Scientists Devise New Way to Find an Elusive Element: Helium

You may not know much about helium, except that it fills birthday balloons and blimps and can make even the most stentorian voice sound a bit like Donald Duck.

But helium is an important gas for science and medicine. Among other things, in liquid form (a few degrees above absolute zero) it is used to keep superconducting electromagnets cold in equipment like M.R.I. machines and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which uses 265,000 pounds of it to help keep particles in line as they zip around.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/science/helium-superconductivity-tanzania.html?action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

Article courtesy of the New York Times by Henry Fountain

Years later, Arizona forest thinning 'just not happening'

An ambitious plan to clear away fire hazards and restore ecological health to Arizona's massive pine forest has so far failed to meet expectations set by the U.S. Forest Service.
Six years into a 20-year plan to thin overgrown ponderosa pines from northern and eastern Arizona, the Four Forest Restoration Initiative has treated just over 80,000 of the 1 million acres targeted for work.  http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2016/06/20/years-later-arizona-forest-thinning-just-not-happening/85706310/
Article courtesy of The Republic/AZcentral.com by Brandon Loomis

Essential California: Will L.A. tax its way out of congestion?

Transit tax
Los Angeles transit officials voted 11-2 Thursday to place a half-cent sales tax on the November ballot. The proposal could generate $860 million a year for street repairs, highway improvements and new rail lines. The tax, which requires a two-thirds vote for approval, would not have a sunset date. Supervisor Don Knabe was one of the dissenting votes. Angeles Times  http://www.latimes.com/newsletters/la-me-essential-california-20160624-snap-story.html
Article courtesy of the LAtimes.com by Alice Walton and Shelby Grand

Why the MBTA wants bus passengers to go cash-free

The MBTA thinks it can shave 10 percent off the length of commuters’ bus trips within a couple of years — if passengers no longer pay with cash on board.  http://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2016/06/27/why-the-mbta-wants-bus-passengers-to-go-cash-free
Article courtesy of Boston.com by Adam Vaccaro

Should Your Driverless Car Hit a Pedestrian to Save Your Life?

People say that one day, perhaps in the not-so-distant future, they’d like to be passengers in self-driving cars that are mindful machines doing their best for the common good. Merge politely. Watch for pedestrians in the crosswalk. Keep a safe space.

A new research study, however, indicates that what people really want to ride in is an autonomous vehicle that puts its passengers first. If its machine brain has to choose between slamming into a wall or running someone over, well, sorry, pedestrian.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/technology/should-your-driverless-car-hit-a-pedestrian-to-save-your-life.html?_r=0

Story courtesy of The New York Times by John Markoff

An Unwelcome Tourist Arrives in New Jersey: Clinging Jellyfish

So Dr. Bologna, a biologist and ecologist at Montclair State University, brought the animal back to his lab. There scientists extracted, analyzed and sequenced its DNA, and determined that it was indeed the clinging jellyfish, spotted in New Jersey for the first time.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/18/science/an-unwelcome-tourist-arrives-in-new-jersey-clinging-jellyfish.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront
Article courtesy of The New York Times by TATIANA SCHLOSSBERG

As Wind Power Lifts Wyoming’s Fortunes, Coal Miners Are Left in the Dust

“Coal is hurting, but wind power is our bright spot on the horizon,” said Cindy Wallace, the director of the Carbon County Economic Development Corporation. “Eventually, we could be the wind capital of Wyoming, the U.S., the world.”

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In Wyoming, the country’s biggest coal-producing state, the energy landscape is transforming along with the nation’s, but in a state of 584,000 people, that change is happening at hyperspeed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/20/us/as-wind-power-lifts-wyomings-fortunes-coal-miners-are-left-in-the-dust.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
Article courtesy of The NY Times by Coral Davenport

Wildfires, Once Confined to a Season, now Burn Earlier and Longer

Fires, once largely confined to a single season, have become a continual threat in some places, burning earlier and later in the year, in the United States and abroad. They have ignited in the West during the winter and well into the fall, have arrived earlier than ever in Canada and have burned without interruption in Australia for almost 12 months. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/science/wildfires-season-global-warming.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fearth&action=click&contentCollection=earth&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
Article courtesy of the New York Times by Matt Richtel and Fernanda Santos

Key Players in Climate Change

Diplomats from at least 167 countries are gathering in New York to sign the climate accord reached in December in Paris. Whether they make good on their pledges to slow dangerous greenhouse gas emissions will depend in large part on the actions in the years ahead by the world’s largest polluters. A status report on the key players follows.  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/21/science/paris-agreement-carbon-dioxide-global-warming.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fearth&action=click&contentCollection=earth&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
Article courtesy of The New York Times