U.S. affirms its prohibition on medical marijuana

ways.” But as it has in previous reviews, marijuana again failed an analysis conducted by the FDA and NIDA. The FDA concluded that medical and scientific data do not yet prove that marijuana is safe and effective as a medicine. Legally, that prohibits the DEA from reclassifying the drug. “We’re pleased to see that the Obama Administration … understands the science the way we and almost every single medical association in the country understand it,” said Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes loosening restrictions on marijuana. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) praised the decision to allow more facilities to cultivate marijuana for research, but said the decision doesn’t go far enough. “This decision ... is further evidence that the DEA doesn’t get it. Keeping marijuana at Schedule I continues an outdated, failed approach — leaving patients and marijuana businesses trapped between state and federal laws,” Blumenauer said. PostTV travels to the county in West Virginia with the highest-rate increase in marijuana possession arrests to see how pot laws have affected communities. Schedule I drugs — which include LSD and heroin, as well as marijuana — have “no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.” Schedule II drugs, such as the powerful narcotic painkillers that have caused an epidemic of addiction over the past decade, have medicinal value but “a high potential for abuse which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.” Marijuana was placed in Schedule I in 1970, when Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act. Research has shown that some components of marijuana have promise as a treatment for epilepsy and chronic pain. Some people use it to relieve the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, although research has not been conducted to prove its value for that condition. Rosenberg said that while individual researchers may have shown that marijuana or its extracts are helpful for certain conditions, the FDA has the most comprehensive view of the state of scientific research on the drug. "The FDA knows this better than anyone on the planet," he said, though he acknowledged that "a lot of people will disagree with that." He also noted that many people misconstrue the controlled substance scheduling regime as a ranking of drugs' relative dangers. Clearly, he said, marijuana is not as dangerous as heroin, LSD and


The Perseid meteor shower could be twice as awesome this year. Here’s how to watch.

for up to 200 meteors an hour. Of course, nothing is a shooting-star slam dunk. Naval Observatory astronomer Geoff Chester tempers the excitement with caution, reminding all sky gazers that meteor showers can be unpredictable. The Perseid meteors peak this Thursday evening into Friday morning, your best chances to catch the light show. The young, bright moon washes out many meteors Thursday evening, but chances get better after midnight: The waxing young moon sets at 1:09 a.m., welcoming heavenly darkness, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. So here’s hoping for clear skies. What are meteors? Comet trash. As ancient comets pass near Earth, they leave a dusty trail — and our planet speeds through the debris each year on its journey around the sun. When our planet crosses these paths, the little granular specs strike Earth’s atmosphere, and they light up and streak through our skies. For the Perseids, that comet is Swift-Tuttle, discovered independently in 1862 by astronomers Lewis Swift and Horace P. Tuttle, who happens to be buried in an unmarked grave at Oakwood Cemetery in Falls Church, Va. In this video from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, get tips on viewing the Perseid meteor shower and other astronomical sights in the August night sky. Watching the Perseids is easy: Go outside and look up. It’s that simple. If you’re in a neighborhood or an urban location, get away from porch lights and street lights — find a dark area and let your eyes adjust to the night. At 100 to 200 meteors per hour, at peak, you’re not going to see every shooting star, but it should be persistent — such as one every few minutes. Meteors appear to emanate from the constellation Perseus, which now rises before 10 p.m. in the northeast. But looking at any part of the dark sky will do — because they seem to zip through the heavens from every direction. Throughout this week until the peak, if you look up at the night sky, you could find a few Perseid meteors are already zipping across the evening heavens. After the peak, you can still find some stray shooting stars. Got cloudy skies? No worries. NASA will feature a live broadcast of the Perseids overnight between Thursday and Friday and and between Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 10 p.m. Eastern. Slooh.com will also feature shower coverage Thursday, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.


11 things to do in the D.C. area on the weekend of Aug. 12-14

If the weather reports hold up — hot, humid, oppressive — this sounds like a great weekend to find something to do inside. (With that in mind: Stay cool.) Here are this weekend's best bets in nightlife, festivals, museums, comedy and much more around the Washington area. - Picking and winning: Your guide to Maryland crabs What's new? 8 restaurants you should try right now Hungry for deals? The best restaurant week lunches The Racing Presidents will dress as Star Wars characters again for Star Wars Day at Nationals Park on Saturday. (2015 photo Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) Friday-Sunday: Friday-Sunday: Friday: Friday: Saturday: Star Wars- The Empire Strikes Back Trailer: 30th Anniversary (HD) Saturday: Among several activities at the open house: A calligrapher creating beautiful writing for you to take home. (Freer|Sackler) Saturday: Saturday: Saturday: Saturday: Sunday:


Sickly sweet: This dastardly virus uses smell to make bees do its bidding

University of Cambridge scientists have discovered new details about a virus that attacks tomato plants and causes the scent they emit to change. The altered scent is more attractive to pollinating bees. You know how the evolutionary arms race works: One creature attacks another — say, a virus infects a plant. The plants that are weakened by the virus die out, the stronger ones survive and reproduce, and through the power of natural selection, the plant species evolves resistance. Eventually, the virus finds a way to overcome the resistance, so the plant must evolve new protections. And so and so on, for hundreds of millions of years. But what if the virus found a way to short circuit this whole process? What if, instead of making sickly plants less likely to reproduce, it made them more likely to have offspring and pass along their traits? What if the virus could outsmart the process of natural selection to ensure that its host always remained vulnerable? This is a next-level evolutionary arms race. And it's happening in tomato gardens all around the world. Writing in the journal PLOS Pathogens In tomatoes, the virus changes the way its host plant releases certain strong-smelling chemicals, called volatiles, creating a scented siren song to lure bumblebee pollinators to the infected flowers. Those bees — now unwitting accomplices — pollinate the plants, ensuring that their virus-vulnerable DNA gets passed on to the next generation of tomatoes. Mathematical modeling suggests that this process overpowers the normal mechanism for evolving resistance. Ordinarily, sickened tomato plants bore smaller fruit with fewer seeds, making them unlikely to reproduce. But when bumblebees got involved, the infected plants produced more offspring and therefore became more evolutionarily fit. In this way, the virus rewards vulnerable plants and ensures the production of new plants to infect, said lead author Simon "Niels" Groen, who is now a postdoctoral fellow at New York University. "So the benefit for the virus would be that in the long term there would be a large chance there is always susceptible host." Researcher Alex Murphy releasing bumblebees in the "flight area" of the glasshouse in the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens, surrounded by tomato plants — some of which are infected with cucumber mosaic virus. (John Carr) Seriously: devilishly brilliant. The team at Cambridge is still teasing out how exactly this whole process works. It knows that the virus affects the


Kenyan coach sent home from Rio after posing as a runner to provide urine sample

Kenyan Athletics sent its second official home from Rio de Janeiro on Thursday because of drug-testing issues, according to the Associated Press. Track coach John Anzrah was caught impersonating Kenyan 800-meter runner Ferguson Rotich and providing a urine sample for the runner, who had been tagged for a random drug test. Anzrah was found with Rotich’s credential and reportedly gave a sample and signed forms under Rotich’s name. John Anzrah and the athlete, Ferguson Rotich, he attempted to take a doping test for. (via @bruce_arthur/@GameYetu) https://t.co/AUcWEOxMSI The IOC is investigating the incident, while the IAAF, track and field’s governing body, said it might launch its own, follow-up investigation after it receives information from the IOC. Meanwhile, Rotich and Anzrah are explaining the situation as an innocent snafu. Rotich reportedly said he lent Anzrah his credential Wednesday so the coach could eat a free breakfast. Rotich also claimed he went and found the tester after the fact to provide blood and urine samples. Rotich is scheduled to compete in the men’s 800-meter race, the first heats of which begin Friday morning. Among others, Rotich will run against world champion and world-record holder David Rudisha, a fellow Kenyan. Rotich finished fourth in last year’s world championships in Beijing. Rotich's agent tells me he's just been to the Olympic Village to talk to his runner, says he lent Anzrah his pass for a free breakfast y'day The allegations against Anzrah come as a second Olympic strike against the Kenyan team. On Sunday, Kenyan Athletics sent track and field manager Michael Rotich home from Rio after allegations surfaced that he offered to give journalists, posing undercover as coaches, advance warning about doping tests in exchange for 10,000 pounds, or about $13,000. Michael Rotich is also a regional official within Kenya’s track and field federation.


In case you missed it: Looking back on Day 6 in Rio

Ryan Lochte faded to a fifth-place finish. Then, as if racking up his 22nd gold medal wasn’t enough, Phelps plunged back into the water a mere 38 minutes later and managed to finish second in his 100-meter butterfly semifinal heat, qualifying for Friday’s final and a shot at a four-peat in that event. Getting back to the 200 IM, though, it provided a moment to forget, not that the Internet will ever allow it, for Elliotte Friedman. The CBC announcer got his lanes mixed up and called the entire race as if Lochte were finally beating Phelps. Ooooooooof. Somewhat lost in the drama of other swimming events was an American, Ryan Murphy, sweeping the backstroke events, winning the 200-meter Thursday after taking the 100 on Monday. Just before that, Japan’s Rie Kaneto beat controversial Russian Yulia Efimova to take gold in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke. Another realm in which U.S. gold shone particularly bright Thursday was on the judo mat, where Kayla Harrison laid claim to being the best U.S. judoka ever and possibly the best from any country. After winning her second straight gold medal, Harrison announced her retirement and may well be soon battling former judo bronze medalist Ronda Rousey in the UFC. Kayla Harrison, in white, went out very much on top against France’s Audrey Tcheumeo. (Jae C. Hong/Associated Press) The U.S. men’s volleyball team defied a raucous Rio crowd and got a crucial win over top-ranked Brazil, this after starting the tournament 0-2. On the beach, American volleyballers Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena sweated out a marathon match before topping Italy’s Paulo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo. Continuing its undefeated start was the U.S. women’s field hockey team, which beat India, 3-0. On the tennis courts, Monica Puig defeated Germany’s Laura Siegemund in singles to move just two wins away from giving Puerto Rico its first-ever Olympic gold. Spain’s Rafael Nadal reached the gold medal match in men’s doubles, with Marc Lopez, this after reaching the quarterfinals in singles a couple of hours earlier; little wonder that Nadal dropped out of mixed doubles. Noteworthy firsts for non-Americans came in rugby, where the Fiji men won gold for nation’s first Olympic medal, and in golf, where Great Britain’s Justin Rose notched the first hole-in-one in modern Olympic golf history. Golf, of course, was back in the Games for the first time since 1904. As mentioned, Phelps is set


‘Trash, unethical and dangerous’: Daily Beast lambasted for Olympic dating article

for sexual diversity at the Olympics — 49 of the 10,500 athletes are publicly out, a record high for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender competitors — was replaced by concern for the safety of closeted LGBT athletes, particularly those who may have to return to homes made more dangerous by potential outings. Columnist and LGBT advocate Dan Savage urged the Daily Beast to pull the story, writing on Twitter that Hines was “probably gonna get some gay guy killed with this piece.” Responding to the backlash, Daily Beast editor John Avlon initially appended a note to a revised version, apologizing “for any upset the original version of this piece inspired” while supporting the article’s fundamental premise and approach. “The concept for the piece was to see how dating and hook-up apps were being used in Rio by athletes,” Avlon wrote. “Some readers have read Nico as mocking or sex-shaming those on Grindr. We do not feel he did this in any way. However, The Daily Beast understands that others may have interpreted the piece differently.” Descriptions of the athletes’ profiles on the various dating apps were removed from the article, although cached versions of the original article remain online. (For an archived version of the revised article with descriptions of the athletes’ profiles on the apps removed, click here.) In the eyes of Andrew M. Seaman, ethics committee chair at the Society of Professional Journalists, the story was “journalistic trash, unethical and dangerous,” as he wrote on Thursday at the SPJ ethics blog. Hines’s premise failed to validate the surreptitious approach, Seaman said, per the organization’s code of ethics. Namely, who is sleeping with whom in the Olympic Village is not vital information to the public. “Assuming a news organization wished to spend its resources on a story about the sex life of Olympic athletes, it could be easily done with much more tact,” Seaman wrote. “For example, a reporter could use dating apps to contact athletes to arrange interviews instead of fake dates.” Thursday night, the Daily Beast pulled the article completely, replacing it with an editor’s note. “We were wrong,” the site’s editors wrote. “We’re sorry. And we apologize to the athletes who may have been inadvertently compromised by our story.” From body parts washing up near the beach volleyball venue to insensitive commentary about gymnast Simone Biles, here’s a look at moments that have roiled the Games.


Maryland open houses Aug. 13-14

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Is electoral violence in sub-Saharan Africa overreported? This new book looks at the data.

theoretical distinction than a strict typology. This is not to say it is unimportant — I think it is an important distinction to make in understanding the persistence of electoral violence and its effects — but the categories are admittedly fuzzy. Further complicating matters, both types of violence may occur in the same election, as the categories are not mutually exclusive. This is why I chose in my book to employ a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis as a sort of quality check to ensure my assumptions and measurements accurately reflected reality. KYD: When I think of election violence, I’m imaging what you characterize as the most severe, “Category 3” cases, like in Côte d’Ivoire in 2010-2011, when 3,000 people were killed. Or I think of the election that opens your investigation: Kenya in 2007-2008. However, the way you define the different types of pre-electoral violence suggests it’s broadly inclusive (pp. 35-36). For example, the most frequent form of violence is “violent harassment,” which was present in 37 percent of the elections you studied and includes instances of candidate disqualification and confiscation of opposition newspapers. The “violent harassment” category of electoral violence also includes party supporters fighting — and under that criteria, the 2016 American election campaign would be coded as violent. (And maybe rightly so.) Still, does this greater frequency of lower-level harassment lead people to overestimate the proportion of “violent” elections in Africa? SB: Does my categorization overstate violence in African elections? No, I would argue that my analysis is a more nuanced treatment of electoral violence than we have seen to date. Disaggregating election violence into multiple categories provides us with more analytic leverage than if we applied a simple binary assessment of “violent or not violent” to an election and set a minimum threshold of protests, injuries or fatalities. By looking at changes in the type and intensity of electoral violence over time, we can closely track not only any decline in electoral quality but also improvements — and we can assess what factors might account for changes in either direction. I’d like to emphasize that 43 percent of elections held in Africa are peaceful, which is commendable. And, as you mention, the majority of elections that I identify as violent are of the less intense variety. These elections are characterized by harassment and intimidation from state security forces, hired thugs and/or party functionaries. Opposition


that have taken place during the recent elections in Zambia, are just as important to monitor and understand. Left unaddressed, lower levels of violence can be a precursor to major violent episodes in future elections. The 2007 post-election violence was not Kenya’s first experience with turbulent elections. Violence had accompanied all multiparty elections in Kenya since 1992; only the intensity and perpetrators have varied over time. Electoral harassment or intimidation, my Category 1, might be common, but that doesn’t mean something can’t or shouldn’t be done about it. KYD: You shared some of Ushahidi Liberia’s crowdsourced data on 2011 electoral violence with caveats. These caveats included potential for citizens to over- or underreport violence, the low Internet penetration in Liberia, and the lack of cellphone infrastructure outside the capital city of Monrovia. As cellphone coverage and Internet accessibility continues to grow on the continent, what potential do you see in using future Ushahidi data for scholars and students studying election irregularities and electoral violence? SB: Just within the past six months, Uganda, Ethiopia, Congo-Brazzaville and Chad have all imposed social media blackouts during elections, under the guise of national security. Even Ghana, arguably one of the more mature democracies in Africa, recently floated the idea of shutting down social media during its upcoming December 2016 elections to prevent the promulgation of hate speech and dampen the potential for violent mobilization. As long as governments have and are willing to exercise control over information and communications technology in this manner, researchers will have to continue to take extra care to ensure that any data they analyze is representative, reliable and externally valid. KYD: SB: Stephanie Burchard READ MORE in this year’s African Politics Summer Reading Spectacular: Here are the books in the third annual African Politics Summer Reading Spectacular Is Rwanda’s authoritarian state sustainable? Unelected African chiefs make their countries more democratic. Here’s how. Yes, Central African Republic is a real country. But it’s a very different kind of country. Women’s rights groups in Niger push forward on gender equality Is AFRICOM all that bad? ‘Sex worker activism has exploded throughout Africa,’ and this new book explores how Where do African women have more power? Surprise — in countries emerging from war What do Africans really think about public health interventions from afar? The complex life and death of Ken Saro-Wiwa This novel illuminates life (and resistance) under repression in Ethiopia


The Olympic diving pool is closed because of its green water

Gross. (Matt Dunham/Associated Press) Officials in Rio closed the Olympic diving pool Friday morning, three days after the water at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center turned green. Here’s a shot from The Post’s Sally Jenkins. Dive training cancelled this morning due to slime colored water #Rio2016 https://t.co/q8wxCJZEgQ I don't know if sweeping it can make it blue again #Rio2016 https://t.co/j04mqSnXhV It’s not just the color … The Olympic diving pool has been closed again because of water quality issues...a German diver says "the whole building smells like a fart" Olympic officials have maintained all week that the green water was safe in both the diving pool and the water polo pool, which also has turned green. They blamed the color change on “a sudden decrease in the alkalinity” of the water and pledged that they were treating the pools with chlorine, which caused another set of problems: Water polo players started to complain about burning eyes. That problem has lingered into Friday and moved to the diving pool. Rio 2016 confirm diving pool closed this morning while they continue to sort out the water. One or two athletes had "itchy eyes". Erm.. But the divers have seemingly not had any issues, at least publicly. “We knew it was safe,” said Sam Dorman, part of the silver medal-winning U.S. synchronized diving team. “There were no issues, nothing to worry about. We really weren’t focused on that and just focused more on giving it one dive at a time, plain and simple.” Only one diving event was scheduled for Friday: the women’s three-meter springboard preliminaries, which were scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. EDT. No word yet on whether that event will need to be postponed because of the water issues. Friday’s water polo matches have started as scheduled, and the water appears to be the appropriate shade of blue. From body parts washing up near the beach volleyball venue to insensitive commentary about gymnast Simone Biles, here’s a look at moments that have roiled the Games.


Gene Marks: If you’re a small business dealing in marijuana, you’re still breaking the law

The U.S. government Thursday reaffirmed that if you use or sell marijuana you’re breaking federal law. Still. The Drug Enforcement Administration announced that marijuana would continue to be classified as a Schedule 1 drug – highly addictive and without medical benefit. The agency will allow more production of the drug for research purposes. But for now…it’s against the law. USA Today reports that: “In reaching its conclusion, the DEA said a Health and Human Services evaluation shows marijuana has no ‘currently accepted medical use’’ because ‘the drug’s chemistry is not known and reproducible; there are no adequate safety studies; there are no adequate and well-controlled studies proving efficacy; the drug is not accepted by qualified experts; and the scientific evidence is not widely available.’ ” The DEA also feels that marijuana has a “high potential” for abuse and can result in psychological dependence, the newspaper reported. “There is no evidence that there is a consensus among qualified experts that marijuana is safe and effective for use in treating a specific, recognized disorder,” the agency said. This is not good news for small businesses in the marijuana industry. Currently four states (Colorado, Alaska, Oregon and Washington) have made the drug legal for recreational use and 24 more states say that it can be used for medical purposes. Eight states will consider various forms of marijuana legalization in ballots this November. In 2015, marijuana sales exceeded $5 billion according to this report by the cannibis research group Arcview Market Research. Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been contributed to state coffers from added tax revenues. Hundreds of start-up pot-shops, dispensaries, manufacturers, farmers, packagers and other service providers have been created over the past few years, generating thousands of new jobs. But those businesses continue to operate under a big risk. Many national banks refuse to take their money for fear that they will be violating federal banking regulations. Marijuana business owners like this one in Colorado have had a tough time just keeping a bank account for their business (his 70-person company’s account back in March was with a credit union and only covered basic services such as direct deposit sending tax payments to the state.) Right now the Obama administration is “looking the other way.” But the DEA is not. Depending on who’s occupying the White House and Congress in 2017 there’s always a risk that the government may take


Why bronze medalists are happier than silver medalists, and other things the Olympics teaches us about human emotions

to provoke authentic and strong emotional responses in people in such an artificial environment. Not so at the Olympics. Athletes toil and sweat for years for sometimes just a few minutes of performance on the Olympic stage, and the winners and losers of various events can’t help but let their joy, anger, surprise, frustration or disappointment at their performance shine. Just look, for example, at the surprise and delight of Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui when she found out from a reporter that she had won a bronze medal in the women’s 100-meter backstroke — a reaction that has made her an Internet sensation. Chinese swimmer's won love around globe, HuffingtonPost says "This is #FuYuanhui's Olympics" https://t.co/FvKr2cKavk https://t.co/mjmRBiHHfc That has made the Olympics the ideal place for David Matsumoto, a psychologist at San Francisco State University and former Olympic judo coach, to study emotional expressions. In a series of well-known studies, Matsumoto looked at the faces of winning and losing athletes to investigate how universal human emotions are. In one study, published in 2009 in the journal Psychological Science, Matsumoto and two co-authors examined the facial expressions of 84 judo athletes from 35 countries who competed in the 2004 Olympics Games in Athens. The photographs were taken at a rate of eight frames per second to trace how athletes’ facial expressions changed as they learned of the match’s outcome and in the minutes that followed. The stakes were high: The matches the researchers looked at were either gold-medal judo matches — in which the winner would get a gold medal and the loser would get a silver — or bronze-medal matches, in which the winner received a bronze and the loser received no medal. Examining the photos, the researchers found evidence that facial expressions are both universal and culturally specific. In the moments after the athlete won or lost, they made facial expressions of joy, disappointment, surprise and other emotions that were remarkably consistent across countries and cultures. But as the seconds ticked by and the athletes realized they were on the world stage with many cameras pointed at them, their expressions changed in ways that did vary by culture. "Everyone has the first immediate reaction, but if you watch a second later, they then remember I’m on stage, I’m on TV, I’ve got to be a good winner, a good loser, and everyone modulates their expressions in a certain way,"


from many different cultures, but even among animals that have won contests. This suggests that it may be an evolutionary adaptation that is somewhat biologically innate to humans. The purpose is likely to establish who's on top in a particular social order by calling attention to that individual's victory, says Matsomoto. "It is part of how that individual and how that group establishes social hierarchy." What drives Olympic athlete's emotions? Matsumoto's findings echo the results of another famous study by psychologists Victoria Medvec, Scott Madey and Thomas Gilovich at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The researchers had undergraduates examine and rate the facial expressions of the athletes on a 10-point scale ranging from “agony” at 1 to “ecstasy” at 10. To some people’s surprise, immediately after results were announced, silver medalists scored 4.8 on that scale, well below the bronze medalists at 7.1. At the medal ceremony later that day, the silver medalists had fallen to a 4.3, still below the bronze medalists at 5.7. The reason, as Shankar Vedantam notes in an interview with Matsumoto on NPR’s Hidden Brain, has to do with the alternative that silver and bronze medalists were confronting in their competition. The silver medalists had just missed out on a gold medal — like Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev below, who lost out on the gold medal in the men's gymnastics individual all-around — while the bronze medalists were likely happy to have received a medal at all, like Jessica Fox of Australia below. "Getting a silver at the Olympic Games is an amazing accomplishment, but silver medalists are not very happy people all the time," says Matsumoto. Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev reacts after seeing the score for his final round that placed him in the silver medal category on Aug. 10 during the artistic gymnastics men's individual all-around final at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. (Julio Cortez/AP) Jessica Fox of Australia shows off her bronze medal for the kayak K1 women's canoe slalom event at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 11. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP) Matsumoto and his colleagues also observed that silver medalists and other athletes who had not performed as well as they hoped “managed” their expressions in similar ways. Those who had lost in gold- or bronze-medal judo matches often displayed polite expressions during the medal ceremony that Matsumoto calls “social smiles” — smiles in which only the


WHO will vaccinate in five African nations after polio outbreak

been seen in more than three years, Zaffran said. Some cases of polio are still caused by mutation of the weakened live virus used in vaccines, which is excreted and can be passed to other children. “It was to be expected that there was going to be some problems in the quality of surveillance, but we didn't think wild polio virus was circulating in this area,” he said. While acknowledging a major “disappointment,” Zaffran was upbeat about the prospects of controlling the outbreak. He said he did not know the cost but noted that millions of vaccine doses are in stock and that more would be purchased for later rounds of vaccination. The campaign will supplement ongoing initiatives in the five countries of the Lake Chad basin, he said. Cooperation from governments helps health officials know when it is safe to enter sometimes risky regions to vaccinate children, he said; in other places, health workers take advantage of military efforts to clear areas of combatants. Even in the most insecure countries, such as Syria and Somalia, health officials are sometimes able to mount “hit-and-run” vaccination strikes that get them out of dangerous areas in just a few hours. Still, because the vaccine must be administered several times, the campaign will require concerted work over a number of months, he said. One of the paralyzed children tested positive for polio on July 13, Zaffran said, and the virus was then found in tests conducted on healthy people who had contact with that child. In the other young patient, who developed symptoms of paralysis July 6, the virus could not be found in a stool sample, but the disease was confirmed when a healthy child contact tested positive. Klausner, who has conducted epidemic surveillance for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the vaccination program will be large and costly but is well worth the expense to prevent the resurgence of polio. “It’s logistically very difficult, but this is something that WHO and programs [in Africa] have experience with,” he said, describing the outbreak as a temporary setback. “Over the past couple of decades, millions and millions and millions of children” have been vaccinated. Zaffran said the latest development will not thwart efforts to rid the world of polio. “We believe that polio eradication is absolutely feasible and is on track and in spite of this very disappointing news,” he said.


U.S. swimmer Anthony Ervin defies age with gold at 35. Could Michael Phelps be next?

gold medal for $17,101 in 2004 to help aid the tsunami-relief efforts in Indonesia. And Ervin reportedly tried to commit suicide at one point, the low point before he eventually pulled himself back toward swimming. He began to make an earnest comeback ahead of the 2012 Olympics, qualifying for the London Games by finishing second at the U.S. swimming trials in the 50 free. That was a personal best, and although he finished fifth in the event in London, he continued toward the unthinkable prospect of swimming in Rio as a 35-year-old. But Ervin says he’s not done. “I’m gonna try and make the [2020] Tokyo [Olympic] team of course,” he said post-race. “Obviously I like being in an environment where I can keep trying to swim to the best of my potential and I don’t think my age should limit me to that and I don’t think fear of defeat should limit that either because I don’t think about winning or losing, it’s just about being the best I can be for me and those that supported me.” Phelps, who this week has answered wave after wave of questions about his age and whether he’ll be competing in the 2020 Games, would be 35 come Tokyo. Anthony Ervin just won Olympic gold. He is 35 years old. Michael Phelps was the oldest male swimmer to win Olympic gold. He is 31. 35-year-old Anthony Ervin just won gold. Michael Phelps will be 35 in 2020. So you're saying there's a chance... If Ervin can do this at 35, you've gotta think Phelps can too in 2020. I don't want this to be the end. After Ervin qualified this summer for Rio, he became the oldest American Olympic individual swimmer since 1904. His 16-year wait between Olympic golds was the longest of any athlete competing in the Games since 1924, and it tied the Olympic record for the longest ever. It also left plenty of people celebrating his win while comparing their own age to Ervin’s. Anthony Ervin didn't take a breath for 50 meters. He's 35. I feel ancient. Anthony Ervin, who is my age, just won gold in a 50m sprint swim. I'm not sure I could swim 50m without passing out and drowning. #gym When @AnthonyErvin won his Sydney medal, fellow Rio medalist @OleksiakPenny was 3 months old. Anthony Ervin is old like me omg 35 is the


Run Gringo Run! New cellphone game has fun with Olympic Rio’s street crime

(Orla Interactive) RIO DE JANEIRO — It's unlikely to be added to the long list of official products anytime soon, but a new cellphone game called Run Gringo Run may be closer to Olympic reality than any sponsor’s glossy TV commercial. Dreamed up by a group of Brazilian computer geeks looking for light relief from a corporate IT project, Run Gringo Run is a free application for Android phones whose central character is a foreign tourist fleeing a group of youths attempting to rob him. The fleeing foreigner can employ a number of tricks to escape them. Gringo is a catchall word for foreigners used across Latin America. And "gringos" in Rio de Janeiro for South America’s first Olympics have been dealing with all the crime cliches the "Wonderful City" has to offer. On Aug. 7, Portugal’s education minister was robbed at knifepoint by the picturesque lagoon where rowing races take place. The previous evening, two Australian coaches were held up at knifepoint in upmarket Ipanema. Days earlier, gunmen waylaid three Swedes who had stopped to photograph a favela — briefly seizing one of them, before releasing the visitor. As well as the crime, the gringo in the game personifies many of the cliches Brazilians see in foreign tourists. His gaudy Hawaiian shift is open over his beer belly, and his hair is shaved closely around his thick neck. When the youths arrive to rob him in a massed robbery called an ‘arrastão’, or dragnet, he runs away and can paraglide over hurdles, skate away on a longboard or accumulate enough coconuts and distance covered to “buy” a police officer who will get rid of the thieves. Other obstacles he confronts include an exploding manhole and a cycle path that collapses. Like the robberies, none of this is imaginary. Instead, for Cariocas, as Rio’s crime-hardened residents are known, scenarios like these are a real as the Christ the Redeemer statue or Copacabana Beach. The game’s creators say they are just having fun while trying to increase Brazil’s stake of a lucrative mobile gaming market. “It shows all the ills of the country in a fun way, not an offensive way,” said Luciano Nóbrega, 37, one of eight computer specialists from the south of Brazil who were working on a big IT project when they dreamed up the idea. It was designed by Ritchie Cantuaria, 33, who lives in the interior


What makes marijuana users different from everyone else

liberalized their marijuana policies, marijuana arrests are down while marijuana purchases are up. This means that the risk of getting arrested for marijuana use has fallen sharply since 2002. That year, there was one marijuana arrest for every 550 marijuana purchases, according to Davenport and Caulkins. By 2013, there was one marijuana arrest for every 1,090 purchases. "The criminal risk per marijuana transaction has fallen by half," they conclude. Much of that risk is still born by non-white marijuana users. Davenport and Caulkins stress that since the study was conducted over a period preceding the opening of recreational marijuana markets in Colorado and Washington, it doesn't offer any evidence on the merits or lack thereof of legalization. Legalizing marijuana in Colorado was supposed to help undermine the black market. Instead, it's had almost the opposite effect. PostTV brings you into the world of black market weed dealers to explain. "Our results can in no way be interpreted as evidence toward the successes or failures of marijuana legalization or even medical marijuana laws," they write. However, they say their research presents a number of things to consider as states like California, Arizona and Maine vote on marijuana legalization this fall. "Most people who have used marijuana in the past year are in full control of their use, and are generally happy with that use," Caulkins said in an email. But, "consumption is highly concentrated among the smaller number of daily & near-daily users, and they tend to be less educated, less affluent, and less in control of their use." The median marijuana user, in other words, may be someone who indulges periodically but generally doesn't consume a lot of it. However, most of the marijuana consumed in the U.S. isn't consumed by the median marijuana user, but rather by the very heavy users who smoke daily or more. "There is a sharp contrast between what policy is best for the typical user versus what is best for the people who consume most of the marijuana," Caulkins said. Legalization may not change much in the life of the typical marijuana user. But heavy users who overindulge may find it even easier to do so when marijuana is legal and cheaper to buy. The findings support the argument for legalization measures to be accompanied by public health protections -- like treatment programs and public awareness campaigns educating people about the risks of overuse.


In case you missed it: Looking back on Day 9 in Rio

won by U.S. athletes in tennis, with the team of Jack Sock and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, earning the mixed doubles title. Speaking of tennis, that takes us to Great Britain, which saw Andy Murray’s gold in men’s singles — his second straight — cap off quite a stretch Sunday. The Brits got things started with a gold medal by men’s gymnast Max Whitlock in the floor exercise, followed by a silver for Nick Dempsey in windsurfing. Justin Rose then won the men’s golf tournament before Whitlock claimed another gold in the men’s pommel horse, with teammate Louis Smith getting silver (American Alex Naddour earned the bronze). British athletes also went 1-2 (Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner) in the men’s cycling sprint event, then Murray had his triumph over Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. All told, Britain now has 38 medals in Rio, putting it in third place behind a pair of much larger countries, the United States (69) and China (45). Getting back to the Americans, the men’s basketball team posted a third straight unimpressive win, this one a 100-97 squeaker over France, which didn’t even bother putting veteran guard Tony Parker on the court. The women’s hoops team had an easier time of it, trouncing China by a 105-62 score to finish pool play undefeated, not to mention barely challenged. Another U.S. women’s squad entering the knockout rounds unbeaten after a win over China is the volleyball team, which clinched the top seed in the quarterfinals and will take on Japan on Tuesday. On the beach, Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross topped Australia’s Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy, 21-14, 21-16, to get to the semifinals. The U.S. men’s water polo team played its final Olympic match Sunday, but it went out on a high note with a 10-7 preliminary-round win over Italy. And in boxing, U.S. men Shakur Stevenson and D.C.-area native Gary Antuanne Russell won their round-of-16 fights. Looking ahead to Day 10, Biles will go for her fourth gold, this time on the balance beam, and Felix will again try to finish with the fastest time in the 400, with this one counting for all the marbles. The American beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena takes on top-seeded Brazil in the quarterfinals, and Emma Coburn will attempt to get the United States its first-ever Olympic or world medal in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase.


What glow-in-the-dark mosquitoes can teach us about human smell

But McMeniman explains that mosquitoes have a sophisticated mechanism called the antennal lobe that detects odors in the environment and funnels that information to regions of their brain that decide when it’s time to mate or feed. It gives mosquitoes an “exquisitely attuned sense of smell,” he said. And certain species of mosquitoes specifically lust after the smell of humans. Those same species also happen to transmit diseases like Zika, dengue fever and malaria. “If you give them the choice between human scent and animal scent, they will always go toward the human smell,” McMeniman said. Glorious. The science of humankind’s scent isn’t new. Researchers have long studied and catalogued the hundreds of chemicals humans emit aromatically. They’ve identified some, such as the carbon dioxide in our breath and lactic acid in our sweat, that send mosquitoes into a tizzy. The human-scented traps currently on the market, and there are some out there already, mostly exploit mosquitoes’ attraction to these smells. But McMeniman said that our understanding is still relatively simple. The project at Johns Hopkins aims to test the hundreds of chemicals we emit to isolate those scents that are uniquely human and that most appeal to disease-harboring mosquitoes. While the project is still in the very early stages, McMeniman’s goal is to create a refined cocktail of chemicals that is a near replica of the human aroma. “As you might expect, it’s quite a complex problem,” McMeniman said. “You have hundreds of chemicals potentially being released. Humans being humans, we vary in our diets, our genetics, our application of fragrances on our skin, such as deodorants or perfumes.” Once the lab has identified the right mix of chemicals, they can be used to lure mosquitoes into traps. Just don’t expect a line of human-scented products to follow. Candles, bath soaps and air fresheners that smell like humans are possible, if kind of gross, but McMeniman’s creation isn’t something your nose will be able to detect. “The lure we’re trying to develop hopefully won’t be perceptible to us,” he said. “Insects have this very finely tuned sense of smell, probably several orders of magnitude better than our sense of smell.” Read more from The Washington Post’s Innovations section. The government asked innovators to combat Zika. Here are their ideas. This robot lawyer helps the newly evicted file for housing aid Chinese company tests giant bus that drives over cars


Losing sleep over retirement worries?

(40 percent) - Job security (24 percent) - Paying of credit card debt (21 percent) - Keeping up with monthly expenses (21 percent) Millennials, despite having more time to save, still named saving for retirement as a major source of financial stress (38 percent). Other causes of financial stress for millennials: monthly expenses, 29 percent; credit card debt (26 percent) and student loans (24 percent). “With so many competing obligations and priorities, it’s natural for people to worry about whether they’re saving enough for retirement,” said Steve Anderson, president of Schwab Retirement Plan Services. “Roughly nine of 10 respondents told us they are relying mostly on themselves to finance retirement.” Nearly half of those surveyed said it is impossible to save enough in their 401(k) for a comfortable retirement. Question of the week: Are you stressed about your retirement? What is you biggest worry? Last week’s question: Don and Michele Behan of Gettysburg, Pa., wrote: My husband had to retire early due to a layoff and various health problems, including lung cancer, which fortunately was caught very early and is currently in remission. Our biggest regret was the lack of knowledge about when to liquidate his 401(k)s to help with our costs of living once his income was lost. We knew that because he was over age 55, but not yet 59 1/2 when he left his last job, that he could take out his 401(k) without early withdrawal penalty. However, we mistakenly assumed that rule held for all his 401(k)s, not just the one at his present job. So we cashed out a $47,500 401(k) from a job he had held 10 years prior. It wasn’t until we got a notice from the IRS informing us that we owed taxes on that withdrawal that we learned the rule about cashing in a 401(k) after the age of 55 due to a job loss (without incurring an early withdrawal penalty) only applied to the company of last employment. So we now owe the IRS the 10% penalty of $4,750, which we are paying through an installment plan. I now advise all our friends that it’s best to roll over any old 401(k)s into a new company of employment, so if an early job loss ever occurs after the age of 55, those funds are protected from early withdrawal penalty. I wish we had known this ourselves! Anthony Greszler of St.


The Daily 202: Can Trump chairman Paul Manafort survive new Ukraine revelations?

Paul Manafort watches from just off stage as Donald Trump speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last month. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters) THE BIG IDEA: We’re about to find out how loyal Donald Trump is to Paul Manafort, the man running his campaign. -- “Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from (Viktor) Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials,” Andrew E. Kramer, Mike McIntire and Barry Meier report from Kiev. “In addition, criminal prosecutors are investigating a group of offshore shell companies that helped members of Mr. Yanukovych’s inner circle finance their lavish lifestyles … Among the hundreds of murky transactions these companies engaged in was an $18 million deal to sell Ukrainian cable television assets to a partnership put together by Mr. Manafort and a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin.” “Before he fled to Russia two years ago, Mr. Yanukovych and his Party of Regions relied heavily on the advice of Mr. Manafort and his firm, who helped them win several elections,” the story notes. “During that period, Mr. Manafort never registered as a foreign agent with the United States Justice Department — as required of those seeking to influence American policy on behalf of foreign clients — although one of his subcontractors did.” In the 400-page ledger kept at party headquarters, inside a room which contained two safes full of $100 bills, Manafort’s name appeared 22 times over five years, according to Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau, which obtained the document and has an evidence-sharing agreement with the FBI. Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Manafort's client, is in exile in Putin's Russia. (Ivan Sekretarev/AP) -- In any conventional campaign, someone in Manafort’s position would not be able to survive a story like this. But this is not a conventional campaign… An editor at Fusion, the site owned by Univision, teased that more damaging stories will come soon: Speaking as someone who has a story coming this week: This is just the beginning for Manafort. It gets worse. https://t.co/5KTUsIHbX1 A Fox News contributor: The fact that Trump has started receiving security briefings and that Manafort may have access to them is not a joke https://t.co/gQkxDLFdKB A Republican strategist


leaders were targeted because of their Muslim faith, though they declined to say what evidence led officers to believe religion was not a likely factor. (Julie Zauzmer) - A top Justice Department official objected to paying $400 million to Iran at the same time that Tehran was releasing American prisoners, saying it would be seen by some as a ransom payment. (Wall Street Journal) - Boko Haram released a video appearing to show recent footage of schoolgirls kidnapped two years ago. The Nigerian militant group urged the government to release jailed fighters in exchange for the abducted children. (Max Bearak) - A Wisconsin judge overturned the murder and sexual assault convictions of Brendan Dassey, the 26-year-old profiled in the popular Netflix series “Making a Murderer.” In a 91-page order, the judge said investigators erred in their questioning of Dassey and deemed their methods unconstitutional. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) - Rand Paul endorsed Liz Cheney's primary opponent. He backed state Sen. and former Army special operations forces soldier Leland Christensen two days before Wyoming’s primary election, which the former vice president's daughter is expected to win. (Politico) - The mayor of Cannes, France, drew condemnation after banning “burkinis” – full-body, head-covering swim garments often worn by Muslim women -- from its beaches. (New York Times) Michael Phelps pulls away from Ryan Lochte to win the 200m IM Gold during the Olympic Games in Rio. (Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post) TEAM USA KEEPS CRUSHING IT, BUT RIO HAS PROVED ITSELF INADEQUATE TO THE TASK OF HOSTING AN OLYMPICS: -- The U.S. now has 69 MEDALS in Rio, -- Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte and three other member of the U.S. swim team were held up at gunpoint Sunday morning by men posing as police officers. -- Lochte described the harrowing incident to NBC News: -- Meanwhile, the Australian Olympic Committee has ordered its athletes to stay off Rio’s beaches after sunset, citing a spike in petty thefts along the shore. Usain Bolt wins again. (Cameron Spencer/Getty) -- Usain Bolt defended his title as the world’s fastest man, becoming the first runner to win the 100m race in three straight Olympics -- South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk stunned fans after winning gold in the men’s 400-meter final, Simone Biles wins individual Gold on the vault in Rio. (Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post) -- U.S. gymnast Simone Biles, 19, won her third gold


11 things to do in the D.C. area the week of Aug. 15-19

The Passenger's new location is a two-story building next to Ivy and Coney on Seventh Street NW. (Photo by Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) Monday, Aug. 15 Rent party at the Passenger: Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week at multiple area locations: Tuesday, Aug. 16 Free For All at the Shakespeare Theatre: Wednesday, Aug. 17 Go For Gold at Newseum: Trivia Under the Stars at Union Market: Thursday, Aug. 18 Cyrus Chestnut at Blues Alley: ‘Summer of 69: No Apostrophe’ at Warner Theatre: History and Hops at the Heurich House Museum: Friday, Aug. 19 Drake and Future at the Verizon Center: Alexandria Restaurant Week at multiple area locations: Truckeroo at the Fairgrounds: -- Fritz Hahn, John Taylor, Macy Freeman and Emily Codik Looking ahead: - Rock and Roll Hotel 10-year Anniversary, Aug. 21-27 - National Park Service’s Centennial Weekend Celebration at Wolf Trap, Aug. 24-27 - ‘Harlem Heroes: Photographs by Carl Van Vechten’ at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Aug. 26-March 19, 2017 Read more: - Where to get steamed crabs in the Washington region - The most promising menus of Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week - 8 new restaurants you should try right now


From Russia with love — and cash

A woman waits for Donald Trump to speak at a campaign event at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, N.H., in February. (David Goldman/Associated Press) For months news reports have documented the Russian connection to Donald Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort and other Trump advisers. Manafort’s five-year consulting engagement by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, the Russia puppet and corrupt oligarch, has come under scrutiny in light of Trump’s invitation for Russia to hack the Democratic National Committee, his criticism of NATO and his expressed admiration for Putin. These concerns heightened as Trump has continued to express admiration for and desire to get closer to an aggressive adversary of the United States and when Manafort, according to multiple sources, lied in denying that the campaign influenced the Republican National Committee platform committee to drop support for defensive weapons for Ukraine. Now, Manafort’s Russian relationship threatens to swamp his boss’s foreign policy address and intensify calls for both Manafort and Trump to release tax returns showing their sources of income. According to a New York Times account: Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials. In addition, criminal prosecutors are investigating a group of offshore shell companies that helped members of Mr. Yanukovych’s inner circle finance their lavish lifestyles, including a palatial presidential residence with a private zoo, golf course and tennis court. Among the hundreds of murky transactions these companies engaged in was an $18 million deal to sell Ukrainian cable television assets to a partnership put together by Mr. Manafort and a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin. In an alarmingly narrow denial, Manafort insists that he never received “cash.” There is no way to verify that, and given Manafort has already misled the media about the campaign’s platform antics, there is every reason to be suspicious that Manafort is hiding the ball. Moreover, debate about the means by which Manafort was paid does not negate the underlying problem: his professional and financial ties to Russia and their impact on Trump. Like President Obama’s cash airlift to Iran, an off-the-books cash transfer to Manafort looks awful; but it’s the relationship itself that has set


NBC appears unlikely to change after flailing its way through Rio Games

about the stories that go with that competition because most of these athletes are little known to the American public and many of them won’t be in the public eye ever again. “What we do know so far is 55 percent of our audience is female, which tells you this is not like a traditional sporting event. It is about story line as well as competition. We never would want any group of people, and women in this case specifically, to feel that we don’t respect that they are interested in the outcome. They of course are. But I think all Olympic fans — men, women and children — like to learn a little about these athletes and stories and the journey these mostly young people have taken to get to the pinnacle of their sport.” Perhaps, but NBC’s approach ignores the fact that viewers are changing. Your 84-year-old aunt may love to watch the Games as a reality show, but many others, who’ve grown up with ESPN and become sports junkies, want their events in real time, with fewer features and more actual competition. They can stream events live, but somehow NBC has to begin to figure out how it will cover the Olympics. Part of what made the delayed coverage so glaring is the fact that Rio is only one hour ahead of the East Coast. “We always take a step back after the Games and look at how we are going to evolve our coverage to continue to reach the highest audience, and frankly to pay off our advertising partners and give them a chance to reach our audience,” Lazarus said. “It is working well here and we will do the same thing for Pyeongchang [in the Winter Olympics of 2018] and Tokyo [2020]. We know the time difference is plus-14 hours to Pyeongchang but what we don’t know is the athletic schedule yet — what events are playing when. “That will have a bearing on what we do in prime time. That schedule will come out about a year out from the Games. The women’s downhill, for example, could run at noon over there and that would be in prime time live here. The time zone is an interesting one. Figure skating is a big piece of our winter planning and we are hopeful that they will have an afternoon program that will serve us live


Why so many fast-casual chains get started in Washington

Cava Grill, seen here in D.C.'s Tenleytown neighborhood, has opened around Los Angeles and will soon debut its first New York location. (Jeffrey MacMillan) D.C. residents who set foot in Philadelphia, Los Angeles or New York looking for lunch might recognize a few names: Cava Grill. Beefsteak. Sweetgreen. ShopHouse. &pizza. All these fast-casual chains have at least one thing in common: They started in Washington and have since gone national. Generally serving more expensive and less processed food than fast-food outlets, fast-casual eateries have become a rapidly expanding sector of the restaurant industry. Nowhere does this seem more apparent than Washington, where the area's demographics and mixture of urban environments have helped transform it into a reliable proving ground for new brands. Even when such markets as New York and Los Angeles are in the cards, companies view Washington as a more favorable option for getting started. Though he lives and works in New York and had the resources of the Chipotle behemoth, ShopHouse co-founder and brand director Tim Wildin said he still wouldn't have wanted to launch the Southeast Asian concept in Manhattan. New York is so dense and so "unlike anything else" in the country that Wildin said he felt it would be hard to get a read on how successful a new concept could be. "New York posed an interesting challenge because occupancy costs here are so high," Wildin said. Commercial rents there are cost-prohibitive, he said, and "the rents needed to be decent, and it needed to give us a shot at surviving or excelling." Washington seemed to be a good alternative. Despite the challenges of its restaurant zoning regulations, Washington has proven ideal for fast-casual restaurants because of its young-skewing demographics, with residents who are health-conscious in their dining and are willing to pay more for food they see as higher quality than fast food. Another contributing factor is the from-everywhere nature of the city and region, said Michael Lastoria, co-founder of &pizza, which recently announced it would be opening a location in Philadelphia this fall. (The company's first foray out of the immediate D.C. area was Baltimore.) Lastoria said that means you get a good cross-section of America, all in one place. "You're sort of proving that your cuisine or your restaurant or your concept can work with a lot of different types of people," he said. The transient nature of Washington can also


he felt it would be hard to get a read on how successful a new concept could be. "New York posed an interesting challenge because occupancy costs here are so high," Wildin said. Commercial rents there are cost-prohibitive, he said, and "the rents needed to be decent, and it needed to give us a shot at surviving or excelling." Washington seemed to be a good alternative. Despite the challenges of its restaurant zoning regulations, Washington has proven ideal for fast-casual restaurants because of its young-skewing demographics, with residents who are health-conscious in their dining and are willing to pay more for food they see as higher quality than fast food. Another contributing factor is the from-everywhere nature of the city and region, said Michael Lastoria, co-founder of &pizza, which recently announced it would be opening a location in Philadelphia this fall. (The company's first foray out of the immediate D.C. area was Baltimore.) Lastoria said that means you get a good cross-section of America, all in one place. "You're sort of proving that your cuisine or your restaurant or your concept can work with a lot of different types of people," he said. The transient nature of Washington can also be a good thing, because "so many people come to D.C. and then disperse around the country," said Sam Oches, the editorial director of Food News Media, which produces QSR magazine, an industry publication. When people leave, they want to find the food they had in D.C. in their new home. When brands expand, those expats are a built-in audience that can help spread the word. Lastoria said the Washington area is strong in urban diversity, as well, with dense inner suburbs (e.g. Clarendon or Bethesda) and traditional outer suburbs located within a relatively condensed area. Weeks away from opening a Chicago outpost of Sweetgreen, which already has locations in California, New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, co-founder Nicolas Jammet said the District is unique because it has mixed-use neighborhoods where people live, work and play, whereas other places are more segregated into separate locales. Cava Grill Another factor in Washington's favor, according to Oches: "You have a very cultured, diverse crowd of people who have very mature food tastes." They're willing to try spicy foods or unusual ingredients, not to mention a different approach to dining. Beefsteak, which specializes in vegetable-focused fare such as the Frida Kale salad, just opened


D.C. and then disperse around the country," said Sam Oches, the editorial director of Food News Media, which produces QSR magazine, an industry publication. When people leave, they want to find the food they had in D.C. in their new home. When brands expand, those expats are a built-in audience that can help spread the word. Lastoria said the Washington area is strong in urban diversity, as well, with dense inner suburbs (e.g. Clarendon or Bethesda) and traditional outer suburbs located within a relatively condensed area. Weeks away from opening a Chicago outpost of Sweetgreen, which already has locations in California, New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, co-founder Nicolas Jammet said the District is unique because it has mixed-use neighborhoods where people live, work and play, whereas other places are more segregated into separate locales. Cava Grill Another factor in Washington's favor, according to Oches: "You have a very cultured, diverse crowd of people who have very mature food tastes." They're willing to try spicy foods or unusual ingredients, not to mention a different approach to dining. Beefsteak, which specializes in vegetable-focused fare such as the Frida Kale salad, just opened its first location outside of the Washington area, in Philadelphia. (Scott Suchman for The Washington Post) "We have a very receptive audience in Washington," said Jim Biafore, the senior director of Beefsteak, chef José Andrés's vegetable-focused fast-casual brand. "They're not afraid to try new things." The decision to expand is not one any of the restaurateurs said they made lightly. Growing means scouring a potentially unfamiliar city for the right real estate and analyzing data on demographics and retail, among other things. Even after the decision is made, there are plenty of potential challenges, including finding new suppliers, recruiting qualified staff and ensuring consistency. Beefsteak recently opened its first location in Philadelphia. Biafore said after perfecting the Beefsteak model around Washington, opening the Philadelphia shop made sense. The University of Pennsylvania location is almost a mirror image of the Foggy Bottom original, situated in an urban core near both a hospital and college campus. "We always had plans to scale the business," Biafore said. "If you're in the restaurant business, you're in the growth business." Related items: - Chipotle wannabes find D.C. the perfect place for have-it-your-way cuisine - Fast Casual Madness: Taylor Gourmet takes the crown - With Beefsteak, José Andrés embraces fast food — and the humble vegetable


Gene Marks: Keep calm and delay on until Brexit

A lot of people were shocked when British voters chose to leave the European Union in June. Markets dropped. The pound plunged. A prime minister resigned. Fast forward two months later and American companies are still concerned about how this will affect them. And they have cause to worry. The U.K. has the fifth biggest economy in the world. American companies purchased more than $5.1 billion and sold more than $3.9 billion worth of products alone just in June. Some economists are predicting a significant economic contraction in Britain and others believe the costs of re-negotiating deals and building new policies will be costly. Optimists, though, think the decision will bring more than $64 billion a year to the U.K. economy, and provide more opportunities for science, farming and the car industry. In truth, no one really knows. That means if you’re a small business with significant customers (or vendors) from Britain you certainly have cause for concern. Time will be needed to adjust to this new reality, and the more time the better. That’s why a report in England’s Sunday Times brings good news for many. It seems Brexit won’t happen as fast as originally thought; most were preparing for Britain to leave the EU by the end of 2018. Now, ministers in the government are telling the business community privately that it looks more like the end of 2019. Upcoming French and German elections are being blamed. But the report cites that trade departments in Britain’s government also won’t be ready in time, so more time will be needed. People who want a quick exit are going to be angered, according to the article. But for both British and American companies, especially small businesses, the added time should be a welcome reprieve to help them prepare for what could be a big change.


Putting a computer in your brain is no longer science fiction

A map of myelin content (red and yellow are high myelin; indigo and blue are low myelin) in the left hemisphere of cerebral cortex. (Matthew F. Glasser and David C. Van Essen/Nature via AFP/Getty Images) VENICE BEACH, Calif. — Like many in Silicon Valley, technology entrepreneur Bryan Johnson sees a future in which intelligent machines can do things like drive cars on their own and anticipate our needs before we ask. Bryan Johnson (courtesy of Kernel) What’s uncommon is how Johnson wants to respond: find a way to supercharge the human brain so that we can keep up with the machines. From an unassuming office in Venice Beach, his science-fiction-meets-science start-up, Kernel, is building a tiny chip that can be implanted in the brain to help people suffering from neurological damage caused by strokes, Alzheimer’s or concussions. Top neuroscientists who are building the chip — they call it a neuroprosthetic — hope that in the longer term, it will be able to boost intelligence, memory and other cognitive tasks. The medical device is years in the making, Johnson acknowledges, but he can afford the time. He sold his payments company, Braintree, to PayPal for $800 million in 2013. A former Mormon raised in Utah, the 38-year-old speaks about the project with missionary-like intensity and focus. “Human intelligence is landlocked in relationship to artificial intelligence — and the landlock is the degeneration of the body and the brain,” he said in an interview about the company, which he had not discussed publicly before. “This is a question of keeping humans front and center as we progress.” Johnson stands out among an elite set of entrepreneurs who believe Silicon Valley can play a role in funding large-scale scientific discoveries — the kind that can dramatically improve human life in ways that go beyond building software. Though many of their ventures draw from software principles: In the last two years, venture capital firms like Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures and others have poured money into start-ups that focus on “bio-hacking” — the notion that you can engineer the body the way you would a software program. They’ve funded companies that aim to sequence the bacteria in the gut, reprogram the DNA you were born with, or conduct cancer biopsies from samples of blood. They’ve backed what are known as cognitive-enhancement businesses like Thync, which builds a headset that


Zika and the race to quell outbreaks: My talk with Anthony Fauci, NIH’s top vaccine expert

The Post's Brady Dennis talks with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about the process of getting a potential Zika vaccine tested and ready for the public. Anthony Fauci has spent his career hunting ways to treat and prevent infectious diseases, from tuberculosis to severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. He did pioneering work on deciphering how HIV/AIDS attacks the human immune system, and during more than three decades as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has continued the quest to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic across the world. In recent years, Fauci and other researchers at NIH, working alongside the pharmaceutical industry, also have found themselves scrambling to develop vaccines and treatments for emerging diseases such as Ebola and Zika. The NIH recently began the first human clinical trials for a vaccine to prevent Zika, a mosquito-borne virus that has infected hundreds of thousands of people across more than 60 countries over the past year. More than two dozen people have been infected in an ongoing outbreak in Miami. I spoke with Fauci on Monday about those efforts and why it takes years to develop an effective vaccine. We also talked about the risks that Zika poses to pregnant women and unborn children, why the lack of funding from Congress has hampered efforts to fight the current outbreak and about how much researchers still don't know about the once-obscure virus.


‘Inexcusable and baffling.’ Bowe Bergdahl’s lawyers say general burned letters in case

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, second from right, leaves the courthouse with his defense attorney, Lt. Col. Franklin Rosenblatt, after an arraignment hearing for his court-martial in Fort Bragg, N.C., on Dec. 22, 2015. (Jonathan Drake/Reuters) The lawyers for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl have lodged a new complaint in his controversial desertion case, saying that the four-star general overseeing the soldier’s court-martial should be disqualified after he burned more than 100 letters related to the case. In the filing, released late Friday, the defense team said that Gen. Robert B. Abrams, the commanding general of U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., acknowledged destroying the documents in an Aug. 8 interview with Bergdahl’s lawyers. The defense team said Abrams told them the letters “spanned the full spectrum of opinion” on what to do with Bergdahl, who walked away from his infantry platoon’s base in Afghanistan’s Paktika province in June 2009 and was subsequently captured by the Taliban. Abrams’s “inexcusable and baffling conduct plainly disqualifies him” from overseeing the case, the lawyers alleged. It also requires that his decision to refer Bergdahl to a general court-martial — the most serious kind the military holds — be vacated, they added. “There is no substitute for the letters GEN Abrams destroyed,” the defense team argued in a motion to disqualify Abrams. Their loss “prevents both the Court and the defense from knowing precisely how many such letters there were, what they actually said and, importantly, who wrote them and how we may get in touch with those individuals. This damage is irreparable.” A spokesman for Forces Command, Paul Boyce, characterized the Bergdahl team’s new filing as one in an “ongoing series of legal motions” made by both the defense and prosecution in the case. The next hearing in the case will be held Aug. 22 at Fort Bragg, while the trial is expected to start in February, he said. Bergdahl, 30, faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, the latter of which can carry up to a life sentence. He has said in interviews with both Army authorities and filmmaker Mark Boal that he did so because he wanted to expose problems in his unit and that he planned to travel about 20 miles on foot to a larger base nearby. Bergdahl’s lawyers also said Abrams should be disqualified from overseeing the case because of his earlier ties to the case


In case you missed it: Looking back on Day 10 in Rio

trio of American men — Devon Allen, Jeff Porter and Ronnie Ash — advanced to the semifinals in the 110-meter hurdles. Allen also plays football for Oregon and missed the 2015 track season after suffering a knee injury in the Rose Bowl. Falling short of gold — not that there’s anything wrong with it — was such a trend for Americans on Day 10 that even the previously untouchable Simone Biles followed suit. After three gold medals in as many women’s gymnastics events before Monday, Biles fell, almost literally, to a bronze in the balance beam, while teammate Laurie Hernandez took silver, behind Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands. A rare misstep for Simone Biles. (REUTERS/Mike Blake) Some American squads weren’t even fortunate enough to make it to the medal rounds, including the women’s field hockey team, which fell in the quarterfinals to Germany, 2-1. The U.S. had won its first four matches and was bitterly disappointed to not have gone much further in the tournament, but it still did far better than in 2012, when it finished last out of 12 teams. Another set of Americans bounced in the quarterfinals was Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena, who lost their men’s beach volleyball match to Brazil’s top-ranked duo of Alison and Bruno. Indoor volleyball brought the U.S. a happier result, as the men’s team advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Mexico, this after an 0-2 start at the Games. Boxers Antonio Vargas and Mikaela Mayer both lost, dropping Team USA to still very solid 10-5 in that tournament. Winning silver in heavyweight boxing didn’t sit well with Kazakhstan’s Vassiliy Levit, or with the many observers of his fight who thought that Russia’s Evgeny Tishchenko did not deserve the win. Deserving all the accolades coming her way was Poland’s Anita Włodarczyk, who destroyed her own world record with a gold medal-winning mark of 82.29 meters in the women’s hammer throw. Cuba’s Mijain Lopez won his third straight gold in Greco-Roman wrestling, a feat previously accomplished by only legendary Russian Aleksander Karelin. And British cyclist Mark Cavendish finally added an Olympic medal to his huge collection of Tour de France stage wins, taking silver in the men’s omnium competition. The U.S. track and field team will try to start a new gold medal streak on Day 11, with Christian Taylor looking to defend his Olympic title in the triple jump, while Allen and


How Olympic organizers make sure only official sponsors tweet about the games

Any new law typically provides much broader protection than basic trademark law and makes it easier to stop unauthorized activities. One day before Rio de Janeiro was chosen to host the 2016 Olympic Games, Brazil enacted the Olympic Act; it includes language that specifically protects the Olympic properties from unauthorized uses. The IOC is notorious for its aggressive protection of the Olympic properties. Its stated purpose for this fierce vigilance stems from a desire to make sure “the integrity and value of the Olympic properties are respected.” This stance also extends to country-specific Olympic organizations. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC), for example, has stated it’s intensely protective of its Olympic properties because it does not receive federal money to support athletes; it’s left to generate funds primarily through licensing, sponsorships and partnerships based on the properties. Unlike in other countries, American Olympic athletes are not financially supported by the government. There are no comprehensive statistics about how much these athletes get paid from the USOC, but media report their salaries are paltry. One study found that half of elite American track and field athletes make less than $15,000 a year. Fierce patrolling of the Olympic trademarks has led to significant clashes between the IOC, USOC and the public. In perhaps the most famous American case, the USOC successfully sued San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. in 1982 to stop it from using the word “Olympic” in its Gay Olympic Games. The USOC has also threatened lawsuits against and forced name changes for the Ferret Olympics, Rat Olympics and Olympets, among others. So who can actually use Olympic properties legally? Regular people, news entities and official sponsors are in the clear. TV companies have paid more than $4 billion to broadcast the 2016 Olympic Games. This year, the 11 official sponsors are poised to make more than $9 billion in marketing revenue, and much of this value comes from keeping everyone else out. Other businesses and brands, including an athlete’s individual sponsors, are severely restricted. The IOC did change its rules this year to allow athletes, for the first time, to tweet about their nonofficial sponsors and do generic commercials that do not refer to the Olympics or use any Olympic properties. Olympic track star Allyson Felix, for example, has tweeted her ad for Bounty paper towels in this manner. This pretty much sums it up. #QuickerPickerUpper #ad https://t.co/7UJNon74MW Even


Man’s ‘unusual fixation’ with Lebanese neighbors led to killing, Tulsa police say

their brother safe and to keep their mother safe,” she said. “It’s one thing if this guy came out of nowhere and shot their brother. But this is a person who was in jail for running over their mother. And it just seems like a system that doesn’t protect a family from someone who was a known threat to them is a broken system.” Abou-Chedid also suggested the current political climate could have played a role in the killing. “After 9/11 you did not see the rhetoric that you see now. It’s gotten so much worse,” she said. “If crazy people keep hearing that Mexicans are rapists and Arabs are terrorists, well then who are crazy people going to take their craziness out on?” The Jabara family is well known and loved in Tulsa, where they settled after moving to the United States in the early 1980s, according to Abou-Chedid. Haifa Jabara runs a popular Lebanese food catering business. Her husband, who was home during the attack, is ill. “They were a very nice family,” said a neighbor who asked not to be named. She said the whole neighborhood had been “watching out” for Majors, who was known to be “violent.” And she said she was “surprised and shocked” when Majors was allowed to leave jail before his trial. In their online posts, Khalid’s siblings sought to contrast him with his alleged attacker. Khalid “was hilarious, quirky, very intelligent, and really would give all of himself for anyone he loved,” his brother wrote. “Sensitive to the core, he loved others so much and wanted to be loved back,” said his sister. “Our brother Khalid was just 37 years old and had his whole life ahead of him,” she wrote. “He was a kind spirit, loving brother, uncle and son. Khalid’s heart was big. He cared for our entire family, our friends and people he didn’t even know. He created every Jabara family joke and filled our lives with love and laughter. All of that has been taken away from us by this hateful man and a system that failed to protect our community.” This post has been updated. See also: ‘Insane’ tragedy: Kansas boy dies on world’s tallest waterslide ‘I hope … I can be forgiven’: Man gets 100 years for ‘mercy killings’ of wife, sister ‘A terribly devastating event’: Black man killed by SWAT team was innocent, officials say


Bon Appétit hails Bad Saint as the No. 2 best new restaurant in America

Co-owners Genevieve Villamora, right, and Nick Pimentel, center, opened Bad Saint in Columbia Heights last fall. (Dayna Smith for The Washington Post) Don't expect the lines at Bad Saint to get shorter anytime soon. Bon Appétit has given the Filipino eatery in Columbia Heights the No. 2 spot on its Hot 10 list of the best new restaurants in America. Staplehouse in Atlanta took home the No. 1 slot. The food magazine had previously released its 50 nominees, which included Bad Saint as well as fellow locals the Dabney and Tail Up Goat. As part of the nationwide coverage for its September issue, Bon Appétit also named Washington its 2016 restaurant city of the year. The accolades aren't exactly a first for the city. In 2014, Rose's Luxury was named the best new restaurant in the country. The cover of the September issue of Bon Appétit. (Courtesy Bon Appétit) Bad Saint co-owners Genevieve Villamora and Nick Pimentel opened the 24-seat, no-reservations restaurant last fall with chef Tom Cunanan at the helm. Post Food critic Tom Sietsema gave it three stars and slotted it at No. 4 in his list of the area's 10 best new restaurants. Bon Appétit deputy editor Andrew Knowlton is now a fan, as well. "Their food is personal, but it's so much more than just dishes they ate as kids," Knowlton writes of the Bad Saint team in the magazine. "Bad Saint is the kind of place I spend all year searching for." After tasting some of the dishes there, "I canceled my second dinner that night. (I don't do that.) I wanted more." Knowlton and senior editor Julia Kramer traveled to more than 40 cities researching the September issue. After Bad Saint was included in the list of nominees, Villamora said they had some of the longest lines they've seen in months. (So good luck getting in.) If you haven't yet tried Bad Saint's food, you can at least take solace in the fact that Bon Appétit will include four recipes from the restaurant in its coverage: pork, vegetable and tamarind stew (sinigang); coconut-vegetable slaw; yellow chicken adobo; and shredded sweet potato and carrot fritters, or ukoy, which Knowlton says is "as addictive as a Bloomin' Onion but 50 times more delicious." Here's the entire Hot 10: 1. Staplehouse (Atlanta) 2. Bad Saint (Washington, D.C.) 3. Lord Stanley (San Francisco) 4. Morcilla (Pittsburgh) 5. Baroo


By 2085, most cities could be too hot for the Summer Olympics

published on the dangers of human heat stress due to climate change, in response to the new paper. But he added that the research didn’t necessarily imply an end to the Olympics under extreme warming, so much as the chance that the Games might have to be very different in the future. “For the Olympics there are many ways to adapt to the increased risk of heat stress, and there I don’t see why one could not change the format of such an event a bit to reduce the risks for the athletes,” Knutti said by email. “They made approximate calculations using well established heat stress metrics that are well validated in sports and occupational medicine and military contexts and find that a dramatic reduction in the area in which summer marathons can be run for a variety of models and various thresholds,” added Matthew Huber of Purdue University. “As they point out, heat stress is already a major issue in summer sporting events, and it is reasonable to think that this will only become a larger issue in the future.” But Huber also suggested that there is the possibility of “adaptation” to changing conditions, and of athlete “acclimatization,” at least up to a point. “If we commit to such extravagant warming, the health of elite athletes running marathons will be the least of our worries,” he noted. Indeed, Smith and Knutti also noted the larger point is not about the Olympics, but rather, about people who work outdoors and who are massively more numerous than elite athletes. These are the individuals who will really suffer the most from an increasing risk of heat stress going forward. “A canceled marathon in the Olympics is just like a particular flooding in a city: the visible tip of the iceberg that is part of a much bigger problem of climate related impacts hitting billions around the world, and mostly the poor,” said Knutti. Smith acknowledged, of course, that the world could get off of a high emissions pathway — the Paris climate agreement is meant to do precisely that — and so lessen the blow in the year 2085. He also added that while 2085 might sound far away, many children today will be alive then. “I’m trying to think of ways to basically bring the future forward, to get the future in people’s eyes today, and this is one,” said Smith.


Inside D.C.-area’s most expensive homes for sale

The newest listings range from $3.99 million to $10.6 million. With the help of Rockville-based multiple-listing service MRIS, we compiled a list of some of the most expensive houses for sale in the Washington area. This month, the most expensive new listings include a vineyard, an equestrian property, two modern penthouse condos and a classic Georgetown home built in 1805. The 6,400-square-foot estate at 14727 Mountain Rd. in Purcellville, Va., is listing for $12 million. (Marco Castaneira) • 14727 Mountain Rd., Purcellville, Va. $12 million Agent: Isabelle Truchon, Keller Williams Realty This Loudoun County vineyard and winery estate encompasses 413 acres, including 23 acres of vines, with a potential for an additional 100 plantable acres. The estate includes a tasting room and winery facility, a five-bedroom manor house built in 1840, a large-event gazebo, a pole barn, a refrigerated storage room, a caretaker’s home and stables. Short Hill mountain is part of the property along with a large pond, four smaller ponds and multiple creeks. The tasting room, patios and terraces add up to 6,400 square feet. The winery currently produces 4,000 cases per year and is equipped to produce 6,000 cases. The 2,891-square-foot penthouse at 3303 Water St. NW #8H in the Georgetown section of Washington is listing for $5.75 million. (Marlon Crutchfield) • 3303 Water St. NW #8H, Washington $5.75 million Agent: Jonnie Jamison, J2 Real Estate This Georgetown condo has approximately 2,891 square feet plus a 1,400 square foot riverfront terrace. The penthouse home has water views from floor-to-ceiling windows with mechanical shades, a custom-installed sound system and custom built-in features. The condo has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a den. The kitchen has upgraded appliances and the bathrooms have Italian marble flooring. The condo comes with two garage parking spaces, two storage spaces, concierge services, a doorman, a fitness center and a swimming pool. Tempi Creek Farm, which rests on 53 acres at 21953 Willisville Rd. in Upperville, Va., is listing for $5,275,000. (Upward Studio) • 21953 Willisville Rd., Upperville, Va. $5,275,000 Agent: Scott Bush, Century 21 New Millennium Tempi Creek Farm rests on 53 acres and includes a custom-built home with five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a sunroom, a fireplace, wood stoves, a wet bar and an upgraded kitchen with two islands and a copper farmhouse sink. The home has a three-car garage. The property includes a seven-stall barn with an attached Olympic-size covered arena, a


Nearly two decades of data reinforce concerns that pesticides are really bad for bees

to concerns about their effects on bees and other pollinators. Numerous studies have indicated that exposure to these pesticides can have adverse effects in insects they were not intended for, hindering their ability to pollinate or reproduce or leading to increases in mortality. In fact, in 2013, the European Union Until now, most of the research on their effects has been limited to short-term, small-scale studies, many of them performed in laboratory settings, said The researchers focused on the different responses between bee species that forage on pesticide-treated oilseed rape crops — the same plants commonly used to make canola oil — and bees that forage on other plants. Oilseed rape crops are widely treated with neonicotinoids around the world, and the practice began on a wide scale in the U.K. starting in 2002. It’s the biggest mass flowering crop in the U.K. where neonicotinoids have been widely applied, according to Woodcock, making it an ideal subject for the study. The researchers were interested in finding out whether bee species that forage on oilseed rape plants have experienced greater declines than bee species that don’t. So they gathered nearly 20 years’ worth of data, mostly collected in surveys by citizen scientists between 1994 and 2011, on where bee species have been spotted and what plants they foraged on. Different species often prefer to snack on different plants, and some of the included species visited oilseed rape plants while others didn’t do so at all. The researchers incorporated all the data, along with information on oilseed rape cover and pesticide use in the U.K., into a model that helped them analyze all the information. Using the model, the researchers zeroed in on individual plots of land. Using all the survey data they’d compiled, they were able to note which species had been observed in each plot and which ones disappeared from those plots over the course of the study period. To be clear, the researchers weren’t able to say whether the number of individual bees in any given plot decreased or increased in abundance. Rather, they simply took note of which species vanished, or went locally extinct, in any given area over time. “The way we look at it is whether or not a species was present in a location and not present in the next year,” Woodcock said. Overall, the researchers found that these little extinctions were three times more


Yet another federal court has told the DOJ to stop harassing medical marijuana providers

are in compliance with applicable state laws. The court had been asked to rule on whether the Justice Department had proper authority to press forward with federal drug charges in 10 cases involving medical marijuana dispensaries and growers in California and Washington state. In 2014, Congress passed a bipartisan measure, known as the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, prohibiting the Justice Department from using federal funds to prevent states from "implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana." The agency interpreted the measure to mean only that it couldn't stop state governments from carrying out their medical marijuana laws — not that it couldn't prosecute cases against individuals or businesses in those states. The Justice Department's interpretation infuriated the bill's sponsors. Last fall, a federal judge issued a scathing rebuke of the DOJ, saying that its reading of the bill "defies language and logic," "tortures the plain meaning of the statute" and is "at odds with fundamental notions of the rule of law." Today, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit agreed. The panel concluded that "at a minimum, [Rohrabacher-Farr] prohibits DOJ from spending funds from relevant appropriations acts for the prosecution of individuals who engaged in conduct permitted by the State Medical Marijuana Laws and who fully complied with such laws." The judges emphasized that their ruling rests primarily on the simple, plain-language meaning of the amendment. The judges quote relevant case law: "It is a 'fundamental canon of statutory construction' that, 'unless otherwise defined, words will be interpreted as taking their ordinary, contemporary, common meaning.' " They then go on to quote numerous passages from Merriam-Webster, the American Heritage Dictionary, and the Oxford English Dictionary to interpret the words of the amendment. The court sent the 10 cases back to lower courts to determine whether the defendants were in compliance with state medical marijuana laws. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Marijuana advocates cheered the decision. "This is a major blow against the federal government's continuing war on medical marijuana and the people who rely on it for relief," Tom Angell of the Marijuana Majority said in an email. More from Wonkblog: What makes marijuana users different from everyone else The DEA warns marijuana grow spots are the ‘new meth houses’ Quiz: Do your neighbors think you’re running a marijuana operation?


Thousands of Olympic volunteers have quit due to long hours and no food

A volunteer stands under heavy rain during a track and field event. (Leonhard Foeger/Reuters) With less than a week left of the Rio Olympics, organizers are running into a new problem — many of the Games’ volunteers have, well, un-volunteered. “Many volunteers had to quit because they had to work two weeks in a row, schedules were messed up, lots of people quit because of the food: they were told to work eight, nine hours and were only provided with a little snack,” one such volunteer, Luis Moreira, told Canada’s CBC on Tuesday. Moreira quit his job as a volunteer this week because of what he says is the organizing committee’s lack of “consideration for people’s lives and welfare.” “It was as though the organizing committee was doing us a favor,” he said. “The committee uses the volunteers to make money, uses us for free labor.” Only about 35,000 of the 50,000 people who volunteered to help out at the Rio Games have continued to show up, according to the New York Daily News, but Olympic organizers say this isn’t a problem. “This number allows us to operate at a comfortable level as some volunteers not showing up was factored into our plans,” organizers said. Rio Olympics spokesman Mario Andrade said Games organizers were seeing holes in the schedules of workers. “We did have some lower number in volunteers attending in some critical activity. We went very close to 50 percent attendance in some areas,” Andrade said, according to The Post’s Sally Jenkins. Many of the volunteers who are disgruntled are those who work away from the action. They direct people to stadiums and arenas on the street; they shuttle officials between the venues. They’re not the volunteers who, say, set the pace in the keirin track cycling races. That guy, who gets face time with his favorite athletes, seems pretty happy. “They are not just athletes, they are Olympic athletes,” 35-year-old Ivo Siebert, an avid cyclist who owns a bike shop, told the Los Angeles Times this week about his job as the pace setter for the track cycling’s keirin races. “They are semi-gods.” Siebert didn’t mention what his snack situation is like. The most stunning images from a wide variety of events since the beginning of the Olympics.