Quarry House Tavern is back in business, across the street from its fire-damaged digs

Quarry House to reopen, perfect," Greenbaum said. "If it only takes three months, we can put a different concept in here [for the rest of the time]." [Pirate-themed Piratz Tavern will hoist its last tankard] The sign announcing the name of the business as Quarry House Temporary riffs on the old Quarry House Tavern slogan: they still have beer and burgers, but no basement. (Photo by Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) While the Quarry House has its charms – low ceilings, the vestiges of years of hard drinking – the new building has plenty of advantages, including natural light in the bar, a larger kitchen and a large patio. Quarry House Temporary plans to take advantage of all three. The biggest change is outdoor seating, which should be ready this week with the addition of new umbrellas. Then, in May, there will be brunch, because "A patio to me says brunch," Greenbaum said. "We never really did brunch at the Quarry House. We tried a couple of times, but it never took off." After brunch service is up and running, Greenbaum is shooting for lunch service to begin. The increased kitchen capacity means Quarry House can expand the menu, including the return of onion rings, which were nixed in favor of tater tots after Greenbaum bought the bar in 2005. But what's good, as always at Quarry House, are the drinks and the prices. Last night, the taps held four DC Brau beers, and the bottle list was stocked with Flying Dog, Dogfish Head, Evolution, Goose Island and Brooklyn, all for $5 a pop. (Most beers are in the $5 to $6 range, though Yuengling cans and PBR tallboys are cheaper, at $4.) The celebrated whiskey list is smaller than it was across the street, but still represents excellent value, with Bulleit and Elijah Craig 12-year among the choices for $6 each. Speaking of bourbon: Greenbaum is technically not allowed to bring over the large bourbon collection from Quarry House, which she says escaped the fire unscathed, but she's going to appeal for a special exemption from the county to do so. The doors will open daily at 4 p.m. for now, with earlier weekend hours coming once brunch starts. One extra advantage to the new location: the bar is allowed to stay open until 2 a.m. on weeknights and 3 a.m. on weekends, which is an hour later than the


Why you shouldn’t only get your climate change news from the mainstream media

news or other news from Twitter — “might bias your views about a certain issue,” she says. The conclusions about how Twitter and mainstream media cover different climate change “events” was conducted using computer science techniques to extract data from the Web. To analyze media stories, the researchers turned to a Google-supported database called Global Data on Events, Location, and Tone, which tracks global media to detect daily events. The analysis produced a stunning 561,644 URLs of news articles seemingly related to climate, which were then sifted through to detect events where media attention peaked. Meanwhile, a similar analysis was performed with Twitter by taking a random sampling of Tweets via the Internet Archive and then extracting those containing “climate change” and related terms. That, in turn, produced a sampling of 482,615 tweets — or, 28,000 every month — which the authors estimated to be about 1 percent of the total 2.8 million monthly tweets about climate change. Since the work was done by programs, though, the researchers also had to have readers go through to take out false positives, like this. This was done both by the study authors and by a team of annotators who rated the content. One aspect of the analysis that is novel, says co-author Carlos Castillo of the Qatar Computing Research Institute, is the sheer volume of content that was considered. “To the best of my knowledge there is no other study comparing mainstream media and social media considering this amount of stories and tweets,” said Castillo by email. “People have compared these media in the past using fully-manual content analysis or datasets that are much smaller than this one.” The study has been accepted to be presented at a computer science conference focused on computational social science next month in Britain. Olteanu says she thinks that if the analysis were extended to issues beyond climate change, many similar patterns would emerge. “I think Twitter will typically cover more individual generated events than mainstream media would,” she says. It is important to note, however, that Twitter and the mainstream media do often find the same events newsworthy. For instance, in that very same week of September 2014, there was a climate related news event that spiked both on Twitter and in the mainstream media, according to the study authors. It was the story that the World Meteorological Organization (a U.N. body) had released a


Why the Iran deal is a logical extension of U.S. nonproliferation policy

technical capability to construct a nuclear device, or even when a country has assembled a handful of bombs. A pragmatist would try to limit proliferation even after these milestones have been reached. In particular, some U.S. policymakers have believed that preventing tests, weaponization and public declaration would lessen pressures for reactive proliferation or nuclear “domino effects” and thereby reinforce rather than undercut nonproliferation policy. Even after North Korea likely acquired its first significant amounts of fissile material in the early 1990s, the United States did not demand the immediate handover of existing stockpiles; it brokered an agreement in 1994 whereby North Korea agreed to freeze its program at its current status and eventually dismantle its facilities in exchange for light water reactors from the United States. In 2007 this was repeated when the agreement reached with Pyongyang did not include the country handing over its plutonium stockpile. While the deals with North Korea and Pakistan ultimately broke down, it is worth noting that in none of these cases – Israel, South Africa, Pakistan or North Korea – did a tipping point of nuclear acquisition occur following the deals with the United States. What are the implications of this historical pattern for the current framework agreement with Iran? First, the United States is not – nor has it ever been – omnipotent in the realm of nonproliferation. It is not an almighty hegemon able to strong-arm all other actors to accept its conditions. Whether due to conflicting geopolitical priorities or a lack of leverage over nuclear aspirants, the United States has often been forced to come to terms with less than optimal nonproliferation outcomes. In these circumstances, U.S. policymakers have generally realized that “the perfect is the enemy of the good” and that pursuing unrealistic objectives makes less sense than reaching a reasonable compromise. Second, the proposed deal with Iran is not exceptional. In this vein, it is instructive to note that the United States has permitted Japan, Germany, Brazil and other non-nuclear weapons states to maintain enrichment or reprocessing capabilities. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), as a legal instrument, allows member states to levitate on the threshold of nuclear weapons capabilities, and if anything, the deal with Iran is more restrictive than historical examples, not less. Third, if history is any guide, a deal with Iran would not result in the proliferation cascades that are currently


George Washington University sells one of two buildings it acquired in Corcoran deal

The Fillmore building will be sold to a local nonprofit. (Photo courtesy of George Washington University) George Washington University announced Tuesday it plans to sell the Fillmore building, the historic schoolhouse it acquired last year, to the S&R Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit. The Fillmore, on 35th Street NW in Georgetown, is one of two buildings the university took control of last year as part of a court-approved break-up of the financially-troubled Corcoran Gallery of Art. The agreement sent the museum’s art collection to the National Gallery of Art and allowed the university to absorb its College of Art and Design. The university listed the building and its one-acre property in January for $14 million. It did not disclose the sale price, but a spokesman said the deal is expected to be completed this summer. The Corcoran’s 17th Street building downtown, designed by Ernest Flagg, will undergo renovation. The agreement that dismantled the private museum and school mandates that proceeds from any sale of the Fillmore be used for renovations and operations of the 17th Street site. The DC Historic Preservation Board will meet again Thursday to consider a petition to designate interior sections of the Flagg building as historic. S&R Foundation intends to use the building as an arts incubator for visual and performing artists, according to the university. Founded in 2000, S&R supports innovation in the arts, sciences and social entrepreneurship.


Japan’s maglev train sets second world record

according to NBC. Maglev trains use magnets to push the train 4 inches off the tracks and propel it forward, according to CNN. With 49 railway employees on board, the train covered 1.1 miles in about 11 seconds, the company reported, according to the Guardian. That, as CNN helpfully pointed out, "is nearly 20 football fields in the time it took you to read the last two sentences." Japan's maglev train sets world record speed of 375 MPH. http://t.co/1SWRWtuR3N http://t.co/tYDRa0hPSB “The ride was comfortable and stable,” Yasukazu Endo, the head of the Maglev Test Center, told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. “We would like to continue analyzing data and make use of it in designing the cars and other equipment.” In the future, maglev trains, which are expected to run between Tokyo and Nagoya, will top off at 313 mph, according to the New York Post. The trip — which takes five hours by car — will last 40 minutes, which is less than half the time the journey requires on current bullet trains, according to CNN. Takeo Ookanda, who runs an exhibition center next to the test track, told CNN that witnesses erupted in applause when the record was announced. "I was moved just like many other visitors here today," he said. "This maglev project... [increases] the hope that Japan can have a good growth again in the future." There is talk of bringing the trains to the United States. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "is set to pitch the new technology to the American market, including for a Washington-New York train link" during a visit that begins next week, according to the Wall Street Journal. "By contrast, the fastest train in the United States, Amtrak's Acela Express, is only capable of 241 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour), though it usually plods along at half that speed," CNN reported. Were the trains exported abroad, the Guardian notes, they could revolutionize travel times, especially in countries where air travel is less common. Here are few examples the paper came up with: New York to Los Angeles – 7 hours 45 minutes (currently a 68 hour trip) Cape Town to Cairo – 17 hours 30 minutes Sydney to Perth – 7 hours 20 minutes Moscow to Vladivostock – 15 hours MORE READING: Abe urged to uphold Japan’s apology for wartime aggression U.S. top diplomat Kerry to host Japan PM in Boston


World’s fastest passenger train breaks its own speed record

Central Japan Railways says its magnetically levitating train has broken its previous world speed record in a test-run at a special track West of Tokyo, reaching a speed of more than 374 mph. Now that’s what we call fast. Many Americans have long dreamed of high-speed rail, but efforts to build such a system in the United States have moved forward in fits and starts. In Japan, bullet trains are the norm, and despite its tiny size, the country has long been the leader in high-speed train travel. But when fast is the norm, apparently faster is even better. Which is why news that a Japan Railway maglev train hit 374 miles per hour on a test track is causing much excitement in that country. A spokesperson told CNN that the train covered 1.1 miles in 10.8 seconds. Yes, seconds. Apparently, the previous record, set last Thursday was a mere 366 miles per hour. Compare that to the fastest train in the United States — Amtrak’s Acela Express, which is capable of going 150 miles per hour. On the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak says Acela trains travels at an average of speed of 83 miles per hour between Washington and New York, hitting a high of 135 mph. It takes roughly 2 hours, 45 minutes to get from D.C. to Manhattan. The record setting Japanese train uses different technology. It doesn’t travel using traditional metal tracks. Rather, it floats four inches above special guideways thanks to magnets. Don’t believe it? See the video above. And there is a chance — albeit small — that such maglev technology may come to the East Coast. The Japanese government is all for building a line that would carry passengers between Washington and New York. The Northeast Maglev is a Washington-based company that “developing detailed plans for a line,” The Post’s Michael Laris reported last spring.


This restaurant has one of the worst Yelp ratings in D.C. We talk to the manager about it.

Pasta Italiana’s lobster ravioli hasn’t won over Yelp users. (Tim Carman/for Express) D.C. Yelpers have been exceptionally harsh to Pasta Italiana, a restaurant in Woodley Park with over 80 reviews and a one-star overall rating. The restaurant is located blocks from the zoo and has been open for five years. Manager Mohammed Renu agreed to discuss the sorry state of the restaurant’s Yelp page from his perspective. How do you feel about your Yelp reviews? You should probably check it out. You have a very bad over-all rating, just one star. Do you care about the Yelp reviews? How about this one: “It’s 100% false advertising when they use the words ‘authentic’ and ‘organic’ Italian ‘food.’ “ Is your food organic? Do you think your food deserves one star? I ate here a few weeks ago, and I have to be honest, it wasn’t very good. Related: How some Yelpers are holding restaurants hostage Can 80 Yelpers be wrong? We sent the Post’s Tim Carman to review a one-star restaurant.


In honor of Earth Day, here are our favorite images of the planet from space

International Space Station. You can also see the airglow, a band of light surrounding the planet that comes from the interaction of the atmosphere with solar radiation. (NASA) A famous shot that captures the awe, beauty, and loneliness of spotting your planet from afar: Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts--Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders--held a live broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. Said Lovell, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." (NASA) A reminder that we've always got a friend: This picture of the Earth and Moon in a single frame was taken by the Galileo spacecraft from about 3.9 million miles away. Antarctica is visible through clouds (bottom). The Moon's far side is seen; the shadowy indentation in the dawn terminator is the south pole Aitken Basin, one of the largest and oldest lunar impact features. (NASA) A reminder of the importance of the space robots: The Space Shuttle Endeavour's robotic arm hovers over Earth's horizon, backdropped by a starburst from the Sun. This photo was taken during the STS-77 shuttle mission in 1996. (NASA) A few that are just plain beautiful: Egypt's Lake Nasser, as photographed in January 2005 from the International Space Station. (NASA) This photo from the International Space Station shows the salt ponds of one of Africa’s major producers of soda ash (sodium carbonate) and salt. Red, salt-loving algae in the ponds indicate that the salinity of the evaporating water is medium to high. (NASA) This ASTER image uses shortwavelength infrared bands to highlight in bright pink the altered rocks in the Morenci pit associated with copper mineralization. The open-pit mine in Arizona is North America's largest source of copper. (NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team) And finally, a look at the Earth and its moon from the Cassini spacecraft from nearly 900 million miles away in Saturn's orbit: Just points of light in space. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute) Want more space? Give these a click: Watch this astronaut’s-eye view of the Orion spacecraft returning to Earth Stunning GoPro video captures a dizzying spacewalk This time-lapse video shows lightning, an aurora, and a sunrise — from space


Compass Coffee is expanding with a new roastery and coffee shop in Ivy City

signed a lease last week to open a new coffee roasting facility at 1401 Okie St. NE, across the street from the massive, historic Streamline Moderne Hecht's warehouse that is being retrofitted for apartments. A warehouse that will later house Compass Coffee (Courtesy of Compass Coffee) "We haven’t outgrown [Shaw] per se, but every day it gets a little bit tighter," said Haft. Their office, for example, "Is completely filled with parts for fixing espresso machines. We took away people’s desks." The Ivy City facility will have a coffee shop, espresso machine repair shop, training facilities and a classroom for hosting coffee workshops. However, most of its footprint will be dedicated to roasting and packaging. Haft and Suarez will install two coffee roasters twice the size of their current machine, as well as a full manufacturing line, with access to a loading dock for transporting their products. Their coffee can be found on the shelves of Whole Foods and other area markets, restaurants and hotels. "We’re not planning for the next year or year and a half. We’re looking to build our long term home," said Haft. "It’s going to take some time to grow into this." The 5,000-square-foot roastery, retail and workshop space, and 13,000-square-foot lower-level warehouse is part of a former tomato packaging company. The building will eventually contain a mix of retail and restaurant tenants, with an outdoor seating area. As Douglas Development's efforts ramp up in Ivy City, a number of restaurants and retailers have moved into the neighborhood in anticipation of the more than 300 new apartments opening later this year. One Eight Distilling opened on Jan. 8, and later this year, Union Kitchen will be expanding into the neighborhood with a second culinary incubator and cafe/market. ProFish will open a casual rooftop restaurant shortly, and the Hecht's project will also bring three concepts from Ghibellina's Ari Gejdenson. A Nike store and the Mom's Organic Market opened earlier this year. Compass is also expanding into The Shay, a retail and residential building in Shaw. That coffee shop is expected to open in September, and the Ivy City location is anticipated to open in phases next winter. They expect to double their current staff. As with their flagship location -- the development of which was chronicled in a series by The Washington Post -- Haft and Suarez plan to build portions of the facility by hand.


The Food Babe says she’s won a victory over Kraft. The Science Babe says otherwise.

being stripped of all artificial preservatives and synthetic colors, and the popular blogger "The SciBabe" has something to say about it. Hari declined to be interviewed for the video. As d'Entremont points out, there were no particular indications that the food dyes used in Kraft's products were unsafe. And now kids who are allergic to paprika, which will most likely be used as a replacement to tint the cheese product orange, will be left out. The taste may also suffer, but we can't know that until we shovel some slightly-less-orange but still blessedly unhealthy mac and cheese into our faces. [Kraft Mac & Cheese just got duller. You can thank (or blame) ‘The Food Babe.’] Personally, I can't say I'll weep for the day-glo dyes of yore. But here's the real problem: Hari has a habit of picking out ingredients to go after for the wrong reason, and when companies yield to her (even if they claim they already planned to switch ingredients) her "victory" gives her more credibility. Last year she led the call for Subway to ban a particular chemical preservative from their bread, because it happens to also exist in yoga mats. There are a lot of chemicals that are used in multiple kinds of products. Hari doesn't care: As far as she's concerned, Subway was force feeding you a dirty yoga mat every time you ate there. She did the same with Kraft. As the SciBabe herself wrote in a glorious take-down of Hari on Gizmodo: Hari uses this tricky technique again and again. If I told you that a chemical that's used as a disinfectant, used in industrial laboratory for hydrolysis reactions, and can create a nasty chemical burn is also a common ingredient in salad dressing, would you panic? Be suspicious that the industries were poisoning your children? Think it might cause cancer? Sign a petition to have it removed? What if I told you I was talking about vinegar, otherwise known as acetic acid? But there's no dissuading Hari's loyal followers. It seems all we can do is hope that her next food industry target is something that's actually, you know, shown to be unsafe. Want more science? Give these a click: Don’t be a dummy: New Year’s ‘detoxes’ are a waste of time Finally, an antifreeze your kids can drink! The Dr. Oz truthers who think he’s saving them from Monsanto’s GMOs


New studies find that bees actually want to eat the pesticides that hurt them

and their taste neurons didn't show any difference between the two options. And bumblebees, who seem to have more to lose, were even more likely to eat the pesticides than honeybees. They might even be addicted to the stuff. “Bees can’t taste neonicotinoids in their food and therefore do not avoid these pesticides. This is putting them at risk of poisoning when they eat contaminated nectar," lead author Geraldine Wright said in a statement. “Even worse, we now have evidence that bees prefer to eat pesticide-contaminated food. Neonicotinoids target the same mechanisms in the bee brain that are affected by nicotine in the human brain. The fact that bees show a preference for food containing neonicotinoids is concerning as it suggests that like nicotine, neonicotinoids may act like a drug to make foods containing these substances more rewarding. If foraging bees prefer to collect nectar containing neonicotinoids, this could have a knock-on negative impact on whole colonies and on bee populations.” And it could be a more common snack for bees than we'd previously thought. Researchers examine honey bee colonies to see how pesticides have affected their strength. (Maj Rundlöf) In a statement for the Science Media Centre, Linda Field, Head of Biological Chemistry and Crop Protection at Rothamsted Research (who wasn't involved in the study) pointed out that more evidence would be needed to show that neonicotinoids were doing to bees what nicotine does to humans. And she argued that neonicotinoids might still be the lesser of two evils. "We also have to consider the reason why we use these compounds: can we afford not to control pest insects? Is it acceptable that yields would be reduced as a result? Are the alternative insecticides any safer to bees? These are questions that a two-year moratorium on neonics is unable to answer," Field said. But as Britain's two-year moratorium comes up for review this year, the country may be running out of time to come to a definitive answer. And in the United States, the conversation hasn't even truly begun. Want more science? Give these a click: In honor of Earth Day, here are our favorite images of the planet from space The Dr. Oz truthers who think he’s saving them from Monsanto’s GMOs This scientist rates and describes insect stings as if they were fine wines This college student is eating bugs for 30 days so you will too


Technology stripped a human touch from our lives. Can innovation bring it back?

interesting to watch the emergence of robots built to look and act like humans. Early versions are popping up around the world. They likely won’t fool us anytime soon into thinking they’re human. But with the rapid advances in technology due to Moore’s Law, perhaps one day we’ll get used to chit-chatting about the weather with a robotic cashier. Robot takes your job. Go to the bar to drown your sorrows. Turn to the bartender... nooooooo http://t.co/I5nReaNxGh http://t.co/8j4Hwf1Qy0 2. Google to launch its own wireless service. The service is expected to allow customers to pay only for the amount of data they actually use each month, people familiar with the matter said—a move that could further push carriers to do away with lucrative “breakage.” Many traditional wireless plans require subscribers to pay for buckets of data that expire at the end of each month. A 2013 study by a company called Validas, which analyzes consumers’ bills to help them choose the right plan, says smartphone users typically waste $28 each month on unused data. 3. Protecting a marathon from unwanted drones. To protect this year’s Boston Marathon runners and spectators from drone-borne threats, a Washington, D.C.-based company patrolled the event with drone-detecting sensors and net guns. … DroneShield 4. The Hubble Space Telescope turns 25. The Hubble helped change our understanding of the age of the universe, the evolution of galaxies and the expansion of space itself. Along the way it has had the equivalent of knee and hip replacement surgery: Five times, astronauts on the space shuttle paid a visit to swap out old batteries and install new instruments, including, in 2009, the best camera the telescope has ever had. … “This is 1970s technology, and it is still, after 25 years, the most powerful scientific instrument in the world,” said astronomer Patrick McCarthy, who’s working on the Giant Magellan Telescope under construction in Chile. 5. A home battery pack from Tesla. Tesla’s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk had previously announced through Twitterthe company would announce a new product line—not a vehicle—on April 30. There is an event planned at Tesla’s Hawthorne, Calif.-based design studio to unveil the product. Mr. Musk had previously said the company was working on a stationary battery storage product. In addition, Mr. Musk has said the company could produce batteries at its so-called gigafactory, which is under construction in Nevada, for this same market.


Potomac estate lists for $5.2 million

(Marlon Crutchfield) A 15,000-square-foot Potomac estate, suitable for sports enthusiasts, is listed for sale at $5.2 million. Besides allowing a family plenty of space to spread out and entertain, the estate offers golf, baseball and basketball practice facilities. “This grand seven-bedroom estate situated on two acres overlooking Congressional Country Club’s famous Blue Course, a favorite of three U.S. Opens, features a home theater, guest cottage, basketball court, batting cage, and putting green,” says Maura Shannon, a real estate agent with TTR Sotheby’s International Realty. (Marlon Crutchfield) The estate at 9001 Congressional Ct., which is one of the most expensive houses on the market, has a main residence with 12-foot ceilings, oak floors, a gourmet kitchen with a catering wing and six fireplaces. [A look at the Washington area’s most expensive houses for sale] The grounds include a swimming pool with a hot tub, an outdoor kitchen and an adjacent lanai for entertaining. A guest cottage, designed by local architects Studio Z, has an entertaining space, a great room and a bedroom. For more information, contact Shannon at 301-346-4183 or click here. Related stories Forest Hills mansion is most expensive home for sale in the District House of the Week: Former first lady’s home on Eastern Shore for $1.9M The sweet sell of success: These are the top 10 most expensive homes sold in the D.C. region in 2014 Michele Lerner is a freelance writer. To pass on a tip or news item, contact us at realestate@washpost.com and put “Town Square” in the subject line.


The coming problem of our iPhones being more intelligent than us

of evolution on Earth and that computing power has been rising exponentially: from the mechanical calculating devices used in the 1890 U.S. Census, via the machines that cracked the Nazi enigma code, the CBS vacuum-tube computer, the transistor-based machines used in the first space launches, and more recently the integrated-circuit-based personal computer. With exponentially advancing technologies, things move very slowly at first and then advance dramatically. Each new technology advances along an S-curve — an exponential beginning, flattening out as the technology reaches its limits. As one technology ends, the next paradigm takes over. That is what has been happening, and why there will be new computing paradigms after Moore’s Law. Already, there are significant advances on the horizon, such as the GPU, which uses parallel computing to create massive increases in performance, not only for graphics, but also for neural networks, which constitute the architecture of the human brain. There are 3D chips in development that can pack circuits in layers. IBM and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are developing cognitive-computing chips. New materials, such as gallium arsenide, carbon nanotubes, and graphene, are showing huge promise as replacements for silicon. And then there is the most interesting — and scary — technology of all: quantum computing. Instead of encoding information as either a zero or a one, as today’s computers do, quantum computers will use quantum bits, or qubits, whose states encode an entire range of possibilities by capitalizing on the quantum phenomena of superposition and entanglement. Computations that would take today’s computers thousands of years will occur in minutes on these. Add artificial intelligence to the advances in hardware, and you begin to realize why luminaries such as Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and Bill Gates are worried about the creation of a “super intelligence.” Musk fears that “we are summoning the demon.” Hawking says it “could spell the end of the human race.” And Gates wrote: “I don’t understand why some people are not concerned.” Kurzweil tells me he is not worried. He believes we will create a benevolent intelligence and use it to enhance ourselves. He sees technology as a double-edged sword, just like fire, which has kept us warm but has also burned down our villages. He believes that technology will enable us to address the problems that have long plagued human civilization — such as disease, hunger, energy, education, and clean water — and


The conservative greatness of ‘The Americans’

need to raise their voice.” If three seasons of “The Americans” have taught us anything, though, it’s that people like Elizabeth and Philip are so tenacious and effective because they have exceptionally high tolerance for things the rest of us would find intolerable, that they’re willing to sully themselves in service of the cause. “March 8, 1983″ suggests that Philip, at least, may have found his limits after murdering Gene (Luke Robertson), an FBI computer specialist, and framing the death as a suicide so Gene would be blamed for planting a recording device in Agent Gaad’s (Richard Thomas) office. “This guy today, his apartment had all this kid stuff, games the stuff Henry plays with. It was hard. It was hard, Elizabeth,” Philip tells his wife, falling into incoherence as he tries to express an idea that’s literally unspeakable for him: that he can’t do this work anymore. “I almost feel like when I do this stuff, if I don’t. I just feel like from now on I need to be able to know what I’m doing better, so.” “What do you mean?” Elizabeth asks, confused by his incomplete sentences. “I guess I just feel like,” Philip manages to tell her, before running out of words. And while Reagan’s speech paints the United States as a pure player in the conflict with the Soviet Union, fortified by moral clarity, Stan’s (Noah Emmerich) experiences in this episode suggest something rather different. After confessing to Gaad that he has been running an off-the-books operation with Oleg Burov (Costa Ronin), Stan is stunned when Gaad tries to fire him. But a Reagan official from the Justice Department intervenes, telling Stan that he won’t be fired and that he should continue working with Oleg. “The people who run our government agencies are just bureaucrats. Our president understands this is how government works,” the official tells Stan. “It’s all red tape. There’s not going to be an investigation into what you did. The only thing that matters is the work you are going to be doing with Burov. If you have trouble with the people here, come to me. I won’t let them stand in your way.” At the same time that the administration is saving Stan from the humiliation of being investigated and fired, it’s damning him, too, setting him free from the ethical restrictions that Gaad might have imposed on him. It takes


NASA unveils 25th anniversary image for the Hubble: Celestial fireworks in a bed of new stars

The brilliant tapestry of young stars flaring to life resemble a glittering fireworks display in the 25th anniversary NASA Hubble Space Telescope image to commemorate a quarter century of exploring the solar system and beyond since its launch on April 24, 1990. (NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team) In honor of the Hubble Space Telescope's 25th anniversary on Friday, NASA representatives on Thursday unveiled an official celebratory image. You can read more about the Hubble's brilliant past and murky future here. But let's focus on the science behind the photo above, which is just one of so many beautiful shots the Hubble has given us throughout the past quarter of a century. [The Hubble spotted this smiley face in space] The images reveals This visualization provides a three-dimensional perspective on Hubble's 25th anniversary image of the nebula Gum 29 with the star cluster Westerlund 2 at its core. The image captures a section of Gum 29, a region of vigorous star birth around 20,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Carina. The glittering cluster you see is called Westerlund 2, and it's made up of around 3,000 stars and spans between six and 13 light-years across. [From the Hubble, a new image of a glittering cosmic wonderland with stars as old as the universe itself] Westerlund 2 is a young cluster -- only about 2 million years old -- so the stars its forming have yet to make their way into deeper space. Meanwhile, the clouds of gas and dust that form pillars and valleys around the new stars interact with them -- and serve as an incubator for even more glittering stars. Want more space? Give these a click: Video catches space geckos playing Do stars have a sound? A new study says they might. NASA’s Messenger spacecraft is about to crash into Mercury New images of Ceres show more mysterious white spots


Family releases statement on death of Warren Weinstein in U.S. operation

This video showing Warren Weinstein, a U.S. contractor held by al-Qaeda militants, was released in 2013. The full 13-minute video was sent anonymously by e-mail to several journalists who have reported from Afghanistan. A U.S. operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border inadvertently killed two hostages, including American contractor Warren Weinstein. Weinstein had been held since 2011 after being kidnapped in Lahore, Pakistan. His family released this statement: Following the announcement by The White House today that American humanitarian aid worker Warren Weinstein, who was abducted more than three and a half years ago in Pakistan, has died in captivity during a U.S. counterterrorism operation, Elaine Weinstein issued the following statement on behalf of the Weinstein family: “On behalf of myself, our two daughters, our son-in-law, and two grandchildren, we are devastated by this news and the knowledge that my husband will never safely return home. We were so hopeful that those in the U.S. and Pakistani governments with the power to take action and secure his release would have done everything possible to do so and there are no words to do justice to the disappointment and heartbreak we are going through. We do not yet fully understand all of the facts surrounding Warren’s death but we do understand that the U.S. government will be conducting an independent investigation of the circumstances. We look forward to the results of that investigation. But those who took Warren captive over three years ago bear ultimate responsibility. I can assure you that he would still be alive and well if they had allowed him to return home after his time abroad working to help the people of Pakistan. “The cowardly actions of those who took Warren captive and ultimately to the place and time of his death are not in keeping with Islam and they will have to face their God to answer for their actions,” Mrs. Weinstein said. “Warren spent his entire life working to benefit people across the globe and loved the work that he did to make people’s lives better. In Pakistan, where he was working before he was abducted, he loved and respected the Pakistani people and their culture. He learned to speak Urdu and did everything he could to show his utmost and profound respect for the region. “We cannot even begin to express the pain our family is going through and we ask for the respect of our


Metro announces 4 safety improvements after fatal tunnel incident

were working properly. The agency said Thursday that it plans to begin a more comprehensive effort, “establishing a quality audit process for ventilation-system testing to ensure compliance with established maintenance and testing practices.” Early this month, the NTSB said it planned to examine a February incident in which an Orange Line train encountered tunnel smoke near the Court House station. The safety board is looking into whether there are similarities to the L’Enfant incident. No one was injured in the Feb. 11 incident. Metro also said Thursday that starting this summer, it will “review protocols of the alarms in the Rail Operations Control Center with the goal of separating critical alarms from non-critical notifications.” The problem of alarms continually sounding at the train control center in Landover, referred to as the ROCC, has been known to Metro for several years and might have contributed to the agency’s apparently slow response to the Jan. 12 smoke crisis near the L’Enfant station. Since 2013, Metro has said in internal documents that computer software at the ROCC needs to be modernized. But the work of drafting specifications and eventually finding a contractor to supply and install the software has proceed at a snail’s pace. The current computer system generates so many needless alarms, about smoke and other problems, that warnings sometimes go unheeded by controllers, Metro said. “An excessive volume of alarms occur incessantly . . . such that the resultant alarm log has become so much ‘noise’ and of little use,” according to one document. Full details of how Landover train controllers and supervisors responded during the smoke incident at L’Enfant have yet to be disclosed. However, Metro has issued new rules for the center, instructing employees not to shout or create distractions by moving away from their assigned consoles during emergencies. The NTSB has scheduled a public hearing on the L’Enfant incident for late June, and Metro has hired communications teams to help prepare for those sessions. In a statement Thursday, the agency said, “The additional safety measures were identified as part of Metro’s collaborative review with the [NTSB] investigation team, but are not to be construed as formal recommendations from the NTSB.” Troup said, “While we remain committed to taking any actions recommended by the NTSB in their final investigation report,” which is still months from being completed, “we are not waiting to make safety improvements where we see opportunities.”


Scientists find missing link in Yellowstone plumbing: This giant volcano is very much alive

slower; when they pass through cold rock, they're faster. By combining the data from many sensors, scientists can get a picture of the hot and cold rock beneath Yellowstone. This is known as "seismic tomography." This is a volcano that can erupt either in a big way or a truly colossal and catastrophic way. The big eruptions can send lava flowing over a big portion of the park; the really huge ones can form a giant crater, or caldera. The last time Yellowstone had a calderic eruption was 640,000 years ago, and the misshapen hole it created was about 25 miles by 37 miles across. This caldera has since been filled in by lava flows and natural erosion, and Yellowstone Lake covers a portion of the area. The main visual evidence of the old caldera is the striking absence of mountains at the heart of the park: They were literally blown away in the last eruption. Risk assessment is tricky for low-probability, high-consequence events like volcanic eruptions. The big Yellowstone eruptions occur on time scales of many hundreds of thousands of years. Smith said the repeat time for a caldera explosion at Yellowstone is roughly 700,000 years. But the smaller eruptions, with lava flowing over the surface, are more frequent. There have been at least 50 such smaller eruptions since the caldera exploded 640,000 years ago. The most recent was about 70,000 years ago. Geological processes don't follow clocks. These are chaotic systems, with strain building unpredictably as distant faults break and the geological stresses shift here and there. Bottom line: Yellowstone is unpredictable. There's no sign at all that this old volcano is going to erupt anytime soon, either in a big way or a huge, show-stopper way. But neither is there any evidence that it's running out of steam. A new study provides the first complete view of the plumbing system that supplies hot and partly molten rock from the Yellowstone hotspot to the Yellowstone supervolcano. The study revealed a gigantic magma reservoir beneath the previously known magma chamber. This cross-section illustration cutting southwest-northeast under Yellowstone depicts the view revealed by seismic imaging. Seismologists estimate the annual chance of a Yellowstone supervolcano eruption is 1 in 700,000. (Hsin-Hua Huang/University of Utah) Read more: Scientists trick subjects into feeling invisible Still sharp, Hubble Space Telescope turns 25 with a cloudy future Dynamite timelapse views of Chile’s erupting Calbuco volcano


‘Scandal’ recap Season 4, Episode 20: ‘First lady sings the blues’

assert that neither Mellie’s status as first lady or a mother was at odds with said decision. We’ll pretend it hasn’t been months since we’ve seen Teddy or Karen Grant. The interview was entertaining — with Sally and Cyrus exchanging backhanded compliments and alluding to past bad behavior — but it was not effective. Olivia offers Fitz advice that only she could: Milk the conflict of interest for all it’s worth, at least to the people of Virginia. Mellie whips out her Southern drawl and charms her would-be constituents. The move appears to get Mellie’s campaign back on track even if Cyrus is vehemently against it. Back at the warehouse, Russell can hear everything the gladiators are discussing, including their plan to help Mary. At first telling, it seems pretty genius. Olivia goes back to the butcher and informs him that she can give him the identity and a foolproof way to contact the head of B613. Side note: The butcher may be the first person in “Scandal” history to openly admit that he knows of B613. Russell tips off Rowan and it results in the death of the butcher, Mary and Mary’s poor grandchildren. Papa Pope, you’ve gone too far. Liv demands that David and everyone else drop the case against B613 and says she plans to call Rowan and tell him that “it’s over, he’s won.” “If even one of you takes a single step against my father we are all dead,” she tells the group. Russell, still within earshot, sees an opportunity. He asks if Rowan still wants him to finish the job. Rowan says the job has changed and they’re proceeding with something called Operation Foxtail. He tells Russell to keep him updated on his daughter’s whereabouts. That should be pretty easy considering Russell soon makes it to Olivia’s apartment. Liv, dressed in lingerie, orders Russell to close his eyes and it looks like things are about to get heated. They get heated alright — Liv places the barrel of a gun firmly against his forehead and lets him know his cover is blown. She wants to know about Foxtail. Russell, who I’ve decided is the most incompetent B613 agent ever, feigns ignorance, resulting in the last (and perhaps the best) line of the episode. Russell: “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Alex.” Liv: “It’s Olivia and this is definitely going to hurt.” Lingering questions:


Inside Alabama’s deadly Spice craze

will be illegal to make, sell, possess or use these dangerous drugs.” That was supposed to be the end of Spice, at least in Alabama. Soon, the whole country was on board. In 2012, President Obama signed the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act, banning 26 types of synthetic drugs nationwide. The list included both cannabinoids, or marijuana-like downers including Spice, and cathinones, or methamphetamine-like uppers often called “bath salts.” Just 10 days later, a horrific attack made already frightened Americans even more scared of synthetic drugs. On May 26, 2012, in what would come to be called the “Miami Cannibal” attack, a deranged young man ate the face off another man before the young man was shot and killed by police. The gruesome attack was initially — and wrongly, it turns out — blamed on bath salts. Pouches of dried herbal potpourri being called “synthetic marijuana.” (Wendy Galietta/The Washington Post) But nearly four years after Alabama attacked its Spice problem, the drug isn’t just back. It’s more prevalent and dangerous than ever. On Thursday, Alabama health officials reported that 462 patients had visited hospitals in the past month after smoking or ingesting Spice. Ninety-six were hospitalized. Two died. “Please do not take the risk. Do not use these products,” said Mary G. McIntyre, Alabama’s assistant state health officer for disease control and prevention. “Responses to these chemicals can be unpredictable and deadly. People have experienced coma, kidney failure and heart attacks, just to mention some of the effects experienced by users.” “The designer drug substances consist of dried plant material sprayed with synthetic cannabinoids and any mixture of other unknown chemicals including pesticides and rat poison,” noted a Health Department statement. “The chemical compounds reportedly stimulate the same brain areas affected by marijuana, and they have a high potential for abuse. Users may opt for these marijuana alternatives because they believe they are safe.” To Alabamians, the official announcement just confirmed the obvious. In the past month, officials across the state have reported a spike in incidents involving Spice. In Tuscaloosa, hospitals reported 24 Spice overdoses — including one death and others on life support — in 13 days through April 9, leading Police Chief Steven Anderson to call the situation “a public health crisis and a public safety crisis.” In the city of Fairfield, on the other side of the state, officials reported four suspected Spice overdoses in just


Washington Performing Arts announces 2015-16 season

national ones (the Grammy-winning new music ensemble Roomful of Teeth; Anonymous 4 in their final DC concert) on the Spiritual series. All this is not so pivotal to those for whom the main question about the season release, forged through long habit, is about what orchestras will be coming next year. (Answer: Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra; Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Marc-André Hamelin in Liszt’s first piano concerto; Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony; the Orchestre National de France under Daniele Gatti; and Kent Nagano leading the Montréal Symphony and pianist Daniil Trifonov; as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra.) The Kronos Quartet, which has been resident at the Clarice Smith Center/University of Maryland in recent years, returns to Washington Performing Arts for a five-year residency that will include one new commission every year — something announced Friday as part of the Washington Performing Arts 2015-16 season. (Photo: Jay Blakesberg) — — Certainly there are names with cachet: Andras Schiff, Murray Perahia, Simone Dinnerstein, Andreas Haefliger, Steven Isserlis. But Washington Performing Arts is more interested in them as people and artists than as “gets,” measuring status less by stature than by interesting new projects — like a new piece by Lera Auerbach for the cellist Amit Peled, or a collaboration (co-presented with the Kennedy Center) between the pianists Jason Moran and Jeremy Denk. What Washington Performing Arts is doing is potentially very exciting: trying to engage both artists and audiences more deeply. The organization’s challenge is to communicate that excitement more broadly, to existing audiences as well as new ones, in terms that get the message across. Focusing on the new is essential to the organization’s survival, but so is getting people to buy tickets. Some of the current season’s major performances at the Kennedy Center, like the stunning “L’Orfeo” by John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists (expensive to present) or the recent Philadelphia Orchestra concert, have been notably undersold. The season program is sprinkled with catchy tag-terms that try to slice and dice the programming in a range of ways: “Scaling Mount Everest” for the longer, “custom-curated” programs, “Dynamic Duos” for the Moran/Denk, Ma/Ax, and several other pairings. It’s a sign that the new Washington Performing Arts is still finding its voice, and its language, to explain to the world everything that is going on in a potentially exciting season.


Bridj to begin limited service in Washington on Monday

Bridj will provide morning service for its first two weeks. (Bridj) Bridj For its first two weeks, Bridj will operate only from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Its service, as anticipated, will connect Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle and the K Street corridor. Bridj uses flexible pick-up locations depending on where its riders are located on a given day. It says a rider will never have to walk more than 10 minutes inside one of its service zones. Washington will be the second city where Bridj has launched. (Bridj) The Boston-based start-up recently began e-mailing details to District residents who have expressed an interest in the service. For now, it’s including promo codes for free rides during the launch period. After the trial period, Bridj is expected to cost $5 a ride and will eventually expand to other neighborhoods. All payments are processed through its app. As it considers future routes, the start-up is taking into consideration commutes submitted by users who visit its Web site. Related: Bridj announces plans to launch in Washington, D.C.


These retro postcards show where the Hubble has taken us in 25 years

Within the Sea Monster it’s thought that the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1073 resembles our own Milky Way. (Open University) The Hubble Space Telescope, which turned 25 on Friday, doesn't travel through space. It's in a fairly low orbit -- 353 miles high, just around 100 miles higher than the space station -- and never leaves Earth's side. But over the past quarter of a century, its increasingly impressive resolution has brought us to strange new places. [NASA unveils 25th anniversary image for the Hubble: Celestial fireworks in a bed of new stars] The Hubble’s color infrared composite image from the Milky Way’s center revealed a new population of massive stars. (Open University) The Open University In a few million years, scientists estimate that the Red Rectangle nebula will actually bloom into a shell of diffuse gas, known as a planetary nebula. (Open University) Sometimes we even get to enjoy a 3-D birds-eye view: This visualization provides a three-dimensional perspective on Hubble's 25th anniversary image of the nebula Gum 29 with the star cluster Westerlund 2 at its core. The Sombrero galaxy is one of the biggest objects in its cluster, equivalent to 800 billion suns. (Open University) The online postcards aren't for sale, unfortunately, but the puns are pretty delightful: The entire Cone Nebula (made of gas and dust) is seven light-years long. (Open University) The globular cluster of stars known as Messier54 was discovered by astronomer Charles Messier way back in 1778. (Open University) Want more Hubble? Give these a click: Still sharp, Hubble Space Telescope turns 25 with a cloudy future NASA unveils 25th anniversary image for the Hubble: Celestial fireworks in a bed of new stars The Hubble spotted this smiley face in space From the Hubble, a new image of a glittering cosmic wonderland with stars as old as the universe itself


Are these beautiful lettuce and tomatoes really organic? The debate over an agricultural innovation.

of its organic advisory board, the USDA has decided that the produce generated by such systems is worthy of the valuable organic label, as long as the other organic guidelines are followed. The designation allows the farmers to charge a premium of as much as 30 percent or more. The debate over aquaponics and hydroponics is one front in much broader war over what may be sold as “organic.” On Friday, the Cornucopia Institute, a nonprofit group representing some farmers and other interests, called for the resignation of the chief of the USDA’s National Organic Program, citing the aquaponics decision and other issues. The focus of Cornucopia’s discontent is the way in which the USDA has, in their view, ignored the recommendations of the organic advisory board, a 15-member panel created by Congress to help shape the organic rules. Board members and USDA officials have also differed on an array of topics including how animals should be treated and what kinds of synthetic materials may be added to organic products. The contest has often split the organic world into multiple camps, sometimes pitting smaller outfits against larger, more corporate entities. "Although the USDA ignored some of the [board] recommendations in the past, until recently they never went 180 degrees in the opposite direction in deference to the preferences of powerful corporate interests," Kevin Engelbert, a former board member from Nichols, New York said in a statement. A spokesman for the USDA noted that the government is convening a special task force to reconsider the water-based systems. "Emerging technologies in hydroponic and aquaponic production have prompted [the USDA] to seek the most current information and opinions of industry experts," the department said. Hydroponics, or growing plants in a nutrient solution root medium, is a growing area of commercial food production, with more than $500 million in annual revenues, with the best-sellers being tomatoes and lettuce, according to market analysis by IBISWorld. Since 2002, a few dozen such operations have obtained the USDA organic certification, according to government figures. Defenders of the aquaponics contend that the produce they generate is nutritionally equivalent and moreover, cleaner. Al Eisler, owner of an aquaponic farm in Cocoa, Florida grows lettuce, spices and tomatoes in water tanks inhabited by tilapia. The only things he adds to the water, he says, are organic fish food and, occasionally, some minerals. The plants mainly feed off of the wastes


It wasn’t just the Armenians: The other 20th century massacres we ignore

official silence was installed across the country. Suharto would end up being president for 32 years: To this day, communist organizations are officially banned. It was only in the past few years that discussions about the terrible events began to take place. In 2010, Indonesia's Constitutional Court struck down a ban on several books about the coup that mentioned the killings. In 2012, American filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer released "The Act of Killing," a documentary that saw perpetrators act out their killings, which sparked renewed international attention. The Bangladesh Genocide ঢাকার গ্রামে গণহত্যা - এবিসি নিউজ (৩০ নভেম্বর, ১৯৭১) The Partition of India after 1947 saw one of the world's largest migrations ever: Some estimates suggest 2 million or more died in the chaos. It also left Pakistan split between the main rump of its body to the west of the new state of India, and a smaller province of East Bengal, later renamed East Pakistan, to the east. This split state didn't last, with terrible consequences. In 1971, West Pakistan began a military crackdown on Bengali calls for independence, which eventually led to a nine-month war that birthed Bangladesh. That war resulted in an estimated 10 million refugees, and while there is no clear death toll, estimates put the number of deaths in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands. The Bangladeshi government has said that as many as 3 million people died, and many observers consider it a genocide. The war's toll on women was also especially awful: Estimates say that at least 200,000 people were raped. Recent investigations have also focused on the role the United States could have, and perhaps should have, played in ending the conflict. Pakistan was reliant on U.S. military hardware, journalist Gary J. Bass noted in his book "The Blood Telegram," but President Richard Nixon was fearful of using it, as Pakistan was a secret conduit for communications to communist China. Ethiopia's Red Terror Former Ethiopian president Mengistu Haile Marian in August 1990. (Aris Saris/AP) Between 1976 and 1978, the Ethiopian government ran a brutal counter-insurgency campaign which they dubbed "Red Terror." Following the political vacuum created when Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by a military junta in 1974, a new Marxist government, led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, sought to eradicate the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party and other opposition groups. Estimates of those left dead vary greatly – Human Rights Watch says that


Taco Bell’s biscuit tacos are a borderline upgrade on the chain’s breakfast options

Taco Bell has made no secret of the fact that, when it comes to breakfast, the chain would like to eat Ronald McDonald's lunch. Taco Bell has even suggested that pulling into the Mickey D's drive-through for your daily McMuffin fix is tantamount to living under Stalinist repression. A fried chicken and country gravy biscuit taco: fusion confusion. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post Now, I'm a sucker for clever, self-serving propaganda as much as the next person with a Facebook status to update. But as any honest politician (I know, I know) will tell you, slinging mud at your competition doesn't automatically mean you have more appetizing ideas. [Lots more cheap eats in the $20 Diner archives] In fact, Taco Bell has already ditched one of its first ideas: the waffle taco, which has been 86'd in favor of a new line of breakfast biscuit tacos. Visually, the switcheroo is an improvement. The waffle taco looked like someone had wrapped eggs and sausage in a filthy mattress. The biscuit taco looks like an adorable Taiwanese gua bao bun re-imagined by Paula Deen. The biscuit wrapper can't hold the center of Taco Bell's new breakfast sandwiches. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) Nonetheless, after busting through three biscuit tacos, I've decided the sandwich needs more R&D. The problem lies with the buttermilk biscuit shell, which is supposed to hold your desired ingredients in place but breaks apart like, well, a buttermilk biscuit. However Taco Bell manipulates the ingredients to create its bendy biscuits, the research team needs to rethink the formula. The biscuit never holds. Maybe they're aiming for the impossible: a flaky biscuit that folds like a New York slice? [The $20 Diner goes on a junk-food binge] Plus, the shell proves too thick and too dry, which, as a result, turns your breakfast sandwich into an arid affair. Every one of my biscuits cried out for moisture, particularly the fried chicken with country gravy. Apparently the gravy retired to the country, because my sandwich had few signs of it. And can we talk for a second about this chicken-and-gravy taco? Let me try to wrap my junk-f00d-diminished brain around the concept: It's a biscuit that looks like a gua bao bun but assumes the role of a tortilla. A length of white meat, covered with crumbled tortilla chips and deep fried, is tucked into the folded biscuit and, at least theoretically, smothered


Will governments ban this super pollutant that’s making Earth warmer?

This image, provided by NASA Data from six orbits of the Suomi-NPP spacecraft on April 9, was assembled into this perspective composite of southern Africa and the surrounding oceans. Tropical Cyclone Joalane is seen over the Indian Ocean. The image was created by the Ocean Biology Processing Group at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. (NASA via AP) In air conditioners, industrial chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are powerful refrigerants that help keep humans cool. In the atmosphere, however, they have the opposite effect, trapping the sun’s heat more efficiently than almost any other greenhouse gas. Now, after years of wrangling, the world’s nations may finally be moving toward setting global limits on the chemicals because of their potential role as a cause of global warming. A round of technical discussions in Bangkok ended Friday with the approval of a work plan that could lead to a global agreement on HFCs, currently among the most commonly used chemical coolants used in air conditioners and refrigerators, before the year’s end. Diplomats signaled progress toward an international accord after India — long an opponent to a ban on HFCs — reversed course late last week and offered a plan to gradually phase out global production of the chemicals. That step led in turn to an agreement to move forward to formal negotiations in July, with the intention of drafting a final agreement in November, according to officials present at the talks. “The table is now set for success this year,” said Durwood Zaelke, an environmental law expert and president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, a Washington-based nonprofit group. The apparent progress represents a win for the Obama administration, which in particular worked closely with India to address concerns about the availability of alternatives to HFCs. The White House last year announced a voluntary initiative with U.S. manufacturers to speed up the shift from HFCs to more environmentally friendly alternatives. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, in an interview Thursday, praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making a politically difficult choice to move away from HFCs, which are produced in a country in which air conditioning accounts for a major portion of domestic energy consumption. “It is essential that we get a buy-in on this,” Kerry said, “because HFCs are one of the most dangerous greenhouse gases on Earth — far more damaging and potent that carbon


Did you hear the one about the Muslim, socialist, Kenyan president? The joke Obama can’t stop telling.

about being Muslim, foreign-born and socialist. On Saturday, he joked about how busy he is, dealing with immigration, vetoes and Iran -- all while finding time to pray five times a day. And then there was the one about how if Bernie Sanders became president, we'd have a "third Obama term after all" ("Apparently, some folks really want to see a pot-smoking socialist in the White House," he said). [ [The 5 most devastating jokes from White House Correspondents' Dinners] He got lots of laughs, but if you look back at all of his other routines, you'll notice he has made similar jokes before. Not just once. Not just twice. Every. Single. Year. If it's not broken, don't fix it, right? Here's a look back at Obama joking about being a socialist Muslim born in Kenya: 2014 "An American won the Boston Marathon for the first time in 30 years, which was inspiring and only fair, since a Kenyan has been president for the last six." "Let's face it, Fox, you'll miss me when I'm gone. It will be harder to convince the American people that Hillary was born in Kenya." 2013 "These days, I look in the mirror and I have to admit, I'm not the strapping young Muslim socialist that I used to be." 2012 "My name is Barack Obama. My mother was born in Kansas. My father was born in Kenya. And I was born, of course, in Hawaii." 2011 "As some of you heard, the state of Hawaii released my official long-form birth certificate. Hopefully this puts all doubts to rest. But just in case there are any lingering questions, tonight I'm prepared to go a step further. Tonight, for the first time, I am releasing my official birth video. Now, I warn you, no one has seen this footage in 50 years, not even me. But let's take a look." (Plays footage from "The Lion King.") 2010 "It's been quite a year since I've spoken here last. Lots of ups, lots of downs, except for my approval ratings, which have just gone down. But that's politics. It doesn't bother me. Besides, I happen to know that my approval ratings are still very high in the country of my birth." [This is the most controversial Correspondents’ Dinner speech ever. But nobody knew it at the time.] [Quiz: Who was this White House Correspondents' Dinner joke about?]


Paula Radcliffe says emotional goodbye at London Marathon

(Andrew Boyers / Reuters) The competitive career of one of the world’s greatest distance runners ended Sunday with tears and cheers in London. Paula Radcliffe, the 41-year-old world-record holder in the marathon, closed out her career with a time of 2 hours, 36 minutes, 55 seconds in the London Marathon. “I wore the sunglasses to keep a lid on my emotions and they definitely hid some tears along the way,” Radcliffe told reporters (via Reuters). “I knew it would be emotional and it was so emotional. I nearly lost it at Birdcage Walk, but the crowds bowled me over, I wanted it to last forever. It was so special, I’m really going to miss it. “I was looking to finish holding hands with someone. I always wanted to run with my dad but never managed it so I did it in spirit instead.” Paula Radcliffe starts her final marathon. (Tim Ireland / AP) Radcliffe, the three-time winner of the London Marathon and British native, as been limited in recent years by injuries, including an Achilles’ injury that nearly kept her out of London. “I owed that to London to give my best effort because it’s given me so much over the years,” she said. “I’ve always run and I’ll always continue to run. I’ve always appreciated what a gift it is just to get out and run.” Eliud Kipchoge of Ethiopia was the men’s winner in 2:04:42; Ethiopia’s Tigist Tufa was the women’s winner in 2:23:22.


Jeb Bush targets Hillary Clinton’s comments on women’s rights and religious freedom

little access to health care. “Yes, we have cut the maternal mortality rate in half, but far too women are still denied critical access to reproductive health care and safe childbirth,” Clinton told the Women in the World conference in New York. “All the laws we passed don’t count for much if they are not enforced,” Clinton continued. “Rights have to exist in practice, not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will, and deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.” Bush seized on those comments in his Sunday e-mail to supporters. "This week Hillary Clinton said that people's deep-seated religious beliefs need to be changed in order to advance her own personal political agenda. Wow," he wrote. "America was founded on religious freedom, and that freedom is woven into the Bill of Rights as the first guarantee. And strengthening families is an important element to helping people rise up. This shouldn't be a partisan political issue, but unfortunately for Hillary Clinton it sounds like it is." He amplified his concerns via Twitter: Americans' religious beliefs should be respected and protected not changed @HillaryClinton . Sign if you agree https://t.co/98hb1qdTEe Although other portions of Clinton’s speech were partisan and aimed squarely at Republicans, the remark about religious beliefs appeared to be primarily directed at political and social leaders abroad. Women’s access to contraception and abortion are limited by many factors in traditional, conservative societies for many reasons, including patriarchal traditions, poverty and lack of education and medical services. “I believe the advancement and the full participation of women and girls in every aspect of their societies is the great unfinished business of the 21st century,” Clinton added in her Thursday remarks. “And not just in far-away countries but right here in the United States.” Bush is hosting meetings with top donors to his Right to Rise PAC on Sunday evening and Monday at a swanky Miami Beach hotel that opened last month. Approximately 350 donors will be attending the meeting, which kept Bush from attending the Faith and Freedom Coalition gathering and the Republican Jewish Coalition meetings in Las Vegas. Bush sent surrogates to both meetings. His son, Jeb Bush Jr., spoke on his behalf in Las Vegas. His brother also addressed the Vegas crowd and said he'd be lying low if his brother runs for president in 2016.


Before Abercrombie was a hub of shirtless models, it was a store where you could buy guns and thermal underwear

Shoppers walk past a billboard for an Abercrombie & Fitch store in New York in 2009. (Mark Lennihan/AP) They were once a shopping mall staple: parking lots, food court pretzels, ear-piercing stands — and the washboard abs of an Abercrombie & Fitch model. Sometimes plastered across the store’s dimly lit entrance or often on the body of a 17-year-old hired to stand around in swim trunks, sexualized-preppy was the ever-present look of this pricey teen chain. But now, A&F says it’s ditching shirtless models, its strict policy governing how its employees should dress, and the “appearance and sense of style” rule that was widely known as a directive to its stores to only hire attractive people. If you’ve been following the story of this once-popular store, this announcement won’t surprise you. CEO Mike Jeffries, the mastermind of the exclusive, racy look, left the company in December. (He once explained his store’s former success to Salon as, “Companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either.”) A discrimination lawsuit from a woman who was denied a job at the store because she was wearing a headscarf went all the way to the Supreme Court. And all the while, sales plummeted. In short, it’s time for some re-branding. But it won’t be the first time Abercrombie & Fitch has been in search of a new identity. Have you ever wondered why the brand’s logo was a moose? At its origin, the company was a sporting goods store. “The greatest sporting goods store in the world,” if you were to believe its advertisements from the early 1900s. Left: A December 1909 Abercrombie and Fitch catalog. Right: An Abercrombie model outside of the store in 2008. (Mark Lennihan/AP) Long before anyone showed their abs in public, Abercrombie & Fitch was founded in 1892 by David T. Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch. You could wander into their 12-story building on Madison Avenue in New York City to buy golf clubs, binoculars, tents, lawn games, fishing rods, pocket knifes, flasks, clothes made from “safari cloth,” spurs for boots, pipes, smoking jackets and a whole slew of guns. Rest assured, the store was still “exclusive.” Fitch (who lived in a log cabin on the building’s roof, next to a pool for fishing) gave it the catchphrase, “Where


Main Street Morning: Israel’s Hispanic entrepreneurs

gender inequality. - Why your best employees might be leaving – and how to make them stay. Entrepreneurs - Some tips on developing a routine when working from home. - This women’s antique business started as quite a surprise. - An agriculture activist and entrepreneur in organic farming who’s business is the nation’s oldest brand for organic orange juice and has fresh produce and juice in more than 5,000 stores nationwide discusses his business. Restaurants - Popeyes addresses the firing of a pregnant employee. - Can club owners make musicians play for free? Finance - After receiving more than $100K in donations, a bakers’ crowdfunding page shuts down. - These are the numbers behind the Kickstarter community. People - Abercrombie & Fitch no longer requires its employees to be “hot” in order to work at their stores. Technology - Why Apple won’t always rule. - You can now send directions to your Android phone with a Google search. - Mammograms aren’t always good at detecting breast cancer Online - A health blogger admits to lying about cancer. - A lack of women in the estimated 96 percent male Bitcoin community is a major hurdle to widespread adoption. Opportunities - As coal jobs go up in flames, new energy positions may emerge from the ashes. - Here are a few emerging trends for aspiring entrepreneurs. Start-up - These 23 tweeters will keep you plugged into the start-up ecosystem. Around the Country - Latino entrepreneurs are finding success in Sonoma County, California. - A movie theatre owner finds that it’s business, but not as usual, in Pittsburgh. - A Minnesota town’s rebirth is making it “a shopping destination. Around the World - Why Israel needs and wants to support Hispanic entrepreneurs. - The Chinese government is asking its citizens to stop hiring strippers for their funerals. - Britain’s wealthiest have doubled their net worth since the last financial crisis. - Workers in the United Arab Emirates are keeping their mental health issues from their employers for fear that an admission may harm their careers. - Start-ups are flourishing in Kuwait. - China’s farmland inspires a Swiss entrepreneur’s organic approach to green fashions. - A look at the many entrepreneurial opportunities in Jamaica. 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


When bones are set and bleeding stops, earthquake victims face ‘crush syndrome’

A man is freed from the rubble of a destroyed building after the earthquake that hit Kathmandu, Nepal, Saturday. (Narendra Shrestha/EPA) After rescue workers are finally able to reach the victims of the Nepal earthquake and address their injuries, health-care workers will be watching carefully for two conditions that crop up later: "crush syndrome" and "compartment syndrome." The related problems, which are life- and limb-threatening, result from hours of compression of arm and leg muscles by rubble in earthquakes and building collapses. But doctors also see them in drug addicts and others who pass out with their heads on their arms, and surgical patients who aren't positioned properly. "Crush syndrome" is the more dangerous of the two; it can result in death. When earthquake victims with arm or leg injuries are pulled from the rubble, releasing the pressure on crushed muscles, blood begins to flow through the area again. As it circulates, it brings the byproducts of that damaged tissue to other parts of the body, which aren't prepared to handle the toxins, according to Mark Pearlmutter, vice president of emergency medicine for the Steward Health System near Boston. "As soon as you release the crush injury, or the rock, or whatever it might be, the blood flows back into your system," said Pearlmutter, who spent four weeks in Haiti tending to victims of the 2010 earthquake there. "And with it is an abundance of broken down muscle byproducts." [Death toll in Nepal rises to 3,800 as aid arrives] Myoglobin, a protein in muscle tissue, can flood the kidneys, causing them to fail days after the person is rescued and wounds are sewn up, Pearlmutter said. Excess potassium can disrupt the electrical signals that are critical to your heart beating rhythmically, causing it to fail, he said. Editor’s note: This video contains graphic content. Rescuers pull people who had been trapped in collapsed buildings after an earthquake devastated the heavily crowded Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. According to this article in The Bone and Joint Journal, 2 to 5 percent of earthquake victims will suffer crush syndrome. In "compartment syndrome," the inflammation of a crushed muscle causes so much swelling that the blood supply is cut off in the area around that muscle. Within hours, that muscle can die, if surgeons don't release the pressure by cutting open the fascia, the thick lining that surrounds the muscle. [Haiti surgeons quickly adapt


Orioles postpone game against White Sox amid violent protests in Baltimore

Baltimore Police officers in riot gear block a street Monday afternoon on Reisterstown Road near Mowdamin Mall in Baltimore. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Updated at 6:20 p.m. EDT: Baltimore Orioles announce game has been postponed After consultation with Baltimore City Police Department, tonight’s game between the Orioles & White Sox at Oriole Park has been postponed. Amid the violent protests that erupted Monday afternoon in Baltimore, the Orioles announced that Monday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox has been postponed. The decision, made after consultation with the Baltimore City Police Department, came less than an hour before the game was slated to be played. Fans arriving at the game were met with extra security and could only enter through Gate H and Home Plate Plaza. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who was at Camden Yards for a planned visit, said “it’s possible these games could be played elsewhere.” [Live updates: Riots in Baltimore] Rob Manfred: "It's possible these games could be played elsewhere." Fans encouraged to keep their tickets and parking passes until more info is available #orioles Original post The game between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox at Camden Yards is still slated to be played Monday night at 7:05 p.m. EDT despite the violent protests that have flared up in Baltimore, several media outlets have reported. Tensions arose after the funeral of Freddie Gray at a Baltimore church Monday afternoon, where thousands had gathered to pay their respects. Gray, 25, died in police custody on April 19 and his death has become the latest flashpoint in the debate over police treatment of racial minorities. The initial violence began about four miles from the stadium in Northwest Baltimore and the team has been consulting with Baltimore Police throughout the day, according to the Baltimore Sun. As a precaution, all gates except Gate H and Home Plate Plaza have been locked. The scene outside Gate H of Camden Yards. Fans are being allowed in as officers in riot gear stand guard. #orioles http://t.co/eXtBO8aMkh Orioles game will still be played. I'm told fans can enter at the home plate entrance. Other gates are currently closed. #BaltimoreRiots More on Baltimore protests Son of Orioles owner Peter Angelos tweets perspective on Freddie Gray protests Protesters, police clash in Baltimore; at least seven officers are injured ‘Another life gone’: Hundreds gather for Freddie Gray funeral in Baltimore


Why ‘The Wire’ doesn’t explain the Baltimore riots

David Simon, creator of “The Wire.” ( Joshua Roberts/Getty Images for the MacArthur Foundation) Tensions between police and an oppressed underclass come to a boiling point. An American city burns. And, immediately, commentators compare the situation to a premium cable series that went off the air seven years ago. Baltimore is in trouble — and in newspaper columns and on CNN, “The Wire” is back. “The criminal element translated that to mean free rein,” Deborah Simmons of the Washington Times wrote after the city’s mayor discussed giving protesters “space to destroy” — “just like the characters in ‘The Wire’ — the gritty HBO drama about the war on drugs in Baltimore that aired from 2002 to 2008.” But is invoking fiction to explain fact necessarily helpful? The media and commentators — who turned to David Simon, creator of “The Wire,” and members of the show’s cast who spoke out about the riots — presumably thought so. “The anger and the selfishness and the brutality of those claiming the right to violence in Freddie Gray’s name needs to cease,” Simon wrote on his blog. “There was real power and potential in the peaceful protests that spoke in Mr. Gray’s name initially, and there was real unity at his homegoing today. But this, now, in the streets, is an affront to that man’s memory and a diminution of the absolute moral lesson that underlies his unnecessary death.” [‘Wire’ creator David Simon: Baltimore violence ‘needs to cease’] Though Simon — a former Baltimore Sun reporter and longtime Baltimore resident — spoke with hard-earned authority, some have pointed out that his TV vision of Baltimore doesn’t tell the whole story. In fact, it might disempower those the showrunner sought to help by exposing Charm City’s seamier side. “The workplaces, neighborhoods, language and events portrayed in The Wire have the kind of verisimilitude that justifies the torrent of praise,” John Atlas and Peter Dreier wrote in Dissent in 2008 in a piece called “Is ‘The Wire’ too cynical?” “But Simon says he wanted the show to spur our country to do something about the plight of America’s inner-cities. Instead, his portrayal of Baltimore buttresses the myth that the poor, especially the black poor in the city’s ghettos, are drug dealers or users, eternally helpless victims, unable to engage in collective self-help and dependent on government largess, or crime, to survive.” But even if Simon is


READ IN: State Dinner Edition

Don't forget to sign up for Read In, your one-stop shop for all the politics news you need every morning! -- At least 15 Baltimore police officers were injured and 27 people were arrested as riots turned violent Monday afternoon and early Tuesday. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) activated the National Guard, and troops were in Baltimore by midnight, though rioting continued overnight. Baltimore City schools will be closed today. President Obama spoke with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and received updates from Attorney General Loretta Lynch and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. (Washington Post, Baltimore Sun) -- Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) cut short a trip to Europe this week to return home Tuesday morning. (Washington Post) RT @HillaryClinton: "Tonight I am praying for peace & safety for all in Baltimore, & for Freddie Gray's family - his death is a tragedy that demands answers. -H" -- The Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether gay couples have a constitutional right to get married this morning. At issue are the 22 states in which same-sex marriage bans have been struck down by federal courts and the 13 states in which gay marriage bans remain on the books. More than 70 percent of Americans live in states that allow same-sex marriage. (Washington Post, New York Times) -- The Players: Attorneys Mary Bonauto and Douglas Hallward-Driemeier will argue in favor of same-sex marriage, joined by Solicitor General Donald Verrilli. Attorneys John Bursch, hired by the state of Michigan, and Joseph Whalen, an associate solicitor general for Tennessee, will argue for the states. Bonauto and Bursch will debate whether the 14th Amendment requires states to allow same-sex couples to marry; Verrilli will join that debate. Hallward-Driemeier and Whalen will debate the second question, whether the 14th Amendment requires states to recognize marriages performed in other states. (Washington Post) -- As the Senate takes up Sen. Bob Corker's (R-Tenn.) measure to require a vote in Congress on any Iran deal, House Speaker John Boehner this weekend told attendees at the Republican Jewish Coalition he didn't think the votes exist in his chamber to override President Obama's expected veto. Boehner's office confirmed his comments, though Corker is close to securing a veto-proof majority in the Senate. (Bloomberg) -- President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will announce an agreement to more closely coordinate defense cooperation. The agreement will allow Japan's military to act when the


Violence breaks out in Baltimore

People walk past burning cars near the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and North Avenue in Baltimore, Md. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Monday's violence in Baltimore made for shocking television, but the only real surprise was that the city was able to contain its anger for more than two weeks after Freddie Gray was arrested. There was no rioting during the several days doctors spent trying to save his life, nor when he finally succumbed to injuries he sustained in the custody of police. The city also stayed mostly quiet between then and his funeral, held Monday. Gray's family, along with activists and many elected officials, have denounced the violence. Still, it feels all too predictable -- fortunately, not a reprise of Baltimore's riots in 1968, as Jamelle Bouie notes at Slate, but a reminder that many of the racial tensions that have motivated violence in American cities for decades are still unresolved. Welcome to Wonkbook. To subscribe by e-mail, click What's in Wonkbook: 1. Top story: Fires, violence in Baltimore after Gray's funeral Riots broke out in parts of Baltimore, a week after Gray's death in police custody. Who was Freddie Gray? Map of the day: O'Malley will return early from abroad. Some blame him for the history of mistrust between police and civilians. Elsewhere, the political mood is shifting on crime. COATES: Calls for peace ignore the depth of the problem. FRIEDERSDORF: The police must be held accountable. 2. Top opinions GERSON: The Clintons' relationship with foreign uranium investors appears unethical. American investors aren't allowed to make similar donations to foreign foundations, MATTHEW C. KLEIN: The "flash crash" case reveals prosecutors' misplaced priorities. Regulators should focus their attention on algorithmic trading, EZRA KLEIN: The joke at the White House Correspondent's dinner was that Obama wasn't joking. BEUTLER: Clinton may be insincere, but that's a sign of liberals' increasing power at the polls. O'BRIEN: Republicans wrongly call for flattening taxes. 3. In case you missed it Fed officials wonder if they should raise the inflation target. The drought out West is slowing power generation, especially at dams. Rich neighborhoods are using far more water than do poor ones, and will be asked to conserve more.


Photos: Monday’s beautiful sunset blends and rainbow pastels in Washington, D.C.

Sunset over Washington, D.C. April 27, 2015 (ep_jhu via Flickr) As the late April sun cooked the air near the ground on Monday morning, rising air currents streamed skyward, intercepting a pocket of cool air on their ascent. A broken field of clouds formed in response during the afternoon and evening, containing a few brief showers. (We call this “self-destructing sunshine”, a common phenomenon in spring when the sun is strong and the surface warm, but the jet stream sends in chilled air from the Arctic at high altitudes.) As the sun set through the clouds and the occasional rain shaft, the sky tuned yellow, orange, and pink. And a few lucky skywatchers witnessed some brilliant sunset rainbows. Here are some pictures that were sent into us from social media Monday evening: Double rainbow over Washington, D.C. near sunset April 27, 2015 (Richard Barnhill via Flickr) Nice rainbow visible from Alexandria, VA this evening @capitalweather http://t.co/k3qabl5dyi meanwhile in shepherdstown, west virginia ... @capitalweather @wtop photo by bikepacker extraordinaire @chris_tank http://t.co/5UqPXFOCKO After the storm there comes #rainbow! @capitalweather http://t.co/yWIbpTlvye Rainbow out the window in Ballston @capitalweather http://t.co/69tI9b9czn @capitalweather @TenaciousTopper @ericagrow @SteveRudinABC7 @AllysonRaeWx @hbwx http://t.co/GpDoVl6htm Interesting sunset in DC tonight. @capitalweather http://t.co/6Z998sRxcM


The invisible organisms that threaten to make climate change much worse

In this Aug. 10, 2009, photo, a hill of permafrost is seen “slumping” from global warming near the remote, boggy fringe of North America, 1,400 miles from the North Pole, where researchers are learning more about methane seeps in the 25,000 lakes of this vast Mackenzie River Delta, in the Northwest Territories, Canada. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) When we think about greenhouse gas emissions, a few obvious culprits — coal-fired power plants or automobiles — come to mind. But the burning of fossils fuels isn’t the only process spewing carbon into the atmosphere. A much less talked-about, but increasingly concerning source of carbon emissions is the slowly thawing permafrost, or frozen soil, in the Arctic. We know that permafrost is a formidable threat to our changing climate, covering nearly a quarter of all the land surface in the Northern Hemisphere and containing about 1,700 gigatons of stored carbon. We also know the basic processes that can cause it to leak that carbon into the atmosphere. As permafrost thaws, microbes in the ground, including bacteria and other microorganisms, start snacking on the dead plants and other tasty organic matter contained in the soil, releasing methane and carbon dioxide. But what we haven’t clearly understood until now is how global warming can affect the microbes, themselves. Now, a new study, published Tuesday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, tackles the question of how rising temperatures can change the activity of microorganisms in the Arctic. The study focuses on methane production, rather than carbon dioxide — an important issue to understand because of methane’s potency. Carbon dioxide may be the more famous (and abundant) greenhouse gas, but methane is the more dangerous: Some estimates rank it at about 25 times more efficient at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, and the study’s authors indicate that thawing permafrost may already account for up to 10 percent of global methane emissions. On top of this, Arctic temperature projections predict an increase of up to 6 degrees Celsius in the summer and up to 11 degrees Celsius in the winter by the end of the century. Knowing how these changes could affect methane-producing microbes is an important step in predicting how the Arctic landscape — and our atmosphere — might change in the coming decades. In a worst case scenario, permafrost emissions could lead to a kind of positive feedback loop, in which


Here’s how politicians should react to the Baltimore riots

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (L) inspects a National Guard road checkpoint in Baltimore, Maryland early April 28, 2015. MICHAEL MATHES/AFP/Getty Images Watching the situation in Baltimore go from bad to worse on Monday, I was struck by one thing: How the politicians were getting it wrong. As Baltimoreans clashed with police, burned cars and looted with reckless abandon, politicians put out statements -- and then quibbled with the wording of those statements. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake waited until 8 pm Monday night to say anything about the growing chaos in the city. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said he was "trying to get in touch with the mayor for quite some time...She finally made that call and we immediately took action.” (Hogan had to wait for Rawlings-Blake to request a state of emergency before he could declare one.) [In Baltimore, a political test for a mayor — and a new governor] A debate, naturally if sadly, broke out over Hogan's use of the word "finally" and whether it was rightly read as a shot at Rawlings-Blake. On CNN, Hogan felt the need to clarify -- while standing next to Rawlings-Blake. “Let me just say, in defense of the mayor, now is not the time to question what happened in the past,” Hogan said. “We’re here to try to fix what is happening now.” That conversation, juxtaposed with the ever-worsening situation on the streets of Baltimore, felt jarringly out of touch. I'm guessing I'm not the only one that -- as I watched my Twitter feed blow up over the "finally" question -- kept asking myself a simple question: WHO CARES? In moments like these -- whether it's an outbreak of violence in Baltimore or a natural disaster somewhere in the middle of the country -- the only thing that politicians can (and should) do is simply be there. Put yourself in the middle of the situation, assess what can (and can't) be done and appear publicly as many times as possible to reassure and inform your constituents. The problem, of course, is that politicians know that their own futures can be made or broken in these moments of distress for their communities. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D) watched her career implode as she struggled to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina effectively. Rudy Giuliani, on the other hand, became a national figure and someone who was able to run for


Sure, that food has the government’s organic label. But that doesn’t mean it was made without man-made chemicals.

MILK ARE "ORGANIC"? The pleadings unfold in a blur of chemistry and agronomy. Among the dozens of public commenters on Monday were a potato grower who asked the board to approve a chemical to keep his stored spuds from sprouting; a maker of organic lecithin - lecithin is an emulsifier common in many foods - who wanted the board to close the loophole that allows synthetic lecithin; and an organic advocate from Vermont who, speaking for some strawberry farms, wanted the board to preserve the exception for ferric phosphate, a chemical used as a slug and snail bait. The potato grower, Derin Jones, from Chin Family Farms in Oregon, acknowledged that a natural substance, clove oil, can be used to keep potatoes from sprouting. But a chemical known as "3-decene-2-one" or "3D2," works much better, and he showed pictures to prove his point. "Clove oil has been a wonderful product," he said. But "we don't feel it is effective enough. It's hurting our business." At stake, however, is the value of the organic label, a word whose value to consumers is the foundation of a growing $32 billion industry. Organic farms use only a small fraction of the synthetic chemicals allowed on conventional farms. But watchdog groups argue that the board should minimize those chemical use or risk degrading the label's credibility. The USDA organic label "may have been in the lead 10 or 15 years ago, but they're not anymore," said Urvashi Rangan, executive director of food safety and sustainability at Consumer Reports. "This is something they need to focus on." Mark Kastel, co-founder of the Cornucopia Institute, a watchdog group devoted to organics, blamed the rapid pace of the deliberations for preventing the public from weighing in. He called the meetings this week "organic regulatory theater." Others, however, defended the process. Jean Richardson, a maple syrup producer and professor emerita from the University of Vermont, is the chairperson of the panel. She notes that the decisions they make must balance the livelihoods of farmers against the consumer demand for purity. "We're romantic realists," Richardson said. "Our values are really strong - we want the world to be a better place in every way. But we're realistic...We recognize that there is not a perfect answer." The board findings are sent to the USDA, and serve as the basis for the final rules regulating what is and what isn't organic.


What recall history tells us about a beloved ice cream brand’s rocky road to recovery

brand, which accounted for 17 percent of the company’s net income in 1981, would never recover from the sabotage. But only two months later, Tylenol was headed back to the market, this time in tamper-proof packaging and bolstered by an extensive media campaign. A year later, its share of the $1.2 billion analgesic market, which had plunged to 7 percent from 37 percent following the poisoning, had climbed back to 30 percent. The Wall Street Journal noted Peanut-butter processor Sunland Inc., peanut processor Peanut Corp. of America and meat processor Topps Meat Company, LLC. all went out of business after recalls related to outbreaks of salmonella or E. coli. But hamburger chain Jack in the Box Inc., which was linked to a deadly E. coli outbreak in 1993, recovered from the crisis. Blue Bell has announced that employees are getting new training — and that plants in three states are going through intensive cleaning, which began Monday. “After a thorough review of operations and discussions with an expert microbiologist, it was decided this cleaning and training program will greatly benefit Blue Bell as it moves forward,” the company said in a statement. “Ice cream being produced this week will be used for testing and gathering baseline data and will not be sold to the public.” The company’s CEO and president, Paul Kruse, called it “a fresh start.” Some have wondered “We have other things to lean on. But I’m concerned about the Blue Bell folks across town,” Brett Smith, owner of a local ice cream shop, told the Houston Chronicle. “I know they’re doing everything possible. It’s heartbreaking.” It’s unclear when Blue Bell products will return to ice cream shops and grocery-store freezers. “We appreciate the patience and understanding of our customers and retailers as we work to get this right,” the company said in a statement this week. Attorney James Neale, who represents food processors and retailers in foodborne-illness cases, told the Wall Street Journal that Blue Bell’s recovery from the total recall may be especially difficult. “When you have to recall an entire product line,” Neale said, “you’ve got to be concerned about the company’s ability to rebound.” [This has been updated to remove a reference to the patients’ hospitalization.] Read More: An officer rescued an abandoned baby behind a dumpster. They reunited 25 years later. Thank-you billboard features Wisconsin police officer who shot two men days apart