one high-ranking regional diplomatic source, Assad’s recent visit to Moscow was a turning point. While the Syrian leader was in Russia, forces led by the Sunni Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham unexpectedly seized Aleppo without a fight. Upon his return to Syria, Assad is said to have expressed anger toward his army. … While Assad’s Russian host and counterpart, Vladimir Putin, had promised assistance, the senior regional source suggested that this support was limited to ensuring a safe exit. Given that Assad and his wife are now apparently in Russia, this promise has been kept — at least for now.”
Manchin, Sinema Block Democratic Control of NLRB (DonkeyHotey)
From The Hill: “The Senate on Wednesday blocked Lauren McFerran’s renomination to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), opening the door for Republican control of the board starting next year under President-elect Trump. Senators voted 49 to 50 against a five-year term for McFerran, the NLRB’s chair, with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) voting with almost every Senate Republican to block it. … Reconfirming McFerran would have locked in a Democratic advantage on the NLRB. Her term is up next week.”
4 Reasons Why California Democrats Flipped House Seats Despite Broad GOP Wins (Reader Steve)
From the San Francisco Chronicle: “In an election year in which Democrats lost control of the White House and Senate, the party managed to flip three House seats in California. … California Democrats’ gains came as Republicans won across the rest of the country. President-elect Donald Trump won a decisive victory in the electoral college and won the popular vote for the first time — though his vote margin has shrunk as more votes were counted.”
Congo’s Disease X: What We Know (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “Initial lab analyses suggest the mysterious disease spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo could be malaria, though authorities still believe more than one infection may be involved in the outbreak. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday confirmed results of the first lab tests of the disease showed the presence of the mosquito-transmitted infection. … So far, Congo has recorded 416 cases of the undiagnosed disease. Severe cases have been reported among severely malnourished people, including 31 deaths, mostly children. The spread of the disease is currently concentrated in the Panzi district in Kwango province, located about 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the capital, Kinshasa.”
A Supreme Court Case About a Railway Could Have Widespread Impacts on US Environmental Laws (Laura)
The author writes, “A legal fight over an 88-mile proposed railway in Utah has set the stage for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide how federal agencies evaluate the environmental impacts of projects requiring their approval, a decision with the potential to drastically shift how projects are permitted across the nation. The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in the case, Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, on Tuesday, Dec. 10. It’s the latest development following a U.S. Court of Appeals decision last year that overturned a federal agency’s approval of the railway after a lawsuit from environmental groups and a Colorado county along the project’s path. The appeals court found that the review failed to evaluate the downstream impacts of the project.”
Google Says Its New Quantum Chip Indicates That Multiple Universes Exist (Sean)
From TechCrunch: “Google on Monday announced Willow, its latest, greatest quantum computing chip. The speed and reliability performance claims Google’s made about this chip were newsworthy in themselves, but what really caught the tech industry’s attention was an even wilder claim tucked into the blog post about the chip. Google Quantum AI founder Hartmut Neven wrote in his blog post that this chip was so mind-boggling fast that it must have borrowed computational power from other universes. Ergo the chip’s performance indicates that parallel universes exist and ‘we live in a multiverse.’”
