Federal, state leaders pitch for California water tunnels

FRESNO, Calif. — Representatives of California Gov. Jerry Brown and the Obama administration began making their pitch for approval Tuesday to build a pair of massive water tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.  http://www.therepublic.com/2016/07/26/ca-california-giant-tunnels/
Article courtesy of The Republic by Scott Smith

Rising seas threaten to swamp U.S. military bases by 2050

Military bases along the East and Gulf Coast are at risk of losing large chunks of land as rising sea levels from man-made climate change swamp installations from New Hampshire to Florida.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2016/07/27/sea-level-rise-military-bases/87576456/
Article courtesy of USA Today by Doyle Rice

Rotterdam offers burial at sea for greenhouse gases

A scheme to collect millions of tons of greenhouse gases and bury them under the North Sea off the coast of Rotterdam is Europe's best hope of showing it can make carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology work. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-environment-carboncapture-idUSKCN0ZZ1K4
Article courtesy of Reuters by Barbara Lewis and Robert-Jan Bartenek

New York City hopes a 10-foot wall can save it from rising seas

In an effort to stave off another Sandy, the city is prepared to wall off one of its wealthiest areas, Lower Manhattan, from massive storms and rising seas. Rolling Stone’s Jeff Goodell writes that New York will break ground later this year on the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, a 10-foot-high reinforced wall that will run two miles along the East River.  http://grist.org/living/new-york-city-hopes-a-10-foot-wall-can-save-it-from-rising-seas/
Article courtesy of Grist by Katie Herzog

The Newest Way to Clean the Atmosphere? Make Bleach

Scientists from Cornell University developed a technique that sucks up CO2 from exhaust streams and generates useful electricity as a byproduct. The device they’ve built is a kind of electrochemical cell. Think of it as a building block of batteries: It knocks electrons out of aluminum, channels them away, and leaves behind a form of oxygen called a superoxide. In air that is made up of 80 percent CO2 and 20 percent regular oxygen (as opposed to the atmosphere, which is about 21 percent oxygen and 79 percent nitrogen), the superoxide grabs the CO2 and forms a type of bleach used by pharmaceutical and textile industries, as well as in antifreeze and plastics.   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-20/the-newest-way-to-clean-the-atmosphere-make-bleach
Article courtesy of Bloomberg by Eric Roston

Some earthquakes on San Andreas fault are triggered by gravitational tug of sun and moon

The gravitational tug between the sun and moon is not just a dance of high and low tides: It can also trigger a special kind of earthquake on the San Andreas fault.  http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-la-me-earthquakes-tides-san-andreas-20160718-snap-story.html
Article Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times by Rosanna Xia

Metrolink unveils new locomotives that could help improve the region's air

The Metrolink commuter railroad on Monday unveiled the first of 40 clean-air locomotives that will replace its aging fleet of diesel engines in an effort to reduce harmful exhaust emissions across the region.  http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-metrolink-engines-20160718-snap-story.html
Article courtesy of the Los Angeles Times by Dan Weikel

Thumb Suckers and Nail Biters May Develop Fewer Allergies

Babies have been seen sucking on their fingers in utero weeks before birth. But the sight of an older child with his fingers constantly in his mouth, sucking her thumb, biting his nails, can drive parents crazy, bringing up fears about everything from social stigma to germs.

A new study suggests that those habits in children ages 5 to 11 may indeed increase exposure to microbes, but that that may not be all bad.  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/07/11/do-dirty-habits-help-the-immune-system/?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=thumb_square&state=standard&contentPlacement=2&version=internal&contentCollection=well.blogs.nytimes.com&contentId=http%3A%2F%2Fwell.blogs.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F07%2F11%2Fdo-dirty-habits-help-the-immune-system%2F&eventName=Watching-article-click

Article courtesy of the New York Times by Perri Klass MD

Lessons From the Tesla Crash

A recent fatal crash in Florida involving a Tesla Model S is an example of how a new technology designed to make cars safer could, in some cases, make them more dangerous. These risks, however, could be minimized with better testing and regulations.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/11/opinion/lessons-from-the-tesla-crash.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0
Article courtesy of The New York Times by the Editorial Board

Climate Change Claims a Lake, and an Identity

LLAPALLAPANI, Bolivia — The water receded and the fish died. They surfaced by the tens of thousands, belly-up, and the stench drifted in the air for weeks.

The birds that had fed on the fish had little choice but to abandon Lake Poopó, once Bolivia’s second-largest but now just a dry, salty expanse. Many of the Uru-Murato people, who had lived off its waters for generations, left as well, joining a new global march of refugees fleeing not war or persecution, but climate change.  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/07/07/world/americas/bolivia-climate-change-lake-poopo.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0

This article courtesy of The New York Times by Nicolas Casey

Another Tesla crashes and Autopilot is blamed again

DETROIT — A Southfield, Mich., art gallery owner told police his 2016 Tesla Model X was in Autopilot mode when it crashed and rolled over on the Pennsylvania Turnpike last week.
The crash came just one day after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a report on a fatal crash in May involving a Tesla that was also in self-driving mode.  http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/cars/2016/07/05/owner-survives-tesla-crash/86729076/
Article courtesy of azcentral.com by Greg Gardner/Detroit Free Press