Bigger than beating Alabama? Mississippi State football coach finishes Boston Marathon.

(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) For someone who has never competed in a 5K race, Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen proved to be quite the runner. On Saturday, the 43-year-old Mullen was coaching college football in the Bulldogs’ spring game. On Monday afternoon, Mullen finished his first Boston Marathon as he crossed the finish line in a respectable net time of 4 hours 28 minutes 35 seconds. HE DID IT! @CoachDanMullen has finished the 120th @bostonmarathon! Never a doubt. #HailState #BostonMarathon https://t.co/kY3OYrFzNe Mullen, a native of New Hampshire who grew up 70 miles north of the starting point of the Boston Marathon in Hopkinton, Mass., received a sponsor’s exemption into the race to help raise money for his family’s foundation. So what if they messed up his bib, saying he’s from Michigan instead of Mississippi? Got my bib. https://t.co/C8Qehpx3pY According to his foundation’s website, running the Boston Marathon has been a lifelong dream for Mullen, who went to high school in nearby Manchester, N.H. Mullen told The Clarion-Ledger’s Michael Bonner in an article published last week that he ran almost daily through the summer and into the fall, but the SEC football schedule prevented his runs from exceeding six miles. But with encouragement from Wally Zediker, his wife Megan’s brother who has completed ultra marathons and Iron Man races, Mullen trained on the weekdays by running up to 10 miles at 7 a.m. followed by his coaching duties. He saved the 13-plus mile runs for the weekends in the offseason and completed a 20 1/4 mile run on Easter. “And somehow [made] it to a staff meeting before 6:30, 7 a.m every day,” Megan said (via The Clarion-Ledger). “It’s unbelievable what he has put himself through with this race. The commitment, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” On Monday, Mullen proved that he put the training to good use, running his first marathon at 10:15 per mile pace, just a shade over the median marathon finishing time in 2014 for men in U.S. marathons (4:19:27), according to Running USA, and raising money for his foundation, which helps various children’s charities in Mississippi. “God’s blessed me with so many great opportunities to live my dreams,” Mullen said (via The Clarion-Ledger). “So our foundation, we look out and we want to try to help children’s organizations in Mississippi.” Dan Mullen | Boston Marathon Run This post has been updated.


Texas, Arizona high schools dominate new U.S. News rankings

and World Report rankings of the country’s best high schools, taking six of the top 10 spots in the rankings released Tuesday. Texas and Arizona high schools earned the top four rankings, and the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology a Fairfax County, Va. magnet school, was in the fifth spot nationally. The news magazine collected data on more than 21,500 schools for the report, which for the first time included graduation rates as a factor in the rankings. Here are some of the factors that U.S. News & World Report used to come up with its 2016 list of best U.S. high schools. [See the new 2016 America’s Most Challenging High Schools rankings from The Washington Post’s Jay Mathews] An analysis by U.S. News found that the nation’s top 6,000 high schools have graduation rates at least 15 percent higher than all others. The top honors went to the School for the Gifted and Talented in Dallas for the fifth year in a row, while two schools in Arizona — BASIS Scottsdale and BASIS Tucson North — were ranked second and third. Another Dallas institution, the School of Science and Engineering Magnet, took fourth. [BASIS, one of America’s top charter school networks, seeks new turf: China] Montgomery County had the ranking’s top two high schools in Maryland: Walt Whitman (No. 63) and Winston Churchill (No. 94). The District’s School Without Walls was the city’s top-ranked school, at No. 88. In addition to Thomas Jefferson High, Fairfax County had Virginia’s second-ranked school, with McLean High landing at No. 108. Equations on a board during a complex variables advanced math class at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. TJ has probably the most advanced public high school math class in the nation. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) Overall, the magazine found that Maryland, Connecticut and California had the most public high schools that best prepared students for college and careers. On a list of the best schools that focus on science, technology, engineering and math, U.S. News ranked High Technology High School in Lincroft, N.J. the best for the second year in a row while, TJ, as the Fairfax County magnet school is called, came in third. From the U.S. News rankings: 2016 Best High Schools National Rankings 2016 Best STEM High Schools 2016 State Rankings (percent of schools with gold or silver medals in the rankings)


Say goodbye to your neighborhood bank branch

the number of bank branches could be cut in half over the next decade. A separate survey from Accenture, the management consulting company, shows why: Shifting consumer behavior. "We believe the consumer banks in the US and Europe are at a tipping point," wrote the authors of the Citi report, which was published late last month. The number of bank branches in the United States — represented by the dashed blue line in the chart below — could shrink by a third within the decade, according to their forecasts. Banks per capita. (Citi) Branches just don't matter as much to customers Customer preferences are key to that industry transformation. What they want and expect from banks has changed dramatically in just a few years. In 2013, Accenture found that 48 percent of Americans surveyed said they would switch banks if their current provider's local branch closed. In last year's survey, that share shrank to just 19 percent. In just two years, the local branch went from being a concern of half of banking customers to just a fifth. Results from a banking consumer survey. (Accenture) Separate data, from industry analysts Mercator Advisory Group and cited by Citi, paints the same picture: The share of customers who reported going to a branch to speak to a teller at least once in the previous year fell from 79 percent to 70 percent from 2011 to 2014. The share that reported visiting a branch to speak with a customer service representative fell from 62 percent to 45 percent. The rising importance of Internet services As branches matter less, online banking matters more. For the first time in Accenture's research, good online services ranked as the top reason to stick with a bank. Some 38 percent of consumers surveyed last year cited that as a reason to stay with their bank, while just 28 percent cited branch location. Twenty-eight percent also cited low fees. That holds true for populations that have long been used to visiting branches, too: Among customers over the age of 55, the preference for online banking leads the desire for convenient branch locations by a similar 10-percentage-point margin. "This evolution in consumer preference signals a redefinition of banking convenience," the report's authors wrote. "It is no longer always measured in miles to the branch or extra service hours — it is increasingly measured in clicks and apps." A deeper dive


The Daily 202: Trump campaign shake-up underscores the limits of his loyalty

as the accused 29-year-old attacker. (New York Times) - Ethiopian runners won both the men’s and women’s races in the Boston Marathon. (Cindy Boren) Actor Mark Wahlberg, who is playing the role of a Boston police officer in a movie about the 2013 marathon bombing, was in character at the finish line of yesterday's marathon. (Reuters/Gretchen Ertl) WAPO HIGHLIGHTS: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) endorses Trump at a rally in Alabama in February. (Reuters/Marvin Gentry) -- “Jeff Sessions is Donald Trump's biggest fan. Here's how their relationship began,” by Elise Viebeck: Jeanette Vizguerra of Denver, left, embraces her son, Roberto Baez, 9, outside the Supreme Court on Monday as justices heard oral arguments in the legal challenges to President Obama's executive actions. (Photo by Matt McClain/ The Washington Post) -- “Initial prognosis poor for Obama’s immigration program at Supreme Court,” by Robert Barnes: -- “A cold-eyed view of allies has left Obama with few overseas friends,” by Greg Jaffe and Griff Witte: - “I’ve never heard that Obama has a personal relationship with any of them,” said Xenia Wickett, head of the Americas program at the London-based think tank Chatham House. “It is neither hot nor cold. There is no personal relationship.” - “It’s clear that the president’s cerebral, dispassionate approach isn’t well suited to the Gulf leaders,” said Perry Cammack, a former State Department official in the Obama administration and associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The end of the Obama administration can’t come quickly enough for these leaders.” Reporters from The Washington Post received Pulitzer Prizes in both the national reporting category, for their database profiling the 990 fatal police shootings in 2015, and in general nonfiction, for Joby Warrick’s "Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS.” -- “Post series on police shootings wins Pulitzer Prize for national reporting,” by Paul Farhi: “After covering several high-profile incidents involving the killings of civilians by police officers in 2014, Washington Post staff writer Wesley Lowery was surprised to discover that there were no official statistics about such fatalities. So Lowery pitched an idea to his editors: The newspaper, he suggested, should collect the information itself and analyze it for patterns in law enforcement. The Post soon marshaled an extraordinary team of reporters, editors, researchers, photographers and graphic artists to do just that. The result was a database containing the details of 990 fatal police shootings across the nation in 2015


Main Street Morning: Ben & Jerry’s co-founders arrested outside U.S. Capitol

accountants are facing real digital competition. - The owner of a cleaning service shares some lessons in business management. - Theranos CEO said she is “devastated” by a potential two-year ban from the blood-testing industry, but she insists her company will survive. - A lawsuit against Carnival Cruise Lines alleges that the company is violating federal civil rights laws and discriminating against Cubans by denying them tickets. Retail - How Amazon plans to avoid making a profit this holiday season. - A group of business owners pitch their products to a local Whole Food store. - How Amazon’s home services are giving some small business owners a boost. - A jewelry store is set to close after 131 years in business. Sales Marketing - iPhone sales fell off a cliff last quarter, according to a report. - An automotive group explains why offering free services builds customer loyalty. - How this auction house is guiding affluent Millennials in to the world of fine art. Travel - Airbnb is focusing on India’s growing travel market. Technology - Researchers are teaching artificial intelligence how to help stop cyberattacks. - These new gadgets are helping pollution-weary Chinese breathe easier. - Watch the Titanic sink in real time. - One-third of U.S. home builders say they have experienced revenue increases due to home technology installations, according to an industry association. - A university mistakenly sends more than 5,000 acceptance letters to the wrong students. - Global electric car sales are on the rise. Online - Google adds podcasts to Google Play Music. - This online quiz platform was used by over one third of U.S. elementary and secondary school students last month. - A website hosting service accidentally deletes customer sites. Social Media - LinkedIn has built a new app for college kids. Ideas - A thin, flexible “sheet camera” could turn any surface into a camera. - A tech company makes a new type of solar panel that’s about to turn the energy industry upside down. - A “smart mattress” will tell you if you’re being cheated on. On This Day in 1775 - The American revolution began. Around the Country - Houston is largely shut down after significant rain and flooding. - Wells Fargo is piloting a small business renovation competition in Baltimore. - A Kentucky business owner thanks local firefighters. - Orlando’s business hub is expanding beyond its downtown. Around the


How allegations of Saudi Arabia’s ties to 9/11 plotters became a problem for Obama, again

found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior officials within the Saudi government funded al Qaeda." What are the 28 pages? The source of the new speculation about the alleged Saudi role in the attacks is a report that came out in 2002, two years before the 9/11 Commission released its findings. This report was the product of a bipartisan joint congressional inquiry into intelligence failures that led to the attacks. And the problem isn't so much what the publicly released version of this report said. It was what it didn't say. Under the orders of then-President George W. Bush, 28 pages of the joint inquiry's final 838-page report were classified. They sit under lock and key in a vault. According to multiple accounts from those who have seen the pages, they contain an entire section on the alleged links between Saudi officials and the 9/11 hijackers — of particular notoriety are the alleged links between the hijackers and a Saudi network that helped them when they arrived in California. The government gave several reasons for not releasing the 28 pages, including national security. At the time, Saudi officials were among those who called for those pages to be released. "Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide," the Saudi ambassador to the United States at the time, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, said in 2003. "We can deal with questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages." Why are these 28 pages still so controversial? Over the years, there have been some who have suggested that the 28 pages weren't quite as scandalous as they were often presented — in fact, as the New Yorker's Lawrence Wright has reported, the 9/11 Commission report attempted to substantiate the allegations contained in those 28 pages and apparently failed. Yet the controversy surrounding the pages has remained; in fact, some point toward the 9/11 Commission report's cautious wording on the alleged Saudi link as evidence of a cover-up. Groups, including families of the attack victims, have repeatedly called on the government to release the 28 pages. These groups have gained the support of several members of Congress and U.S. officials — Obama is reported to have made a promise to the families of victims in 2008 and 2009. The whole controversy has been brought back in a big way recently by a "60 Minutes" documentary that aired April 10,


The Washington Post announces Transformers, a live journalism event about advances that are driving dramatic change

Jeffrey P. Bezos, H The Washington Post today announced Transformers, a day-long gathering in Washington about the technological advances and business moves that are upending industries and changing lives. Robots are performing surgery. Computers are beating humans at our own games. Businesses and governments are collaborating in unprecedented ways, opening up new markets and models. On May 18, some of the most transformative thinkers in the country will discuss breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, commercial space travel, and medicine — providing opportunities for a powerful exchange of ideas, strategies and lessons learned. Speakers include Jeffrey P. Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com, and founder of Blue Origin; J. Craig Venter, co-founder of Human Longevity Inc.; Martine Rothblatt, co-chief executive of United Therapeutics Corp.; Arati Prabhakar, director of DARPA; NASA Administrator Charles Bolden; Emmett Shear, chief executive of Twitch; David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group; Wendy Schmidt, president, The Schmidt Family Foundation and co-founder, Schmidt Ocean Institute; George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic; Helen Greiner, chief executive of CyPhy Works; Steve Huffman, co-founder of Reddit; David Kenny, general manager, IBM Watson; Neil Harbisson, cyborg artist; Katie Couric, journalist, author and Yahoo Global News Anchor; and Martin Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post. The event will also feature a robotics competition for D.C. area high school students. Working closely with mentors from The Post’s engineering teams, students will receive a basic robotics kit and have one day to build an original tool that can gather information from a mock story environment. Bezos and Greiner will judge the competition, revealing winners at the conclusion of the event. The full program will be live-streamed on wapo.st/transformers. Video and a special report will be available following the event. Register to attend as press The event is sponsored by Lockheed Martin and Samsung Electronics America.


These old nuclear missiles could be used to clean up space debris

"We didn't build them because we wanted to drop nuclear weapons on the Soviet Union," he said. "We built them just in case there was a war. We didn't want that to happen." Now the Cold War is over, and the missiles have sat idle in bunkers for years. So: "How about cleaning space debris?" Rohrabacher asked. After 50 years of spaceflight, the vastness of space has become something of a celestial junkyard, littered with hundreds of thousands of pieces of debris. Traveling at 17,500 m.p.h. around the globe, even small pieces of debris, say a bolt, can cause big problems. In 2007, China blew up one of its dead weather satellites, and then two years later, an active U.S. communications satellite crashed into a defunct Russian satellite. Those two events alone created thousands of pieces of debris, which now pose a threat to satellites and even the International Space Station, which occasionally has to move out the way of the flying junk. Hollywood even dramatized the problem in “Gravity,” starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. A scene from the Warner Bros. thriller 'Gravity' starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. While Congress would have to act in order for Orbital ATK to use the stockpiled ICBMs for commercial purposes, the missiles could be used for government missions, Rohrabacher noted. And cleaning up space debris is a big issue the federal government should undertake, he said. [Space companies feud over what to do with rockets in ICBM stockpile.] Right now, the Air Force tracks some 20,000 items in debris, a fraction of what’s out there. But it’s working with Lockheed Martin to develop what’s known as the Space Fence, which would be able to track many more pieces of debris that are now too small to catalog. “One of our great assets is this new and thriving and futuristic space transportation systems that we now have being developed in the private sector,” he said. The government should be wary of doing anything that hurts the commercial space industry at a time when it is making great strides and helping lower the cost of access to space. But he said he agreed that there should be some use for the ICBM motors, which taxpayers paid for years ago during the height of the Cold War. For years, the space community has grappled with how to tackle the problem. There has been talk


We can’t save the economy unless we fix our debt addiction

as lower interest rates, lower down payments and more time to pay back loans) increase the asking prices of everything else. Banks have found their biggest loan markets in mortgages for real estate, natural resources (oil and mining) and infrastructure monopolies. Most of the interest that banks receive from their lending is thus paid out of property and monopoly rents. To make it easier for companies to pay back their bank loans or stock issues, the financial sector defends tax benefits for these major customers, recognizing that whatever the tax collector leaves behind can come back to the banks in the form of interest payments on further loans. These loans create debt-leveraged “capital” gains, which receive favorable tax treatment compared with profits and wage income. But the savings end up in the hands of banks rather than individuals who would spend that money back into the economy. At the household level, buying a home with a 25 percent down payment leaves the home buyer with 75 percent equity. This was the normal rule of thumb for mortgage lending in the 1960s. If interest and loan payments absorb a quarter of the buyer’s overall income (a rule of thumb for bankers in the 1960s), then that person’s income is said to be 25 percent financialized. But today, home buyers can put up as little as a 3 percent down payment for a Bank of America mortgage guaranteed by the government agency Freddie Mac (and 3.5 percent for an FHA-insured mortgage), leaving homeowners with 97 percent financialization. Government-guaranteed home mortgages absorb up to 43 percent of the buyer’s income just to service their debt. Student loans, auto loans, credit cards and other bank debt may absorb another 10 percent of the debtor’s income. This leaves only half of personal income available to spend on anything else one might need. Meanwhile, Loading the economy down with debt therefore leaves less disposable income for both individuals and businesses that could otherwise be buying consumer goods and investing in real production. To illustrate this, just take a look at how our economy has changed since financial institutions inflated asset prices in the housing market until the bubble burst in 2007. The cost of paying the mortgage loans that bid up real estate prices has led to austerity: Markets have shrunk; new investment and hiring slowed; and profits and wages have stagnated. The asset-price inflation that


What we eat has bigger consequences for the planet than we ever thought

new report. Springmann recently published his own study on the environmental impacts of a shift away from meat-based diets, research he said focused more on health and climate change benefits, but not so much on land-related issues. He cautioned, however, that land use can be a tricky thing to focus on. “Most of the time, we imagine that changes in future food production will be met by both the use of new land, but also by more intensive use of existing land,” he said, noting that predictions about which of these solutions will be applied to an increase in the production of any given food source are difficult to make. But while he noted that these difficulties may mean the report’s estimates on land use changes are a bit extreme, he said it was overall a good inclusion. To help encourage dietary shifts, the report also includes a tool called the “shift wheel,” which provides tactics the food industry can use to influence consumer purchasing. Broadly, these tactics include advertising and selling products in ways that maximize their benefits and minimize their disruption to the consumer’s normal lifestyle or buying habits. “A lot of the efforts to date to shift diets, whether led by NGOs or governments — a lot have been focused on giving more information and education to people,” said Richard Waite, an associate in WRI’s food program and another of the report’s authors, noting that this approach may not always be effective. The report’s proposed tactics are meant to target barriers to the consumer at the point of sale by helping companies within the food industry directly encourage different choices. This approach has also not often been used by other studies on diet shifts, said Springmann, the Oxford researcher. “In a lot of other papers, they appeal more to policymakers and tough regulations, so it’s nice that there is also a paper that speaks more to industries that want to market their product,” he said. How feasible any of the proposed shifts are, on the other hand, remains to be seen. Ranganathan emphasized that the report was meant to explore the impacts of small shifts, which could be made palatable to large groups of people — and Springmann agreed that this type of approach may be best in the future. “What we need is really population-based approaches that apply to a wide range of people,” he said.


Obama’s push to hire veterans is causing confusion and resentment, officials say

(Rich Pedroncelli/AP) One in 3 people hired into the federal government is a veteran, but the Obama administration’s aggressive push to reward those who served is causing confusion and resentment among job applicants and hiring staff. That’s what federal officials and advocates for veterans told lawmakers at a House hearing Wednesday on how well the White House’s seven-year effort to push former service members to the head of the long federal hiring queue is working. The veterans preference program is bringing record numbers of former soldiers into federal agencies. But experts acknowledged that the hiring process is generating tension and misunderstanding around who is qualified to jump the line. [Obama push to hire veterans into federal jobs is proving controversial] “The bulk of the problem is a lack of understanding of the law,” Michael H. Michaud, assistant secretary for the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service at the Labor Department, told a panel of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. “It’s a very complex law,” Michaud said. “Some veterans think that because of veterans preference they will automatically be hired in the federal service. But you could have several very well-qualified candidates and they’re all vets, and one gets hired and the others don’t.” The growing presence in government of men and women with military backgrounds is the biggest federal effort to reward military service since the draft ended in the 1970s. President Obama pushed agencies to increase hiring of veterans starting in 2009, in response to the bleak job prospects many soldiers faced after coming home from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2015, 47.4 percent of new hires to full-time jobs were veterans, an increase of 1.3 percentage points over fiscal 2013, federal statistics released last year show. [Record numbers of veterans are getting federal jobs, but they aren’t staying ] The initiative has fueled tensions in federal offices, though, as civil servants and former troops clash over workplace culture and each other’s competence and qualifications. But the new rules on just getting into the government are, depending on who is talking, favoring unqualified veterans or bypassing qualified ones, officials said Wednesday. Veterans benefit from preferential hiring for civil service jobs under a law dating to World War II. But the Obama administration increased the extra credit they get to give them an even greater edge in getting hired. The government has set hiring goals for veterans at


Stop worrying. The financial sector isn’t destroying the economy.

property and casualty insurance. AIG got into trouble in the crisis because it strayed into providing very risky financial services, not because of its main insurance business. Likewise, the core value of banks is financial intermediation between savers and investors, giving savers relatively secure and liquid assets while also funding investment. There are critics of how well our banking industry serves this core purpose, a quality that is hard to determine. My judgment is that it does the job pretty well compared with the banking industry in most other countries. The parts of the financial sector that give rise to the most concern are market-making, deal-making and the creation and trading of derivatives on Wall Street. The volume of market trading has increased exponentially because of the increased speed of computers and communications. Up to a certain point, the increased volume is helpful because it adds to the liquidity of markets, but the advent of high-frequency trading has taken us over the top. As Michael Lewis describes in his book “ Still, the explosion of derivatives and other overly complex instruments was problematic, and it is crystal clear that the mortgage market became too opaque and removed accountability from the system. The layering of complex derivatives on top of lousy mortgages (and other shaky assets) distorted the economy, resulted in the overbuilding of houses and caused the financial crisis. Plenty of people are at fault besides the bankers, but the smart people on Wall Street were driving the process, and they should have known better. The excessive financialization obscured the reality of loans that depended upon ever-rising home prices and thus were never going to be paid back. There was an externality because the private calculations of potential profit ignored the risks being imposed on society. Is that still the situation today? No. Things have changed. Banks and other financial institutions that create risks for the whole economy are now required to hold sufficient capital to cover losses even in periods of economic and financial stress, plus a liquidity buffer (they must pass “stress tests” administered by the Federal Reserve). The screws have been turned pretty tight, and the owners of large financial institutions will bear the costs of future failures — not taxpayers. This brings private incentives in line with the public interest, getting rid of the externality that gave us too much financialization in the first place. But


Japanese American congressman urges Obama to visit Hiroshima

Rep. Mark Takano to President Obama: Lead the World to Hiroshima President Obama's consideration of a trip to Hiroshima, Japan, in May is getting a boost from Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), a third-generation Japanese American. On Thursday, Takano urged Obama to become the first sitting U.S. commander in chief to visit the site of the world's first atomic bombing, on Aug. 6, 1945. The U.S. attack killed an estimated 140,000 people. A second atomic explosion in Nagasaki, three days later, killed 80,000. "A visit to Hiroshima is not an apology on America’s behalf," Takano said on the House floor. "It is a signal that the commander of the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons appreciates their power, and it sets an example for other world leaders to follow." Obama is scheduled to attend the Group of Seven summit in Ise-Shima, Japan, in late May, and White House aides are weighing a presidential stop in Hiroshima. Advisers have said the president might make a speech touching on nonproliferation themes. Conservative critics and some veterans groups said a presidential visit to nuclear ground zero would represent an apology by the United States for dropping the bomb to help end a war that Japan began when its military attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The grandson of former president Harry S. Truman, who authorized the use of the atomic bombs, is among those who have urged Obama to make the historic visit. Takano was born in Riverside, Calif., to a family that had spent time in U.S. internment camps for Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II. "I did not fully grasp the horror of Hiroshima until I traveled there for the first time in 2002," he said in his remarks. "Only then did I develop a personal and lasting connection to the incredible destruction caused by nuclear weapons. Every leader who has the capacity to use these weapons should have that same experience and feel that same connection. One of America’s greatest strengths is the power to lead by example. The president should use that power to lead the world to Hiroshima, and away from nuclear weapons."


Philadelphia restaurants are moving in on D.C. Get used to it.

Big Apple. In fact, Philadelphia chefs and restaurateurs say, the D.C. area has a lot of things going for it that make it more attractive than New York. (Of course, we've seen our own wave of arrivals from NYC, including David Chang's Momofuku, Daniel Boulud's DBGB and Michael White's Osteria Morini.) "New York is becoming impossible to open restaurants in," said Starr, not only because it's a more expensive market but also because of its rules and regulations. "You can't really invest big money in those restaurants, because you'll never make it back." HipCityVeg's Marquis said it can be harder to stand out in New York, too. She's counting on being able to do just that in Washington with her plant-based renditions of fast-food fare. HipCityVeg is hoping to stand out in the D.C. market with vegan riffs on fast-food favorites, such as these Chick'n Nuggets with sweet potato fries. (At Media) Carroll and La Colombe's Iberti said that even as the new restaurants continue to pile up, Washington probably hasn't maxed out its opportunities. In fact, "I think it's a little bit underserved," Iberti said. And you know what else? We're pretty darn friendly. "There's an optimism in Washington that is really nice and contagious," Starr said. "The Washingtonians have been so nice and pleasant to deal with." Out of town versus home-grown In the end, though, does it matter whether someone opening a restaurant is from Philadelphia or Friendship Heights? Yes and no. Pizzeria Vetri's Benjamin thinks there are plenty of people who aren't tuned in to origin stories and plenty who are. He knows there's loyalty to local names, not to mention a lot of pizza here already. "I think it's the concept itself" that matters, Honeygrow's Rosenberg said. The company is trying to inject some local flavor by working with D.C. artists and photographers for its shops in Chinatown and Pentagon City. Yet as Landau pointed out, Washington is such a transient city that most home-grown chefs were in fact outsiders at one point or another, like many residents. "I think quality usually prevails," Starr said. "If something's good, it's good." Related items: The search for America's best food cities: Philadelphia Coffee outsiders have their eye on D.C. Are they going to hurt the local shops? How Stephen Starr made Le Diplomate the hottest table in town Le Diplomate's Stephen Starr talks bistros and breakfast service


11 things to do in the D.C. area on the weekend of April 22-24

Here are this weekend's best bets in nightlife, festivals, theater, music and much more around the Washington area. If you want to celebrate Prince's legacy, check out these parties and brunches. - Capital Weather Gang forecast: Wet Friday, wonderful this weekend - Sip somewhere seasonal: 12 new patios and rooftop bars - Back to the bar: These 11 underrated watering holes deserve your attention An installation at the Smithsonian Craft Show from glass artist Dale Chihuly's "Macchia" series will feature 12 sculptures never before displayed in the District. (Dylan Beese) Through Sunday: Through Sunday: National Park Week [Where to have a Seder-style Passover meal in restaurants around Washington] Friday: Friday: Tracy Morgan returns to the Kennedy Center [Three crawfish boils to check out this month] Friday: [On Saturday, say so long to Poste's patio] Satuday: Saturday: De La Soul - Eye Know at Glastonbury 2014 Saturday: [The Hotlist: What to see, eat, drink and do in April] Saturday: [More music on Saturday: Stuck Pigs, Tetsu Arrey and more at the Pinch] Saturday-Sunday: Saturday-Sunday:


How Earth itself has dramatically upped the stakes for the Paris climate accord

that timeline will be, although the United States and China, the world’s two largest emitters, have pledged to move swiftly. But the question remains: Can the world do more than lurch toward lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions? Gavin Schmidt, the head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, recently suggested that there’s a 99 percent chance 2016 will set a record for the warmest year since reliable measurements began in 1880. If accurate, that would mean a third consecutive year of record temperatures. The news in recent months has only increased that sense of urgency. The Greenland ice sheet, which contains the long-term potential for 20 feet of sea level rise, saw a startling April melt event. The result was that almost 12 percent of the ice sheet’s surface featured a layer of water at least a millimeter deep. The Antarctic ice sheet has long been considered more stable than Greenland’s, but research published last month suggested that it, too, could melt much faster than previously thought. Adding new physics to their computer simulations, a duo of scientists from Penn State and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst found that if countries continue to pour high levels of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, Antarctica alone could raise seas by more than three feet in this century. A group of scientists recently reported that far Arctic landscapes, filled with thick wedges of ice embedded in the frozen ground, also are thawing faster than expected. This could trigger new emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as once-frozen permafrost soil, which contains the preserved remains of long-deceased plants, warms and allows the material to decompose. Scientists confirmed this week that much of the Great Barrier Reef is seeing what appears to be the worst coral bleaching ever recorded. Rising sea temperatures, worsened by El Niño, have put severe stress on many reefs, so much that the corals expel the algae that they need to survive and turn white. If corals don’t get a long enough reprieve from those temperatures, they can die in large numbers — and in some places they already have, according to accounts of extensive coral death around the island republic of Kiribati in the central Pacific. Some scientists have even suggested that this bleaching event, which signals a warming of the seas at a rate too quick for a major planetary ecosystem to adapt to, may


Celebrate the Hubble with this gorgeous cosmic bubble

This stunning image was observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team) The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into orbit on April 24, 1990 – nearly 26 years ago. Ever since, it has been supplying scientists with gorgeous images of the cosmos. The image above, which shows a star "blowing a bubble," is NASA's choice to commemorate the telescope's latest birthday. The Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) lies 7,100 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. It's a staggering seven light-years across, formed by a star 20 times as massive as our sun — that bright purple dot just left of center. Previous Hubble images have captured only pieces of the brilliant, ever-growing gas orb, but this latest shot stitches together multiple frames to show the nebula in its entirety. Hubble Sees a Star 'Inflating' a Giant Bubble NGC 7635 is an emission nebula. The bright star at its not-quite-center throws off hot gases, known as stellar wind, that move at 4 million mph. When these hot gases slam into the cold gas and dust of interstellar space, they form an intriguingly symmetrical bubble. The star's intense ultraviolet radiation causes the gases to glow, with different elements heating to different temperatures to form distinct colors: Oxygen is hot enough to burn blue, while hydrogen and nitrogen form a cooler yellow light. More than a quarter-century into its tenure, the Hubble is still going strong. But its successor will hit the scene soon. The James Webb Telescope, which is set to launch in 2018, will be able to look much deeper into space — and, therefore, earlier into cosmic history — than the Hubble can. Read More: This is what it looks like when a black hole tears a star apart With 46 billion pixels, this is the largest ever image of space The Hubble Space Telescope just spotted a gang of ‘monster’ stars These retro postcards show where the Hubble has taken us in 25 years


A guide to the D.C. area’s most underrated bars

point of going out, right? Bossa On Tuesday nights, the '70s-themed Breadsoda converts pool tables to ping-pong tables on Tuesday nights. (Photo by Michael Temchine for The Washington Post) Breadsoda Bump 'n Grind The low-key Copycat Company on H Street NE features creative cocktails crafted by veterans of Barmini and the Columbia Room. (Farrah Skeiky For The Washington Post) Copycat Company Gong, a veteran of Barmini and Napa 1015, and his frequent bartending partner, Rob Tinney, who created cocktails at the Columbia Room and Eat the Rich, are happy to make up drinks on the spot. But the menu is the perfect jumping-off point for exploring H Street NE's best cocktail program. The dark, narrow bar seats 35 at stools and tables on the second floor. A newly opened back patio has its own bar and picnic tables, although that bar is mostly for beers and shots. For snacking, Gong developed a menu of bao buns, dumplings and skewers. The reason: "I couldn't find a chef who wanted to work until 2-3 a.m. My mom taught me how to make dumplings. I make skewers for barbecues." DC9 rooftop deck Foster's Grille in Chantilly looks like a chain burger restaurant but offers a surprising deep lineup of craft beers. (Photo by Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) Foster's Grille Franklins Restaurant and Brewery Jackpot This single-room establishment doesn't serve food, other than the fresh, hot, buttery popcorn that flows out of a machine behind the bar. But Jackpot has an admirable collection of craft beer, with Boulevard, Victory and Founders in regular rotation. (Because of Jackpot's location, Molson regularly shows up on tap.) Bartenders also serve up decent Prohibition-era cocktails, including the Boulevardier and the Ward 8. I might not bring friends to Jackpot on Fridays, when live music can be a little overwhelming for conversation, but it's an island of relative calm in a neighborhood where packed bars are the norm. Larry's Lounge, a gay bar on 18th Street near Dupont Circle, boasts a comfortable patio and strong house punch. (Photo by Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post) Larry's Lounge Southside 815 Order a mixed drink at Stan's Restaurant and you'll receive a tall glass containing a double shot of spirits on ice (left) with the soda, tonic or juice in a separate glass. (Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) Stan's Restaurant Order a gin and tonic, whiskey and ginger, or vodka


Harriet Tubman on the $20 reminds us that access to cash is a civil rights issue

In a separate analysis, the Federal Reserve found that that the chances that someone would use cash in a given transaction weren't significantly different depending on the person's race, after taking into account differences in education, income and other demographic factors. While individual preferences determine Americans' choices about how to pay for things to some extent, the Federal Reserve data shows that people usually don't use cash unless they have to. Carrying cash is risky -- you could get mugged, or drop your wallet in a puddle. It can also be expensive. Automatic teller machines charge fees, while many credit cards offer consumers cash back on purchases or other valuable compensation. Yet paying with a check or a debit card means having a bank account, which is also costly for those who don't have enough money from month to month to maintain minimum balances. Getting a credit card involves having a history of financial stability. For these reasons, wealthier and better educated Americans prefer other methods of payment to cash. Those with less than $25,000 in annual household income execute 44 percent of their transactions in cash, more than twice the share for those with more than $100,000 in income. People without a high-school diploma use cash for 50 percent of their transactions. The figure for those with advanced degrees is just 20 percent. Likewise, the older you are, the less likely you are to use cash. Older people earn more and are more experienced and better educated, and they tend to be more financially secure as a result. Confronted with elevated rates of unemployment as well as disparities in income and education, black consumers are more likely to use cash. Twenty percent of black households do not have a bank account, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The same is true of 18 percent of Hispanic households and 17 percent of Native American households. For white households excluding Hispanics, the figure is 4 percent. "Our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality," King said shortly before his assassination in 1968. "What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn't earn enough money to buy a hamburger and a cup of coffee?" He might say something similar if he were alive today: It doesn't do anyone much good to be able to buy a cup of coffee


Tim Peake will be the first man to run a marathon in space – nine years after a woman ran one

British astronaut Tim Peak is becoming the first man to run a marathon in space - nine years after a woman ran one. Here's a look at just how he's going to run 26.2 miles on the International Space Station. On Sunday morning, as 38,000 runners tie on their bibs, lace up their shoes and line up at the starting line of the London Marathon, British astronaut Tim Peake will unstrap himself from his vertical sleeping station, float over to Node-3 of the International Space Station and strap himself onto a treadmill. And then he’ll run for 26.2 miles as the ISS whizzes around Earth roughly 2.5 times while he’s running. Peake will virtually participate in the race, by monitoring the RunSocial app that allows well-wishers to cheer runners on, and hopes to finish in 3 1/2 to 4 hours. “I’ve done a few half-marathons and a little bit longer distance than that as well [onboard the ISS]” said Peake during a video press conference on April 20, not mentioning his 1999, on-Earth marathon when he finished in an impressive 3:18:50. “But I’m sure there will be a few points where I’ll be wishing I did a bit more training,” he said with a grin. When he would have fit in that extra training is a mystery. Astronauts’ days already include at least two hours of mandatory exercise, because of the threat of bone density and muscle mass loss while in space. Anyone who’s ever run on a treadmill knows it’s not easy to stave off the monotony of its mechanical whirring and your footsteps’ clomping “thump-thumps” for more than a couple miles, but Peake has to deal with the additional difficulty of being harnessed onto the contraption. “[It] keeps me on the treadmill and it gives me the weight-bearing that I need on my legs,” Peake explains. In the space station’s weightless environment, the harness ends up adding 60 to 80 percent of his body weight back on, Peake’s personal trainer Patrick Jaekel told Wired. “That means having to run a marathon with your bodyweight lying on your shoulders…It’s very tough and very hard,” Jaekel said. And that also means extra chafing from all the straps. But Peake, surprisingly, will not be the first person to run a marathon in space, although he will be the first man. NASA astronaut Sunita Williams ran the Boston Marathon from the ISS


Five reasons why the world needs Brazil to pull through its political crisis

three months away. Organizers of the Games insist that the events will float above the impeachment fray, but when a country’s entire political class is engaged in a bruising competition of its own, it’s hard to see how the Olympics won’t suffer. The Games were meant to showcase Brazil’s rise as a global power, but the country’s moment in the spotlight will come at its lowest point in decades. It’s like trying to host a huge party with your spouse when you’re in the middle of a nasty divorce. U.S. officials are expecting more than 100,000 Americans to travel to Brazil for the games, including athletes, their families and sponsors. There’s room for plenty more visitors, since nearly half of the tickets have yet to be sold for many events. Brazilians are generally in a foul mood, and a lot of them may not feel like pretending everything’s fine just for the sake of the Games. One bit of good news: Most of the Olympic venues have been completed ahead of schedule and are ready to go. The bad: There are a few other reasons Brazil is a mess right now. Supporters sing the Brazil's national anthem during a protest against the impeachment of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, on Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, April 17, 2016. (Silvia Izquierdo/AP) 2. The Zika virus is still spreading. Although Zika has peaked in some places, like Colombia, global health officials say the outbreak is still expanding in Brazil, with many new infections in big cities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Brazilian researchers are investigating thousands of cases of children with undersized heads and birth defects that may have been caused by the virus. With Brazil’s politicians locked in a power struggle, the country may be losing a shot at a well-organized public health response with robust support across the political spectrum. For all the global attention on Brazil’s Zika outbreak, there’s surprisingly little discussion of the epidemic in the country itself. Instead, everyone’s obsessed with politics. 3. Brazil’s economy is the seventh- or eighth-largest in the world, so its financial woes are a drag on global trade. The country’s economy was growing at 7.5 percent a year as recently as 2010; this year, it’s headed for a 3.8 contraction for the second time in a row. Millions who climbed out of poverty during Brazil's boom years are


Obama’s support for the E.U. is driving some Brits mad

President Obama told the BBC last year that he supports Prime Minister David Cameron's campaign for Britain to remain in the European Union. (Susan Walsh/AP) As President Obama visits London this week, he is finding himself at the center of a very British controversy. The U.S. president has become a surprisingly important player in Britain's passionate "Brexit" debate — with his views even earning him the title "most anti-British American president there has ever been," coined by a well-known politician. For the uninitiated, "Brexit" is the catchy portmanteau used to refer to Britain's potential exit from the European Union. After years of growing public dissent over the country's E.U. membership, Britain is set to have a referendum this summer on whether to remain in it. If a majority of Brits vote to "leave" the E.U., Britain will exit the bloc. Exactly what happens after that isn't clear, but Obama evidently doesn't want to see it happen. “The European Union doesn’t moderate British influence – it magnifies it,” Obama wrote in a frank editorial that was published in London’s Daily Telegraph. “A strong Europe is not a threat to Britain’s global leadership; it enhances Britain’s global leadership.” President Barack Obama tells a London news conference that E.U. membership magnifies Britain's influence in the world, lending his support to those who want Britain to remain in the bloc. Obama's intervention in the Brexit debate had been widely expected. Last year, he had told the BBC that he supports Prime Minister David Cameron's campaign for Britain to remain in the E.U., adding that the membership gave Washington greater confidence in the transatlantic alliance and helped make the world “safer and more prosperous." However, Obama has faced a serious backlash from Brits who are part of the "leave" campaign. So, why are they so mad? There seem to be three common arguments against Obama's Brexit intervention: 1. Foreign leaders shouldn't comment on another country's domestic affairs. In a letter signed by 100 members of Parliament, former Conservative cabinet minister Liam Fox argued that Obama should not interfere in the Brexit debate as it has "long been the established practice not to interfere in the domestic political affairs of our allies and we hope that this will continue." 2. The United States would never agree to be a part of the E.U., they argue, so why should Britain? The chief proponent of this argument is


In banking, it’s all other people’s money

any regulations and despite tax codes that encourage corporations to use debt instead of equity funding, healthy corporations outside banking rarely fund more than 70 percent of their assets by debt and many successful firms borrow little (actual ratios depend how assets are valued). Profits are a popular source of unborrowed funds, and corporations can also sell new shares to invest and grow. In contrast, debt addiction is especially intense in banking, and this addiction is not properly countered by market forces in part because banks tend to have passive creditors. Insured depositors, or lenders entitled to seize some of the banks’ assets ahead of depositors if the bank fails to pay them, don’t monitor banks’ risk or impose harsh terms. Deposit insurance guarantees, access to central bank supports and the possibility of government bailouts, combined with the tax subsidization of debt, perversely feed and enable debt addiction. Only effective regulations can correct the resulting harm and inefficiencies of this situation. Excessive borrowing by lenders such as banks is a key source of financial instability. Those who feed credit booms by lending too much, however, both the institutions and the key decision-makers within them, tend to suffer least in the bust. Deposit insurance, central banks and governments often protect banks and their creditors, especially in a crisis. When lenders become distressed or insolvent “zombies,” they can become reckless and dysfunctional. Yet, policymakers routinely tolerate weak banks, which can harm economic recovery. Key regulations that are meant to make banks safer and healthier remain inadequate, and the flawed design of existing regulations adds further distortions. Bankers and policymakers provide false reassurances about the health of institutions and of the system. Many flawed and misleading claims are made about the costs and benefits of making the system safer, muddling the policy debate and confusing the public. Institutions considered too big to fail are especially dangerous, as their implicit guarantees enable and encourage them to become inefficiently large, complex and reckless. The risks they take are often obscured from investors and regulators. Implicit subsidies to the entire financial sector may cause it to become too large, distorting markets and competition. The conflict of interest between bankers and society is made worse by counterproductive parts of the tax and bankruptcy laws that perversely enable and reward dangerous conduct such as excessive borrowing. Those laws should be changed. The main obstacle to improving the banking


The last great test of Barack Obama’s soft power

however, was oblique compared to today’s Daily Telegraph op-ed by the president, in which he was pretty explicit about Brexit: As citizens of the United Kingdom take stock of their relationship with the EU, you should be proud that the EU has helped spread British values and practices — democracy, the rule of law, open markets — across the continent and to its periphery. The European Union doesn’t moderate British influence — it magnifies it. A strong Europe is not a threat to Britain’s global leadership; it enhances Britain’s global leadership. The United States sees how your powerful voice in Europe ensures that Europe takes a strong stance in the world, and keeps the EU open, outward looking, and closely linked to its allies on the other side of the Atlantic. So the US and the world need your outsized influence to continue — including within Europe. It would be safe to say that this has prompted something of a reaction. Pro-Brexit leaders have respond by… um … er … however one would like to characterize London Mayor Boris Johnson’s response to Obama. Let’s just say that they’re not thrilled. The Remain campaign, however, seems much happier, as Time’s Tara John reports: “He is a rockstar,” Labour Party MP Stephen Kinnock told TIME. “Brexiters are having a hissy fit because they know what President Obama has to say is highly influential and the British people have a natural affinity with our cousins from across the pond.” Citing a recent poll by the Guardian Indeed, even before Obama’s op-ed dropped, the Financial Times opined that, “the pre-emptive anger of some in the Leave campaign, accusing Mr Obama of hypocrisy and questioning his affection for the UK, only underlines how effective an intervention from him is likely to be.” The truly interesting question will be the effect on U.K. public opinion polls. There were already signs that, as the debate shifted to the economic realities of exiting the European Union, the British public was shifting against the idea of Brexit. This highlights the fact that there are a lot of other forces at play here beyond Barack Obama. Still, if that public shift against Brexit halts or reverses itself, one could argue that Obama’s soft power has been tapped out. If not, however, then the president still has some soft power left as he closes out the last year of his presidency.


These people pick the pouches of possum roadkill — to save the babies inside

They prey on venomous snakes, Pojeky noted, making the environment a little safer for humans. They very rarely carry rabies. They work hard at grooming, even if they always seem to be having a bad hair day. Scientists at the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies in New York have found that possums consume the ticks they find while grooming themselves. According to one study, in a single season one Virginia opossum, as the species is formally known, can eat 5,000 potentially disease-spreading ticks. Still, most people are squeamish about the idea of reaching into a dead possum, Pojeky said. “But the pouch is actually very clean,” he said. It’s also roomy, so he might have to dig around to find the tiny pink-nosed babies inside. There could be a dozen of them. They can survive for days in the pouch even if their mother is dead. He searches the surrounding area for babies in case they’ve been flung out upon impact. Then he frets, he said, wondering whether others he didn’t locate are watching him walk away. Surviving babies get transported in soft, snuggly pouch-like containers that Pojeky stockpiles in his car: tube socks, pillow cases and velvety, purple bags that used to protect bottles of Crown Royal whiskey. He also keeps on hand shoe boxes, receiving blankets and hand-warmers to keep the orphans toasty and safe. Before leaving a site, Pojeky moves the dead mother to the side of the road to prevent scavengers — such as vultures, raccoons, box turtles, bobcats, coyotes or foxes — from getting hit. Once rescued, the babies are fed formula through tubes connected to syringes. When they’re strong enough to survive on their own, they’re released, usually in the area where they were found. Dubuisson, 48, has a strong opinion about the spelling of words related to what she calls her “favorite animal on the planet.” The species name may be “Virginia Opossum,” she said, “but we just call them possums.” It won’t come as a surprise that she has no time for the “g” at the end of the word “picking,” either, when it refers to the pouch of a possum. “We’re country down here,” she explains. “What we do is called ‘pouch pickin.’ I tell people during the spring season, ‘Y’all go pickin’ strawberries — I go pickin’ for pouches.’” She said her organization aims to change people’s minds about possums.


Why U.S. businesses agree with Obama about ‘Brexit’

members are worried about the chances that voters will want out. Economists say that one of the major benefits of membership in the European Union is that manufacturers in the United Kingdom can export their products to countries on the European continent without paying tariffs or dealing with regulatory discrepancies in the rules governing their products. The research firm Oxford Economics has forecast that exiting the E.U. could reduce the size of the U.K. economy by between 0.1 percent and 3.9 percent by 2030. Those potential losses are a concern for U.S. firms that do business in the United Kingdom. Seven in 10 firms in the straw poll by BritishAmerican Business -- which surveyed companies that do business in both countries -- said the effect of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union on their businesses would be negative or strongly negative, according to a press release. Mark Dorsett, the U.K. director of Caterpillar, called the issue "fundamental to our business interests," according to the survey. "We fully respect that the British people will decide the U.K.'s future relationship with the E.U., but we believe the U.K.'s continued membership of a reformed competitive E.U. is the best option," he said. Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Ill., employs 9,000 people in the United Kingdom. Those arguing for the country's exit from the European Union say that regulations imposed from Brussels are hampering U.K. firms. Yet if there is one thing that the business lobby seems to like less than regulation, it's uncertainty -- and a vote to leave the European Union would raise lots of questions for firms that do business there by forcing British officials to renegotiate the rules that govern trade with the rest of Europe. Outside of the survey by BritishAmerican Business, other U.S. corporate leaders have been making this point. "If the outcome of the referendum is to exit, what you have for sure is going to be two years or three years of intense negotiation and a massive uncertainty," Daniel Pinto, the head of the corporate and investment bank at JPMorgan Chase, told investors in February. "It may be good or bad in the long term. In the short term, the amount of uncertainty based on the negotiations will be really bad for everyone." On June 23, Britain faces a fateful decision: whether or not to leave the European Union. And the world will be watching.


This controversial carbon proposal could be the key to success for the world’s new climate agreement

Smoke billows from stacks as a woman wears a mask while walking in a neighborhood next to a coal-fired power plant on Nov. 26 in Shanxi, China. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) As people around the world gather to celebrate Earth Day, world leaders have convened New York this morning to sign a landmark agreement aimed at slashing greenhouse gas emissions and keeping global climate change in check. And as discussions intensify around the agreement’s likelihood of success, a growing number of experts are arguing that carbon pricing — a controversial economic method intended to cut down on emissions — may be the key. On Thursday, a group of world leaders came forward with an ambitious new The group, known as the The idea of carbon pricing is simple enough: By placing a monetary charge on carbon emissions, we can create an incentive to reduce them. The concept can take two major forms. Cap-and-trade schemes place a limit on the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions permitted and allow industries with low emissions to sell their leftover allowances to industries with higher emissions. In this case, the price becomes established by the market. A carbon tax, on the other hand, places a fixed price or tax rate on carbon emissions, which serves as an incentive to keep emissions low. With the carbon tax approach, “you fix the price, and then you let the market respond to that price by adopting new technologies and changes in behavior,” said David Victor, an expert on global policy and strategy at the University of California San Diego. “The two systems share in common the idea that government by itself can’t figure out the best way to cut emissions so it should be left up to the market.” The idea of carbon pricing has long been touted by economists as an effective tool for lowering emissions and combating climate change, and it’s increasingly gaining the support of business and political leaders as well. The Still, the idea has been slow to catch on with many political leaders — particularly in the U.S., where talk of carbon taxes has been highly controversial. California remains the only state with any pricing scheme in effect (a cap-and-trade system), although groups in several others, such as Washington and Massachusetts, are working to Currently, only about 12 percent of global emissions are already covered by carbon pricing schemes. The new goal would


‘Defying description’: ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons on Prince the ‘sensational’ guitarist

by any means. But the way it is delivered. There’s certainly no way to write it. You’ve just got to dive in and feel it to see if you could come close. This might be a little off the subject, but just this morning, Andy Langer sent me a link to Prince on YouTube performing “Honky Tonk Woman.” I had never seen it. I don’t know if there’s a fixed date that could be attached to it. I would encourage you to check it out. Here, within the four minute time span, you really get a sense of urgency that was behind his dedication to playing. Prince Honky Tonk Woman YouTube Technique. You’ve said that a few times. Three times. Yes, three. That’s a very particular word. Prince is somebody we always thought of as flash, beautiful, almost touched by something otherworldly. But when I hear the word technique, I think of practice, intellect, study. I wonder if because he had so much style, whether he ever felt that his playing was overshadowed. Oh yeah. In fact, that entered the conversation. He asked me, ‘Does your beard get in the way like some of my costumes?’ And I was stunned momentarily and I thought about it and said, ‘You know, perhaps so.’ But then he grabbed my arm and said, ‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m okay with it.’ Last thing. That night, two hours of guitar talk. Is there anything specifically you remember telling him or him telling you about basically how to play? I don’t know about anything that specific. I was quite flattered that he knew specific song titles that had a specific guitar sound. He said, I’ve really enjoyed some of the work that showed up on that monster hit of yours, “Eliminator,” the sound of “Gimme All Your Lovin’” He went on to cite a number of titles. I said, ‘Okay, I could give you some amplifier settings, I could give you some guitar strings.’ I said, ‘Why don’t you tell me about ‘When Doves Cry’? He just smiled. ‘That one gets me too.’ I didn’t know how to take that. Was he was suggesting he stumbled upon it by accident or he didn’t have words to describe it? I’m just happy to know that he took it as a compliment. Prince, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne and others -- "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"


How the Soviet Union stayed silent during the Chernobyl disaster

Thirty years ago, an accident at a power plant in Chernobyl on April 26 resulted in one of the biggest nuclear disasters in history. The explosion and fire caused a roof and wall on one of the buildings to collapse, sending a radioactive cloud into the air that stretched across the Soviet Union and much of Europe. Compounding the catastrophe was the lack of transparency from the Soviet Union. In the days that followed, Soviet officials refused to elaborate on the extent of the disaster. The accident occurred on a Friday night, when the reactor's cooling system failed during a test. Then followed the nuclear meltdown on Saturday, which caused the explosion and the radioactive discharge. When Sweden initially contacted the Soviet Atomic Power Inspection Board, Moscow denied that an accident had occurred. However, as Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway reported unusually high levels of radioactivity, Moscow was forced to officially announce the accident. The public outcry for more information forced the normally tight-lipped Soviet government to make an acknowledgement, and that in itself was no ordinary event. But the first Russian televised announcement "The trouble has passed," he said. Yet safety experts remained unconvinced. Even more worrisome was the struggle to control a graphite fire, which was releasing radioactive material into the air. While the Soviet government was busy reassuring countries that there was no danger, scientists from around the world began piecing together information based on accounts from Sweden, which was 700 miles from Chernobyl. As one U.S. nuclear scientist put it at the time, "If the radioactivity is a few millirem 700 miles away, I'd hate to be within 10 miles." Still, the Soviets refused to give more details. In the United States, a Soviet Embassy official proclaimed: "The problem is getting better. It is not out of hand. It is improving. But unfortunately, it is not over yet." The Soviet media event went as far as to blame the West for spreading false propaganda. Russian news reports said the West was sensationalizing the accident to "poison the international atmosphere." The media pointed to other Western nuclear accidents and claimed that U.S. officials had refused to give any information about the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island. Information inside Russia was sparse, too. Russian residents and even some officials were left unaware that the accident had occurred. In the news reports that trickled out, Soviet media stated


Marine infamous for urinating on Taliban corpses helps foil girlfriend’s alleged hit-man plot

war.” “This act by American soldiers is simply inhuman and condemnable in the strongest possible terms,” former Afghan president Hamid Karzai told the New York Times. In an interview with WSOC-TV, Chamblin said he did it as a means of psychological warfare, implying that they defiled the corpses so that the fighters wouldn’t reap any rewards of the afterlife. “Because of their cultural belief that if an infidel touches the bodies, they’re not going to Mecca or going to paradise,” Chamblin said. “So now these insurgents see what happens when they mess with us.” When asked whether he would do it again, he didn’t pause. “Yep,” he said. The Marine Corps said Chamblin pleaded guilty to wrongful desecration, failure to properly supervise junior Marines and posing for photos with battlefield casualties. Lt. Gen. Richard Mills, who oversaw the Chamblin case, agreed before the court-martial to limit his punishment to the loss of $500 in pay and reduction in rank by one grade. Seven other Marines faced similar ramifications. According to the blog of Sharyl Attkisson, a former CBS and CNN correspondent and author of the best-selling “Stonewalled,” former staff Sgt. Edward Deptola pleaded guilty to taking photos of the desecration and was reduced in rank. Former Sgt. Derek Mages pleaded guilty to urinating on human remains and received a less-than-honorable discharge. Capt. James Clement, who was manning the radio and was not present for the video recording, received an honorable discharge. Former Cpl. Matthew Bostrom was reduced in rank. Former Sgt. Jacob Pope pleaded guilty to urinating on human remains and received a letter of reprimand. Several days after the video was recorded, he lost his leg, which allowed him to medically retire. Laura Buckingham of Kingston was arrested for criminal attempt in February. (Roane County Sheriff’s Office) One, former Sgt. Robert Richards, pleaded guilty and was demoted to corporal before being granted a medical retirement with an honorable discharge. In 2014, he was found dead in his house in Jacksonville, N.C. He was 28. The cause of death was an accidental overdose on Opana, which caused oxymorphone toxicity, the Marine Corps Times reported. After being court-martialed, Chamblin left the Marines and co-wrote a book titled “Into Infamy: A Marine Sniper’s War” with fellow former Marine Milo Afong about both his experience in the war and with the video. After the media firestorms over the video and his book, meeting


Enough with the complaints of European free riding already

up their defense spending in response to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. French diplomat Simond de Galbert wrote in the Atlantic last month: “Although it is very unlikely that all European NATO countries will soon be spending as much as 2 percent of their GDP on defense, as required by NATO, the main European powers are at the threshold (like the United Kingdom and Poland), closely approaching it (France), or taking steps to increase resources allocated to defense (Germany).” The second and more significant complication is that while the United States does bear a disproportionate cost of military spending, our European allies have borne a disproportionate burden on other aspects of the Western alliance. Consider, for example, the cost of imposing economic sanctions. As de Galbert notes: Washington pushed Europeans to put harsh sanctions on Iran, but the United States itself had little leverage on the Iranian economy, having had virtually no trade with the country since 1979. In many ways, it was the European choice to back sanctions that made them so effective —and it was the Europeans who bore many of the costs. The Iran sanctions are insignificant compared to the joint U.S.-E.U. sanctions against Russia, however. Prior to the imposition of sanctions, European trade with Russia was 10 times the level of American trade. Estimates of the costs of the sanctions to Europe’s economy have ranged as high as $700 billion and 2 million lost jobs. Those estimates are on the very high end; more sober estimates up the cost at roughly 0.4 percent of GDP in 2015. Still, that is a damn sight more than the United States will suffer from sanctions. Oh, and by the way, if you think that Europe paying a greater price for sanctioning Russia is a new phenomenon, go read Michael Mastanduno’s “Economic Containment” for some historical background. Spoiler alert: Europe paid a higher price to enforce the Cold War strategic embargo too. Despite the cost, E.U. members, particularly Germany, have continued to support the policy. In the Atlantic There is, as Goldberg tells us, just about no foreign leader the president respects more than Angela Merkel. Nor is there one who has done more to help him. (Were it not for Merkel’s support on sanctions against Russia, Obama’s Ukraine policy would barely exist.) No European leader has tried harder to articulate a tolerant, Obama-style approach to the Syrian refugee crisis. Nor has


Astronaut finishes the London Marathon from space in record-breaking time

(NASA TV) Tim Peake – the first bona fide British astronaut to visit the International Space Station – just became the second person to run a marathon in space. And his record-breaking time makes him the fastest extraterrestrial marathon runner ever. The first ISS marathon was completed by U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams in 2007. Williams ran the Boston Marathon virtually, completing the 26.2-mile course in four hours, 23 minutes and 10 seconds. Peake, who was tuning in live to the London Marathon, managed a time of three hours, 35 minutes and 21 seconds, according to the European Space Agency. .@astro_timpeake has finished his #LondonMarathon in space! Estimated time 3:35:21. @Astro_Jeff comes to applaud Tim https://t.co/0AT4EgRUNK That’s just a few minutes shy of the time he made when he ran the race on Earth in 1999, which is pretty impressive. Astronauts work out daily on the space station to fight the negative effects of low gravity, but they still lose muscle mass and strength. And although Peake didn't have to deal with hills or terrain changes, he had to contend with a cumbersome harness. “I have to wear a harness system that’s a bit similar to a rucksack," Peake said in a statement before he headed to the space station in December. "It has a waistbelt and shoulder straps. That has to provide quite a bit of downforce to get my body onto the treadmill so after about 40 minutes, that gets very uncomfortable. I don’t think I’ll be setting any personal bests. I’ve set myself a goal of anywhere between 3:30 to 4 hours," Peake said. British astronaut Tim Peak is becoming the first man to run a marathon in space - nine years after a woman ran one. Here's a look at just how he's going to run 26.2 miles on the International Space Station. That's right: Not only did Peake train for a marathon while performing myriad astronaut duties, but he managed to finish the race at the very low end of his goal time. That's something to keep in mind the next time you want to beg off a trip to the gym. Peake may have logged just over 26 miles on the treadmill, but when you factor in the space station’s orbit, he traveled over 60,000 miles during his race. “Gonna sleep well tonight!” Peake wrote in a message to Earth. Read More: What happens when


The ‘Photo Ark,’ stunning images of some of Earth’s most endangered species

A female African bush elephant, the largest land mammal in the world, at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Survival is personal in an animal’s life; no doctor is arriving in the middle of the night to administer antibiotic cream to a deep scratch made by a desperately hungry animal. Native Nebraskan Joel Sartore recognized the lawlessness of nature as a young boy fishing and camping with his father. When cancer cells tried to tackle his wife, Sartore turned in his plane tickets as a photographer for National Geographic and focused on the animals at the local zoo instead while he helped her heal. Reports about global warming increased during this time. An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary about climate change, opened in theaters. Many species of frog started to disappear permanently from the Earth. Sartore took notice and gathered his work into a book entitled Rare: Portraits of Endangered Species. And now, with over 5,000 species documented including mammals, birds, reptiles and insects, the living archive dubbed the Photo Ark is housed at National Geographic and traveling around the world. Photographs from it have been projected on the Vatican, the United Nations and on the Empire State building. They have been exhibited at the National Geographic Museum and the Houston Fotofest. A schedule for a traveling exhibit is being created for 2017. All the while, Sartore is still shooting. Why? “These habitats and these species help save us,” Sartore told the Omaha World-Herald. “When we save other species we are actually saving ourselves in a way.” The whirligig beetle has a compound eye divided into lower and upper halves which enables them to have perfect vision above and below the water surface. Golden snub-nosed monkeys at Ocean Park in Hong Kong A colony of strawberry anemones at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium The eye of a green tree python A bumble bee millipede at the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Draper, Utah Federally threatened aye-ayes at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo A postman butterfly at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo A tadpole, unknown species


The Post’s Sudarsan Raghavan honored with 2016 Osborn Elliott Prize

Sudarsan Raghavan, The Post’s Cairo bureau chief, has been selected as the winner of the 2016 Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia. Foreign Editor Douglas Jehl shared the news with The Post’s newsroom in a memo: I’m thrilled to share the news that Sudarsan Raghavan, our Cairo bureau chief, has won the 2016 Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia, for his remarkable coverage of Afghanistan over the past year. The jury said that Sudarsan’s “compassion in reporting on lives changed and generations lost, matched with his courage traveling the breadth of a land still at war, resulted in the most powerful kind of journalism: engaging, human and beautifully written.’’ The prestigious prize is awarded annually by the Asia Society for the best example of journalism about Asia over the previous calendar year. Among the competitors that Sudarsan beat out was an Associated Press investigation on the fishing industry in Southeast Asia that was awarded this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. The Oz Elliott Prize will be awarded at a May 26 event at the Asia Society in New York. One of the stories in the winning series was a look at the life of Afghanistan’s first female taxi driver. See the Asia Society announcement


British Army officer is third runner to die in London Marathon in last six years

David Seath, a captain in the British Army and veteran of the war in Afghanistan, collapsed three miles short of the finish line during Sunday’s London Marathon and later died after being taken to a hospital, the Associated Press is reporting. Seath, who was 31, was running on behalf of Help for Heroes, a charity that raises funds for wounded army members. Army captain David Seath dies after collapsing at #LondonMarathon, organisers confirm https://t.co/rI1sbncQcp https://t.co/ew244o2zeF According to the BBC, Seath suffered a heart attack, becoming the third runner in six years to die running the London Marathon. In 2012, Claire Squires faltered just one mile before the finish line after suffering “total heart failure,” the Telegraph wrote. An autopsy found “significant levels” of an amphetamine-like substance in her blood, which her boyfriend attributed to a drink supplement called Jack3d that he said she planned on taking during the race. In 2014, 42-year-old Robert Berry died after collapsing at the London Marathon finish line. After his death — and the deaths of two runners during a Rock ‘n Roll Marathon that same weekend in Raleigh, N.C. — David Kroll wrote in Forbes that a given race can expect 0.5 to 2 deaths per 100,000 marathon runners,”a far lower risk of death than in the majority of daily activities.” Marathon deaths apparently are on the rise, Kroll wrote, because the races have become more popular activities. Sanjay Sharma, a professor of cardiology at of St. George’s, University of London, and the London Marathon’s medical director since 2007, told the Guardian that 14 people have died running the race out of the million people who have completed the course since its inception in 1981. Seath’s friends told the BBC that they plan on finishing the final three miles of the marathon in his honor. “He was the greatest type of guy you could imagine — everyone loved him,” Capt. James Walker-McClimens told the BBC. “He was funny, outgoing, generous — he was just not a bad guy in any way shape or form. “In the Army we don’t like unfinished business. It was something he wanted to do, he wanted to do the full marathon, so we are going to complete it for him.” Walker-McClimens has started a fundraising site to sustain Seath’s efforts on behalf of Help for Heroes.


The Arctic is melting – and scientists just lost a key tool to observe it

for monitoring sea ice extent and concentration,” said Walt Meier, a research scientist and sea ice expert at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. F17 was just one of many satellites launched by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) over the years. It’s one of the country’s oldest satellite programs, created in 1962, and has been a source of valuable meteorological data for decades. In 1987, the program became of particular use to climate scientists when it began launching satellites containing special instruments known as a passive microwave sensors. These instruments are able to detect microwaves emitted by the Earth, which can be used to measure atmospheric properties, like temperature and humidity, as well as certain features on the earth’s surface. One of these sensors is carried on F17. One of the technology’s most important uses is its ability to detect sea ice at the earth’s poles without having to rely on visual imagery, Meier said. “The passive microwave [technology] is particularly good because it’s not affected by clouds and you don’t need sunlight,” he said. As a result, the DMSP satellites are a primary resource for sea ice monitoring. Prior to 1987, the technology was carried on one other research satellite, which was launched in 1978 — so altogether, the program has helped establish a nearly 40-year continuous record on sea ice extent. This is critical research for scientists attempting to monitor the ways climate change is affecting the Earth’s poles, which are some of the most delicate and rapidly changing regions on the planet. But that uninterrupted record could be coming to an end within the next few years. The DMSP satellites currently in orbit are getting to the end of their lifespans — F17 being the most recent evidence of this — and there are no immediate plans to launch any more of them. Without another similarly equipped satellite to take over, scientists like Meier will be forced to switch to new, and potentially lower quality, data sources, interrupting decades-long continuous climate records in the process. The end of an era The problem with the satellites is that they don’t last forever — they’re only designed to have a lifetime of about five years, Meier said. So, since 1987, DMSP has been launching a new satellite every few years. The most recent of these was called F19, launched in 2014. In general, new satellites have been launched before


Is it time to revise our federal drug laws?

Micah Sherman, 32, and Nicole Graf, 28, who moved from Brooklyn in 2014 to cultivate cannabis, care for the “mother plants” that will seed their 7,000-square-foot indoor farm in Olympia, Wash. (Gilles Mingasson/Getty Images) In a letter this month to inquiring lawmakers Under the Drugs in Schedule I are deemed as having “no current accepted medical use” and a high potential for abuse — the category where marijuana resides, alongside heroin, LSD, ecstasy and others. These drugs are regulated with extreme stringency in terms of access, research and supply. Schedule II drugs — such as morphine, fentanyl and methadone — are seen as having a high potential for abuse but some medical value. Schedules III-V contain drugs of medical value and decreasing potential for abuse. Each schedule is regulated with correspondingly less strictness. Critics of the system (or at least of certain drugs’ positions on the schedule) point out that this creates a circular problem. Drugs are placed in Schedule I under the presumption that they have no accepted medical use. Yet the strict regulations of that schedule make it difficult to conduct the scientific and medical research that could uncover such drugs’ medical potential, making it all but impossible to move them to a different schedule. Cannabis, for instance, has shown potential therapeutic value for ailments including chronic pain and In addition, many schedule placements seem arbitrary at best and deliberately skewed at worst. Alcohol and tobacco aren’t in any schedule at all, despite their proven susceptibility for abuse. Schedule I serves as a catchall for drugs of barely comparable levels of danger and potential benefit, many of which have been stigmatized through There are two mechanisms for changing a drug’s placement on the schedule. The more complicated administrative process involves the Alternatively, there is the legislative process: Congress could pass a law amending the Controlled Substances Act to move a drug to a different schedule (or remove it entirely). Most past amendments to the law have It’s possible that our scheduling system no longer makes sense. As our understanding of drug use and the science behind addiction has advanced (and perhaps as moral norms have shifted), have the standards outlined in the Controlled Substances Act become outdated, or are they still useful? What would the ramifications of change be? Should marijuana be rescheduled, and are there other drugs that should be reconsidered? Over the next few days, we’ll


The Pentagon will be required to track military hazing if this legislation passes

with a number of the GAO’s other recommendations, such as determining what constitutes hazing and tracking information uniformly across the services. The proposed legislation appears to take things farther. In addition to calling for a database of incidents, it would require the Defense Department to issue guidance on how to use the data, including information about “protected classes” such as minority race and religious groups who are “often the victims of hazing.” The database has similarities to one that was formed in recent years for sexual assault in the military. The annual hazing survey of service members would be carried out by each service secretary and require an assessment of the prevalence of hazing, the effectiveness of training against it and the extent to which service members report it, according to the bill. A report to the armed services committees in both the House and Senate would be due to Congress each year through 2021 by the end of each January. Speier said in a statement released to The Washington Post that there are “too many stories of hazing” and that the practice can harm mental health, diminish unit cohesion and cost lives. “Unfortunately, for all these tragic examples, we still lack a clear understanding of hazing and the military’s response,” Speier said. “The creation of a database of reported incidents of hazing, implementation of surveys, and the implementation of new anti-hazing training are the least we can do to ensure progress is made to fight hazing. We must act to honor the memory of those who we have lost to abuse at the hands of their fellow soldiers.” Lt. Col. Gabrielle Hermes, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the Defense Department is working toward a “comprehensive oversight framework” that addresses hazing and bullying in the Armed Forces. It will clarify roles and responsibilities, incident reporting and investigation, the definitions of various behaviors, victim assistance procedures and training requirements. The effort also calls for tracking, evaluation and reporting of hazing incidents, she added. “Hazing and bullying will not be tolerated anywhere within the Department of Defense,” she said. “The department continues to reinforce the tenet principles of treating every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, coast guardsmen and civilian with respect and dignity.” Chu said that she has been tracking an incident at the Marine Corps’ recruit depot at Parris Island, S.C., in which a 20-year-old recruit of Pakistani descent, Raheel Siddiqui, died March


The paradox at the heart of our marijuana laws — and how to fix it

Samples of medicinal cannabis are displayed in Otsego, Minn., which began offering medical marijuana last year. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune, File) Each week, In Theory takes on a big idea in the news and explores it from a range of perspectives. This week, we’re talking about drug scheduling. Need a primer? Catch up here. Keith Humphreys is a professor of psychiatry and director of the Mental Health Policy section at Stanford University, where he researches addiction and its treatment. As Congress and the Drug Enforcement Administration weigh whether marijuana should be rescheduled, public faith in the drug classification system continues to erode. Debate rages between those who emphasize the strangeness of marijuana being on the highly restrictive Schedule I alongside far more harmful drugs like heroin, and those who emphasize how strange it would be to put crude plant matter on a less restrictive schedule alongside well-specified FDA-approved medications. Both sides have a point, a paradox stemming from a design quirk of the 1970 Controlled Substances Act: The law takes pains to recognize that medically useful, FDA-approved drugs vary in harmfulness, but does not recognize that this is equally true of drugs with no approved medical use. By throwing all these diverse drugs into the same basket, federal law both baffles the public and makes it very difficult for researchers to evaluate whether tightly restricted drugs might have medical applications. Schedules II – V of the Controlled Substances Act have a compelling logic. Some of the medications that the Food and Drug Administration approves for medical use carry risks, for example of addiction or overdose. In some cases, those risks are real but minor (e.g., cough syrup) whereas for others they are significant (e.g., oxycodone and cocaine). Reasonably enough, the law imposes more controls on the riskier drugs than the less risky ones. Within Schedules II – V, the lower the schedule the greater the controls; prescriptions for drugs in Schedule II cannot be renewed, for example, whereas those for drugs in Schedules III – V can be. So far, so commonsensical. But Schedule I is different: It lumps together every controlled substance that has no approved medical use, regardless of dangerousness. Distinctions between the degree of risk were ignored by the crafters of the scheduling system because they assumed that if there were no medically approved uses, there was no reason to make fine regulatory judgments concerning who is allowed


Open sourcing the secrets of the universe: A huge amount of Large Hadron Collider data is now online

ones that helped win scientists a Nobel Prize for their detection of the Higgs boson particle — and analyze the data for themselves. In the research section, which requires users to install a virtual machine, the data is presented in its raw form so other researchers can use it. The hope is that getting fresh eyes on the data might yield new insights. Outside scientists have already used some of the data from the LHC to corroborate CERN's Higgs boson results and to conduct new research of their own. Researchers at MIT worked with CERN physicist Salvatore Rappoccio to apply the data to their work on the substructure of jets — cones of particles that spray out during collisions inside the LHC. CERN has been making some results of its research publicly available for years. But at 300 terabytes (the equivalent of 20,000 Gmail accounts worth of storage), the latest data dump is by far the biggest yet. “As scientists, we should take the release of data from publicly funded research very seriously,” Rappoccio said in a statement. “In addition to showing good stewardship of the funding we have received, it also provides a scientific benefit to our field as a whole.” That's an increasingly popular philosophy in science, a field that for centuries was often dominated by secrecy over researchers' work. (Isaac Newton famously developed his theories of calculus years before he bothered explaining them to anyone, leading to a "calculus controversy" with rival mathematician Gottfried Leibniz over who came up with it first). Many scientists believe that sharing data can help address problems with reproducibility and prevent rivalries from wasting time and public funding. “If scientists’ role in society is to generate knowledge for both knowledge’s sake and the good of society, then scientists should be sharing both their ideas and their data for everyone to access,” Patricia Soranno, a Michigan State ecology professor who authored a study on data sharing in environmental science, told the Atlantic in 2014. “These practices will ensure that everyone has the opportunity to contribute to moving knowledge forward.” Read More: Scientists just smashed the distance record for quantum teleportation After embarrassing incidents, scientists look to share more data Why the Higgs boson wasn't discovered in America The new biggest thing in the universe, and why it’s a headache for scientists How particle physicists are trying to understand the universe, not destroy Earth


Main Street Morning: D.C. start-up incubator 1776 is branching out to Dubai

- Conservative groups are targeting Target over its inclusive bathroom policy. - Sears would need to close nearly half its stores to succeed, according to a report. Restaurants - Bob Evans Farms says it will close 27 restaurants. - This chef slices 15 bell peppers at once. Sales Marketing - Could the future of advertising be…“Broad City’ emoji? - Kellogg’s launches a “breakfast with Cleopatra” virtual reality experience. - McDonald’s puts its U.S. creative account into review. Finance - How “promposals” are making your kid’s prom even more expensive. - Goldman Sachs launches an online bank for the masses. - A mathematician tries to figure out what would happen if we just gave people money. Start-ups - Five healthcare systems pump $17 million into a Google Glass start-up. - A business law professor reminds you to consider several factors when deciding where to incorporate your business. - More and more start-ups are embracing weed-friendly drug policies. - A start-up launches an ultra high-tech phone for executives. - This start-up wants to replace people’s addresses with three random words. Online - The U.S. launches its first cyberattacks against ISIS. Technology - Apple lays down the law on the Apple Watch, requiring native apps by June 1. - A new report shows healthy revenues for 21 benchmarked Internet of Things companies in the last quarter of 2015, with revenue growing by almost 15% to levels approaching $7 billion. On This Day in 1924 - Child Labor laws are adopted. Around the Country - The University of Florida holds the world’s first brain-controlled drone race. - Amazon wins a $30 million deal to sell e-books in New York City schools. - North Carolina House legislators plan to file a repeal of the “Bathroom Law.” - The last local Maine remnant of an industry that helped build cities from Boston to Bangor and beyond is gone. - The UPS Store plans a series of small business events across the country in May. Around the World - China is close to passing a strict law on foreign groups. - This is a first look inside a secretive Shanghai iPhone assembly plant. - Why global uncertainty is dimming business optimism. Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd PA consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. Follow Gene Marks and On Small Business on Twitter. News we should know about? Email us here.