Our picksThe Tree That Could Help Stop the Pandemic | “Machines Set Loose to Slaughter” | Overestimating Earthquake Dangers

Published 22 October 2020

·  The Tree That Could Help Stop the Pandemic

·  In Michigan Plot to Kidnap Governor, Informants Were Key

·  The All-American Mind of a Militia Member

·  U.S. Diplomats and Spies Battle Trump Administration Over Suspected

·  “Machines Set Loose to Slaughter”: The Dangerous Rise of Military AI

·  The Newly Legal Process for Turning Human Corpses to Soil

·  The Nuclear Arsenal Problem You Never Saw Coming

·  The West Coast Wildfires Are Apocalypse, Again

·  Earthquake Hazard Maps May Overestimate Shaking Dangers

The Tree That Could Help Stop the Pandemic (Brendan Borrell, The Atlantic)
The rare Chilean soapbark tree produces compounds that can boost the body’s reaction to vaccines.

In Michigan Plot to Kidnap Governor, Informants Were Key (Zusha Elinson, Erin Ailworth and Rachael Levy, Wall Street Journal)
As authorities grapple with the threat of homegrown extremists, deciphering talk and action is tough

The All-American Mind of a Militia Member (Harel Shapira, New Republic)
I’ve spent years with men like the ones charged in a Michigan plot to kidnap the governor. They aren’t outsiders—they’re intimate products of American democracy.

U.S. Diplomats and Spies Battle Trump Administration Over Suspected Attacks (Ana Swanson, Edward Wong and Julian E. Barnes, New York Times)
American officials in China, Cuba and Russia say U.S. agencies are concealing the true extent of the episodes, leaving colleagues vulnerable to hostile actions abroad.

“Machines Set Loose to Slaughter”: The Dangerous Rise of Military AI (Frank Pasquale, Guardian)
Autonomous machines capable of deadly force are increasingly prevalent in modern warfare, despite numerous ethical concerns. Is there anything we can do to halt the advance of the killer robots?

The Newly Legal Process for Turning Human Corpses to Soil (Corinne Purtill, Medium)
Reusable eight-by-four-foot steel cylinders, packed with wood chips, straw, and alfalfa, present an eco-friendly alternative to traditional burial

The Nuclear Arsenal Problem You Never Saw Coming (Zack Brown, National Interest)
There is neither a strategic need for—nor any real safeguard against—presidential sole authority over the nuclear arsenal. This reality should push the public towards common-sense reform.

The West Coast Wildfires Are Apocalypse, Again (Michelle Nijhuis, New York)
In a year of lost normality, the fires’ outlandish size and reach signal that normal is gone for good. Yet these fires are not the end of the world.

Earthquake Hazard Maps May Overestimate Shaking Dangers (Julie Pierce Onos, Temblor)
Scientists test a hypothesis, or prediction, by collecting data and comparing them to the hypothesis. Testing hypotheses about earthquakes, which are infrequent, often involves using data from past earthquakes — a retrospective approach to figuring out what might happen in the future.
In a new study, published in Seismological Research Letters, scientists used this retrospective approach, or hindcasting — the opposite of forecasting — to explore how well earthquake hazard maps forecast maximum ground shaking. Data from past earthquakes suggest that the current maps may overestimate future shaking.