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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.
‘It Was an Accident’: Scientists Turned Humid Air Into Renewable Power (Maria)
The author writes, “In the early 20th century, Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla dreamed of pulling limitless free electricity from the air around us. Ever ambitious, Tesla was thinking on a vast scale, effectively looking at the Earth and upper atmosphere as two ends of an enormous battery. Needless to say, his dreams were never realized, but the promise of air-derived electricity — hygroelectricity — is now capturing researchers’ imaginations again. The difference: they’re not thinking big, but very, very small.”
Giuliani’s Sit-Down With Jack Smith Is Bad News for Trump (Gerry)
From The Bulwark: “Trump’s former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has reportedly made a ‘proffer’ of potential January 6th-related testimony. [Special Counsel Jack] Smith appears to be steaming toward an indictment relating to Trump’s role on January 6th.”
Did Moore v. Harper Complicate the National Popular Vote Compact? (Reader Steve)
From Election Law Blog: “In Moore v. Harper, the Supreme Court held that the state constitutions can restrain state legislatures when they are exercising authority under the Elections Clause–and the Court often refers to the Presidential Electors Clause, too, even though it was not at issue in the case.”
Hong Kong Police Offer Rewards for Arrests of 8 Pro-Democracy Activists Who Live Abroad (Sean)
The author writes, “Hong Kong police on Monday accused eight self-exiled pro-democracy activists of violating the territory’s harsh National Security Law and offered rewards of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($127,600) each for information leading to their arrests. The U.S. and Britain strongly condemned the move.”
Inside Big Beef’s Climate Messaging Machine: Confuse, Defend and Downplay (Laura)
The author writes, “The US beef industry is creating an army of influencers and citizen activists to help amplify a message that will be key to its future success: that you shouldn’t be too worried about the growing attention around the environmental impacts of its production. In particular, it would like you not to be especially concerned about how meat consumption needs to be reduced if we are to avoid the most violently disruptive forms of planetary heating (even if all fossil fuel use ended tomorrow).”
Summer Is Here. Where Are the Fireflies? (Russ)
From The Washington Post: “The insects go by many names, depending on where you live. Forget what the calendar officially says. For many Americans, their otherworldly glow signals the start of summer. But across the country, many of these harbingers of summer may be blinking out of existence. What was once a series of tales from old-timers about the decline of fireflies from the days of their youth is coalescing into a disturbing scientific truth.”
‘1984’ Returned to Oregon Library 65 Years After It Was Due (Al)
The author writes, “An 86-year-old library patron returned a first edition copy of George Orwell’s novel 1984 to the Multnomah County Library this week, 65 years after its due date. … The patron said they felt 1984 should be returned to circulation after all this time because parts of Orwell’s dystopian sci-fi novel ‘are as relevant today as they were 65 years ago.’”
