The case for moral ambition

A proposal for the Northeast Corridor high-speed rail project would connect major cities for 15% of competing proposals, by making smart tradeoffs rather than trying to please everybody (Slow Boring)

The House Republican tax proposal would cut clean energy tax credits, effectively repealing the IRA’s climate provisions (HEATMAP)

🌍Enbridge is planning to sell a 12.5% stake in its BC pipeline system to a partnership of 36 First Nations, back by a $400 million (CAD) government loan guarantee (Bloomberg)

🌍Pakistan is one of the world’s biggest solar panel importers, driven by economic necessity (rather than government policy) as households and businesses install rooftop systems to escape unreliable grids and electricity costs (Independent)

Four months in, Manhattan’s congestion pricing results show fewer cars, faster travel speeds, increased transit ridership, fewer accidents, less noise, improved air quality, and on-time school buses (The New York Times)

The largest ever study of OCD has identified 30 regions in the genome containing 249 genes linked to OCD risk (The Conversation)

Potential Medicaid cuts threaten funding millions of elderly rely on for long-term care, potentially forcing facilities to reduce services or stop accepting Medicaid patients altogether (The Washington Post)

The EPA has rolled back drinking water protections, by keeping limits to only two “forever chemicals” (PFAS) and eliminating regulations for four other harmful PFAS chemicals despite their widespread contamination of water systems (Civil Eats)

A baby has been treated with a first-of-its-kind personalized CRISPR gene-editing therapy, custom designed in just 6 months to repair his unique genetic mutation causing a rare disorder that kept his body from processing ammonia (NPR)

If you’re a caregiver for a loved one with ME/CFS or Long COVID (or anything else), read these strategies for preventing burnout (The Sick Times)

🌎Rising temperatures, extreme weather, and fungal diseases will jeopardize nearly two-thirds of banana-growing regions in Latin American and the Caribbean by 2080 (The Guardian)

🌎A new high-resolution tool, PLANTdex, can compare crops’ environmental impacts by analyzing 5 key indicators, revealing that rapeseed, rice, cotton, and oil palm have the highest environmental impacts globally (Mongabay)

🌎The EU plans to establish minimum performance standards by the end of 2026 to limit water usage in data centers (Bloomberg)

In the late 19th century, two men, both motivated by losing children to milk-borne diseases, took opposing approaches to make milk safe (which ultimately led to nationwide milk safety regulations): pasteurization through affordable public milk depots and certified raw milk (The Works in Progress)

The 2022 baby formula shortage revealed deeper issues of market concentration and supply chain vulnerability in an industry where just three companies control 90% of US production (Tangle)

Psychology research shows that constant surveillance fundamentally changes cognition beyond just altering behavior, potentially pushing a constantly surveilled society toward increased anxiety and social stress (Scientific American)

As AI-driven fraud becomes increasingly common, people are developing paranoid verification techniques for online interactions (WIRED)

Leaked materials reveal that an automated license plate reader company operating in over 5000 US communities is developing a tool that will allow police to connect license plate data to individuals and their associates using people lookup tools (404 Media)

Without federal science funding, we might not have life-changing scientific breakthroughs like GPS, CAPTCHA, bladeless LASIK surgery, and more (The New York Times)

Airport chaos is being caused by outdated technology and staffing shortages in air traffic control (NYT: The Morning)