California, New York City, and the Department of Veterans Affairs announce that employees must get vaccinated or face weekly testing. / Politico

Meanwhile, a restaurant in Huntington Beach says patrons must show proof of being unvaccinated. / The Orange County Register

France approves a law requiring special virus passes for all domestic travel. / NPR

The White House will continue to block non-US citizens arriving from the UK, EU, China, India, and Brazil. / CNN

Dr. Fauci wants to make prototype vaccines to protect against viruses from 20 families that could spark the next pandemic. / The New York Times

Prior to the pandemic, "no one cared about coronaviruses," which is why we don't have effective antivirals. / Scientific American

The investigation into the Jan. 6 riot begins today with testimony from four police officers. / Axios

Anne Helen Petersen: Over the last decade, the American West has slowly ceded August to smoke—and now July, too? / Culture Study

Here's footage of a remote camera getting overrun by flames. / Twitter

"Smell dating" involves matching with a prospective partner after you've gotten a whiff of their perspiration on a cotton pad. / The Walrus

Unrelated: Starbucks is an imperfect public toilet because "providing a public toilet is not the point of Starbucks." / Vox

A grieving man creates a surprisingly fluent chatbot version of his dead fiancee. / The San Francisco Chronicle

A creepy robot sinks two perfect shots during halftime at an Olympics basketball game. / YouTube

Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz wins the Philippines' first gold medal ever. / NPR

A Dutch cyclist thought she'd won gold, but an unlikely Austrian was far ahead of her. / SFGate

Douglas Coupland's debut novel Generation X is 30 years old. (Coupland now self-identifies as an app.) Also, the Daily Show is 25 years old, which few people know was created by two women, Madeleine Smithberg and Lizz Winstead. / The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times

A great profile of Leon Bridges and his struggles—to find his Black audience, reconnect with religion, and tame his insecurities. / Texas Monthly