Home Air Purifiers May Boost Brain Function After Just a Month: Study
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.
|
Listen To This Story
 |
Home Air Purifiers May Boost Brain Function After Just a Month: Study (Maria)
The author writes, “Adults aged 40 and older performed about 12% faster on a test of executive function after using a HEPA air purifier at home for one month, a recent study found. The findings suggest that cleaner indoor air could offer a simple way to help protect the brain from the effects of air pollution. … Exposure to particulate matter, which HEPA filters remove, has been connected to respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses as well as neurological diseases.”
Fake US Thinktank Set Up and Funded by Israel Sought To Game AI for Propaganda (Sean)
From The Guardian: “A pro-Israel messaging website badged with the name of a thinktank that does not exist has published more than half a million words in nine days, built on a commercial platform that promises to optimize content so that AI chatbots will cite it. The site gives Israel’s position on subjects including the torture of Palestinian prisoners, Israeli war crimes and whether Israel has deliberaAtely starved Palestinians in Gaza, all presented as neutral research.”
Trump Calls for NBC’s Kristen Welker To Face Rebuke or Punishment (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “President Donald Trump … threatened to report NBC journalist Kristen Welker to the Federal Communications Commission for her reporting on the impact Trump’s endorsement has had on GOP candidates. In a post to social media, Trump said Welker, the longtime host of NBC’s Meet the Press, ‘just stated that Donald Trump has ‘mixed results” on his Endorsements of Candidates.’ He went on to say the claim stands against “the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei,’ referencing candidates in South Carolina and Oklahoma, respectively.”
From Watchdogs to ‘Lapdogs’: Inside the Trumpification of Agencies’ Inspectors General (Bethany)
From NOTUS: “The Veterans Affairs Department’s internal watchdog was set to relocate to a different Washington office space last year. That was until the inspector general decided she needed her own bathroom. Cheryl Mason, who served as VA Secretary Doug Collins’ senior adviser before President Donald Trump fired the existing IG and tapped her to replace him, held up the move for months, citing the need for a personal lavatory in her office, three people familiar with the matter told NOTUS. … It’s the kind of potentially pricey request that government watchdogs typically investigate — and have in the past, like with former Housing Secretary Ben Carson’s office renovations in Trump’s first term.”
How Wall St. Profits When Personal Injury Lawsuits Pay Out (Russ)
From The New York Times: “Personal injury cases have exploded, in number and magnitude, funded by companies betting on a win — and offering investors a piece of the action.”
More Than 50 Sloths Died at a Florida Wildlife Attraction. Officials Say No Crime Occurred. (Laura)
The authors write, “The investigation details emaciated, dehydrated animals and concerns about Sloth World’s operations, but concluded there was no evidence of criminal neglect or abuse.”
Cash Buried in L.A. Politician’s Backyard Helped Expose Huge Marijuana Corruption Scheme (Reader Steve)
From the Los Angeles Times: “A Baldwin Park council member’s $62,000 stash of backyard cash tipped off investigators to a pay-to-play marijuana licensing racket, turning a local ‘green rush’ into a sprawling federal corruption case.”
