In Afghanistan, a series of attacks on Americans during ‘non-combat’ operations

complicated nature of the Afghanistan war as its 15th year begins. While U.S. officials debate the merit of expanding the war against the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria, Washington keeps three times as many service members in Afghanistan, with an even larger force of contractors and civilian employees assisting. Combat operations in Afghanistan are over, White House and Pentagon officials say, but those deployed still face a variety of attacks in what commanders call “noncombat” operations — even, as with Davis, when driving to work at dawn on a base with a 13-mile perimeter. “It’s obviously still a combat environment, even when we’re focusing on protecting” Bagram, said Army Lt. Col. Matt McCulley, who leads Task Force Buffalo, a unit devoted to providing security on and around the airfield. “If you don’t go out, you’ll never know something is wrong — until something catastrophic happens.” Fifteen Americans have died and 63 have been wounded in Afghanistan since the beginning of the year, including five killed in action, according to statistics released by the Pentagon on Nov. 18. The United States will keep 9,800 service members there through most of 2016, with 5,500 expected to stay through at least 2017, following an October decision by Obama to extend how long he will keep thousands of troops deployed. U.S. and Czech soldiers patrol north of Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan on Oct. 20. (Photo by Dan Lamothe/ The Washington Post) In Iraq, meanwhile, the United States has about 3,300 troops deployed, with plans to send about 50 Special Forces soldiers to Syria in coming days to work with rebel groups fighting the Islamic State. Ten American service members involved in the operation have died since it began in June 2014, and five have been wounded in action. Of the 10 deaths, one — Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, a member of the Army’s elite Delta Force – was killed in action. Wheeler was buried at Arlington Cemetery Wednesday. Obama’s decision to keep more troops in Afghanistan longer came as the country faces a spike in activity by the Taliban as well as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. Extending the U.S. mission in Afghanistan means that troops will continue to face improvised explosive devices and ambushes, even though the mission has turned almost entirely to advising and assisting. [‘Probably the largest’ al-Qaeda training camp ever destroyed in Afghanistan] Army Gen. John


Nearly 600 ancient, massive galaxies emerge from hiding

ESO’s VISTA survey telescope has spied a horde of previously hidden massive galaxies. (ESO/UltraVISTA team/TERAPIX/CNRS/INSU/CASU) When astronomers try to look at the universe's earliest galaxies, they run into a problem: The bright, easy-to-spot massive galaxies just weren't as common back in the day. The universe's first galaxies aren't ostentatious enough for easy discovery. [Nine new dwarf galaxies full of dark matter found just chilling around the Milky Way] But in a study published Wednesday in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers report a staggering 574 newly discovered, massive galaxies from the early days of the universe. They spotted them by looking for light close to infrared. Because the universe is always expanding, distant objects seem to race away from us, causing their light to be distorted. Looking for near infrared light helps scientists cut through both the distance and the dust that obscures these ancient stars, revealing the galaxies that can stay hidden despite their monstrous size. [The Hubble takes a peek at galaxies from the dawn of time] "We uncovered 574 new massive galaxies — the largest sample of such hidden galaxies in the early universe ever assembled," lead researcher Karina Caputi said in a statement. "Studying them allows us to answer a simple but important question: when did the first massive galaxies appear?" These new-old galaxies suggest that galactic monsters (galaxies the size of our own and bigger) started forming around 1 billion years after the Big Bang. Their abundance also suggests that large galaxies were much more common at the time than we'd realized — and there are probably more galaxies out there still waiting to be discovered. That might mean that astronomers need to revise some of their models of the way the early universe behaved. Read More: Why NASA’s top scientist is sure that we’ll find signs of alien life in the next decade Scientists caught a new planet forming for the first time ever These newly discovered stars may be the oldest in our galaxy The most Earth-like planet we know about is probably being blasted with radiation ‘Have you SEEN Pluto?’ — New Horizons scientist still rallying for planetary status These birds actually ‘tap dance’ to attract mates


The political responses to Paris have little to do with what we know happened in Paris

is that the crisis is being used as an excuse -- an opportunity -- despite there not being evidence that it necessarily should. Consider other recent crises that led to political opportunities. The financial crisis led to Dodd-Frank. The Patriot Act passed a month after the 9/11 attacks. That tragedy also led to the war in Iraq, as chronicled by Bob Woodward. Thing happens; response is fast-tracked. The success of those responses is left to the reader's subjective interpretation, but it's important to note that, the responses included things tangential to the motivating crisis. It would be tidy to conclude that the lesson from the attacks in Paris is that we should take action only on demonstrable evidence. That excludes the idea that we also need to act preventatively, to change things before they break the economy or human lives. And it excludes the idea that the evidence we have in the moment could be wrong or incomplete, as Colin Powell might attest. The real lesson is that we should notice when a crisis is being leveraged for a political end, and include that in our understanding as we sort through the rubble. You don't want a crisis to go to waste as an opportunity to fix a problem or to finally enact the reforms that would have prevented the crisis in the first place. You simply want to assess those opportunities and the motivations for them as comprehensively as you can. The more important lesson is to recognize that crises can cloud our judgment. In 1942, then-California attorney general Earl Warren was testifying before Congress about the perceived threat posed by Japanese-Americans on the West Coast. As we noted earlier, Warren was asked why he was worried about the threat of sabotage by Japanese sympathizers despite there being no examples of that happening. That absence of evidence, Warren suggested, reinforced the idea that saboteurs were simply biding their time and demonstrated to him that the risk was even higher than if actual sabotage had occurred. That's nonsense, of course. But this was months after Pearl Harbor -- one of the great crises in American history. President Franklin Roosevelt sent Japanese-Americans to internment camps shortly thereafter, which in 1988 President Ronald Reagan acknowledged was a mistake. The crisis let the government, worried about the Japanese threat even before the 1941 attack, do something it thought it could not do before.


Right Proper Brewing will open its Brookland brewery and tasting room on Dec. 3

Right Proper Brewing Company's new Brookland brewery is a former car repair shop. (Photo by Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) Mark your calendars, beer lovers: Right Proper Brewing Company is opening its Brookland production brewery and tasting room on Dec. 3. Right Proper received government approval today and can begin brewing immediately; co-founder Thor Cheston expects the brewery will have at least five beers on tap to welcome visitors It's been more than a year since Right Proper started converting a car repair shop on Girard Street NE into a brewery that could supplement the output from its popular Shaw restaurant and brewpub. "We completely maxed out production at the brewpub," Cheston says. "We've had lots of requests from accounts that want our beer. We thought, 'Why don't we shoot for the stars and build a production facility?'" The brewpub can produce about 1,000 barrels of beer a year, and the new facility's capacity "is easily 10,000 barrels a year," Cheston says. "We can expand very easily." The brewery has the potential to brew up to 13,000 to 15,000 barrels a year, he adds, but says he hopes Right Proper will sell 3,500 barrels in its first year. Expansion means it will be easier to find Raised by Wolves pale ale or the kellerbier Being There at other bars, as long as you live in Washington; Cheston says there are "no plans to distribute outside of D.C." at this point, as limiting the range will allow Right Proper to keep tighter control of the freshness and quality. Right Proper's brewing facility is essentially two breweries in one, due to the special bacteria and yeasts used in brewer Nate Zeender's funkier beers. (Photo by Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) Those who love Right Proper's quirky selections, such as the honey-based saison The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull, will still want to head for the T Street brewpub. "We'll produce our greatest hits here" in Brookland for distribution, Cheston explains, while the brewpub will be used as "a more experimental pilot system, not that it wasn't before." Head brewer Nathan Zeender will oversee the beer at both locations, while brewer Chris Percello will handle day-to-day operations at the brewery. When I toured the facility back in October, Zeender was especially excited about the three 45-hectoliter foeders, made from French oak, which are used to age the sour and funky beers that have


Jrink juicery opens its first stand-alone location in the District today

New at the Foggy Bottom Jrink: a line of herbal teas made in collaboration with Carlene Thomas of the blog Healthfully Ever After. Photos courtesy of Carlene Thomas. Since Jrink went brick-and-mortar in 2014, its strategy has been to nestle a mini juice bar inside a like-minded, health-centric business. (See: Sculpt DC in Metro Center, Xtend Barre in Blagden Alley, Epic Yoga in Dupont Circle). But today marks the opening of the cold-press juicery’s first stand-alone location in the District, in the ground level of an old townhouse in Foggy Bottom (1922 I St. NW). “It’s a safe haven in a very busy area,” Jrink co-owner Shizu Okusa says. She should know: Okusa and her business partner, Jennifer Ngai, left their private equity jobs at the World Bank in 2013 to work on the company full time. [Related: Stop your ‘cleanse.’ Start drinking juice just because it’s delicious.] The new Foggy Bottom location — the chain’s fifth — offers the same all-produce juices you’ve come to expect at the other stores, including the popular Wake Me Up, made with orange, carrot, grapefruit and ginger, and the Pumpkin Chai, made with tigernut milk, pumpkin, pea protein and dates. New to this location: a series of three hot teas that range in intensity, made with ingredients like rose hips, elderberry and turmeric. “One is for preventing sickness, the next is if you’re feeling a tickle in your throat, and the third is if you’re sick and just need comforting,” Okusa says. Also unique to this location is a $9 tasting option that allows you to sample multiple juices. Oh, and a large communal table with chairs, something that was out of the question at the other D.C. locations due to space constraints. “We wanted to build a community and offer a hangout spot,” Okusa says. Coming soon: a machine to froth Jrink’s line of nut milks, to which customers will be able to add a shot of cold-brew coffee. You may also enjoy: Five things to know about Chaia, now open in Georgetown


A growing number of lawmakers wants Obama to fire the nation’s top drug cop

say definitively a few days later that heroin is indeed more dangerous than pot. "Well over one million people use marijuana -- smoked or otherwise -- in accordance with state law to relieve symptoms associated with chemotherapy, glaucoma, PTSD, chronic pain and more," the lawmakers' letter states. Studies have generally found that marijuana is effective at treating pain, especially in place of more dangerous prescription painkillers. In response to a request for comment, the DEA directed me to a statement it issued last week saying "to clarify, Acting Administrator Rosenberg indicated that marijuana should be subject to the same levels of approval and scrutiny as any other substance intended for use as a medicine. DEA supports efforts to research potential medical uses of marijuana. To this end, DEA has never denied a registration request from anyone conducting marijuana research using FDA approved protocols." Researchers, however, point out that the DEA has been a major roadblock to marijuana research over the years. Last month the Brookings Institution issued a scathing report arguing that the "federal government is stifling medical research in a rapidly transforming area of public policy that has consequences for public health and public safety." The report details how the DEA has traditionally opposed loosening restrictions on medical marijuana research by denying appeals to reschedule the drug, sometimes against the guidance of federal judges. "The DEA itself has been integral to limiting access to marijuana that can be legally used for research, creating bottleneck and uncertainty challenges for potential researchers," the lawmakers write. Currently, all marijuana used for research purposes in the U.S. must come from a single facility at the University of Mississippi. "Through his statements, Mr. Rosenberg has demonstrated he is not the right person to hold the job as head of the DEA and we urge you to find new leadership that can work to develop the right tools to properly rationalize our treatment of marijuana," the lawmakers conclude. "The call for change at DEA is picking up steam" said Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority, the group that started the petition, in a statement. "Now a bipartisan group of lawmakers has placed this controversy right on President Obama’s desk. If he doesn’t act to make a change soon, this is going to be a continuing political problem for his administration." Angell's group plans to deliver the nearly 100,000 petition signatures to DEA's headquarters tomorrow morning.


PM Update: Rain departs in rainbow bonanza; Dry but blustery on Friday (PHOTOS)

Fog and a rainbow over D.C., Nov. 19, 2015. (Andreas Saviolakis) Rain underachieved this morning Friday brings sunny, but cooler and breezy conditions. Through Tonight: Tomorrow (Friday): See David Streit’s forecast through early next week. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email in-box? Subscribe here. Rainbows galore! Rainbow at dusk, Nov. 19, 2015. (Phil Yabut via Flickr) Who would have guessed the rainbow ends in the middle of the Ellipse? @capitalweather @interior #FindYourPark https://t.co/5ohP5vwNB0 @capitalweather Pretty magical at the Cathedral tonight. Storm's a-passing... https://t.co/CEiTeyRE8G @CatholicUniv @capitalweather from @CUArch https://t.co/sQlejvcXEQ November rainbow over Adams Morgan. @nbcwashington @capitalweather https://t.co/sltHeYc6KR @capitalweather Beautiful rainbow over NW DC https://t.co/wpAaSwABJG Definitely in the right place at the right time. Rainbow over College Park #mdwx @capitalweather @wusa9 https://t.co/pyCAvJwPBl White House rainbow @capitalweather https://t.co/05v5NGkOP4 @capitalweather https://t.co/yBxHCUiNjT Makes the rainy day worth it... @capitalweather https://t.co/lwntUDTy3R Very wide, bright rainbow just now (seen from Friendship Heights looking East). Weak "double" too. @capitalweather https://t.co/OFgoAVy4HB .@capitalweather rainbow from the Key Bridge going into Georgetown. https://t.co/yCxGHgRUoK Double #rainbow over #NIH @capitalweather https://t.co/aWrisqyR62 Ashburn Virginia 4:00 p.m. 11/19/15 https://t.co/eydRlHwDMM .@capitalweather https://t.co/1QRzOCeE4s Even where rainbows weren’t within view, the dusk, sunset light was magical, interspersed with fog: capitol too @capitalweather https://t.co/96TNtPyO7I awesome post rain ambience over Library of Congress @capitalweather https://t.co/ganwCkKMYQ Fog rising up off the Occoquan at Belmont Bay. @capitalweather https://t.co/Len4tfmDda .@capitalweather From a 19th & K rooftop, Rosslyn is shrouded in clouds. https://t.co/hcvOm1ERSE eerie fog + light in #Georgetown +#Rosslyn on #Potomac right now! @georgetowndc #dc #dcwx @capitalweather https://t.co/wglNPmX101 Clouds breaking up at DCA @capitalweather https://t.co/RKxlDclAac @capitalweather Fog-sunset-blue sky- Rosslyn https://t.co/5uwq6skY6Z Dramatic skies after a stormy day. Gorgeous #sunset to end the day @AGU @capitalweather https://t.co/epCkpc1L6x


‘Scandal’ stuns viewers with abortion scene in the season’s winter finale

Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope. (ABC/Nicole Wilder) (This is the 13th installment in a series that looks back at celebrity or pop culture news of the week.) Abortion story lines are rarely featured on prime-time television (with a few exceptions). When they are, it’s even more unusual that it involves a main character — and that the character goes through with the procedure. So Thursday night’s “Scandal” stunned quite a few viewers when D.C. fixer Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) had an abortion, a storyline that came out of nowhere. The audience had no idea that Olivia, finally together with President Fitz (Tony Goldwyn), was pregnant. Fitz didn’t even know she was pregnant. In the middle of the episode, viewers suddenly saw Olivia arrive at a medical office and then lie down on an operating table as a doctor began the procedure. There was no dialogue from Olivia — just the sound of “Silent Night” playing in the background, along with voice-over of Olivia’s father Rowan (Joe Morton) delivering this speech in another scene: “Family is a burden … a pressure point, soft tissue, an illness, an antidote to greatness. You think you’re better off with people who rely on you, depend on you, but you’re wrong, because you will inevitably end up needing them, which makes you weak, pliable. Family doesn’t complete you. It destroys you.” Once viewers figured out what was happening, “Scandal” trended worldwide on Twitter and some cast members started weighing in: Only @ShondaLand could make Rowan’s last speech, over Olivia’s abortion, sound like gospel. #Scandal This is a conversation we need to be having. I'm beyond proud of @ShondaRhimes for one of the bravest storylines I've ever seen. #Scandal In her weekly recap podcast “Shondaland Revealed,” executive producer Betsy Beers interviewed Goldwyn and only briefly discussed Olivia’s pregnancy, calling it “the thing which is not spoken of.” “It’s not spoken of in the episode at all,” Beers said. “It just happens, there’s no lead-up.” “That’s what I thought was so brilliant about it,” Goldwyn added. Before Thursday’s show started, ABC teased that Olivia Pope would make the “biggest decision” of her life, and carried a “due to adult content, viewer discretion is advised” message. The episode also focused on Planned Parenthood. In a major plot point, Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) — the president’s ex-wife and a junior senator from Virginia — helped kill a Senate spending


How the medicine you take can impact your sex life

(iStock) As we age, it's easy to blame problems in the bedroom on our bodies getting older or stress related to things like kids, finances and marriage. Those issues could indeed be responsible, but another, lesser-known culprit may reside in our own medicine cabinets. From your everyday, over-the-counter pain reliever to the latest chemotherapy treatment, all drugs have the potential for side effects. Common minor side effects for drugs taken internally include nausea and drowsiness. However, some of the most widely used medications also have the ability to produce unexpected changes in sexual arousal and performance. For instance, lipid-lowering drugs like statins and fibrates can lead to erectile dysfunction and difficulty achieving orgasm for both men and women. Some antidepressants induce ejaculation failure, impotence and a lowered libido, while anti-anxiety medications list diminished orgasms and pain during intercourse as possible problems for patients. It's also known that diuretics/water pills and certain beta-blockers taken for high blood pressure are linked to erection dysfunction. And for those who take more than one type of medicine, one drug may interfere with the metabolism of another and result in heightened negative side effects. Upon prescribing a new medication, a physician will typically mention specific guidelines and need-to-know information — for instance, make sure to take each dose with food, avoid alcohol, or expect to feel some nausea. However, one topic that isn't always discussed in the doctor's office is how certain drugs will affect a patient's sex life. Some experts believe patients should be more aware of the influence of prescription or over-the-counter drugs, instead of simply blaming advanced age or stress. We spoke with Albert Wertheimer, professor of pharmacy administration at Temple University, and Patricia Bush, professor emeritus of Georgetown University School of Medicine, who recently co-authored the book "Your Drugs & Sex: How Prescription & Non-Prescription Drugs Can Affect Your Sex Life." Q: Many people assume that their doctors would notify them if a certain medication could significantly influence their sex lives, but is this not typically the case? Wertheimer: Bush: Q: What kinds of unintended sex-related effects can prescription and over-the-counter medications have? Bush: Wertheimer: Q: Why is it important that people be aware of these lesser-known side effects? Bush: According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the percentage of people aged 65 and up who took one or more medicines was 67 percent for men


Maryland open houses Nov. 21-22

Stauffer Rd HOWARD COUNTY CLARKSVILLE 21029 12007 Catherine Close Rd 11914 Northern Bell Way 5012 Bee Frances Way COLUMBIA 21044 10890 Olde Woods Way 5560 Vantage Point Rd 21045 6081 Charles Edward Ter COOKSVILLE 21723 2026 Drovers Lane 2030 Drovers Lane 2050 Drovers Lane 2025 Drovers Lane 2042 Drovers Lane ELKRIDGE 21075 6942 Lennox Ave 7029 Joann Khan Dr 7033 Joann Khan Dr 7962 Blue Stream Dr Barry Lane Barry Lane 6006 Chris Way 2lot Chris Way 6354 Forest Ave 6354 Forest Ave ELLICOTT CITY 21042 8662 Wellford Dr 8714 Wellford Dr 8668 Wellford Dr 8658 Wellford Dr 11050 Resort Rd #first Floor 2628 Queensland Dr 21043 5929 Logans Way #2 5865 Duncan Dr 5945 Logans Way #2 5945 Logans Way #1 5827 Duncan Dr 8558 Coltrane Ct 8533 Coltrane Ct 8556 Coltrane Ct 8600 Coltrane Ct 8028 Brightfield Rd 8613 Falls Run Rd #h 7644 Stony Creek Lane 27 Lot Church Lane Rd 27 Lot Church Lane Rd 5lot Old Montgomery Rd 5lot Old Montgomery Rd 5lot Old Montgomery Rd 6lot Old Montgomery Rd 6lot Old Montgomery Rd 6lot Old Montgomery Road 8lot Old Montgomery Rd 8lot Old Montgomery Rd 8lot Old Montgomery Rd FULTON 20759 11414 Dairy St 11412 Dairy St 11456 Iager Blvd 11410 Dairy St 11522 Iager Blvd GLENWOOD 21738 14305 Roxbury Meadow Dr SAVAGE 20763 8401 Commercial St WOODBINE 21797 2803 Bridalwreath Ct 15213 Sweetbay St 15225 Sweetbay St WOODSTOCK 21163 1682 Woodstock Rd 10203 Harrison Grant Dr MONTGOMERY COUNTY BARNESVILLE 20838 18401 Barnesville Rd 22201 Beallsville Rd BETHESDA 20815 6820 Wisconsin Ave #6001 20816 5307 Falmouth Rd 4309 Torchlight Cir 4309 Torchlight Cir 20817 7117 Natelli Woods Lane 5508 Oak Pl BROOKEVILLE 20833 21408 Ridgecroft Dr BURTONSVILLE 20866 4305 Camley Way 4324 Camley Way 4317 Camley Way 4439 Camley Way 4411 Camley Way 14315 Beaker Ct CABIN JOHN 20818 2 Russell Rd CHEVY CHASE 20815 4800 Chevy Chase Dr #510 CLARKSBURG 20871 0 Public House Rd 13225 Catawba Manor Way 12220 Majestic Maple Dr 12225 Majestic Maple Dr 12217 Majestic Maple Dr 11407 Piedmont Ct DERWOOD 20855 7813 White Cliff Ter 0 Picea View Ct GAITHERSBURG 20877 9305 Emory Grove Rd 20878 1104 Main St 229 Kepler Dr 514 Copley Pl 518 Copley Lane 534 Copley Pl 516 Copley Pl #. 119 Copley Cir 125 Copley Cir #. 627 Crown Park Ave 225 Kepler Dr 9756 Fields Rd 20879 19421 Poinsetta Ct 20882 22601


Main Street Morning: To impede terrorists, E.U. cracks down on bitcoin

offering hope to start-ups. Online - YouTube says it will pay legal fees for some video makers. - Mark Zuckerberg donates big money to bring the Internet to more U.S. schools. - Google Hangouts will now let users be called without a Google account. - Uber now lets employers pay for their employees’ business related commutes. Social Media - Facebook is building a super-fast 100-gigabit Ethernet switch. Ideas - Fourties-style rooms are helping residents with dementia at this facility remember the past. Around the Country - New York City launches a $2 million effort to help women close the small-business gender gap. - A convicted spy is released from prison after 30 years. - An Arizona party venue is under fire for bad business deal. - Black studies programs are in trouble at U.S. colleges. - New Jersey ranks last in a list of states with the best business climates. - Here are the cities where rich and poor people live within blocks of each other. - The City of San Francisco is suing American Express to get back billions of dollars for merchants in California. - Judges for the Pennsylvania agency that regulates buses and taxis recommended a record $50 million fine against ride-sharing company Uber for operating in the state without approval. - The Comcast Foundation awarded $92,000 to The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh. - Here are the cities with the worst interstate traffic. - After a noticeable warm winter, snow is finally coming to the Midwest. - Austin and Dallas earn the top two spots for black business owners in the country. Around the World - Europe is cracking down on Bitcoin to impede terrorist financing. - Paris bookstores are selling out of Ernest Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast” while other businesses in the city are moving on amid grief and fear. - These five facts explain the dire economic costs of the Paris attacks. - The world’s second-largest diamond is found in Botswana. - Apple Pay arrives in Australia for American Express cardholders. - Martin Shkreli is at it again. - China cuts its rates on loans to small businesses. - Oh…and a belated happy World Toilet Day to you! Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd PA consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. Follow Gene Marks and On Small Business on Twitter. News we should know about? Email us here.


Are Musk, Bezos and Branson the Wright brothers of today? Some in Congress think so.

out that the commercial space industry has had three catastrophic failures in the last 13 months—Orbital ATK and SpaceX rockets that were to supply cargo to the International Space Station blew up, and a Virgin Galactic test flight crashed, killing one of the pilots. [Watch a SpaceX rocket almost land on a floating platform.] “With these major accidents as a backdrop, I think it is unconscionable that we are here today moving this bill in its current form,” she said. “When the inevitable accident with significant loss of life occurs—whether it’s a year from now or five years from now—the American public will look back at what we are doing today and ask how we could be so short-sighted.” In the past several years, the commercial space industry has made some major leaps, giving hope that it is finally on the verge of a tipping point. SpaceX, the California company founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has won multi-billion dollar NASA contracts to fly cargo and, eventually, astronauts to the space station. The company is building its own private spaceport in southern Texas for commercial launches, and also appears to be on the verge of winning a lucrative contract to launch a national security satellite for the Pentagon. After years of relative quiet, Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, has also shown some progress. Earlier this year, it launched an unmanned rocket to what’s considered the edge of space in a test flight. And it is reportedly planning another test flight soon. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Despite its crash last year, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic is forging ahead with plans to fly tourists to suborbital space--though it's not clear when that will happen. Meanwhile, SpaceX and Blue Origin have taken over historic launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral, signs that that the commercial sector is emerging into what was once exclusively the government’s domain. [Jeff Bezos' space company to launch from historic pad on Space Coast.] And both have designed their rockets so that the booster stage, the most expensive part of the rocket, would be recovered and reused—instead of getting ditched in the ocean. Once they are able to perfect that—and Musk has come close twice—the cost of space travel would drop dramatically. And that, analysts say, would be a major breakthrough that could change how humans fly to space.


Scientists say deforestation may threaten a staggering half of Amazon tree species with extinction

Forest on a plateau in a bauxite concession (Nassau Mountains) in North Suriname. (Image credit: Hans ter Steege)S Tropical tree species could be in much bigger trouble than scientists had thought: A new study, which involved collaboration from dozens of researchers, suggests that at least 36 percent and up to 57 percent of all Amazon tree species are likely at risk of extinction, depending on future deforestation rates. If true, this information would raise the number of threatened plant species on Earth by about 22 percent. The research Using the IUCN framework is one of the paper’s major strengths, said “The problem is there are lots of definitions of the word ‘threatened,’” Pitman said at the teleconference. “Each country — oftentimes agencies with a country, NGOs, researchers — have different definitions. One thing that’s special about this paper is that we’ve made a real point of reporting our results using the most common currency of conservation status, the IUCN red list framework.” However, Pitman added, about 90 percent of plant species on Earth have yet to be assessed by the IUCN, as it requires an enormous amount of resources to go through every species one by one. “What we’ve tried to do with this paper is a kind of shortcut, a kind of triage, that can give us a preliminary look at the conservation status of all these species,” he said. And what he and his colleagues found is that “several thousand Amazonian trees that aren’t currently on the red list probably deserve to be.” The tree inventory data the authors used came from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network, which includes more than 1,700 tree inventory plots throughout the Amazon. And their deforestation data came from published work on deforestation up through 2013 and projections for future deforestation in the year 2050. The IUCN red list framework takes future threats into account when determining a species’ conservation status, which is why the authors included future projections for deforestation in their study. They considered two different future scenarios: a “business-as-usual” scenario, in which deforestation continues at its current rate, and an “increased governance” scenario, in which deforestation is slowed in the future. Under the business-as-usual scenario, 57 percent of the Amazonian species can be considered threatened, and under the increased governance scenario, 36 percent. In 2009, a “We came up with very similar numbers,” Feeley said. “That’s a great thing in


This tiny moth is stirring up the GMO debate in New York

contained, area. The company plans to continue more caged trials next spring, and hopes to segue into open field trials later in the summer. However, these plans have met with opposition from several organizations, including GeneWatch UK, the Center for Food Safety, Friends of the Earth, Food Water Watch and the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York. The debate “We’re worried about what the effects of these trials outside of the cages [will be],” said Liana Hoodes, policy adviser at the Hoodes said NOFA-NY would like to see an impact analysis on the possible effects of GE moths on non-target species — that is, organisms besides diamondback moths — in case they happen to be eaten by birds or other animals or even accidentally consumed by humans. In fact, Shelton had to apply for a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture before proceeding with the trials — a process that required an Still, Hoodes expressed the desire for a more comprehensive impact analysis. And in a But Chris Creese, Oxitec’s communications manager, cautioned that the insects are designed with a disadvantage: Since their populations are designed to eventually die out, “their genes don’t spread,” she said. And Shelton noted that diamondback moths tend not to travel far from their release sites. But even if the trial moths were to travel outside their study sites and wind up in other areas, Morrison insisted that “there’s no mechanisms of harm identified” when it comes to the insect’s impact on humans or the environment, which is in keeping with the USDA’s environmental assessment. “The insects are non-toxic, non-allergenic,” Morrison said. “If a predator were to eat one of our moths, it would be the same as eating a pest moth. We’ve done feeding studies with predators and parasitoids on our supplementing insects, and the effect is the same.” It’s not just the environmental impact that’s worrisome, though, according to Hoodes. She said there’s a possibility that the presence of the GE moths could affect the organic “The marketplace expects the product to be free of genetically modified organisms,” she said. There are other concerns as well. If the open field trials proceed next year, it’s possible that Shelton’s team may choose to import extra non-GE moths in order to supplement the experiments — an idea that some groups find distasteful. “The whole purpose of this is to test for [the effects


National Zoo needs shorter hours so its trucks won’t hit joggers

Bao Bao is one of the most famous faces of the National Zoo. The zoo will now be open for fewer hours. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press) The National Zoo will cut its hours starting Jan. 1, opening later in the mornings and closing earlier at night. The zoo will go from being open 98 hours a week in the summer and 84 hours a week in the winter to 77 hours a week in the summer and 63 hours a week in the winter. The cut of more than 20 percent of the zoo’s hours was a decision based on safety, Director Dennis Kelly told The Washington Post on Friday. The zoo is popular among runners and joggers for its 2.5 miles of trails, not just its pandas and other critters. Kelly said that those joggers tend to collide with the many vehicles that bustle around the zoo ferrying food, keepers and veterinarians to the animals, especially when it’s not quite light out in the early hours of the morning. “We’ve had for some time, going back years, increasing concern about safety and security,” Kelly said. “We’ve observed many near misses for walkers and joggers, particularly in the dark. We’ve had joggers with headphones bumping into parked vehicles.” Under the new hours, the zoo grounds will open at 8 a.m., not 6 a.m. They will close one hour earlier at night — 5 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. in the winter, 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. in the summer. As a trade-off, the exhibit buildings where some animals are housed indoors will start opening at 9 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. Their winter closing time, however, will be moved half an hour earlier, to 4 p.m. The bike path through Rock Creek Park that passes through the zoo will remain accessible to the public from dawn to dusk, Kelly said, even when the zoo is not open. Kelly said he knows that some people who get their morning run in at the zoo will be disappointed. “I’m a neighbor. I understand your frustration, but I run a zoo,” he said. “Our mission as a zoo has to focus on safety and security.” He added, “I’m just not going to wait and have a tragedy here.” More National Zoo coverage: The frantic six-hour effort to save the life of a baby panda twin Baby Bei Bei opens his eyes 154


one of the most famous faces of the National Zoo. The zoo will now be open for fewer hours. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press) The National Zoo will cut its hours starting Jan. 1, opening later in the mornings and closing earlier at night. The zoo will go from being open 98 hours a week in the summer and 84 hours a week in the winter to 77 hours a week in the summer and 63 hours a week in the winter. The cut of more than 20 percent of the zoo’s hours was a decision based on safety, Director Dennis Kelly told The Washington Post on Friday. The zoo is popular among runners and joggers for its 2.5 miles of trails, not just its pandas and other critters. Kelly said that those joggers tend to collide with the many vehicles that bustle around the zoo ferrying food, keepers and veterinarians to the animals, especially when it’s not quite light out in the early hours of the morning. “We’ve had for some time, going back years, increasing concern about safety and security,” Kelly said. “We’ve observed many near misses for walkers and joggers, particularly in the dark. We’ve had joggers with headphones bumping into parked vehicles.” Under the new hours, the zoo grounds will open at 8 a.m., not 6 a.m. They will close one hour earlier at night — 5 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. in the winter, 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. in the summer. As a trade-off, the exhibit buildings where some animals are housed indoors will start opening at 9 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. Their winter closing time, however, will be moved half an hour earlier, to 4 p.m. The bike path through Rock Creek Park that passes through the zoo will remain accessible to the public from dawn to dusk, Kelly said, even when the zoo is not open. Kelly said he knows that some people who get their morning run in at the zoo will be disappointed. “I’m a neighbor. I understand your frustration, but I run a zoo,” he said. “Our mission as a zoo has to focus on safety and security.” He added, “I’m just not going to wait and have a tragedy here.” More National Zoo coverage: The frantic six-hour effort to save the life of a baby panda twin Baby Bei Bei opens his eyes 154 adorable zoo babies


Donald Trump vs. Bowe Bergdahl: Soldier’s lawyer says political attacks have gone too far

at the minimum, jeopardized the lives of others who were ordered to search for him for weeks in combat afterward. Bergdahl was charged by the Army in March, and faced a hearing in September in which investigating officers described him hatching a poorly formed plan in which he ran away from his patrol base to a larger military installation nearby to cause an uproar and get the attention of a general officer in order to air gripes about his fellow soldiers. [Bergdahl’s former platoon leader: ‘Absolute disbelief I couldn’t find one of my own men] Bergdahl was taken captive within hours of leaving his patrol base, Observation Post Mest, and held for the next five years in Pakistan by the Haqqani network, a group linked with the Taliban. He was tortured regularly, starved and tried to escape repeatedly, said Terrence Russell, an official with the Pentagon’s Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, during testimony in September. The decision of whether to try Bergdahl rests with Abrams, a four-star general at Fort Bragg, N.C. In the meantime, appeals have been filed by the soldier’s lawyers and the media asking the Army to release hundreds of documents associated with the case. It is those appeals to which the latest filing regarding Trump apply. It includes a list of occasions on which the candidate has ripped Bergdahl as a “dirty, rotten traitor” a “no-good traitor” or alleged that “he went to the other side,” meaning he joined the Taliban. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, left, and defense lead counsel Eugene Fidell, center, look on as Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl is questioned during a preliminary hearing to determine if Sgt. Bergdahl will be court-martialed, Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Bergdahl, who left his post in Afghanistan and was held by the Taliban for five years, is charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. (AP Photo/Brigitte Woosley) On at least one occasion, Trump also has also suggested dropping Bergdahl off in Afghanistan, which he said would save the United States a bullet. Those are the sort of thing that Bergdahl’s legal team knows it can’t stop, but questions the cumulative effects. “The First Amendment rules out any effort to prevent Mr. Trump from making these defamatory remarks,” Bergdahl’s new filing said. “The fact remains, however, that his pattern of doing so, with the full glare of public attention before mass audiences around the


NFL plans second week of increased security after Paris terrorist attacks

early and to limit what they were bringing into stadiums. Last week’s beefed-up security made for slight delays for fans entering the stadiums. “Stadium security will remain at a heightened state of alert,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told The Post in an email, “and we will continue our enhanced comprehensive security plans.” [NFL beefs up security] In their first home game since the Paris terrorist attacks, the Atlanta Falcons were alerting fans to arrive 45 minutes earlier at the gates for the game against the Indianapolis Colts. “In response to recent world events, the Georgia World Congress Center Authority is implementing enhanced security measures, including increased law enforcement, for our game on Sunday,” the Falcons said in a statement. “You may notice these changes as you arrive or depart from the game. The enhanced security measures are not the result of any targeted threats; rather, they are prudent measures under the circumstances and were made in coordination with NFL security recommendations. Your safety is extremely important to us, and we appreciate your understanding.” [Reminder: Here’s the NFL’s bag policy] Fans are urged to comply with rules put in place in 2013 about using see-through plastic bags of a designated size for anything they are bringing into the stadiums. “If it is essential to bring a bag, it must be in compliance with the clear bag policy which requires that it be made of clear plastic, vinyl or PVC and not exceed 12″ x 6″ x 12″. It is important that all fans comply with these requirements, and we appreciate their efforts to cooperate with these security measures,” the league said in a statement last week. (Courtesy NFL) There were no specific threats against NFL games or the Falcons-Colts game, but the FBI investigated an ISIS threat against Philips Arena in Atlanta, the site of a WWE event Sunday. On Saturday, the FBI said in a statement that it was aware of the threat against the WWE, but FBI Special Agent in Charge J. Britt Johnson of the Atlanta office said the bureau did not have “specific or credible information of an attack.” Paris’s Stade de France, site of a France-Germany soccer match, was one of the targets of the terrorist attacks nine days ago. One terrorist wearing an explosive vest reportedly tried to enter the stadium with a ticket, but was turned away and detonated the bomb outside the stadium.


Ordinary Americans can show Congress how to save the U.S. Postal Service

an on-line process designed to simulate the debate in Congress. All the information given to participants was vetted in advance by congressional staffers from both parties, the postmaster general, the inspector general, the Letter Carriers Union and others. The most significant recommendation, made by eight in ten participants, was to dramatically reduce the congressional requirement that the Postal Service fully prefund future retiree health benefits. This requirement is most responsible for the Postal Service’s budget deficits. Overwhelming majorities believed the argument that ordinary businesses do not achieve such a high prefunding level and the Postal Service should not have this unique requirement. At the same time, they also believed the argument that without prefunding the government might be forced to step in, putting the taxpayers on the hook. In the end, however, 83 percent recommended lowering the prefunding requirement by at least 20 percent, and greatly extending the time allotted to meet that level. Even larger majorities – nine in ten – recommended allowing the Postal Service to provide new non-postal products and services. Participants were informed that Postal Service is presently prohibited from offering such products and services. Participants also heard the argument in defense of this prohibition: that the Postal Service would have an unfair advantage relative to private companies offering non-postal products and services. Nevertheless, large majorities endorsed allowing the Postal Service to provide such services as photocopying, Internet access, money transfers, and an email system. Other bipartisan recommendations would also allow the Postal Service to act more like a business: - About 77 percent of participants favored allowing the Postal Service to lease its unused space in its warehouses (77 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of Democrats agreed with this). - About two-thirds, including 72 percent of Republicans and 63 percent of Democrats, favored closing as many as 5 percent of those post offices that are losing money in a given year. However, only about 30 percent are ready to go as far as the Postal Service wants to go, which would be to close the 12 percent of all post offices that are not profitable. - About two-thirds also support ending Saturday letter delivery (while still delivering packages and Priority Mail). This too is supported by majorities of both Republicans (75 percent) and Democrats (60 percent). - About 60 percent favored permitting postal rates to rise faster than inflation, including 56 percent of Republicans


Top lawmaker rebutted on climate study accusation

scientific integrity standards. The chairman also has threatened to subpoena Pritzker, whose department includes NOAA, if she does not turn over the internal deliberations. What makes this feud so difficult to referee is not just the complexity of climate science. Smith and his committee have yet to offer details of the allegations that the research was rushed. [Scientists to be grilled by congressional investigators but their e-mails are still off limits] Smith told Pritzker in his letter that his claim is based on information from whistleblowers who have told the committee that some employees at NOAA had concerns about the research. But committee staff members have declined to provide details about these concerns, saying that disclosing the specifics could jeopardize the panel’s sources and their anonymity. Pressed for more details, committee aides last week pointed as an example to new temperature data that was made publicly available earlier this month and questioned how the scientists used it. The data came from a larger number of measuring stations around the world than previous data sets. [Congress demands climate change documents while scientists warn of ‘chilling effect"] “NOAA should not be publishing headline-grabbing results based on data sets that have not been adequately vetted and were not available to the public,” an aide to the House committee said. Smith has said the scientists were in a hurry to have their findings published because they wanted to influence Obama’s Clean Power plan, which aims to cut carbon emissions from power plants, and upcoming international negotiations in Paris on climate change. “This isn’t an easy high school science experiment where you do it and you get results and write them up,” another aide said. “There are huge data sets from all over the world. They need to be studied. Every time the sets are changed they have to be worked on to make sure the data set is now valid.” The scientists, however, say their research was based on an earlier version of the data that had been made public and examined by other climate experts. The study published in Science was not based on the updated data released earlier this month, although the two versions are very similar, according to NOAA officials and one of the study’s authors. [Even as Congress investigates the global warming ‘pause,’ actual temperatures are surging] That author, Thomas Peterson, described in an interview some of the internal tensions


The Daily 202: Why Vitter’s last-minute Syrian refugee gambit failed

of emergency personnel in New York staged a practice response to a terror attack on a subway in preparation for Thanksgiving Day festivities. (AP) - Pfizer and Allergan will merge in a $150 billion deal, with the Ireland-based Allergan being the purchaser in order to skirt U.S. Treasury laws designed to hamper corporate inversions. (Wall Street Journal) - A Kansas University professor who said the N-word during a class discussion on race was put on administrative leave after five students filed a complaint against her. (Lawrence Journal-World) - Post reporter Jason Rezaian was sentenced to a prison term in Iran for unspecified charges and for an unspecified term, something The Post strongly condemns. (Peter Holley) - The continued rise of the U.S. dollar resulted in oil prices falling significantly overnight. (Reuters) - Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri was elected president of Argentina. (Joshua Partlow and Irene Caselli) - More than 100 were killed and many remain missing after a massive land slide at a mine in Myanmar. (BBC) - Bangladesh executed two opposition leaders for war crimes during their 1971 war for independence. (AP) - Voters in Nevada and Maine will decide ballot measures next year to expand background checks and close the gun show loophole. (Sacramento Bee) - Ten people in San Diego overdosed after smoking the synthetic drug Spice. (Los Angeles Times) - Nola, one of just four endangered northern white rhinos left in the world, died at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park from a bacterial infection and age-related health issues. After decades of poaching, there are now just three northern white rhinos left. (Union Tribune) Nola, the northern white rhino, receives a veterinary exam at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in 2014. She was put down last night. (Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo Safari/Reuters) POWER PLAYERS IN THE NEWS: - Trump doubled down on an outrageous claim that thousands of New Jersey Muslims celebrated when the Twin Towers collapsed on 9/11. (Jenna Johnson and Mary Jordan) - Ben Carson’s campaign is considering a foreign trip before the Iowa caucuses. “Asia and Africa have been mentioned in internal discussions, as has Australia, where he worked as a neurosurgeon in 1983,” per CBS News. - Hillary Clinton proposed a change that would let people caring for an elderly parent or other family member qualify for a tax credit for out-of-pocket expenses. “The credit would help defray up to


Main Street Morning: An online marketplace in Roanoke, Va. is trying to keep retail dollars local

takes the (cup)cake for making customers’ celebrations sweet. Retail - Retailers add more than 200,000 jobs – the most October job gains ever recorded. - Why crumbling department store sales is no reason to worry. - Retail consumers are still cautious heading into the holidays. Travel - American Airlines loses a Boston Marathon bomb survivor’s prosthetic leg. - Ground delays are on the rise at U.S. airports. Start-ups - This start-up lets customers open a bank account on their mobile device in 3 minutes. - This start-up is trying to bring nursing homes out of the stone age. - Here’s what it looks like when a unicorn slowly fails. Technology - NASA orders its first manned Dragon mission. - For Pandora, more ads to irritated users makes for a risky strategy. Online - Two anecdotes perfectly explain why it’s so hard for Google to build products for billions of people. - eHarmony is launching a new site for Spanish-speaking singles. - Yahoo is locking people out of their email if they use ad blockers. - An online marketplace is aiming to keep retail money local. Around the Country - What the California drought is doing to Christmas trees. - Why Ohio’s attorney general is suing a California mortgage company. - Pesticide-makers point to other culpits in bee die-offs. - The Chipotle E. coli scare has spread to other states, CDC says. - A Springfield, Pa. business couple has been recognized nationally for their work with in-home care providers. - Tesla is soon to open its first Hawaii retail store. - Some of Virginia’s small business owners are experiencing restless nights as control over their companies is threatened. - Businesses in Omaha Nebraska raise a fund to help a dog park program. - A longtime Dayton, Ohio business is changing owners. - The city of Palo Alto, California, is being sued for trying to charge a family about $8 million to close down their old family business. - A small business assistance group in Illinois is facing closure if staffers can’t raise another $3,500 from donors by year’s end. Around the World - U.S. says China is taking a tougher stance on trade secret theft. Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd PA consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. Follow Gene Marks and On Small Business on Twitter. News we should know about? Email us here.


What to do on the night before Thanksgiving

The taproom at 7 Locks Brewing, Montgomery County's newest brewery, will serve beers to the public for the first time on the night before Thanksgiving. (Photo by Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) The night before Thanksgiving is one of the best nights of the year for going out: Most people are looking at four days of vacation, old friends are back in town to see their families, and the atmosphere is festive. Here's how to make the most of the beginning of the holiday season. Montgomery County, it's time to say hello to your newest brewery. 7 Locks Brewing, located in an industrial park a short hop from the intersection of Rockville Pike and Randolph Road, opens its taproom to the public for the first time on Wednesday. Owners Jim Beeman and Keith Beutel, who were roommates at the University of Maryland, plan to have six to eight beers on tap initially, including a spicy rye ale and an oatmeal stout. "We're not producing a lot of high-ABV beers," Beeman says. "These are beers where you can sit down and have more than one. It's what we like to drink." The duo hired brewer Thomas Hartman, formerly of Sweden's Sigtuna Brygghus, and plans to eventually distribute 7 Locks beers to bars and restaurants in Maryland and Washington. For now, though, the taproom will be the only place to get a tasting flight, pint or growler, and its opening day will include food trucks and giveaways. (The brewery is closed on Thanksgiving, but reopens for post-shopping refreshment Nov. 27.) 4 to 8 p.m. 7 Locks Brewing, 12227 Wilkins Ave., Rockville. www.7locksbrewing.com. "Laugh, Dance and Party" is the name of the event taking over the Hilton Hotel in Crystal City, and it's no exaggeration: Comedians Huggy Lowdown, Chris Paul and Craig "Judge" Pool share the stage with the Chuck Brown Band, E.U. and Sugar Bear, and Secret Society. WPGC's Guy Lambert and Poet host the night, alongside the station's DJ Jealousy. Tickets range from $25 to $45, rising as the event gets closer. 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. Hilton Crystal City, 2399 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Arlington. www.appropriatedc.com. $25-$45. Tables and discount hotel rooms available. When long weekends come around, Town Danceboutique hosts a fantastic night of music, dancing and performances called WTF!? This Wednesday's Lisa Franksgiving is inspired by artist Lisa Frank, whose neon unicorns, day-glo dolphins and rainbow kittens adorned many Trapper


A giant blanket of spiderwebs appeared in Tennessee, but don’t panic

precious (and eyeless)] Slight discomfort with a sudden swarm of spiders is understandable, to say the least. But there's no cause for concern. It's an example of what's called a "ballooning" event, where tiny juvenile spiders try to float off and make their way in the world. "These ballooning events are quite common," Susan Riechart, a professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville and former president of the American Arachnological Society, told The Post. In fact, Riechart said, she's spotted a few recently in her own county. She believes the particularly warm weather this fall may have triggered some dispersals. [These spiders glide through the air like Superman] "Young juvenile spiders of most families disperse by sending out a swath of silk threads that may be over a meter in length," Riechart explained. "Particular air currents favor ballooning. This would explain the fact that thousands to hundreds of thousands may take off at the same time. Caught by the air currents, the spiderlings have no control over where they will land, but it is not surprising that they may fall in the same area." That's why it's quite common for areas to become swathed with webbing, as wind currents send local spider babies all tumbling into the same patch of grass. The same spiders and their parents have probably been sitting in nearby fields unnoticed for ages. [More than 300 kinds of spiders pretend to be ants] Riechart couldn't identify the spiders based on images, but said they were definitely nothing to worry about. "Totally harmless," she said. "Without mouth parts that would even be large enough to pierce our skin." No skin piercing means no biting — and that's the only way a spider can cause any harm to a human. The event is a sign that all systems are go, ecologically speaking, in the Memphis area. Come spring, residents will be glad for their local spiders, which eat huge quantities of pests like mosquitos and insects that prey on crops. That's probably little consolation when tiny spiders keep flying onto your porch, but hey: Nature is rarely convenient. Read More: These blood-loving spiders could help fight malaria Warmer weather may make spiders fast and loose The future of mutating, treatment-resistant head lice is already here Why these mysterious, blood-sucking fish fell from the Alaskan sky Man is cured of arachnophobia — by losing a chunk of his brain


Whole Foods Thanksgiving turkeys endure ‘horrific conditions’ at Calif. farm, activists say

to understand the mission of animal activist groups like this one isn’t farm animal welfare but rather a total end to animal agriculture and meat consumption,” Michael Silverman, a spokesman for the chain, said in an e-mail to The Washington Post. “Everything they say, do and show is produced with that specific goal in-mind.” Silverman explained what Whole Foods had done to address the concerns about Diestel, saying they were unfounded. “Within hours of this video being brought to our attention, Whole Foods Market sent an expert team to evaluate the conditions of the Diestel farm,” he wrote. “Our team found that the conditions were not as they were portrayed in the video. We go to great lengths to rigorously evaluate all of our suppliers and we maintain the most stringent standards in the industry.” He added: “Whole Foods Market is proud to stand behind the many hard working farmers such as the Diestel family, who are committed to maintaining a high level of animal welfare.” The DxE report may be yet another hitch in what has proven to be a tough year for Whole Foods. In 2015, the company has apologized for overcharging customers; seen the price of its stock cut in half; and occasionally posted disappointing profits (though recent results were more encouraging). [Whole Foods admits overcharging, blames employees and apologizes] Meanwhile, Whole Foods has faced questions about its animal welfare standards. In January, DxE claimed one of the company’s hen suppliers mistreated its animals; in September, the advocacy group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals alleged abuse at a pig farm affiliated with the chain; and, that same week, PETA filed suit, alleging the “step” system is a “sham.” [Whole Foods’ expensive, “humanely treated" meat is a “sham," PETA lawsuit claims] “When a grocery store’s standards for improved animal welfare are not actually enforced or do not require meaningfully better treatment for meat animals compared to the industry standard, consumers are deceived into paying a higher price for meat that fails to offer the benefit they seek,” the suit against Whole Foods, filed by PETA in U.S. District Court in Northern California, read. Hsiung of DxE hoped for change. “There’s not just factual but moral fraud here,” he wrote in an e-mail. “We would never say that killing our dogs is ok, so long as they are raised in humane fashion. What’s different about a turkey?”


Scientists create a mutant mosquito that could help eradicate malaria

study, called the research a “major advance.” “This work suggests that we’re a hop, skip and jump away from actual gene drive candidates for eventual release,” he told the Associated Press, For now, the mutant mosquitoes are being kept in a highly secure lab behind a series of locked doors. That’s because, alluring though the promise of eradicating malaria might be, neither science nor society has quite reached a consensus about when or how creatures with manipulated DNA should be released into the wild — or indeed, what will happen when they are. “[Gene editing] is a little bit like geoengineering,” MIT researcher Feng Zhang told the New Yorker earlier this month. “Once you go down that path, it may not be so reversible.” Zhang, a biological engineer, led the first team of researchers to employ the CRISPR-Cas9 editing technique on human cells. The research out of California was led by UC-Irvine molecular biologist Anthony James and UC-San Diego biologists Ethan Bier and Valentino Gantz. James specializes in engineering “anti-disease” mosquitoes, with which he hopes to halt the spread of disease without killing off the world’s bug population. For the PNAS paper, he developed a gene that spurs mosquitoes’ antibodies to attack the malaria parasite (which they acquire while biting infected humans), preventing them from passing the microbe to their offspring. He tested the new gene on the eggs of an Indian mosquito species Anopheles stephensi — that way, if the bugs somehow escaped, they’d find themselves on a foreign continent with an inhospitable climate and no one to mate. Bier and Gantz contributed the second part of the potent anti-malaria package. The pair, which effectively introduced a gene drive into fruit flies earlier this year, teamed with James to plug the tool into A. stephensi DNA. They coupled the malaria resistance gene with one that makes mosquitoes’ eyes red, so they could measure whether the resistance gene was passed on. Nearly 100 percent of the offspring had red eyes — and, presumably, malaria resistance. “This is a significant first step,” James said in a University of California press release. “We know the gene works. The mosquitoes we created are not the final brand, but we know this technology allows us to efficiently create large populations.” James is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, which has convened a committee to review the ethical implication of gene editing and


Einstein’s General Relativity at 100: Put that in your pipe and smoke it

Dijkgraaf, director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where Einstein worked the last two decades of his life. The most amazing part of the equation, Dijkgraaf says, is the equals sign, those two little parallel lines. Because the equation describes a two-way street. “Matter tells space and time to curve. Space and time tell matter to move,” Dijkgraaf said. And of course the even more amazing thing, which NOVA explains repeatedly, is that this is how the universe actually works, everywhere, from the dawn of time to today, in our solar system and in distant galaxies, and that all this was figured out by one guy, working largely in isolation. And this wasn't even his first revolutionary idea. The Special Theory of Relativity came 10 years earlier, in 1905, when Einstein was a patent clerk in Bern, studying patents for timekeeping devices. The Special Theory obliterated the notion that there is a fixed moment in time or a fixed location in space. That year, Einstein produced four historic physics papers, including one that later earned him a Nobel Prize and played a role in the development of quantum theory. “The power of an idea: If it’s correct, it’s unstoppable,” Dijkgraaf says at the end of the NOVA special. He's just one of the many scientists and historians who pay homage to Einstein. The documentary also features an actor playing Young Einstein, and he spends a lot of his screen time just sitting with his eyes closed, or staring into space, engaging in “thought experiments.” Einstein’s science involved imagining trains pulling into stations, or people in elevators, or the chasing of a light beam. The viewer might quibble that the actor spent a dismaying amount of time filling a pipe and smoking it. There are moments when this film threatens to turn into a tobacco commercial. After about the fourth or fifth time Einstein fills the pipe as he ponders the structure of space and time, the viewer will naturally wonder: What exactly is IN that pipe? There are also some nifty special effects involving light beams, toy trains, lightning bolts, a little man in an elevator, black holes and the Big Bang. In the panel discussion, Einstein biographer Walter Isaacson described Einstein as an anomaly: “Most science is a collaborative team sport.” University of Maryland physicist Jim Gates echoed that, and said that in today’s science environment, everyone


Jeff Bezos sticks rocket landing, stakes claim in billionaires’ space race

very methodical test program and that’ll take probably a couple of years,” he said. But he stressed that the company, whose motto is "step by step, ferociously," wouldn’t rush: “We’ll do it when we’re ready.” Eventually, Bezos would like to open up the cosmos to the masses, and help develop the technology that will eventually have “millions of people living and working in space.” Part of the motivation is the human instinct to explore, he said, to wonder, “what’s across that mountain range.” But he said that commercial space exploration needs to move beyond suborbital and low Earth orbit travel, and help change the way we think about Earth. “It’s becoming very clear that Earth is a finite planet with finite resources,” he said. “And we need to be able to get resources, energy and important minerals from what is for all practical purposes a limitless supply of such things in the solar system.” He said he envisioned the day when “all heavy industry will move off of Earth into space.” And Earth would be “preserved as this gem.” In addition to developing the New Shepard launch vehicle, Blue Origin is also working on what Bezos called its “very big brother,” an orbital rocket that would be powered by a next-generation engine called the BE-4. The company has taken over a historic launch pad at Cape Canaveral, and plans to fly that rocket, which could launch satellites as well as astronauts, sometime by the end of the decade. The architecture of the new orbital rocket is going to be very similar to the New Shepard, so that “we can take all of our learning and apply it to the big brother.” Elon Musk’s SpaceX has also tried to land and reuse its Falcon 9 rocket, but from greater distances. Twice it has come close to landing the first stage on a floating barge at sea and is expected to try again next month. It also launched and landed its Grasshopper, as Musk pointed out on Twitter. @JeffBezos Not quite "rarest". SpaceX Grasshopper rocket did 6 suborbital flights 3 years ago & is still around. https://t.co/6j9ERKCNZl Musk also noted that it is far more difficult to launch into orbit, as his rockets have done, than just hitting the threshold of space. Still, Eric Stallmer, the president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, called Blue Origin's landing "a revolutionary step forward. It really


Prince Charles blames the Syrian war on climate change. He has a point.

on human conflict than has been recognized previously." [Is it too late to solve the mess in the Middle East?] But these concerns aren't limited to academics or politicians. In its 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, the Defense Department described the effects of climate change as "threat multipliers" that could worsen the conditions that facilitate terrorism. Here's how the report describes the chain of events (emphasis added): Climate change poses another significant challenge for the United States and the world at large. As greenhouse gas emissions increase, sea levels are rising, average global temperatures are increasing, and severe weather patterns are accelerating. These changes, coupled with other global dynamics, including growing, urbanizing, more affluent populations, and substantial economic growth in India, China, Brazil, and other nations, will devastate homes, land, and infrastructure. Climate change may exacerbate water scarcity and lead to sharp increases in food costs. The pressures caused by climate change will influence resource competition while placing additional burdens on economies, societies, and governance institutions around the world. These effects are threat multipliers that will aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation, political instability, and social tensions — conditions that can enable terrorist activity and other forms of violence. Then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel used the same phrase — "threat multiplier" — in a speech last year, warning that the glacial melt could set off a chain of events wreaking havoc worldwide. "Destruction and devastation from hurricanes can sow the seeds for instability," he said at the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas. "Droughts and crop failures can leave millions of people without any lifeline and trigger waves of mass migration.” A year earlier, Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III — who was the top military official monitoring threats from the likes of North Korea, along with conflicts between China and Japan — called climate change the biggest long-term security threat in the Pacific region. Climate change "is probably the most likely thing that is going to happen … that will cripple the security environment, probably more likely than the other scenarios we all often talk about," he told the Boston Globe. Related stories: Drought helped cause Syria’s war. Will climate change bring more like it? What the ruins of Kobane tell us about the destruction of Syria How climate change makes the world more violent Whether or not global warming leads to more war, it hurts vulnerable people


Main Street Morning: Start-up delivers smart ovens for Thanksgiving

fallen by 900 this year (compared to a gain of 6,200 food jobs in the rest of the state). Sales Marketing - How marketers can personalize at scale. - How to increase engagement with digital signage. Travel - This may be the best carry-on suitcase idea ever seen. - United Airlines will now let its passengers pay for Wi-Fi with miles. Finance - A survey of 255 banks and 67 credit unions found that more than 95 percent said the benefits of remote deposits exceeded the costs and risks. - Samsung Pay support expands to Chase Visa and multiple Credit Unions. - Newly-public Square rolls out readers that accept Apple Pay. - Half of the United States can now spend bitcoin everywhere Visa is. Online - These are seven not-very-mysterious ways online entrepreneurs make money. - Why Yahoo mail’s ad-blocking ban proves that the Internet is broken. - Windows 10 enterprise adoption will soar by 2017, according to a research firm. Ideas - Pepsi is making a phone. Around the Country - An upstate New York farm appeals a $13,000 fine for refusing a gay wedding. - A New Jersey school club teaches students about business ownership. - Nearly 60 percent of Oregon voters say they support a proposed ballot measure to raise business taxes. - People near Roanoke, Virginia flock to a flea market ahead of its last day of business. - People flock to Happy’s Flea Market for its last day of business - Seasonal workers are flocking to California to process marijuana. - Family of “clock kid” Ahmed seeks $15M damages - LexisNexis buys a California legal analytics company. Around the World - The King of Sweden calls for a ban on baths to save the environment. - German prosecutors launch a tax evasion probe on Volkswagen. - Nestle confirms labor abuse among its Thai seafood suppliers. - Paris tourism slumps in wake of terror attacks. - Russian President Putin says he is determined to expand trade ties with Iran. - A British cinema company that banned a Lord’s Prayer advertisement is lashed by many tongues. - Belgians flood Twitter with cat photos in the face of an imminent terror threat. Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd PA consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. Follow Gene Marks and On Small Business on Twitter. News we should know about? Email us here.


The Chinese food at Secret Chopsticks isn’t cheap or fast, and that’s the point

him for a time to study at the Culinary Institute of America. When he left the Navy, he returned to the school. Back in China, he opened an American steakhouse. Secret Chopsticks is his first restaurant stateside. At his steakhouse, "The only thing that's American is the food. Here, the only thing Chinese is the food." Secret Chopsticks employs modern, Asian-accented decor -- upside down parasols on the ceiling, for one -- throughout the 120-seat dining room and 10- to 12-seat lounge. The beverage program also hews to American practice, with a global wine list, cocktails and craft beer. As to the food, "I want to do some real Chinese cuisine over here," Li said. To that end, he's seeking out less common ingredients to feature, including celtuce, lily root and Chinese yams. The chef also makes his own tofu, a daily two- to three-hour process. [The Source is serving the best ($16!) wonton soup you may ever eat] Gung bao abalone mushroom. (Becky Krystal/The Washington Post) Several of the bean curd-based dishes were among the highlights of a recent dinner at Secret Chopsticks, where we ordered the tofu ($59) and vegetarian ($59) tasting menus. (The dim sum menu is $79, the protein $89.) They included a chilled tofu with spicy sauce and a poached tofu ball in broth that reminded us of matzoh ball soup by way of China. Both menus included a kung pao-style dish -- or gung bao, as Li called it -- but most dishes were nothing like the greasy, goopy-sauced fare found in many Chinese American restaurants. The most familiar sauce: A sweet-and-sour dip served with a scary addictive plate of crispy tofu sticks. Dishes come out about every 10 minutes or so, paced and sized well enough to leave you full but not uncomfortably so. Li said he's already thinking about a 13-course menu. But first, "I need to test the water" with the nine-course meal, he said. He's hoping diners buy into the concept and the different style of food. "If I do it this way, I think Americans will appreciate it," Li said. Secret Chopsticks, 1850 Fort Myer Dr., Arlington. 703-812-8888. www.secretchopsticks.com. Open nightly for dinner. Related items: The Source review: Renovations brighten the room — and the menu The Source is serving the best ($16!) wonton soup you may ever eat Is orange chicken a guilty pleasure, or just plain guilty?


The Insiders: GOP presidential candidates should ignore the global-warming conference

News poll, terrorism has once again become the issue people say they care most about — in no small part because President Obama and his team have done such a poor job of stemming the worldwide expansion of terrorist activity. But almost all logic, prudence and reason have been abandoned by the global-warming zealots. So we shouldn’t be surprised by the idea that they are eager to link terrorism and global warming. After all, in the past month, the left-leaning organization ThinkProgress put out a piece claiming that a Harvard School of Public Health study proves global warming makes people dumber. And not to be outdone, a group of economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research announced that global warming will actually result in people having less sex. Given all this and how the global-warming crowd now owns every weather event on the planet; how every rain is too light or too heavy and every storm is too strong or too weak, I wonder if it will occur to anyone in Paris that they have overreached and their credibility has been destroyed. It has been underreported, but much of the debate in Paris will be about money — specifically, how much money rich nations will give poor nations to cope with the new regulations and requirements. I suspect President Obama sees the United States as a rich nation, notwithstanding that we are the largest debtor nation on earth, and no doubt he will be willing to promise other countries American taxpayer money in increments of billions of dollars. Will any attendees express skepticism about how the recipients would theoretically manage that money? Or what impact it would really have on the global thermostat? Senate Republicans, however, have promised that they will not allow any money to be delivered to other countries to help them “combat climate change” if the Senate is not properly involved in confirming any deal President Obama makes. Ordinarily, I would suggest the Republican presidential candidates need to be all over the Paris conference, including talking about the alleged “settled science” of climate change and how much the United States is spending on this pointless Paris boondoggle. But by any measure, that would be off-message. Republican candidates need to talk about what voters care about, specifically terrorism and the economy. As tempting a target as global warming is generally and the Paris conference is specifically, it


Weitzner: Encryption solution in wake of Paris should come from Washington not Silicon Valley

hope, perhaps, is that Silicon Valley, having engineered a problem, might just engineer a solution too.” Will it help to ask Silicon Valley to go back and try harder? I doubt it. One thing is for certain: the basic facts about how secure systems work have not changed. Over the summer, 14 colleagues of mine, including the world’s leading cryptographers, published a paper: “Keys Under Doormats,” which showed there are grave risks to building “exceptional access” systems for law enforcement. Once those back doors are there for the FBI, all of our private communications become much more vulnerable to attack by malicious criminals and terrorists. Exceptional access refers to a technical feature of a system that gives government access to data or communications that are otherwise private to those directly granted access. To guarantee exceptional access for law enforcement, systems must be designed to keep the keys that unlock the secret information in some secure location, possibly for months or years, so that police can get the data on demand. Keeping keys around in storage creates attractive targets for unauthorized attackers and backtracks on the lessons we’ve learned over the years about system design. For the sake of argument, let’s make a big hypothetical leap and assume that someone discovers a technically secure exception access system. Does this solve the problem? Not in the least. The real problem with law enforcement calls for mandated exceptional access is actually about policy and trust, not just a search for the right technology. It bears remembering how we got here to begin with. The Edward Snowden disclosures of spring 2014 revealed that U.S. intelligence agencies were collecting large amounts of data about both American citizens and Internet users globally. What’s more, it appears the NSA had actually cut its own back doors into systems run by Google, Yahoo and others by tapping into the undersea fiber optic cables that connect tech companies’ data centers around the world. The reaction in the U.S. and around the world was dramatic. American companies were embarrassed. Commercial competitors in Europe and elsewhere immediately launched marketing campaigns urging non-U.S. Internet customers to switch to products and services operated outside the U.S., to avoid the risk of NSA surveillance. At the height of the Snowden disclosures, Deutsche Telekom ran ads in the European Wall Street Journal touting “E-mail Made In Germany” as safer than that by U.S. providers. Responding


French military flooded with applications since Charlie Hebdo attacks

more applications than during the same period in 2014. The interest was partially sparked by the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in January, according to military sources cited by the French weekly Le Point. Authorities have suggested that the trend might intensify in the aftermath of attacks that caused many more deaths. Speaking to Le Point, French military official Éric de la Presle said the rise in applications wasn't about revenge. "It is a totally new phenomenon," he said. France's president, Francois Hollande, arrives at the airport of Timbuktu Feb. 2, 2013. (FRED DUFOUR/AFP via Getty Images) One young man interested in becoming a soldier was quoted as saying: "The attacks from last Friday have only strengthened my opinion. Becoming a member of the military is a useful service to the country." Officials said they had even received an application 67-year-old man. He, however, had to be turned away: The maximum age for recruits is 37. "This is quite new and echoes the patriotic sentiment in the U.S. after the 9/11 attacks," said Camille Grand, the director of French defense think tank Fondation pour la recherche stratégique. "The significant rise in volunteers for the armed and security forces is unprecedented in recent years. It is difficult to foresee whether it will last." Others, however, are starting to question whether France is overreacting. "A few voices on the left and among liberal intellectuals are warning against a trade-off," said Grand, referring to fears that civil liberties could be curtailed. Speaking about those opposed to more military action, he said: "They represent only a small minority and a minuscule fraction of the public opinion with a very limited echo so far." Other experts said that analysts should not forget other security challenges, apart from the Islamic State. "Al-Qaeda is still active and tries to keep its image of world-leading, specifically global jihadist organization," political scientist Julien Theron said. The focus will remain on the Islamic State in the foreseeable future, though. "There is a more acute sense of the threat as, at least, for Parisians, everyone knows someone who has been killed, injured, who escaped miraculously or could have been a victim," Grand said. Read more: ‘Dirty War’ editorial shocks Argentines, including paper’s own reporters Do 1 in 5 British Muslims really have sympathy for ‘jihadis’? Prince Charles blames the Syrian war on climate change. He has a point.


A hungry person’s guide to the Washington Convention Center’s restaurant makeover

Marjorie Meek-Bradley will debut a pastrami shop called Smoked & Stacked at the convention center next spring. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) The Washington Convention Center has struggled for years to find the right businesses to occupy its exterior-facing retail spaces along Seventh, Ninth and N streets NW. On Monday, Events DC, which oversees the city's convention business, announced that three restaurants and one grocery store will debut there, in addition to a barbershop and an Urban Athletic Club. The four concepts will join an existing Sbarro outpost, but unlike the chain pizzeria, these additions Morris Morris will be "the version 2.0 of the Sheppard," says Vinoda Basnayake, who co-owns the upcoming craft cocktail bar alongside celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn. The Sheppard was forced to move after its Dupont Circle space came under new ownership. That gave the partners an opportunity to rethink their concept of a hidden, no-photos-allowed bar. "We wanted to open a non-gimmick cocktail bar," Basnayake says, later adding, "We didn’t want there to be more attention on the gimmick than the product." At Morris, the partners want the focus to be on the cocktail program by David Strauss, the former cocktail manager at Le Diplomate, whose menu will pay homage to D.C.'s drinking culture. Basnayake hopes the bar will open in February or early March. Smoked Stacked Marjorie Meek-Bradley knew she was on to something when only half of the pastrami she made for Ripple's brunch would reach diners. Staff, she says, would devour the rest while it was still hot from the oven. So before long, the chef started thinking of opening a grab-and-go pastrami shop, where she could serve the smoked meat all day. The result is Smoked & Stacked, a fast-casual concept debuting in spring 2016. "It's a really good location to build something that's familiar and unique at the same time," she says. Meek-Bradley has plans for a limited menu featuring pastrami, smoked chicken and pastrami-flavored portobello sandwiches. The Unconventional Diner Details are slim on this concept, which is backed by John Cidre of Mintwood Place in Adams Morgan. But it sounds like an ambitious project because it's not expected to debut for at least a year. "It'll probably take the greatest amount of build out," says Events DC president Greg O'Dell. Union Kitchen Grocery According to co-owner Jonas Singer, the food incubator's upcoming grocery store will resemble its Capitol Hill location,


What liberals get wrong when they only focus on breaking up the big banks

John Reed. "We now know that there are very few cost efficiencies that come from the merger of functions," he recently wrote, and "indeed, there may be none at all." But just because Glass-Steagall might make the banks better doesn't mean that it would make it any safer — and that should be our priority. After all, banks got into all the trouble they did by making bad loans that they still could have if Glass-Steagall had been around. So what would help more? Well, the crisis revealed three big problems in our financial system. First, so-called shadow banks weren't safe from runs. Second, actual banks didn't have enough capital to be safe enough. And third, too many derivatives weren't regulated at all. Put those all together, and we had a financial system that was just waiting to collapse. All it took was people not being able to tell how much money they or anyone else had lost to start a run where the financial system didn't have any safeguards, which, by the time it reached the parts that did, was too big to stop with anything other than a bailout. The good news is that the Dodd-Frank financial reform really did fix some of this. It requires the big banks to hold more capital and forced derivatives to be traded on exchanges where risks can be seen. But the bad news is that it still leaves the shadow banking system susceptible to runs. Now wait a minute. What exactly is a "shadow bank"? The answer isn't as, well, scary as it sounds. It's just an unregulated lender — maybe a money market fund or a hedge fund or an off-balance-sheet entity — that borrows short and lends long like a regular bank does. But because they don't follow the rules that banks do, they don't get the protections that banks do. That means they don't have the benefit of deposit insurance or the ability to borrow from the Federal Reserve in an emergency. So the result is that shadow banks are inherently vulnerable to runs. The only thing we have done about that is tell the shadow banks that they can stop people from pulling their money out during a run. Maybe that's enough, but maybe it's not. Again, this has nothing to do with Glass-Steagall. That would just split big unsafe banks into slightly smaller unsafe banks. But


That ‘alien megastructure’ orbiting a distant star is probably just a bunch of comets

which keeps an eye on fluctuations in light to help detect planets passing in front of distant suns — this one was dimming irregularly. [Why NASA’s top scientist is sure that we’ll find signs of alien life in the next decade] Experts pointed out that the star's light was winking in and out of view in a way that could presumably possibly be the result of some massive orbiting alien structure. The scientists didn't really think that our space telescopes had caught sight of an "alien megastructure," but there's no harm in hoping. Since then, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) institute has turned its radio telescopes to the strange star — and they haven't heard any of the radio signals we'd expect from the goings-on of an intelligent civilization. [Scientists caught a new planet forming for the first time ever] A cluster of comets had been floated as one possible explanation. Now, in a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, Massimo Marengo of Iowa State University (along with his doctoral student Alan Hulsebus and former student Sarah Willis, now a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory) suggests it's the most likely one. Marengo and Co.'s work didn't actually rule out an alien megastructure, but it did rule out other, more likely explanations — like massive planetary or asteroid collisions. Looking at the star in infrared light didn't reveal the hot dust one would expect from such violent activity. That makes the most likely (non-alien) explanation a set of cold comets — ones that have been orbiting the planet for a while, causing different levels of dimming based on their assorted sizes and transit periods. "This is a very strange star," Marengo said in a statement. "It reminds me of when we first discovered pulsars. They were emitting odd signals nobody had ever seen before, and the first one discovered was named LGM-1 after 'Little Green Men.'” Pulsars turned out to be very weird "We may not know yet what's going on around this star,” Marengo said. “But that's what makes it so interesting." Read More: The invincible tardigrade — already a weird animal — is full of DNA stolen from bacteria Apparently Earth is sprouting dark matter ‘hairs’ Someone finally looked into the physics of chocolate fountains Scientists still can’t settle on what killed the dinosaurs Mars might get rings just like Saturn’s one day


In the race for space, sorting out the tweets from Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos

Test | 1,000m But the highest any of those rockets went was 1,000 meters, or 3,280 feet. Bezos’s rocket hit an apogee of 329,000 feet (the capsule went slightly higher after separation). That’s more than 62 miles, just past the boundary of space and back to the pad. And that's a first for the history books. While Blue Origin’s New Shepard may have made it to space, it just barely made it. And Musk wanted to make it clear that getting to space is not nearly as difficult as getting to orbit. It is, however, important to clear up the difference between "space" and "orbit", as described well by https://t.co/7PD42m37fZ Orbital flight requires a bigger, faster rocket, one that’s much harder to land — “like trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in the middle of a windstorm,” Musk has said. But it’s that kind of landing that he is currently chasing. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets are used to launch satellites into orbit (not just space, mind you) and take cargo to the International Space Station (the orbiting lab). Twice this year SpaceX attempted landings of its own, on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean that Musk calls an autonomous spaceport drone ship. April 14, 2015: CRS-6 First Stage Tracking Cam On Tuesday, Musk hinted that the company’s next landing attempt, which could come as early as next month, may be on land — not on the drone ship in the ocean. The company is so confident in its ability to routinely stick the landings, it is building a landing pad at Cape Canaveral, not far from the launch complex it has taken over at the Kennedy Space Center. Musk and Bezos agree that using the rocket’s propulsion to land is the way to go — as opposed to the Space Shuttle’s runway landings. That’s because both have ambitions for deep space missions, which would require different capabilities. Musk’s goal is to colonize Mars. He’s taken note that there are “no runways on Mars,” as he said at a forum at MIT. “You really have to get good at propulsive landing if you want to go somewhere other than Earth.” And so here's an artist’s concept of what landing SpaceX’s Dragon capsule would look like landing on Mars. An artist's rendering of what a SpaceX Dragon capsule would look like landing on Mars. (Photo courtesy of SpaceX.)


Scientific accuracy is overrated: A paleontologist reviews Pixar’s ‘The Good Dinosaur’

Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks in Wyoming. (Disney) As a National Park Service geologist who worked and studied at Yellowstone, the scenes of the geysers, hot springs, canyons, mountains, and even columnar jointing stirred my geologic passion to race my heart a few beats faster. The plot of the movie hinges on dinosaurs being saved from extinction -- and then meeting up with early humans millions of years later. What did you think of that? There are some paleontologists who argue that dinosaurs are still around in the form of birds, their descendants. (Disney) But if (big) dinosaurs survived, would the Great Apes have evolved to live alongside them -- or did we need the ecological niche they left behind? The fossil record reveals many extraordinary changes in life over geologic time. Along with the extinction events, we observe periods which reveal the appearances of new groups of organisms. One of the best examples of this adaptive radiation of new life involves the evolution of flowering trees and plants we can think of as a Cretaceous Bloom. The new deciduous flora yielded seasonal changes from springtime flowers and fruit to colorful leaves in the autumn. Along with the flowering plants, pollinating insects appeared in a biologically essential partnership which spread across the landscapes and the globe. (Disney) The new forests provided new homes, habitat and food for animals to discover and benefit. Thus with the loss of the dinosaurs, new opportunities became available for other creatures to thrive in what would in many ways be a new world. The fossil record preserves a rich record of mammals and birds, which found success in this new world --after the dinosaurs. [A ‘lost world’ of dinosaurs thrived in the snowy dark of Alaska, researchers say] In some ways, we can view our modern world, including all the plants, animals and even humans, as shaped by the sum total of all those physical and biological events that happened in our past. The loss of some groups through extinction created opportunities for new life forms to emerge, including humans and our ancestors. Obviously "The Good Dinosaur" wasn't meant to be scientifically accurate. In your experience, can movies like this one get kids interested in science anyway? We should leave the “scientific accuracy” debate to the serious-minded paleontologists. For the rest of us kids, young and old, we have many other rewards to be


D.C. area forecast: Unseasonably mild air and sun add Thanksgiving cheer; a few weekend showers

TODAY’S DAILY DIGIT 9/10: EXPRESS FORECAST Today: FORECAST IN DETAIL This day is no turkey! Put the sweaters back in the closet and enjoy a mild walk outdoors after the feast. It is even warmer tomorrow for the big shopping spree. Showers become a threat on the weekend but should remain light and intermittent so travel problems should be kept in check. Temps drop by Sunday but only back to seasonable levels and for that we can remain thankful. Today (Thanksgiving): Tonight: Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest updates. For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast through the weekend… Tomorrow (Friday): Tomorrow night: The beaver full moon rises over D.C.’s city center, Nov. 25, 2015 (Phil Yabut via Flickr) A LOOK AHEAD Saturday Sunday Monday


The most interesting thing about Côte d’Ivoire’s election was that it wasn’t interesting

and president of the National Assembly Henri Konan Bédié became president of the country. Ouattara resigned his post as prime minister, left the country to work for the IMF, and joined a new party, the Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR or Rally of the Republicans), with the intention of contesting the 1995 presidential election. Bédié blocked Ouattara from running by introducing an ultranationalist policy known as Ivoirité in a new electoral code, requiring presidential candidates to be born of native-born Ivorians. Ouattara was generally believed to have at least one parent from what is today Burkina Faso. With Ouattara excluded and Gbagbo boycotting, Bédié won the 1995 election with 96 percent of the vote. Then events became really interesting. In the run-up to the 2000 election, the country experienced its first military coup in 1999. A new constitution was adopted in 2000 that enshrined and expanded upon the exclusionary requirements of the electoral code, such that 12 of 17 candidates for president were disqualified, including those of two of the three major parties, leaving Gbagbo as the only candidate of a major party to challenge the military leader, Robert Guéï. The 2000s in Côte d’Ivoire: Elections and exclusion spark civil wars Guéï declared himself the winner of the 2000 election, prompting three days of protest. Guéï fled the capital and Gbagbo was declared the winner. Once in office, Gbagbo’s government extended Ivoirité to new policy areas. Northerners were denied nationality certificates if they did not have documents proving their parents were Ivorian. More importantly, there were reports of a planned Ivoirité purge of northerners in the military – leading to an outbreak of war in 2002. During peace talks, the FPI-led National Assembly passed a law to loosen the candidacy restrictions in preparation for the 2005 election, but the war continued and the election was never held. Finally the war ended, and in 2010, after Gbagbo commissioned some polls that indicated he would win, the presidential election was held with Gbagbo, Ouattara, and Bédié all on the ballot. After no one won a majority in the first round, Gbagbo and Ouattara faced off in the second round. The independent electoral commission declared Ouattara the winner, but the constitutional court (whose members are appointed by the president) declared Gbagbo the winner. Both men were sworn in as president in competing ceremonies (Gbagbo in the presidential palace and Ouattara in the Abidjan Golf