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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.
Federal Regulator Won’t Ban Gas Stoves After All (Maria)
The author writes, “A federal regulator has walked back comments about banning gas stoves after backlash to the idea of a ban reached a fever pitch this week. Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg in an interview this week that a ban was ‘on the table’ for gas stoves, which research has linked to health problems including asthma. ‘Products that can’t be made safe can be banned,’ Trumka told the media outlet. … [But he added:] ‘I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so.’”
George Santos Story Raises Questions About Gay Republicans (Dana)
From Queer Forty: “George Santos made history in November when he became the first openly gay non-incumbent Republican candidate elected to Congress. Now everything about the Congressman-elect has come into question and under scrutiny — including his claims of a decade of being an openly gay man who had never experienced discrimination from his chosen party, the GOP.”
Scale of Alleged Torture, Detentions by Russian Forces in Kherson Emerges (Sean)
From Reuters: “Reuters wasn’t able to independently corroborate individual accounts shared by … Kherson residents but they fit with what Ukrainian authorities and international human rights specialists have said about conditions and treatment during detention, including detainees being blindfolded and bound, subject to beatings and electric shocks and injuries, including severe bruising and broken bones, forced nudity and other forms of sexual violence.”
Cholera Returns With a Vengeance (Mili)
The author writes, “Today, experts believe, cholera still threatens more than a billion people in 69 countries, annually infecting 1.3 to 4 million and killing up to 143,000. But because distinguishing one form of watery diarrhea from another isn’t easy in its largely impoverished haunts, its true burden is hard to prove. Nonetheless, newly erupting or protracted outbreaks stand out because of cholera’s ‘equal-opportunity’ toll on children and adults. In 2022, such outbreaks occurred in 29 countries as compared to 23 in 2021 or the previous average of 20 country outbreaks per annum over the last 5 years.”
Animal Sedative Mixed With Fentanyl Brings Fresh Horror to US Drug Zones (Sean)
The author writes, “A veterinary tranquilizer called xylazine is infiltrating street drugs, deepening addiction, baffling law enforcement and causing wounds so severe that some result in amputation.”
The Toll Extreme Weather Took in the US During 2022, by the Numbers (Laura)
The author writes, “While weather disasters strike the United States every year, 2022 brought the latest reminder that extreme events, fueled in part by the warming planet, are growing more intense and costly — both at home and abroad. Here are some numbers that help describe the toll such calamities inflicted on the United States over the past year and what threats probably lie ahead.”
Riddle Solved: Why Was Roman Concrete So Durable? (DonkeyHotey)
From MIT News: “The ancient Romans were masters of engineering, constructing vast networks of roads, aqueducts, ports, and massive buildings, whose remains have survived for two millennia. Many of these structures were built with concrete. … Researchers have spent decades trying to figure out the secret of this ultradurable ancient construction material. … Now, a team of investigators from MIT, Harvard University, and laboratories in Italy and Switzerland, has made progress in this field, discovering ancient concrete-manufacturing strategies that incorporated several key self-healing functionalities.”
