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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.
A New Island Has Emerged in the South Pacific (Maria)
The author writes, “There’s a new island in the South Pacific. Earlier this month, an underwater volcano near Tonga erupted, oozing lava and expelling steam and water above the surface. It also formed a new land mass that’s quickly grown from one to more than eight acres. … According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, a volcano on what’s known as the Home Reef seamount began to erupt on Sept. 10. Eleven hours later, the unnamed island poked out of the water.”
Has a Trump Tipping Point Been Reached? Analyzing the NY Attorney General’s Case Against Trump (Sean)
From Just Security: “In the last month, the array of investigations involving Donald J. Trump and many of Trump’s associates and family members has reached an intense pitch. [Last week] another bombshell detonated — one that may prove to be the most devastating. New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced the filing of a monumental civil enforcement action against Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, the Trump Organization and many other Trump affiliates. The sanctions sought by the New York Office of the Attorney General (the “OAG”) are sweeping and potentially devastating.”
Martha’s Vineyard Was Portrayed as Rich, White, and Elite, but There’s Another Side to the Island (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “The ploy by [Gov. Ron] DeSantis, a Republican who might run for president, brought national attention to the island, where residents rushed to aid the 48 migrants, many of whom said they had been lured aboard chartered flights in Texas with false promises of jobs and housing in Massachusetts. Beyond the spotlight, many islanders bristled at the suggestion — circulated in conservative media — that they had quickly turned their backs on the migrants, mostly Venezuelans, who arrived unannounced Sept. 14 and were transferred to temporary housing on Cape Cod two days later. The opposite occurred; locals immediately mobilized to help.”
The Protests in Iran Have Shaken the Islamic Republic to Its Core (Dana)
From Time: “To the officers of Iran’s morality police who arrested the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on Sept. 13, it must have seemed like business as usual. Her brother’s appeals that they were visitors on unfamiliar ground in Tehran went unheeded as she was forced away, just one among scores arrested that day for showing a few strands of hair outside her headscarf. But what followed is shaking the theocratic state to its core. Hours after her detention, Amini was admitted to hospital ‘without any vital signs and brain-dead,’ officials there reported. She was pronounced dead on Sept. 16. … Almost immediately protests broke out at Amini’s funeral in her hometown of Saqqez in Iran’s Kurdistan’s Province, only to spread like wildfire across the country. Unprecedented in size and speed, they were also marked by the audacity of the protestors — led in almost every instance by women.”
Tylenol Murders Investigation Sees Renewed Effort to Solve Case, 40 Years Later (Laura)
The author writes, “Authorities have engaged in a renewed effort to solve the 1982 Tylenol murders, seven fatal poisonings that terrorized the Chicago area and have remained unsolved, forty years later. ‘There was cyanide in the Tylenol and the public had to be warned about that because once you took the pill, you were going to die,’ former Cook County Medical Examiner Edmund Donoghue said during an interview on the case last year. He was one of many raising the alarm in the fall of 1982, as victim after victim took cyanide-laced Tylenol and died. For years, investigators focused on James Lewis, now 76 and living in Massachusetts. Lewis admitted to sending a letter to Tylenol’s parent company Johnson & Johnson, demanding a $1 million ransom to stop the killings. He was convicted of extortion and spent years in prison — but was never charged with the murders.”
Why Is a NASA Spacecraft Crashing Into an Asteroid? (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “In the first-of-its kind, save-the-world experiment, NASA is about to clobber a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away. A spacecraft named Dart will zero in on the asteroid Monday, intent on slamming it head-on at 14,000 mph (22,500 kph). The impact should be just enough to nudge the asteroid into a slightly tighter orbit around its companion space rock — demonstrating that if a killer asteroid ever heads our way, we’d stand a fighting chance of diverting it.”
This Is How Much Fossil Fuel the World Is Sitting on, and It’s a Time Bomb (Mili)
From Science Alert: “Burning the world’s remaining fossil fuel reserves would unleash 3.5 trillion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions — 7 times the remaining carbon budget to cap global heating at 1.5 degrees Celsius — according to the first public inventory of hydrocarbons released Monday. Human activity since the Industrial Revolution, largely powered by coal, oil, and gas, has led to just under 1.2 degrees Celsius of warming and brought with it ever fiercer droughts, floods, and storms supercharged by rising seas.”
Don’t Shower During a Thunderstorm. Here’s Why (Russ)
The author writes, “Trees begin to sway, the sky darkens and suddenly you hear it — the distant sound of thunder. That’s your cue that potential danger is on the way. In fact, it’s likely within 10 miles of you, according to the National Weather Service. Don’t ignore that sound, because where there is thunder there is lightning, and lightning can kill or maim in ways you would least expect it. That includes when you are in the shower, tub or even washing dishes. Since lightning can travel through plumbing, ‘it is best to avoid all water during a thunderstorm. Do not shower, bathe, wash dishes, or wash your hands,’ the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted.”
