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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.
Race to Vaccinate Rare Wild Monkeys in Brazil Gives Hope (Maria)
The author writes, “In a small lab nestled in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, researchers with gloved hands and masked faces cradle four tiny golden monkeys so a veterinarian can delicately slide a needle under the thin skin of each sedated animal’s belly. The next morning, biologist Andréia Martins brings them to the precise spot where they were caught. She opens the wire cages and the monkeys dart out … This brief, strange encounter with humanity has been for the sake of their own health – and the survival of their kind. These endangered wild monkeys, called golden lion tamarins, have now been vaccinated against yellow fever, part of a pathbreaking campaign to save a threatened species.”
At the Supreme Court, Ethics Questions Over a Spouse’s Business Ties (Dana)
From The New York Times: “The chief justice’s wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, has made millions in her career recruiting lawyers to prominent law firms, some of which have business before the court. Now, a letter sent to Congress claims that may present a conflict of interest.”
A Right-Wing War in High Court Race (Al)
The author writes, “The all-important Wisconsin Supreme Court race has displayed no rancor between the two liberal candidates, Janet Protasiewicz and Everett Mitchell, but a division between the two conservatives, Dan Kelly and Jennifer Dorow is getting increasingly nasty. Kelly, who was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 2016 but lost his bid for election in 2020, had entered the race for an open court seat in September and didn’t take kindly to a second conservative, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Dorow, entering months later. ‘I’m struggling to think of any other reason that she would believe she would be a qualified candidate for the Supreme Court.’ Kelly told an Associated Press reporter, accusing Dorow of taking advantage of the national publicity she got for presiding over the trial of Darrell Brooks.”
Taiwan Activates Defenses as 20 Chinese Military Aircraft Cross Taiwan Strait Central Line (Sean)
The author writes, “Taiwan has scrambled fighter jets, put its navy on alert and activated missile systems in response to 34 Chinese military aircraft and nine warships operating near the self-governing island democracy. The large-scale Chinese deployment comes as Beijing increases preparations for a potential blockade or outright attack on Taiwan, stirring major concerns among military leaders in the US, Taiwan’s key ally. In a memo last month, US Air Force General Mike Minihan instructed officers to be prepared for a US-China conflict over Taiwan in 2025.”
‘Death by a Thousand Clearcuts’: Canada’s Deep-Snow Caribou Are Vanishing (Laura)
From The Narwhal: “The [British Columbia] government spends millions on extreme measures — like wolf culls and maternity pens — to support these mountain-loving herds found nowhere else in the world. Yet such efforts fail to offset the habitat destruction at the root of their disappearance.”
What the Ancient Bog Bodies Knew (Mili)
The author writes, “Dr. [Roy] van Beek [is] the lead author of the first comprehensive survey of bog bodies — a burial tradition believed to span 7,000 years. The multidisciplinary study, published in the journal Antiquity, created a database of more than 1,000 such bog people, some arrestingly lifelike, from 266 historical bog sites across a swath of northern Europe, from Ireland to the Baltic States. Relying on recorded folklore, descriptions and depictions, newspaper reports and antiquarian records, a team of Dutch, Swedish and Estonian researchers focused on the rise of bog burials starting around 5200 B.C., in the Neolithic period and into the Bronze Age.”
How a German Woman Allegedly Killed Beauty Blogger Lookalike to Fake Her Own Death (Dana)
From The Independent: “When a body was found in the trunk of a young German woman’s car in August 2022, authorities and her family came to the reasonable conclusion that she was dead. Months later, prosecutors have replaced that reasonable conclusion with an unimaginable tale dubbed the ‘Doppelganger murder.’ The body initially assumed to be 24-year-old Shahraban K, as it was discovered inside her Mercedes, has now been identified as 23-year-old beauty blogger Khadidja O, according to court documents wherein surnames are withheld. … Prosecutors say the women were brought together in a sinister plot by Shahraban K, who is alleged to have used Instagram to lure her lookalike Khadidja O to a meet-up in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. Shahraban then allegedly stabbed Khadidja O to death and dumped the body in her car in a bid to fake her own death.”
