Month: May 2019

500kg of Cocaine

Quinci’s arrival on São Miguel had changed the island in surprising ways. A number of locals had become rich thanks to the Italian’s cocaine, then started legitimate businesses, such as coffee shops, many of which still exist today. But the drugs also had more damaging long-term effects. Quinci’s cocaine was so potent that they started taking other drugs to lessen the symptoms of withdrawal. They became addicted to heroin, which was shipped in from the continent, often via the postal service. The arrival of Quinci’s cocaine increased consumption of other illicit substances, and young people and adults from poorer parts of the island were the ones most affected. “It completely ruined my life. I’m still living with consequences to this day.”

Presidential Climate

Of the nearly 24 Democrats running for president, only 2 campaigns have so far laid out deadlines for transforming American life to slash the pollution that is warming the planet’s climate. Washington governor Jay Inslee and Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke want the US to be CO2 neutral within the next 30 years. Both have unveiled detailed climate policy plans. Inslee would set milestones for 3 sectors that could drive major reductions: power, transportation, and buildings. He has earned praise for his specificity. O’Rourke would also spend $5 trillion on green infrastructure.

Gynandromorphs

For 100s of years, naturalists have been documenting gynandromorphs among insects, spiders, lobsters, and birds. More recently, researchers—aided by increasingly sophisticated laboratory tools—have overturned reigning theories of sexual development by studying such hybrids. As has proven true time and again throughout the history of science, the creatures that seem strangest—those that are too odd, too asymmetrical to fit neatly into our presupposed categories—teach us the most about how all living things work. It turns out, for example, that the standard explanation of how a bird becomes male or female is wrong. Scientists came to this realization not by investigating scores of typical birds, but rather by examining a few gynandromorphs. It all started with an odd zebra finch.

Break Up Facebook

I take responsibility for not sounding the alarm earlier. Don Graham, a former Facebook board member, has accused those who criticize the company now as having “all the courage of the last man leaping on the pile at a football game.” The financial rewards I reaped from working at Facebook radically changed the trajectory of my life, and even after I cashed out, I watched in awe as the company grew. It took the 2016 election fallout and Cambridge Analytica to awaken me to the dangers of Facebook’s monopoly. But anyone suggesting that Facebook is akin to a pinned football player misrepresents its resilience and power. An era of accountability for Facebook and other monopolies may be beginning. Collective anger is growing, and a new cohort of leaders has begun to emerge. On Capitol Hill, Representative David Cicilline has taken a special interest in checking the power of monopolies, and Senators Amy Klobuchar and Ted Cruz have joined Senator Warren in calling for more oversight. Economists like Jason Furman, a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, are speaking out about monopolies, and a host of legal scholars like Lina Khan, Barry Lynn and Ganesh Sitaraman are plotting a way forward.