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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.
Father of Cell Phone Sees Dark Side but Also Hope in New Tech (Maria)
The author writes, “The man credited with inventing the cellphone 50 years ago had only one concern then about the brick-sized device with a long antenna: Would it work? These days Martin Cooper frets like everybody else about his invention’s impacts on society — from the loss of privacy to the risk of internet addiction to the rapid spread of harmful content, especially among kids. … Yet the 94-year-old self-described dreamer also marvels at how far cellphone design and capabilities have advanced, and he believes the technology’s best days may still be ahead of it in areas such as education and health care.”
Exposed: Fox’s Pander-for-Profit Business Model (Dana)
From The Bulwark: “Fox News loves to project bravado, but the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit shows how deeply threatened the network is by flimsy, fringe competitors and how executives and hosts talked themselves into dishonestly pandering to viewers to keep ratings and profits up. A pair of court filings released Monday and last week by Dominion reveals frantic discussions inside the network about losing viewers by correctly calling Arizona for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Leaders at Fox then hushed truth-tellers and latched on to election conspiracy theories to lure viewers back.”
Tennessee Governor Vows to Sign Anti-Drag Bill as Photo Surfaces (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “Republican Gov. Bill Lee says it would be ‘ridiculous’ to conflate a recently surfaced yearbook photo of him wearing women’s clothing in high school to drag show performances currently under attack in Tennessee and other GOP-led states. Lee told reporters this week that he plans to sign legislation that would severely limit where drag performances can take place by banning ‘adult cabaret entertainment’ that is ‘harmful to minors’ from public property or locations where children might see the performance.”
Jonathan Capehart Quits WaPo Editorial Board, Leaving No People of Color (DonkeyHotey)
From Axios: “Jonathan Capehart quit the Washington Post editorial board after a dispute over an editorial about 2024 politics, leaving the paper with an all-white editorial board, Axios has learned. Why it matters: Capehart left the board at a time when the Post — based in a city where nearly half the population is Black — is swirling in internal discontent over the paper’s leadership. By comparison, the New York Times’ 14-person editorial board has five people of color.”
This ‘Climate-Friendly’ Fuel Comes With an Astronomical Cancer Risk (Gerry)
The author writes, “Almost half of products cleared so far under the new federal biofuels program are not in fact biofuels — and the EPA acknowledges that the plastic-based ones may present an ‘unreasonable risk’ to human health or the environment.”
First Transient Electronic Bandage Speeds Healing by 30 Percent (Mili)
The author writes, “Researchers have developed a small, flexible, stretchable bandage that accelerates healing by delivering electrotherapy directly to the wound site. The bandage also actively monitors the healing process and then harmlessly dissolves — electrodes and all — into the body after it is no longer needed.”
The Bizarre Relationship of a ‘Work Wife’ and a ‘Work Husband’ (Sean)
From The Atlantic: “It started out as a fairly typical office friendship: You ate lunch together and joked around during breaks. Maybe you bonded over a shared affinity for escape rooms (or board games or birding or some other slightly weird hobby). Over time, you became fluent in the nuances of each other’s workplace beefs. By now, you vent to each other so regularly that the routine frustrations of professional life have spawned a carousel of inside jokes that leavens the day-to-day. … The term for this type of collegial relationship — work wife or work husband — has become a feature of American offices.”
