Scientists discover "seismic signals" of liquid water on Mars. / BBC News China is building a massive wall of solar panels to fight desertification. / Semafor Analysts explain why Harvard canceled its solar geoengineering project. / The Verge Is carbon offsetting just greenwashing? I.e., "a mechanism that allows polluters
David Wallace-Wells explains why we shouldn't be applying lessons learned from Covid to bird flu. / The New York Times [+] A British couple compares photos of a Swiss glacier taken in 2009 and 2024. / Kottke Demand in the United States for avocados is encouraging deforestation in Mexico. / Bloomberg
Experts say Covid can now be considered endemic, although it may take another decade to reach the predictability associated with other endemic diseases. / NPR "The CDC has likely been violating federal law for years by systematically deleting lower-level employees' emails, a federal judge ruled Friday." / Politico
A deep dive into a US court's ruling that warrantless searches of incoming travelers' devices at the border are unconstitutional. / The Dissenter How a prominent anti-abortion doctor in San Antonio somehow became the rural representative for Texas's maternal mortality committee. / The Texas Tribune "
Doctors say it doesn't work, but Olympic athletes swear drinking a Coke after emerging from the polluted Seine helps "flush out anything inside of us." / The Wall Street Journal [+] Gyms depend on members not showing up—that's now a problem because new fitness trends
The Trump campaign is attacking Tim Walz for a policy that allows felons to vote, conveniently forgetting that Trump is also a convicted felon. / The New Republic Harris picking Walz as her running mate is a big win for the right-to-repair movement. / Gizmodo How we are watching the
As part of Olympic security, French authorities are using—and critics argue, abusing—an anti-terror law to restrict the movements of hundreds of people. / AP "Aug. 2, 2024, was Black Friday for the artificial intelligence boom, as a week of rough earnings from Big Tech led to what
"Few questioned whether the MAGA tent was big enough to cover the tech futurists and the evangelical Christians." Inside the pro-Trump 2024 Bitcoin Conference. / The Verge Hamilton Nolan: "The Democrats are a Big Tent Party…in the way you might feel if you arrived at a
Currently Germany's political shift toward right-wing extremism appears to be accelerating. / Semafor The Pentagon deploys more warships and fighter jets to the Middle East. / Reuters A review of bipartisan legislation that passed this week in Washington—e.g., supporting Alzheimer's research and protecting bald eagles.
Currently Bangladesh arrests more than 10,000 people after weeks of protests. / The Guardian Russia frees journalist Evan Gershkovich, part of the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War. / The Associated Press See also: Fascinating details from the secret negotiations to free Gershkovich. / The Wall Street Journal [+] In
