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

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