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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Scientists Discover 100 New Marine Species in New Zealand (Maria)
The author writes, “A team of 21 scientists set off on an expedition in the largely uncharted waters of Bounty Trough off the coast of the South Island of New Zealand in February hoping to find a trove of new species. The expedition paid off, they said on Sunday, with the discovery of 100 new species, a number that was likely to grow, said Alex Rogers, a marine biologist who was a leader of the expedition. … Dozens of mollusks, three fish, a shrimp and a cephalopod that is a type of predatory mollusk were among the new species found in the expedition, which was led by Ocean Census, a nonprofit dedicated to the global discovery of ocean life, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.”
Israel Is Systematically Destroying Gaza’s Cultural Heritage (Dana)
From Jacobin: “The mass slaughter and destruction Israel has wrought in Gaza over the last five months suggests a clear intention to make the land entirely uninhabitable for the 2.2 million Palestinians who live there. So far, more than thirty thousand Palestinians have been killed, more than two-thirds of whom are women and children. All of this has been recorded with astounding courage in videos, images, and text by Palestinian journalists in Gaza. Nobody will be able to look back and say they did not know what was happening. Faced with this, it is difficult to talk about what else is being destroyed in Gaza.”
On Popular Online Platforms, Predatory Groups Coerce Children Into Self-Harm (Gerry)
The authors write, “The person in the online chat introduced himself as “Brad.” Using flattery and guile, he persuaded the 14-year-old girl to send a nude photo. It instantly became leverage. Over the following two weeks in April 2021, he and other online predators threatened to send the image to the girl’s classmates in Oklahoma unless she live-streamed degrading and violent acts, the girl’s mother told The Washington Post. They coerced her into carving their screen names deep into her thigh, drinking from a toilet bowl and beheading a pet hamster — all as they watched in a video chatroom on the social media platform Discord. The pressure escalated until she faced one final demand: to kill herself on camera.”
NAACP Urges Black Athletes To Avoid Florida Public Universities Over Anti-DEI Policies (DonkeyHotey)
From NPR: “Black college athletes should rethink any decision to attend public colleges and universities in Florida, the NAACP advised in an extraordinary letter issued in response to efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis to weaken diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts statewide. The letter, authored by the NAACP’s top two officials and addressed to Charlie Baker, the head of the NCAA, comes on the heels of last week’s announcement by the University of Florida that it would eliminate the school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion staff in order to come into compliance with an anti-DEI law signed last year by DeSantis.”
Navalny Ally Leonid Volkov Vows To Continue Fight Against Putin After Hammer Attack in Vilnius (Sean)
From The Guardian: “Leonid Volkov, a longtime aide to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has vowed to continue the struggle against Russian President Vladimir Putin after being attacked with a hammer outside his home in Lithuania. ‘We will work and we will not give up,’ he said in a video clip posted on Telegram early on Wednesday, claiming that the attack that left him with a broken arm was a ‘characteristic bandit hello’ from Putin’s henchmen.”
Trillions of Gallons Leak From Aging Drinking Water Systems, Further Stressing Shrinking US Cities (Laura)
The author writes, “Water bubbles up in streets, pooling in neighborhoods for weeks or months. Homes burn to the ground if firefighters can’t draw enough water from hydrants. Utility crews struggle to fix broken pipes while water flows through shut-off valves that don’t work. For generations, the water infrastructure beneath this southern Alabama city was corroding, cracking, and failing — out of sight and seemingly out of mind — as the population shrank and poverty rose. Until it became impossible to ignore. Last year residents learned a startling truth: Prichard loses over half, sometimes more than 60%, of the drinking water it buys from nearby Mobile.”
Frostbitten Kansas City Fans Needed Amputations After Frigid Game (Russ)
From The New York Times: “Several fans of the Kansas City Chiefs who attended a playoff game on a bitterly cold January day in Missouri suffered frostbite that required amputations, according to the hospital that treated them. Twelve people — including some football fans who were at Arrowhead Stadium on Jan. 13 — had to undergo amputations involving mostly fingers and toes, the hospital, Research Medical Center in Kansas City, said in a statement on Saturday. … The exact number of fans who attended the game who had amputations was unclear. The hospital said there was some overlap among the fans and those who had also worked outdoors.”
From Our Archives
EU Leads the Way Again on Online Safety as Digital Services Act Takes Effect
August 25, 2023: “The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) went into effect Friday. It requires the largest online platforms and search engines operating in the EU to take steps to reduce the spread of misinformation and other toxic online content. The law is yet another effort by the EU to make the Internet a safer place to use for everybody. … The law requires the companies to quickly remove illegal content from their platforms and prevents them from using sensitive data to display personalized ads to their users. Perhaps most importantly, it also includes transparency provisions that force companies to disclose previously secret information that shows how they operate.”
