Bei Bei is back at the National Zoo, but some birds are on their way out

(Smithsonian National Zoo) After a lemon-size chunk of undigested bamboo landed star National Zoo panda Bei Bei on the operating table last month, the 1-year-old cub was back Monday and ready for adoring crowds. “He is on the mend,” said Laurie Thompson, the zoo’s assistant curator of giant pandas. Bei Bei endured the surgery for an intestinal blockage, rare for pandas, on Nov. 25 after he became nauseous and listless, and vomited twice. As Bei Bei recovered, he was put on a diet of soft foods, the panda house was closed, and the panda cams turned off. Though he remains on a special diet, the cams are back on and the house is open. “We’re very pleased with his recovery,” Thompson said. “He’s definitely still sleeping a little bit more, resting up after surgery. But he’s been amazingly great about eating and taking his medications.” The zoo also announced Monday that its bird house will close Jan. 2 ahead of a $55 million renovation that will bring an exhibit focused on migratory birds. “Experience Migration,” featuring nearly 100 species, is slated to open in spring 2020 and will feature “walk-through aviaries, interactive experiences and dynamic educational programming,” the zoo said in a statement. “Birds are truly a shared resource,” the zoo’s director, Dennis Kelly, said in a statement. “With so many species showing alarming population declines, we must take steps to conserve birds and their shrinking habitats. Opening a major exhibition dedicated to the phenomenon of migration coupled with the scientific advances in the study of wild birds by our Migratory Bird Center and the Zoo’s migratory bird husbandry expertise will help raise awareness and tackle these issues head on.” Zoo staff are seeking homes for birds not planned to be part of the collection, the statement said, but some, including flamingos and wild turkeys, will remain on display.


Check out the beautiful atmospheric optics seen over Virginia on Monday

A sun halo, two sundogs, a tangent arc and a circumzenthal arc seen over Potomac Falls Monday afternoon. (Alina Atash) These stunning photographs were taken by Alina Atash and shared with us on Twitter. She said they were taken around 1:30 p.m., behind her home in the Potomac Falls area of Sterling, Va. Sun halos What’s less common is to see the halo, two sundogs, a tangent arc and a circumzenithal arc all at once. Usually, we only see a small portion of the optic. (Alina Atash) Quoted and paraphrased from Les Cowley’s ever-illuminating optics website: Sundogs Tangent arcs Circumzenithal arcs (Alina Atash)


Amazon will open a physical grocery store — and it won’t require going through checkout

A screen grab of Amazon’s video introducing its new grocery store, Amazon Go. Amazon.com on Monday said that it will open a bricks-and-mortar grocery store called Amazon Go, an ambitious bid by the once-online-only retailer to gobble up more of Americans’ shopping dollars by taking the fight more directly to traditional supermarkets and big-box stores. The store will be powered by a web of technology that allows customers to fill their shopping bags and walk out without going through a checkout process, a concept that has long been discussed in the retail industry but that has not been implemented at major U.S. stores. The idea is that it will shave time off the shopping experience. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.) Here’s how Amazon Go will work: Customers download an app and then swipe their smartphones as they walk through the store’s entrance. Then they start picking up groceries. In a process that the company does not describe except to say that it involves computer vision, machine learning and artificial intelligence, every item the shoppers tuck into their bags or carts is tracked on the phone. If an item is put back on the shelf, it’s deleted. As shoppers exit, their bill is calculated, a digital receipt appears on their phones, and their Amazon account is charged. This video produced by the company offers visuals that might help you imagine what that will look like. This promotional video from Amazon describes how its upcoming Amazon Go store in Seattle will work. The store is set to open in Seattle, Amazon’s home town, in early 2017. And its arrival could pose critical questions for the wider retail industry. For starters, Amazon Go will probably need fewer workers than traditional stores that rely on cashiers and clerks. If shoppers respond favorably to this low-touch customer service model, it might end up encouraging other chains to give similar setups a try to save labor costs. If Amazon Go is successful and expanded widely, it could put serious competitive pressure on a wide range of retailers. For starters, at just 1,800 square feet, Amazon Go looks to be targeting what are called fill-in trips, quick errands when shoppers need just a couple of items. In recent years, drugstores and convenience stores have proved to be potent competitors to supermarkets for those kinds of shopping trips. A fast-growing Amazon


starters, at just 1,800 square feet, Amazon Go looks to be targeting what are called fill-in trips, quick errands when shoppers need just a couple of items. In recent years, drugstores and convenience stores have proved to be potent competitors to supermarkets for those kinds of shopping trips. A fast-growing Amazon Go could present competition for chains such as CVS and 7-Eleven. And judging from the look of the store as seen in Amazon’s video, it will have an ambiance and selection that will put it up against Kroger or Whole Foods Market. The company is promising that it will sell prepared foods made by “on-site chefs,” meaning it will be fighting for the same breakfast, lunch and dinner spending that fast-casual and carryout restaurants vie for. Amazon Go also plans to sell prepackaged meal kits with the ingredients to make a home-cooked dinner for two. That could produce competition for the wave of meal kit start-ups such as Blue Apron, HelloFresh and Purple Carrot. Amazon’s decision to sell groceries in physical stores would seem to be an acknowledgment of how hard it has proven to sell them on the Internet. Despite the explosive growth of e-commerce, grocery has largely remained an old-school business, with less than 2 percent of sales taking place online. Amazon Go will face no shortage of challenges as it aims to transform the model. Filling one’s refrigerator has long been a convenience-centric errand, where the closest store to your house is often the one that gets your money. It will take a long time — and gobs of money — for Amazon to build out that kind of store network. And it’s not a sure thing that what it calls “Just Walk Out technology” will win customers over. What if it turns out to be buggy? What if shoppers find it off-putting and impersonal? Major grocers were likely not shocked by Amazon’s announcement: Rumors have been circulating for months that the company planned to open bricks-and-mortar stores that sold food. And the e-commerce company has already shown interest in physical retailing by opening bookstores. So, in theory, legacy chains have been preparing for Amazon to try to encroach on their turf. More from The Washington Post: Why Amazon brick-and-mortar grocery stores are a big deal How Walmart plans to transform the way we buy groceries What to expect from Whole Foods’ new, low-price grocery chain


Extreme rainfall risks could triple in the U.S. under climate change, scientists warn

Cars drive on the flooded NC Hwy 12 in Rodanthe, N.C. after Tropical Storm Hermine passed the Outer Banks in September. (AP Photo/Tom Copeland) U.S. residents may want to start preparing for a stormier future, scientists say. According to a It’s an outcome many climate scientists have already predicted for the planet as a whole, according to Andreas Prein, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the new study’s lead author. “We expect that intense rainfall extremes will get more frequent and more intense in the future climate because if we warm up the atmosphere, air can hold more moisture,” he said. In fact, he added, records from the past few decades indicate that we’re already seeing this effect in the warming United States. “What we were interested in is how these kinds of storms might change in the future,” Prein said. The new study, published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, investigated the relationship between rising temperatures and precipitation throughout the lower 48 states. Using special climate models, the researchers simulated precipitation across the continent under both current climate conditions and a hypothetical high-warming, or “business-as-usual,” scenario. They found that the way warming affects precipitation depends a lot on humidity — the amount of moisture that’s available in the air to begin with. In moist locations, rising temperatures tend to cause an increase in extreme precipitation, while the opposite can be true in drier places. In general, there tends to be a “sweet spot” in terms of the temperature that produces the most extreme precipitation events on average in the United States, Prein said — currently, it’s about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. But, he noted, the study suggests that “in the future climate, storms keep on intensifying up to something like 87 or 88 degrees Fahrenheit.” This is because under future climate change, many parts of the nation will become both warmer and wetter. As a result, much of the country will see an increase in both the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events. This is especially true for parts of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, as well as some mountain regions like the Rockies, where humidity is high to begin with. On average across the U.S., extreme precipitation events may become nearly three times more likely, according to Prein. And at highest, their frequency may increase five-fold in some locations. One way to think


Ikea pushes retail into the race to expand paid leave

Ikea employees cheer the grand opening of New York City's first Ikea store, in Brooklyn, in 2008. Its new paid leave policy is among the most expansive in the retail industry. (Mark Lennihan/AP Photo) Sweden is well known for its generosity when it comes to paid family leave, granting new moms and dads a jaw-dropping 480 days of parental leave. But until now, U.S. workers at one of the country's best-known brands, Ikea, got relatively little time off when a new child was added to the family. That's set to change in January when the flat-pack furniture mecca will begin offering a much broader and longer paid time off policy for all of its U.S. employees. The change, announced Tuesday, is the latest sign that companies outside the benefits-flush technology and finance sectors are seeing paid family leave -- which got attention from both parties during this year's election -- as a way to take care of existing workers or attract and retain new ones. New parents who work in Ikea's U.S. corporate office and its stores will be eligible for up to four months of paid or partially paid time off after meeting certain tenure requirements. The policy is unusually expansive for the retail industry, say experts on family leave benefits. For one, unlike companies in the technology or consulting industry that have adopted luxe benefits to help attract more millennial engineers or MBAs to their ranks, retailers require less competitive skills. "In the United States, retail has, for a lot of reasons, tended to see employees as more interchangeable and to provide less flexibility, including for family leave," said Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute, a nonprofit research center. In addition, Ikea's policy covers not only full-time and part-time workers but offers expansive coverage to fathers, adoptive and foster parents. Katie Bethell, executive director of PLUS, a nonprofit advocacy group for paid family leave, says their research shows that while some national retailers offer six to eight weeks of paid leave for new birth mothers, "it’s really a step forward to be extending that kind of leave to dads and adoptive parents," Bethell said. After a year of service, Ikea's benefit will offer new parents in the U.S. six weeks off at full pay and six additional weeks at 50 percent pay. After three years of service, the benefit will grow to eight weeks off


We’re at the controls on planet Earth, but we’re not in control

Apollo 8 Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell said from the moon, “The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." (NASA) Gazing over the countless transformations in Earth’s multibillion-year history, I am struck by the unique strangeness of the present moment. We suddenly find ourselves sort of running a planet — a role we never anticipated or sought — without knowing how it should be done. We’re at the controls, but we’re not in control. Climate change is the most obvious example, but it is one of a large number of ways in which we are modifying the planet. The scientific community is now converging on the idea that we have entered a new phase, or epoch, of Earth history — one in which the net activity of humans has become a powerful agent of geological change, equal to the other great forces of nature that build mountains and shape continents and species. The proposed name for this new epoch is the "Anthropocene" or the age of humanity. Many species have changed the planet, like the cyanobacteria that long ago pumped oxygen — terribly poisonous for most life at the time — into the atmosphere. But there has never before been a geological force aware of its own influence. We are witnessing something unprecedented and still completely unpredictable: the advent of self-aware geological change. As an astrobiologist, I study the evolutionary relationships between life and the planets that may host it. The planetary perspective allows us to step away from the noise of the immediate present, to see ourselves from a distance. When we do so, what we see is an entirely new evolutionary stage in the development of life. We also see the planet entering a phase where cognitive processes are becoming a major agent of global change. Earth’s biosphere gave birth to humans and our thoughts, which are now reshaping its planetary cycles. A planet with brains? Fancy that. Not only brains, but limbs with which to build and manipulate tools. We are just beginning to come to grips with this strange new development. Like an infant staring at its hands, we are becoming aware of our powers but have not yet gained control over them. It’s a challenging moment for human civilization. The great restless cleverness of our species has gotten us into a tough spot. Our collective


This former Ugandan child soldier is accused of war crimes. But is he also a victim?

People in Lukodi, Uganda, watch the start of an International Criminal Court trial of former child soldier-turned-warlord Dominic Ongwen on TV from The Hague on Dec. 6, 2016. /AFP PHOTO/ISAAC KASAMANI/AFP/Getty Images KAMPALA, Uganda — More than two decades ago, Dominic Ongwen was a boy on his way to school in northern Uganda when he was abducted by the brutal rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army and turned into a child soldier. Over the next 25 years, he rose to become one of the group's top commanders and allegedly carried out some of its worst atrocities during a long war against the Ugandan government and its neighbors, a rebellion that terrorized millions. On Tuesday, he took a seat before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for the first day of a trial in which he is charged with 70 war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, torture and sexual slavery, mostly committed in attacks on camps for internally displaced people. The case is engrossing Uganda, which is desperate for delayed justice for the depredations of the LRA, as the cultish guerrilla movement led by Joseph Kony is widely known. But Ongwen’s appearance Tuesday also raised a crucial question: Was the former brigade commander a perpetrator of war crimes — or a victim himself? Ongwen’s plea of not guilty was broadcast live on Uganda’s leading TV station. In towns across Uganda’s north, which bore the brunt of the country’s civil war, people crammed into rooms set up by the ICC to watch the opening stages of the trial. The ICC has long had a reputation of being “a barking dog with no teeth,” said Patricia Bako, head of the Uganda office of the international rights group Avocats Sans Frontières. “Seeing Dominic Ongwen stand in the dock is one step forward for the victims,” she said. But the case of Ongwen, now believed to be about 41 years old, is complicated by his past as a child soldier after being stolen from his family somewhere between the ages of 9 and 14 and forced to carry a gun for Kony. His account of being forced to join the LRA as a child has not been challenged by prosecutors. Before the ICC on Tuesday, Ongwen argued that he was a victim of the LRA’s violence — not a perpetrator. “LRA committed atrocities in northern Uganda, and I


Chinese firm buys British pub where Xi Jinping and David Cameron had fish and chips

firm will be the new owners. The Christie & Co. real estate firm announced on Tuesday that it had brokered the sale of the Plough pub in Cadsden to the Chinese firm SinoFortune. The Times of London reports that around 2 million pounds ($2.5 million) was paid in the deal. The pub, which says its history dates back to the 16th century, will still be managed by the previous owner Steve Hollings. For SinoFortune, the logic behind buying the pub was simple. While the pub had long been a favorite for British prime ministers due to its proximity to Chequers, Xi's visit brought with it a new popularity with Chinese tourists, eager to see where the Chinese leader ate and drank. On the Plough's website it prominently features a photograph of the visit, along with the beer Xi drank: A Green King “president's” IPA. “Going to the pub is a British tradition,” Hollings told China Daily shortly after Xi's visit, adding that it was a place for friends to relax and chat. The Chinese state newspaper reported that on the day their reporters visited, a Sunday in October, almost 30 Chinese customers had visited the pub in the hour after it opened. “We all know that fish and chips is called the British national food that you can find everywhere. However, with Xi's visit, we are curious to know what is special about this pub,” one student told China Daily. Chinese tourists are increasingly big business in Britain: There were almost 270,000 Chinese visitors to Britain in 2015, according to VisitBritain figures, more than double the number in 2006. There are widespread hopes that more visitors may be enticed by the lower pound in coming years. There are also indications that they are becoming less interested in regular tourist sights and more interested in places that show how British people really live. Perhaps more importantly, SinoFortune indicated they may plan to use the pub as a model for business in China. “The English pub concept is growing very fast in China, and it's the best way, culturally, to link people from different countries and build friendships,” SinoFortune Investment's managing director, Peter Zhang, was quoted as saying by China Daily after the deal was announced. At the same time, Britian's pub industry has struggled badly over recent years due to a complicated set of economic circumstances. Earlier this year, one organization


Trump announces Japanese corporate giant is investing $50 billion in the U.S.

funds. Although Trump claimed credit for the investment, Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics, argued that much of the $50 billion may have already been destined for U.S. technology companies. "I think it’s making hay out of something that was there already," said Entner. "In all likelihood, this comes out of the $100 billion fund. Considering the extremely large part that the U.S. has in the high-tech economy, [Son] would have probably invested something in the neighborhood anyway." Son told reporters at Trump Tower that the funds would be invested into American start-ups. As he spoke, Son brandished a piece of paper with the same figures that Trump had announced. The paper appeared to specify that the investment would be made in the next four years. The paper also contained the logo of Foxconn, a major supplier for Apple’s iPhones. It was not immediately clear what role Foxconn would play in the deal, but analysts speculated the company could be responsible for the additional $7 billion in investment and 50,000 new jobs listed on the paper. Foxconn could not be reached for comment. "Seven billion [U.S. dollars] could mean that they’re going to build a factory or multiple factories in the U.S. to assemble phones. We don’t know that, but that would be the speculation," says Entner. Son holds a paper with details of SoftBank's $50 billion investment, announced Tuesday, Dec. 6. The Washington Post Trump also tweeted the news Tuesday afternoon. Masa (SoftBank) of Japan has agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. toward businesses and 50,000 new jobs.... Softbank owns roughly 80 percent of telecom company Sprint. Following the announcement, shares of Sprint Corp surged nearly 4 percent as of mid-afternoon. The announcement also raised suppositions that Son might be seeking to curry favor for his U.S. business interests. Sprint and SoftBank abandoned an effort to purchase rival telecom carrier T-Mobile in 2014 after U.S. regulators signaled the deal might violate anti-trust laws. But in August, Bloomberg quoted people familiar with his thinking as saying that Son still held out hope for the merger. A Trump administration could consider a potential merger between Sprint and T-Mobile differently, analysts said. Speaking from the lobby of the Trump tower, Son said that he wanted to celebrate Trump’s election “because he would do a lot of deregulation.” Jeff Kagan, an Atlanta-based telecom industry analyst, said Son could be courting


The attack on Pearl Harbor united Americans like no other event in our history

the world held, Americans everywhere went to their respective churches to pray. Roosevelt himself wrote a prayer, sent out with the highest priority across the globe. In a strong, meaningful call for unity and call for strength, Roosevelt said that “the new year of 1942 calls for the courage and the resolution of old and young to help win a world struggle in order that we may preserve all we hold dear.” Before Nov. 7, the Navy and Army were severely undermanned, partly because of their own doing. Twenty percent of men who applied were rejected for “defective teeth,” an odd reason. Due to the Selective Service being too selective, a year before the attacks, only 51,000 men were enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Some, when they were selected, refused to join as “conscientious objectors.” The Navy similarly had troubles filling their ranks. After that fateful day, though, enlistment and recruitment offices were full to the brim. Birmingham, Ala., had 600 men volunteer in the first few hours after the attacks, many too young to even enlist. Boston’s recruitment offices had hundreds waiting in lines for hours, bonding with their newfound friends. “All recruiting records of the nation’s armed forces were shattered . . . as thousands of men attempted to enlist for combat duty in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard,” reported the New York Times on Dec. 10. Brigadier General Louis B. Hershey, director of the Selective Service Administration, even floated the idea of enlisting women, an issue controversial even to modern sentiment, let alone in the 1940s. Indeed, many women wanted to do their part — from wishing to enlist to donating their silk stockings for war use. In the next four years, the United States was united against the Axis. The next several years saw the defeat of two empires and the rise of the United States as a global superpower. That is how unity works. That is how a surprise attack on a small island nearly 3,000 miles away from continental land changed the very fabric and very culture of a country. Before that fateful day, many people on the mainland would have had trouble identifying where Pearl Harbor was. It was a place of no real importance to the everyday American in Kansas or New York. After Dec. 7, it had the entire country march hand-in-hand into battle and into victory.


10 things to know about Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Trump’s pick for ambassador to China

President Trump nominated Gov. Terry Branstad (R-Iowa), to serve as ambassador to China. Here's what you need to know about him. He is one of the most towering figure in Republican politics, the longest-serving governor in the United States and has absolutely dominated Iowa politics for more than two decades. At this point, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is as Iowa as Iowa itself. Now, he's President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be the U.S. ambassador to China — which is not as random of a pick as it might seem. Still, if Branstad is confirmed by the Senate, his move from Des Moines to Beijing will completely upend Iowa politics and, possibly, even change GOP presidential politics. Branstad had entertained the idea of running for an unprecedented seventh term in 2018. If he goes now, it will open the door to any number of Iowa Republicans who have been waiting off and on for two decades for this seat to open up — and give those angling to steer Iowa sharply to the right a chance to do so. Here's what you need to know about Branstad and all the dominoes that could fall if he becomes Trump's ambassador to China: 1. He's “old friends” with China's president The two got along so well, Xi even invited Branstad to China a couple times. Aides say the relationship is authentic. “They like each other — it's not just smile for the cameras, pomp and circumstance,” then-Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht told the Des Moines Register. “They get along really well, and the governor believes that President Xi is very personable.” 2. Branstad could be a smart, strategic pick for Trump Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into.. their country (the U.S. doesn't tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea? I don't think so! Tweets and Taiwan aside, moving Branstad to Beijing could indicate that Trump is entertaining the idea of playing nice with China. 3. He's the longest-serving governor in U.S. history 4. He's never lost an election He has such a winning record that in his most recent reelection in 2014, he gave himself the goal of winning over one of the two counties (Lee County in southeastern Iowa) that had never voted


Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) at Trump Tower in New York City. (Albin Lohr-Jones/EPA) He is one of the most towering figure in Republican politics, the longest-serving governor in America and has absolutely dominated Iowa politics for more than two decades. At this point, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is as Iowa as Iowa itself. Now, he's Donald Trump's pick to be ambassador to China — which is not as random of a pick as it might seem. Still, if Branstad is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, his move from Des Moines to Beijing will completely upend Iowa politics and, possibly, change presidential politics. Branstad had entertained the idea of running for an unprecedented seventh term in 2018. If he goes now, it will open the door to any number of Iowa Republicans who have been waiting off and on for two decades for this seat to open up — and give those angling to steer Iowa sharply to the right a chance to do so. Here's what you need to know about Branstad and all the dominoes that could fall if he becomes Trump's ambassador to China: 1. He's "old friends" with China's president The two got along so well, Xi even invited Branstad to China a couple times. Aides say the relationship is authentic. "They like each other — it's not just smile for the cameras, pomp and circumstance," then-Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht told the Des Moines Register. "They get along really well, and the governor believes that President Xi is very personable." 2. Branstad could be a smart strategic pick for Trump Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into.. their country (the U.S. doesn't tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea? I don't think so! Tweets aside, moving Branstad to Beijing could indicate that Trump is entertaining the idea of playing nice with China. 3. He's the longest-serving governor in U.S. history 4. He's never lost an election He has such a winning record that in his most recent reelection in 2014, he gave himself the goal of winning over one of the two counties (Lee in Southeastern Iowa) that had never voted for him before. He did it. (The Des Moines Register) 5. His departure opens the door


Want soup dumplings and $10 cocktails? Try Ten Tigers Parlour in Petworth.

A pork soup dumpling at Ten Tigers Parlour. (Becky Krystal/The Washington Post) This post has been updated. To say the old Chez Billy location looks a little different these days would be an understatement. “It's a pretty drastic change,” said Scott Herman, who is opening Ten Tigers Parlour in the two-floor Petworth space on Saturday. Brothers Eric and Ian Hilton (Chez Billy Sud, the Brixton, the Gibson), who had operated Chez Billy, are partners in the project. It used to be a chandelier-adorned French bistro serving chilled vichyssoise, steak frites and clafoutis. Now it's an “opium-den” inspired lounge with a menu of Asian street food. That menu comes courtesy of partner Tim Ma, the chef-owner of Kyirisan in Shaw. “These are all things I grew up eating,” Ma said of the approximately 15-item selection that will include bao, noodles and dumplings. Most of the dough, including those for the bao and soup dumplings, will be made in-house, along with some of the noodles. The Asian pastry selection will feature egg tarts, sesame balls and almond breads. Ma said the “centerpiece” of the food menu will be his soup dumplings, which will come in pork and beef varieties. As for how the soup gets in, Ma makes a kind of “meat Jell-O” — an aspic using chicken feet — that melts into a broth when heated. Dumplings will be served with a variety of sauces, such as a soy hoisin and sesame chili oil. Beef dumplings and dipping sauces at Ten Tigers Parlour. (Becky Krystal/The Washington Post) The menu was designed with affordability in mind, with food ranging from $7 to $12 and cocktails that clock in at $10. Like the food, the drinks are also inspired by Asia. The Mekhong Manhattan uses Thailand's Mekhong whiskey, along with sweet vermouth, honey, Angostura bitters and orange peel. Litchi liqueur, made with the creamy fruit native to Southeast Asia, makes an appearance in two cocktails: the litchi martini and 13 Pell, which also features Tito's vodka, cranberry juice and lime. The Mekong Manhattan (left) and the Singapore Sling are among the $10 drinks at Ten Tigers Parlour. (Becky Krystal/The Washington Post) The 3,200-square-foot space is divided into roughly four rooms. Downstairs, there's a large bar with an intimate “nook” in the back and an adjacent room with additional seating. Upstairs is the second bar, and next to that is an open room Herman


A pork soup dumpling at Ten Tigers Parlour. (Becky Krystal/The Washington Post) To say the old Chez Billy location looks a little different these days would be an understatement. “It's a pretty drastic change,” said Scott Herman, who is opening Ten Tigers Parlour in the two-floor Petworth space on Saturday. Brothers Eric and Ian Hilton (Chez Billy Sud, the Brixton, the Gibson), who had operated Chez Billy, are partners in the project. It used to be a chandelier-adorned French bistro serving chilled vichyssoise, steak frites and clafoutis. Now it's an “opium-den” inspired lounge with a menu of Asian street food. That menu comes courtesy of partner Tim Ma, the chef-owner of Kyirisan in Shaw. “These are all things I grew up eating,” Ma said of the approximately 15-item selection that will include bao, noodles and dumplings. Most of the dough, including those for the bao and soup dumplings, will be made in-house, along with some of the noodles. The Asian pastry selection will feature egg tarts, sesame balls and almond breads. Ma said the “centerpiece” of the food menu will be his soup dumplings, which will come in pork and beef varieties. As for how the soup gets in, Ma makes a kind of “meat Jell-O” — an aspic using chicken feet — that melts into a broth when heated. Dumplings will be served with a variety of sauces, such as a soy hoisin and sesame chili oil. Beef dumplings and dipping sauces at Ten Tigers Parlour. (Becky Krystal/The Washington Post) The menu was designed with affordability in mind, with food ranging from $7 to $12 and cocktails that clock in at $10. Like the food, the drinks are also inspired by Asia. The Mekhong Manhattan uses Thailand's Mekhong whiskey, along with sweet vermouth, honey, Angostura bitters and orange peel. Litchi liqueur, made with the creamy fruit native to Southeast Asia, makes an appearance in two cocktails: the litchi martini and 13 Pell, which also features Tito's vodka, cranberry juice and lime. The Mekong Manhattan (left) and the Singapore Sling are among the $10 drinks at Ten Tigers Parlour. (Becky Krystal/The Washington Post) The 3,200-square-foot space is divided into roughly four rooms. Downstairs, there's a large bar with an intimate “nook” in the back and an adjacent room with additional seating. Upstairs is the second bar, and next to that is an open room Herman would like to use as


Trump picks Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad — a ‘friend’ of China’s leader — as Beijing ambassador

reporters later Wednesday that Branstad has accepted the president-elect’s offer. “Governor Branstad obviously is Iowa’s longest-serving governor, someone who has considerable public policy experience but also someone who has a lot of experience and great grasp of trade issues, agriculture issues, has a tremendous understanding of China and Chinese people [and] is someone who very much impressed the president-elect,” Miller said. “It’s very clear that Governor Branstad is someone who will represent our country well on the world stage, and we couldn’t be prouder of this selection.” China’s Foreign Ministry did not confirm the report but reacted warmly. “First of all, I would like to say that Mr. Branstad is an old friend of the Chinese people and we welcome him to play a greater role in promoting Sino-U.S. relations,” spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular news conference. “The U.S. ambassador to China serves as an important bridge linking the governments of the U.S. and China. We are willing to work with whomever takes this position to strive for the continued, sound and steady development of bilateral ties.” Branstad met with Trump in New York on Tuesday and issued a written statement saying that he had enjoyed a “very cordial conversation” with the president-elect and that they had spoken about the transition and the next administration. Branstad was among the most active Republican establishment figures backing Trump, campaigning regularly with him in Iowa. The governor’s son, Eric Branstad, managed Trump’s general-election campaign in Iowa, one of the contested battleground states. Although Trump finished second in the state’s Republican caucuses, he carried the state in the general election with 51 percent of the vote to Hillary Clinton’s 42 percent. At a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, Nov. 6, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump thanked Iowa leaders, including Gov. Terry Branstad, who Trump said would be "a prime candidate to take care of China." Branstad’s move to Beijing, should he be confirmed, would elevate Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) to the governorship. Reynolds, who has long been considered Branstad’s favored successor, would become Iowa’s first female governor. Under the Obama administration, experts say, the post of ambassador to Beijing had declined somewhat in importance. China policy was largely run out of the White House, with the president tending to immerse himself in many of the details. Under Trump, the role could be more significant — and not only because the next


The full transcript from the Trump transition team’s Wednesday call to reporters

is viewed as someone who's been a reformer, someone who is a very solutions-oriented leader. And obviously, he's someone who has a number of good ideas on how we should form this administration. And also he's very talented in his own right as well. So, I don't have any additional specifics on that one, but there's a very good rapport between the president-elect and Governor McCrory. OPERATOR: We'll go next to Lynn Sweet with the Chicago Sun- Times. QUESTION: Hi. Could I ask -- thank you for saying, Jason and Sean, that we'll get information about the Rahm call. But could you give us a little bit of the set-up? I know they talked earlier. What led to the meeting? How did it come about? Could you get us some -- maybe some background on what led to the meeting at this point? And then amplify it later with a readout? Thank you. MILLER: Lynn, were you asking if this is about Mayor Emanuel? QUESTION: Yes. Yes. MILLER: OK. Sorry. It was cutting out a little bit. Since I wasn't in the meeting, I wouldn't want to speculate or (inaudible) as far as the exact context. But we'll do our best to get you additional information for your readers. OPERATOR: And we'll take our final question from Jason Noble (ph) with the Des Moines Register. QUESTION: Hi. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify that Governor Branstad has accepted the offer to be the ambassador to China. And then also if you could talk about kind of why the president-elect chose Governor Branstad for this role. MILLER: Yes, thank you. Yes, he's accepted. Governor Branstad obviously is Iowa's longest-serving governor, someone who has considerable public policy experience, but also someone who has a lot of experience and great grasp of trade issues, agriculture issues; has a tremendous understanding of China and Chinese people; is someone who very much impressed the president-elect, not just during their meetings on the campaign trail, but also in their meetings after the election. And it's very clear that Governor Branstad is someone who will represent our country well on the world stage and we couldn't be prouder of this selection. OPERATOR: And that does conclude our question and answer session for today's conference. MILLER: OK. Well, thank you, everybody. Sean, unless you have anything else, we'll go and wrap it up. SPICER: Thank you. Have


Trump’s DHS pick is cool with medical marijuana

illicit drugs via tactics like destroying crops like coca, poppy and cannabis. Reformers have long argued that these tactics are ineffective so long as demand for drugs remains high and that federal dollars are best directed toward treatment and education initiatives that reduce the demand for illicit drugs. Kelly cited state and federal antismoking efforts as a successful example of how to reduce the use of drugs. “The solution there,” he told the Military Times, “is for Americans to stop using drugs. Now, you’re never going to go to zero, but we’ve got great programs to convince Americans not to do things — or to do things. We’ve got great anti-smoking programs. I think when I was a kid a pack of cigarettes was 25 or 30 cents, and 70 percent of Americans smoked. Now I think it’s 23 percent and, of course, it costs you a million dollars to buy cigarettes.” Crucially, authorities never tried to reduce tobacco use by outlawing cigarettes, arresting smokers or destroying tobacco crops in the field. Kelly is, however, critical of marijuana legalization. He calls the plant a gateway to harder drugs (this notion is disputed by many drug abuse researchers and the National Institute on Drug Abuse). He does support the use of medical marijuana, however: “I'm not a doctor,” he told the Military Times, “but I'm told it has a medical use. So whether it's veterans or anyone else, if it helps those people, then fine. Medicine is medicine.” Kelly's nomination would be the third Trump Cabinet pick who is an outspoken critic of marijuana legalization. Attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has been harshly critical of legalization efforts, arguing that “good people don't smoke marijuana.” Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), Trump's pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, has been one of the most reliably anti-marijuana members of Congress in recent years, voting against even modest policy changes. As DHS secretary, Kelly wouldn't have as direct an effect on federal drug policy as the attorney general or the Health and Human Services secretary. But if confirmed, he would be one more Cabinet-level skeptic of marijuana legalization in an era of increasing marijuana legalization at the state level. More from Wonkblog: Obama says marijuana should be treated like ‘cigarettes or alcohol’ Why conservatives might be more likely to fall for fake news Why rural voters don’t vote Democratic anymore


Soldier succumbs to wounds received during November suicide bombing in Afghanistan

From left, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Vice President Biden, second from left, Maj. Gen. Andrew Poppas, and Army Secretary Eric Fanning, stand as an Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Pfc. Tyler R. Iubelt at Dover Air Force Base, Del., on Nov. 15. (Steve Ruark/Associated Press) U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Allan E. Brown died Tuesday, nearly a month after he was wounded during a suicide bombing at Bagram air base in northeastern Afghanistan. Brown, 46, of Takoma Park, Md., succumbed to his wounds at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in nearby Bethesda, according to a Pentagon news release. He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Sustainment Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division based out of Fort Hood, Tex. Brown was one of 16 Americans wounded in the unprecedented Nov. 12 attack. Two U.S. contractors were killed as were two other soldiers, Sgt. John W. Perry and Pfc. Tyler R. Iubelt. A Polish soldier was also killed. While there have been attacks near and on the perimeter of Bagram, it was the first time in the nearly 15 years since the base has been used by U.S. and NATO forces that a suicide bomber was able to infiltrate its numerous layers of security. Located just north of Kabul, Bagram is the largest U.S.-run instillation in Afghanistan and is a central hub for military operations in the region. Brown is the ninth U.S. service member to die in combat in Afghanistan in 2016. The soldiers were killed as they were preparing for an organized run on the sprawling installation. Waheed Sediqqi, spokesman for the Parwan provincial governor, told reporters at the time that the bomber was standing in a line with Afghan laborers when he detonated a suicide vest. The Taliban took responsibility for the attack, saying that it had been planned for months and the start of the run was the intended target. U.S. Army Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan told reporters last week that the bomber was a local contractor working on the base and that the bombing is under investigation. He added that U.S. and NATO forces undertook a complete review of their security measures following the attack, “especially in terms of local national contract employees.” “So, we are revetting and rescreening all those individuals before they are able to


The dubious claims about SoftBank’s investments in the U.S.

to his favor under the Trump administration. The Mainichi, a major Japanese daily newspaper, wrote that some analysts in Japan believe Son has high expectations for regulatory policies to change under Trump. But much of the SoftBank Global Fund money might already have been destined for the United States anyway, according to analysts interviewed by The Washington Post. In 2015, venture capitalist investment in the United States hit its highest point since 1992, according to an analysis by EY. The United States accounted for $72.3 billion in investments through 3,916 deals, comprising about half of the $148 billion in global venture capitalist investments in 2015. Some of the most promising tech companies are located in the United States, particularly in Silicon Valley. Further, according to EY, the United States in 2015 “saw more companies achieve unicorn status than in any previous year,” referring to the status achieved by venture-backed private technology companies under 10 years old that are valued at $1 billion or more. The Journal noted “Son must have intended as much as half of the Vision Fund to go to the U.S., as he’s aware that there are great companies in Silicon Valley. But he chose this time to announce it as Trump is now going to be the next president,” Jun Tanabe, a SoftBank analyst at JPMorgan Securities in Tokyo, told The Post. Tanabe said that it is not rare to invest in the United States but that it was surprising that the announcement committed to specific dollar figures and numbers of jobs. “I think he was trying to build a good relationship and a good business environment,” Tanabe said. The Pinocchio Test We always encourage our readers to check out the facts when something sounds too good to be true. That also applies to Trump’s claims of saving American jobs from fleeing or attracting new jobs to the United States because of his election. Analysts in Japan and the United States say a mix of factors led to Son’s announcement of his U.S. investments after Trump’s meeting. The United States leads the world in venture capital investments and has some of the most promising tech companies and start-ups. So it is likely that Son already had planned on investing in U.S. companies, no matter who won the presidential election. After all, the $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund was announced three weeks before the U.S. elections, when


5 luxury condos emerge from historic-style houses in D.C.’s Mount Pleasant

Developer Matt Shkor at Potomac Construction and Architect Michael Beidler of Trout Design renovated a single-family house at 1867 Park Rd. NW, left, into a three-unit condo. They built a two-unit condo building next door at 1865 Park Rd. NW, right. (HomeVisit) The Northwest Washington neighborhood of Mount Pleasant, consistently one of the most sought-after markets in the city for the past few years, is known for its stately rowhouses and a handful of single-family houses in the western part of the community as well as condos and apartments closer to the commercial center along Mount Pleasant Street. Redfin Now five new condos in two adjacent buildings are pushing up prices in the neighborhood, listing for as much as $1.295 million. Developer Matt Shkor at Potomac Construction and architect Michael Beidler of Trout Design renovated and remodeled a dilapidated single-family house at 1867 Park Rd. NW, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, into a three-unit condo. They built a two-unit condo building on an adjacent lot, at 1865 Park Rd. NW. The two largest condos are in 1865 Park Rd.: a two-level, three-bedroom, four-bathroom unit with two terraces and 2,350 square feet of living space priced at $1.295 million, and a two-level, three-bedroom, three-bathroom unit with a balcony and 1,875 square feet priced at $1.25 million. Two of the three units are still available at 1867 Park Rd.: a 915-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit priced at $699,000, and a three-bedroom, three-bathroom unit with a balcony priced at $999,000. For photos of the units at 1865 Park Rd., click here. For photos of 1867 Park Rd., click here. For more information, contact Compass real estate agents Trent Heminger at 202-210-6448 or D’Ann Lanning at 951-315-6534 To pass on a tip or item, contact us at realestate@washpost.com and put “Town Square” in the subject line. EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect a change in real estate agents.


A rare half-male, half-female butterfly — and other photos of evolutionary wonders

the idea that examples of evolution are all around us, if you just know where to look. “I was never more interested in any subject in all my life than this of Orchids,” Charles Darwin wrote to his friend the botanist Joseph Hooker. Darwin’s most famous connection to these diverse and widespread plants involved Angraecum sesquipedale (now commonly known as Darwin’s orchid), a species from Madagascar. Studying it, Darwin understood that the species could be pollinated only by a moth with a proboscis far longer than any yet seen on Earth. A variety of “experts” ridiculed Darwin’s prediction, published in 1862, that such a moth must exist somewhere on Madagascar. (Ridicule was an experience he must have been used to by then.) It wasn’t until 1903 that collectors found the exact moth that he’d said was out there: Xanthopan morganii, originally given the subspecies name praedicta in recognition of the great man who predicted its existence. (Robert Clark/Courtesy of Phaidon) Alfred Russel collected these pittas on Borneo and Sumatra, islands that lie west of what is still called the “Wallace Line.” Wallace was struck by the fact that mainly Asian fauna are found to the west of the line and Australian to the east, making the region a prime exhibit of how geographic isolation can lead to the evolution of new species. (Robert Clark/Courtesy of Phaidon) The physical changes wrought by artificial (or domestic) selection in the pigeons Charles Darwin bred included feathers that grew up instead of down (as in the Jacobin, right) and overlarge crops (the pouter pigeon, left). (Robert Clark/Courtesy of Phaidon) Not so long ago, it was a controversial theory, but now it’s widely accepted: Birds aren’t just dinosaur-like; they are in fact living dinosaurs. That’s true of everything from sparrows to eagles to Darwin’s finches — but it’s rarely more obvious than when looking at a southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), the flightless bird native to Australia and New Guinea that at 5 feet tall and over 100 pounds is one of the largest and heaviest birds on Earth. (Robert Clark/Courtesy of Phaidon) Crocodile eyes have evolved an assortment of specializations that make them suited to the animals’ semi-aquatic environment, choice of prey and hunting technique. The eyes are protected with a third eyelid, a membrane that slides across when the reptile submerges, while the eyeballs themselves can be drawn into the eye sockets during an


evolution are all around us, if you just know where to look. See more of Clark’s work, which was previously featured on In Sight: “The hidden language of bird feathers.” “I was never more interested in any subject in all my life than this of Orchids,” Charles Darwin wrote to his friend the botanist Joseph Hooker. Darwin’s most famous connection to these diverse and widespread plants involved Angraecum sesquipedale (now commonly known as Darwin’s orchid), a species from Madagascar. Studying it, Darwin understood that the species could be pollinated only by a moth with a proboscis far longer than any yet seen on Earth. A variety of “experts” ridiculed Darwin’s prediction, published in 1862, that such a moth must exist somewhere on Madagascar. (Ridicule was an experience he must have been used to by then.) It wasn’t until 1903 that collectors found the exact moth that he’d said was out there: Xanthopan morganii, originally given the subspecies name praedicta in recognition of the great man who predicted its existence. (Robert Clark/Courtesy of Phaidon) Alfred Russel collected these pittas on Borneo and Sumatra, islands that lie west of what is still called the “Wallace Line.” Wallace was struck by the fact that mainly Asian fauna are found to the west of the line and Australian to the east, making the region a prime exhibit of how geographic isolation can lead to the evolution of new species. (Robert Clark/Courtesy of Phaidon) The physical changes wrought by artificial (or domestic) selection in the pigeons Charles Darwin bred included feathers that grew up instead of down (as in the Jacobin, right) and overlarge crops (the pouter pigeon, left). (Robert Clark/Courtesy of Phaidon) Not so long ago, it was a controversial theory, but now it’s widely accepted: Birds aren’t just dinosaur-like; they are in fact living dinosaurs. That’s true of everything from sparrows to eagles to Darwin’s finches — but it’s rarely more obvious than when looking at a southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), the flightless bird native to Australia and New Guinea that at 5 feet tall and over 100 pounds is one of the largest and heaviest birds on Earth. (Robert Clark/Courtesy of Phaidon) Crocodile eyes have evolved an assortment of specializations that make them suited to the animals’ semi-aquatic environment, choice of prey and hunting technique. The eyes are protected with a third eyelid, a membrane that slides across when the reptile submerges,


DEA laments that “media attention” is making it tough to put people in jail for pot

(Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) In the Drug Enforcement Administration's annual survey of the nation's law enforcement agencies, heroin remained the top concern in 2016 — head-and-shoulders above all other illicit drugs — while marijuana was a drug of negligible concern. Only 4.9 percent of law enforcement respondents named it their most worrisome drug, down slightly from 6 percent last year. Concern or not, marijuana remains illegal for all purposes under federal law, a policy the DEA emphatically reiterated this past summer. To that end, the DEA devoted 22 pages of its Drug Threat Assessment to pot — considerably more real estate than it devoted to, say, prescription painkillers (16 pages), which kill more than 14,000 people per year. Many of those 22 pages on the idiosyncrasies of state-level medical and recreational marijuana laws, as well as marijuana use trends in legalization states and nationwide. Most of that information will be familiar to anyone who has been following the legalization story closely. However, the DEA makes the interesting claim, not present in last year's Threat Assessment, that “media attention” to marijuana issues is making it more difficult to enforce marijuana laws and prosecute people who violate them. The agency also appears to blame the media for spreading inaccurate information about the legality and effects of marijuana use. The report says: Many states have passed laws allowing the cultivation, possession, and use of marijuana within their respective states. Due to these varying state laws, as well as an abundance of media attention surrounding claims of possible medical benefits, the general public has been introduced to contradictory and often inaccurate information regarding the legality and benefits of marijuana use. This has made enforcement and prosecution for marijuana-related offenses more difficult, especially in states that have approved marijuana legalization. Certainly, there's a fair amount of misinformation about marijuana circulating online. Some overzealous advocates mistakenly believe that marijuana is “safe,” full-stop, or that marijuana is not addictive. The messier reality is that, like any other drug, the use of marijuana comes with a certain number of risks, including the risk of addiction and dependency — even if those risks are generally less severe than the risks associated with, say, alcohol. But it's unclear exactly what media reports the DEA is referring to in its Drug Threat Assessment, or what concrete effect those reports may be having on enforcement. The DEA did not respond to a request for


Heroin deaths surpass gun homicides for the first time, CDC data shows

1990s, there were more deaths due to heroin than to traditional opioid painkillers, like hydrocodone and oxycodone. "The epidemic of deaths involving opioids continues to worsen," said CDC Director Tom Frieden in a statement. "Prescription opioid misuse and use of heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl are intertwined and deeply troubling problems." In the CDC's opioid death data, deaths may involve more than one individual drug category, so numbers in the chart above aren't mutually exclusive. Many opioid fatalities involve a combination of drugs, often multiple types of opioids, or opioids in conjunction with other sedative substances like alcohol. In a grim milestone, more people died from heroin-related causes than from gun homicides in 2015. As recently as 2007, gun homicides outnumbered heroin deaths by more than 5 to 1. These increases come amid a year-over-year increase in mortality across the board, resulting in the first decline in American life expectancy since 1993. Congress recently passed a spending bill containing $1 billion to combat the opioid epidemic, including money for addiction treatment and prevention. "The prescription opioid and heroin epidemic continues to devastate communities and families across the country—in large part because too many people still do not get effective substance use disorder treatment,” said Michael Botticelli, Director of National Drug Control Policy, in a statement. "That is why the President has called since February for $1 billion in new funding to expand access to treatment." Much of the current opioid predicament stems from the explosion of prescription painkiller use in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Widespread painkiller use led to many Americans developing dependencies on the drugs. When various authorities at the state and federal levels began issuing tighter restrictions on painkillers in the late 2000s, much of that demand shifted over to the illicit market, feeding the heroin boom of the past several years. The Drug Enforcement Administration warns people about the dangers of Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can be 40 to 50 times stronger than heroin. Drug policy reformers say the criminalization of illicit and off-label drug use is a barrier to reversing the growing epidemic. “Criminalization drives people to the margins and dissuades them from getting help,” said Grant Smith, deputy director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance. “It drives a wedge between people who need help and the services they need. Because of criminalization and stigma, people hide their addictions from others.”


Army reopens probe into suspected bombmaker’s death after Special Forces soldier’s Fox News interview

he would kill him and his family. Golsteyn told the CIA during his polygraph test that he trusted the tribal leader and “had no qualms” about killing the bombmaker “because he couldn’t have lived with himself if [the suspected bombmaker] killed another Soldier or Marine,” Army documents said. During Golestyn’s interview with the CIA, according to Army investigators, he described taking the bombmaker off the base, shooting him and burying his remains in a shallow grave. Golsteyn added that later that night, he and two other soldiers dug up the remains, brought them back to their base and burned them in a pit used to dispose of trash. Golsteyn and his attorneys have long maintained that the Army’s characterization of events is filled with exaggerations and leaps of logic. No other service members would serve as witnesses against Golsteyn, even when investigators offered immunity from prosecution. Then-Army Secretary John M. McHugh stripped Golsteyn of his valor award in fall 2014, and the Army also revoked his Special Forces tab and reassigned him as a conventional infantry soldier. Golsteyn said in his email to The Post that his case was reopened despite an Army administrative board determining last year that the murder accusation against him was unfounded. The panel did find that Golsteyn demonstrated conduct unbecoming an officer and recommended a general discharge under honorable conditions, ensuring he could keep health benefits. Former Army Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn is shown in Afghanistan in 2010. (Courtesy of the Office of Rep. Duncan D. Hunter) Senior defense officials, Golsteyn said, continue to talk tough about the fight against the Islamic State group while they “mischaracterize my combat actions as ‘murder.'” He compared his case to that of another officer, former 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 2013 for ordering his soldiers to open fire on village elders in Afghanistan who were approaching his unit while they were on patrol. Several member of Lorance’s platoon testified against him after being offered immunity. “I am filled with moral disgust that such individuals can continue to wreak such havoc on our warfighters without consequence,” Golsteyn said, adding that he does not regret doing the TV interview because it was important to speak out on how soldiers are restricted in combat. Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R.-Calif.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee who has clashed with the Army repeatedly about


Army reopens investigation into detainee’s death after Special Force soldier’s Fox News interview

kill him and his family. Golsteyn told the CIA during his polygraph test that he trusted the tribal leader and “had no qualms” about killing the detainee “because he couldn’t have lived with himself if [the suspected bombmaker] killed another Soldier or Marine,” Army documents said. During Golestyn’s interview with the CIA, according to investigators, he described taking the bombmaker off the base, shooting him and burying his remains in a shallow grave. Golsteyn added that later that night, he and two other soldiers dug up the remains, brought them back to their base and burned them in a pit used to dispose of trash. Golsteyn and his attorneys have long maintained that the Army’s characterization of events is filled with exaggerations and leaps of logic. No other service members would serve as witnesses against Golsteyn, even when investigators offered immunity from prosecution. Then-Army Secretary John M. McHugh stripped Golsteyn of his valor award in fall 2014, and the Army also revoked his Special Forces tab and reassigned him as a conventional infantry soldier. Golsteyn said in his email to The Post that his case was reopened despite an Army administrative board determining last year that the murder accusation against him was unfounded. The panel did find that Golsteyn demonstrated conduct unbecoming an officer and recommended a general discharge under honorable conditions, ensuring he could keep health benefits. Former Army Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn is shown in Afghanistan in 2010. (Courtesy of the Office of Rep. Duncan D. Hunter) Senior defense officials, Golsteyn said, continue to talk tough about the fight against the Islamic State group while they “mischaracterize my combat actions as ‘murder.'” He compared his case to that of another officer, former 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 2013 for ordering his soldiers to open fire on village elders in Afghanistan who were approaching his unit while they were on patrol. Several member of Lorance’s platoon testified against him after being offered immunity. “I am filled with moral disgust that such individuals can continue to wreak such havoc on our warfighters without consequence,” Golsteyn said, adding that he does not regret doing the TV interview because it was important to speak out on how soldiers are restricted in combat. Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R.-Calif.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee who has clashed with the Army repeatedly about Golsteyn’s treatment, said


This telltale tail shows dinosaur feathers in ‘exquisite detail’ after 99 million years

modern birds and their closest relatives,” A rendition of the coelurosaur. (Chung-tat Cheung and Yi Liu) Coelurosaurs Examining the tail with microscope and CT scanner, the scientists could observe how dino feathers were arranged on the body and make out tiny, 3-D structures. It also gave the paleontologists a sense of feather pigments, plus larger-scale color patterns. “We can see general color patterns in the tail,” McKellar said. “These consist of pale or white feathers on the underside of the tail, and chestnut brown feathers on top of the tail.” This coloration, however, comes with a 99-million-year-old caveat. The resin may have altered the feathers’ iridescence, or changed its chemistry to “knock out” certain colors. (R.C. McKellar/Royal Saskatchewan Museum) The feather structures themselves offered a glimpse into the evolution of plumage. “What strikes me particularly is the presence of such short, modern-type feathers on a long tail,” Mayr said. McKellar described the feathers as “fairly similar to modern bird feathers.” That is, they were shaped like the feathers on modern birds’ bellies and heads, which protect their insulative layers. The fossil feathers were not quite like flight feathers. “Flexible” and “fuzzy,” in McKellar’s words, they did not have a strong central shaft. (The coelurosaur feathers lacked a thick hollow rod — you’d struggle to stick these feathers in your cap or hold them as a quill.) The dinosaur plumage suggested that, on an evolutionary scale, the side branches of feathers developed before this main shaft. (Chung-tat Cheung) The find was the latest in a string of high-profile discoveries involving ancient plumage. As The Post reported in November, Chinese scientists recently identified microscopic pigment-containing flecks in a 130-million-year-old bird. That specimen, too, was purchased in an Asian flea market. In this case, the ancient remains included trapped insects, which McKellar was happy to describe. “Funny enough, I mostly work on fossil wasps, and the feathers are one of those side-interests that keep me out of trouble,” he said. “There are two ants in the piece of amber that belong to an extinct group (called Sphecomyrminae) which is only known from the Cretaceous. There are also the remains of a cockroach and a lucanid beetle in the amber piece.” The insect species within the amber, he told The Post, indicate the resin leaked from a section of tree close to the forest floor. Considering the pace of spectacular fossils pulled from Burmese


World Anti-Doping Agency report details scope of massive Russian scheme

(Maxim Shipenkov/EPA) A new report Friday from the international agency that polices drugs in sport put the full scale of the Russian doping scandal into better focus, detailing one of the largest cheating scandals in history and implicating government employees and more than 1,000 Russian athletes who benefited from manipulations to conceal positive doping tests. The Russian athletes and government officials were involved in an “institutional conspiracy” of an “unprecedented scale,” Richard McLaren, a Canadian lawyer and sports ethics expert who led the investigation for the World Anti-Doping Agency, said at a news conference Friday morning in London. The elaborate doping system and associated coverup began in at least 2011, McLaren said, and continued beyond the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014. “It is impossible to know how deep and how far back the conspiracy goes,” McLaren said. “For years, international sports competition has been unknowingly hijacked by the Russians.” While the report could intensify calls for Russia to be barred from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, McLaren said that decision should be made by the International Olympic Committee and the governing bodies of each sport. Friday’s report “These athletes were not acting individually but within an organized infrastructure,” he said. He called the Russian intelligence agents from the FSB — a successor agency to the KGB — “magicians” for being able to crack open tamper-proof bottles and fool doping officials. “The story of how all the pieces fit together seems like fiction,” McLaren said. The report found that the scheme — which was spurred by Russia’s poor showing at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver — included athletes at the 2012 London Summer Games, the 2013 Universiade Games, the world track and field championships in 2013, and the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi, Russia. Among its specific findings: - Male DNA was found in the urine samples of two Russian women’s ice hockey players, a sign that those samples were tampered with. - Samples provided by two unnamed athletes who won four gold medals in Sochi showed physiologically impossible salt readings. - Forty-four bottles containing urine samples from 12 medal-winning athletes had scratches and marks on the inside of the caps, indicating tampering. WADA says this was determined by an unnamed “world recognized expert in firearms and toolmarks examinations,” who found that the nominally tamper-proof caps could be removed and then placed back on the


The final part of the World Anti-Doping Agency's McLaren report said Russian athletes were involved in an institutional conspiracy to conceal positive doping tests as Moscow "hijacked international sport." An investigative report Friday from the international agency that polices drugs in sport put the full scale of the Russian doping controversy into better focus, detailing one of the largest cheating scandals in history and implicating government employees and more than 1,000 Russian athletes who benefited from manipulations to conceal positive doping tests. The Russian athletes and government officials were involved in an “institutional conspiracy” of an “unprecedented scale,” Richard McLaren, a Canadian lawyer and sports ethics expert who led the investigation for the World Anti-Doping Agency, said at a news conference Friday morning in London. The elaborate doping system and associated coverup began in at least 2011, McLaren said, and continued beyond the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014. “It is impossible to know how deep and how far back the conspiracy goes,” McLaren said. “For years, international sports competition has been unknowingly hijacked by the Russians. Coaches and athletes have been playing on an uneven field. Sports fans and spectators have been deceived. It’s time that this stops.” While the report could intensify calls for Russia to be barred from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, McLaren said that decision should be made by the International Olympic Committee and the governing bodies of each sport. The IOC already has established a disciplinary commission to address the Russian doping scandal. The Olympic governing body is in the process of re-examining Russian doping samples collected at the London and Sochi Games. “Professor McLaren’s completed report demonstrates a fundamental attack on the integrity of sport.” IOC President Thomas Bach said Friday in a statement. “As an Olympian, any athlete or official who took part in such a system should be excluded for life from the Olympic Games.” Friday’s 144-page report “These athletes were not acting individually but within an organized infrastructure,” he said. He called the Russian intelligence agents from the FSB — a successor agency to the KGB — “magicians” for being able to crack open tamper-proof bottles and fool doping officials. “The story of how all the pieces fit together seems like fiction,” McLaren said. Russian officials pushed back against the report and McLaren’s charges of a widespread systemic doping program. “The Russian Sports Ministry declares with all responsibility


Amidst funding fears, NASA announces another climate research mission

in the mitigation of climate change. What scientists don’t fully understand is which parts of the world are playing the biggest roles. “We believe that 25 to 30 percent of the carbon dioxide that’s emitted from burning fossil fuels is going back into the biosphere, net,” Moore said. But, he added, some scientists believe this means that vegetation stocks on Earth are growing larger. “You ask yourself, ‘What could that be and where is that happening?’ ” Moore said. According to Moore, various scientists have suggested that forest stocks in North or South America are expanding and taking up more carbon dioxide. The new mission seeks to find out definitively what’s going on with the carbon cycle in this part of the world. Other satellite missions have examined the carbon cycle before, but they’ve generally been designed to take more sparing measurements from locations all over the world, Moore explained. GeoCARB differs in that it will exclusively monitor the Americas, providing much more consistent observations for this region of the world. The mission will use special instruments designed to measure the concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide and oxygen in the atmosphere. At the same time, the mission also aims to detect photosynthesis rates in the vegetation below, which can tell scientists about the plants’ health and growth. Altogether, the mission could help scientists pinpoint where greenhouse gases are being absorbed most. And these findings could have important implications for future climate change mitigation strategies, Moore said. “Let’s say we discover [greenhouse gases are] going into certain types of vegetation,” he said. “Then we can say to ourselves, ‘Can we manage other types of vegetation so that we encourage that behavior? Is there some management scheme?’ “ The new mission is expected to launch sometime in the spring of 2021, Moore said, and will spend five years in orbit. Its total planned funding amounts to $166 million, which includes the costs of development, launch and data analysis. Despite the uncertainty about NASA’s climate research future, Moore said he feels the mission embodies a fundamental human desire to understand the way our environment — and the carbon cycle is one of its most basic and important processes. “I think that in the end, human beings are gonna try to figure out how their home works — that’s just natural,” he said. “We’ve been doing that for many thousands of years.”


Even a short government shutdown could wreak a little havoc

National Parks were closed for two weeks in October 2013 as part of a partial government shutdown. (Carolyn Kaster/AP) Federal agencies are scrambling to activate contingency plans for who would stay home and who would come to work this weekend if the government shuts down because of Congress’s failure to clear a spending bill by midnight Friday. With Senate Democrats threatening to stall a short-term spending bill as they push for more-generous health benefits for retired miners, it looked more likely Friday afternoon that government operations could stop at midnight. A shutdown could last as little as a few hours into Saturday morning or until Sunday afternoon. [Senate Democrats threaten brief government shutdown over policies they hope Trump will support] Even a short lapse would have some effect on the public. National parks and public lands would close, as would the National Zoo, although the animals would still be fed. The Smithsonian, another federal institution that’s open to the public on weekends, would close its doors. Park service officials spent Friday discussing whether they would need to rope off the World War II Memorial on the National Mall and other monuments. But more than 400 parks, national monuments and historic sites across the country would have to close, because there would be no staff to manage them. The government would not stop functioning, of course: Air traffic controllers and airport security screeners would stay on the job, the borders would be patrolled and military operations would continue. Federal prisons and veterans hospitals would stay open and the Forest Service would keep fighting fires because those are essential operations for health, safety and national security. And government operations not directly paid for by the Treasury Department, the largest of which is the U.S. Postal Service, also would continue. Those employees would be ordered to come to work. [Wondering about a government shutdown? First thing to know: It all won’t disappear] Many offices and institutions that normally would close in a government shutdown because they are considered “nonessential” would not be affected, because they are closed on weekends. Lawmakers are considering a stopgap spending bill that would keep federal agencies funded through April 28. Senate Democrats, led by Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), are threatening to force a brief shutdown to pressure Republicans to support policies they say President-elect Donald Trump endorsed on the campaign trail, in this case to help coal country


A severe birth defect linked to Zika quadrupled in Colombia this year

Pregnant women await medical examinations at a hospital in Cucuta, Colombia, in early February. (Schneyder Mendoza/European Pressphoto Agency) The number of babies born with microcephaly in Colombia during a Zika outbreak this year more than quadrupled from a year ago, dispelling earlier suggestions that the nation with the second-largest number of infections had somehow escaped the dreaded wave of fetal deformities witnessed in Brazil, the epicenter of the outbreak. In a report released Friday that provides the most detailed information about microcephaly prevalence to date in Colombia, health officials in that country and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 476 cases of microcephaly were identified between February and mid-November, compared with 110 cases reported during the same period in 2015. Of those, 432 were in live births and 44 were stillbirths and pregnancy losses, including abortions and miscarriages. The Zika outbreak began in Brazil in May 2015; Colombia confirmed local transmission of the Zika virus about five months later, in October 2015. But for months, some health officials and experts noted that the number of Colombia’s microcephaly cases has been relatively small despite the 105,000 suspected cases of Zika virus disease that have been reported, including in nearly 20,000 pregnant women. Microcephaly is a severe and rare condition characterized by abnormally small heads and often underdeveloped brains. Other experts have cautioned against making premature predictions about microcephaly cases in Colombia. If a pregnant woman gets infected early in pregnancy, when the risks for microcephaly are greatest, it can take up to eight months for serious birth defects to be evident. Data collection in Colombia is also labor-intensive; information is collected at the local level before being transmitted to state and national offices. The findings in Friday’s report provide the first month-by-month analysis of reported cases of microcephaly in Colombia. The data show the peak month for reported cases of microcephaly occurred in July of this year, about 24 weeks, or six months after the peak of the Zika outbreak. In July, there were 94 reported cases of microcephaly, about nine times as many as took place in July 2015. The report confirms earlier findings that Zika poses the greatest risk for fetuses during the first and early second trimesters. “The evidence was compelling,” said Margaret Honein, chief of the birth defects branch at the CDC and one of the authors of Friday’s report. She added: “We expect that


Trump transition team for Energy Department seeks names of employees involved in climate meetings

The Trump transition team has issued a list of 74 questions for the Energy Department, asking officials there to identify which department employees and contractors have worked on forging an international climate pact as well as domestic efforts to cut the nation's carbon output. Donald Trump’s transition team has issued a list of 74 questions for the Energy Department, asking agency officials to identify which employees and contractors have worked on forging an international climate pact as well as domestic efforts to cut the nation’s carbon output. The questionnaire requests a list of those individuals who have taken part in international climate talks over the past five years and “which programs within DOE are essential to meeting the goals of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan.” Trump and his team have vowed to dismantle specific aspects of Obama’s climate policies, and Trump has questioned the reality of climate change. The questionnaire, which one Energy Department official described as unusually “intrusive” and a matter for departmental lawyers, has raised concern that the Trump transition team is trying to figure out how to target the people, including civil servants, who have helped implement policies under Obama. Thousands of scientists have signed petitions calling on the president-elect and his team to respect scientific integrity and refrain from singling out individual researchers whose work might conflict with the new administration’s policy goals. This potential clash could prompt a major schism within the federal government, with many career officials waging a battle against incoming political appointees. While there have been many instances of political appointees and career scientists clashing in various administrations, what is novel is the request for the names of so many individual scientists, and the fact that it comes during the transition period, before the Trump administration has even taken power. This may be a signal of even more intense politicization after the inauguration. Yale University environmental historian Paul Sabin said in an interview that previous administrations have worked to install like-minded energy and environmental experts in key agencies, often at the expense of employees from previous administrations. “But what seems unusual is singling people out for a very specific substantive issue, and treating their work on that substantive issue as, by default, contaminating or disqualifying,” Sabin said, adding that officials can now track a civil servant’s past activities “in such a systematic way.” During Ronald Reagan’s time, when his political appointees sparred


How governments pitch a referendum is a big deal. Here’s what we learned in Colombia.

Supporters of the peace deal signed between the government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) pitch camp on Bolivar Square in Bogota on Oct. 7. (John Vizcaino/Reuters) Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo today, in recognition of his four-year effort to guide peace negotiations with Colombia’s largest rebel group, the FARC. The October announcement about the prize came just days after Colombians rejected a referendum on the historic peace agreement to end the armed conflict that has plagued the country for half a century. In late November, the two sides pushed through a revised peace deal addressing some of the concerns of those who voted against the referendum. Santos avoided another referendum by getting the senate and the lower house to approve the new pact. Referendums are tough to push through The outcomes of referendums — whether in Colombia, or the June Brexit vote or December’s Italian referendum — make it clear that getting people to vote for government initiatives is harder than one would expect. Our research The power of information As several commentators highlighted, information on the 300-page peace deal played a key role in driving the results of Colombia’s Oct. 2 referendum. To test the impact of information on people’s attitudes and voting intentions, we conducted an experiment in the short time frame between the signature of the peace agreement in Cartagena (Sept. 26, 2016) and the day of the plebiscite (Oct. 2, 2016). We fielded responses online, using a sample of 669 eligible Colombian voters. Our participants had a higher level of education than the average and included a larger share of yes voters compared to the actual outcome on Oct. 2. We randomly exposed participants to different easy-to-digest pro and con arguments. Each of these statements was around 70 words, and reflected the arguments and language used by either side in the campaign: e.g., “the agreement is a historical opportunity to end violence in the country,” and “not supporting the agreement would take us to a blind alley and eventually lead us back to armed confrontation.” So our participants read texts that highlighted either the opportunities or the risks of the yes and the no campaigns. In addition, some survey participants read a pro-opportunity argument that explicitly stated that Santos and his government endorsed the peace agreement as a historical opportunity. Framing yes as an opportunity We


found out that “pro” arguments both increased the likelihood of voting yes and the general support for the peace deal, and that this was especially the case when we framed the yes argument as an opportunity. Survey participants who read a short text highlighting the opportunities of the agreement were significantly more likely (13 percent) to vote yes than those who did not read any text. Figure 1 illustrates that all three “pro” arguments increased support for the peace agreement, as measured on a 0-10 scale. But this increase is larger when “pro” arguments stress the opportunities of the deal, and especially when these opportunities are backed by the Colombian government (shown in the green bar). This finding is surprising, since opinion polls indicated Santos’s popularity was not particularly high at the time of the plebiscite. Figure 1: Effects of pro-arguments on support for peace agreement Data: Juan Masullo and Davide Morisi. Note: Increase in support for the peace agreement as measured on a 0-10 scale compared to control group (those who received no information). Figure: Juan Masullo and Davide Morisi An issue of accountability To test whether faith in the president drove the observed effects, we split our participants between those with low and high support for Santos. This revealed unexpected findings: Pro-opportunity arguments coupled with a government endorsement (the green bars in Figure 2) increased support for the peace agreement among those with lower support for Santos. Figure 2: Effects of pro arguments on support for peace agreement, broken down by support for Santos Data: Juan Masullo and Davide Morisi. Note. Support for the peace agreement measured on a 0 (low) to 10 (high) scale. Median split of the participants on a 0-10 scale of support for Santos. Figure: Juan Masullo and Davide Morisi We suggest that accountability, not popularity, drove these results. The arguments in our survey stressed opportunities that would be realized in the future, but that would not come automatically by voting yes. The effects of these arguments, therefore, will probably be stronger when endorsed by someone who can work toward their effective realization and, more importantly, by someone who can be held accountable for progress for peace. This is a key insight for those tasked with building sustained support for the peace deal in the years to come. The take-aways travel beyond Colombia Our research has two clear takeaway points. First, governments can harness


Chauncey Billups says some players who smoked pot before games ‘played better’

Being a professional athlete can be a nerve-wracking thing. To calm down, some players pray before games. Others might eat a certain meal. Perhaps they’ll turn to to a loved one for a pep talk. Or maybe they’ll smoke marijuana. According to Chauncey Billups, some NBA players regularly did just that, and he was totally cool with it. “I honestly played with players — I’m not going to name names; of course I’m not — I wanted them to smoke,” the five-time NBA all-star and current ESPN commentator said Friday night. “They played better like that. Big-time anxiety, a lot of things can be affected — [marijuana] brought ’em down a bit. It helped them focus in a little bit on the game plan. I needed them to do that. I would rather them do that than, sometimes, drink.” The topic came up in conjunction with a conversation about recent comments made by Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr and New York Knicks President Phil Jackson, who both admitted to using the drug while recovering from back surgery. Right now, using marijuana, even for medicinal purposes, is strictly prohibited by the NBA. First-time offenders must complete a treatment program, second-time offenders are fined $25,000, third-time offenders are suspended five games and any subsequent violations entail a 10-game suspension or more. On Friday, Billups said league executives and players need to address the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes because “there’s a lot of science behind it.” Research and anecdotal evidence alike have shown that marijuana can help manage a variety of ailments, including chronic pain, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders and even nausea and appetite issues connected to cancer and HIV-positive patients. But because of marijuana’s classification as a “Schedule I” drug, the strictest of the government’s five classifications, the studies aren’t nearly as robust as those for other pain medications that can be prescribed legally by a doctor in all 50 states. That may change, however, as the drug becomes less stigmatized in the eyes of the law. Marijuana is now legal either for recreational use or for medical purposes in 26 states plus the District of Columbia. “Obviously, you’re always going to be able to regulate things. Alcohol’s legal, but you can’t do it while you’re driving,” Billups said. “When you’re talking about protecting your investment, protecting these players, medicinal marijuana, if that’s something that can help out with


Bob Dylan is ‘sorry’ he didn’t show up to accept the Nobel Prize

An old photo of Bob Dylan at an awards ceremony, since he wasn’t around to accept his Nobel Prize this weekend. (Mario Anzuoni/Reuters) Over the course of his illustrious career, Bob Dylan has appeared at the Grammys, the Golden Globes, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the MusiCares Person of the Year awards, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Critics’ Choice Awards. But when it came time for him to accept perhaps the highest honor of all — the Nobel Prize — Dylan was a no-show. He had “preexisting commitments.” The elusive songwriter had for weeks dodged calls from the Swedish Academy informing him of the award, to the point that the Nobel committee’s chairman called him “impolite and arrogant.” When it finally reached him, Dylan still wouldn’t commit to attending the formal acceptance ceremony. Finally, a few weeks before the event, the Swedish Academy informed the public that Dylan wouldn’t be in attendance. He was busy. Some wondered whether the unpredictable performer would make a surprise appearance. But come Saturday, there was no Dylan. Only a note. “I’m sorry I can’t be with you in person, but please know that I am most definitely with you in spirit and honored to be receiving such a prestigious prize,” it said. [Bob Dylan, Bill Murray and Henry Kissinger: When honorees don’t want their prize] Azita Raji, the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, read the heartfelt message from Dylan aloud. “If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I’d have about the same odds as standing on the moon,” Dylan said. His note alluded to the question many asked when it was announced that he would receive the prize: Are Dylan’s songs literature? This was the first time a musician was awarded this prize. It was a bit of a risk for the committee — and probably why its members were all the more miffed that Dylan didn’t seem to care. But the musician explained in his letter that he needed “more than a few minutes to properly process it.” He has spent so much of his life pursuing his work “and dealing with all aspects of life’s mundane matters,” he said, he never stopped to consider whether his songs are literature. [Does a musician have any right to win the Nobel


a conclusion that may prove contentious, as this remains a matter of major debate. “We think agriculture is the number one contributor to the increase,” Jackson said. “There’s been a secondary increase from fossil fuel use, partly because there continues to be more fossil fuels extracted.” But, he continued, “we don’t see evidence for a huge spike in fossil fuel emissions over temperate systems. We do think they’ve increased, but we don’t see evidence for leaky oil and gas wells causing this spike in global methane.” Jackson said some of the rise is “almost certainly” coming from livestock and specifically cattle, and also pointed to rice paddies, landfills and the management of manure in agriculture. The research thus singles out an often ignored but still major contributor to global climate change: the agricultural sector. However, it’s important to note that there remains considerable scientific uncertainty when it comes to accounting for all the complex, global sources of methane, as well as the processes that withdraw it from the atmosphere once it has been emitted. The paper fully acknowledges that these have not all been adequately understood. When it comes to rising methane, the nature of the problem is acute but the solution has the potential to be highly effective. Additional atmospheric methane will cause the planet to warm up faster in the coming decades and greatly increases the risk of breaking through international warming thresholds such as 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. But at the same time, if methane emissions can be curbed quickly, that can have the effect of buying the world needed time to address the far larger carbon dioxide problem. “Because of methane’s high global warming potential and short lifetime in the atmosphere compared to CO2, its mitigation offers the possibility to slow climate change efficiently in a shorter time horizon,” the study argues. Read more at Energy Environment: Trump names Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma attorney general suing EPA on climate change, to head the EPA Atmospheric levels of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, are spiking, scientists report Trump transition team for Energy Department seeks names of employees involved in climate meetings For more, you can sign up for our weekly newsletter This color-coded map displays a progression of changing global surface temperature anomalies from 1880 through 2015. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower then normal temperatures are shown in blue.


In the rush to deregulate, let’s not forget government’s role in spurring innovation

during an industrial wave — meaning a period where a new technology is broadly adopted, changing the fundamental underpinnings of employment, entrepreneurship and capital. Consider intercontinental railroads, automobiles, electrification, radio, television, semiconductors, software, the Internet, wireless communication and mapping the human genome and the effect each had on the creation of commercial opportunities. Each of these technologies fostered industrial waves. The federal government’s role in creating the conditions for industrial waves is demonstrable. For example, the adoption of the intercontinental railroads was driven by a desire for a mechanism to transport federal troops around the nation. The government ensured that standardization of trackbeds occurred, created time zones to keep trains on schedule and adjusted freight rates so they wouldn’t choke farmers and businesses relying on railroads to transport their goods. We can thank the federal government’s breaking up AT&T’s longstanding monopoly in telephony for our rapid adoption of new telecommunications technologies, the growth in consumer alternatives for long distance, and wireless. In fact, the underpinnings of the Internet and mobile that have driven these new alternatives were funded and fostered by research and development from our Department of Defense. Ideas becoming industries are at the heart of disrupting the status quo. Just like an old tree must fall for the sapling to find the sun, incumbent companies must step back so others can rise. However, large companies will not simply cede so others can succeed, and those profiting from the status quo will not merely stand aside to allow the future to emerge. Interestingly, the federal government is often the woodcutter clearing that forest, or the gardener protecting the saplings. Look at current technological ideas that that could emerge as new industrial waves: artificial intelligence, alternative energy and conservation, artificial life or proteomic medicine and see also large established businesses happy with the status quo which are often standing in the way. Sure, we want a market free of government intervention, but we might be creating conditions that inhibit our growth. Sometimes government intervention is both necessary and desirable, and it is our duty to remind the incoming administration of that distinction. Jonathan Aberman is a business owner, entrepreneur and founder of Tandem NSI, a national community that connects innovators to government agencies. He is host of “Forward Thinking Radio” on SiriusXM, a business and policy program, and lectures at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.