Today’s comic by Ruben Bolling is Finding Dory: The Republican story:
• We haven’t come close to fully exploring the oceans, but we’re done a good job of polluting them to the deepest depths: University of Aberdeen scientists have found pollutants in the bodies of amphipods more than 5,000 fathoms deep in the Mariana Trench. Among them: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are known carcinogens, neurotoxins, and hormone disrupters. They have been banned by the United States and many other countries for 40 years. But the scientists think high concentrations in the trench are a consequence of plastic manufacturing in Asia where they aren’t banned. Also found were polybrominated diphenyl ethers, which are found in flame retardants. The fear is that these pollutants could disrupt the trench’s role as a carbon sink.
• Results of Britain’s vote on breaking off from the EU could be announced early tonight Eastern Time. Polls indicate a close contest:
Saddest of all the day’s signs of mutual suspicion on Twitter were suggestions by some supporters of Brexit – the campaign to take Britain out of the 28-nationEuropean Union – that supporters take a ballpoint pen to mark their cross. Using the traditional polling booth pencil (it still hangs on a traditional piece of string) might allow Prime Minister David Cameron to find some way of changing your vote from Leave to Remain, they were warned.
• South Korean scientists produce solar cell thinner than a human hair: The cells are 1 micrometer thick, which is hundreds of times thinner than most photovoltaic cells and half again as thin as other thin-film PV. They are made with gallium arsenide as the semiconductor.
Remarkably, they produce roughly as much power as thicker PV cells, though in testing, "the cells could wrap around a radius as small as 1.4 millimeters."
With cells this thin, solar PV can be integrated in all sorts of "wearables" — clothes, glasses, hats, or backpacks with solar cells integrated, continuously feeding power to our portable electronics. More to the point, PV could be integrated into just about anything.
• Marine identified for 70 years in iconic Iwo Jima photo turns out to have been someone else.
•
• Melting Arctic ice still on track to reach lowest level in satellite record by end of summer.
• Sweden opens first electric highway. It’s a short stretch, just 13 miles, designed to test out the ability to provide electricity to heavy transport:
[The road] is fitted with power lines overhead, developed by Siemens, providing electricity to hybrid trucks. The system works like a tram system. A current collector on the trucks will transfer energy from the power lines to the trucks’ hybrid electric motors, Sputnik News reported. The electric lines help trucks operate longer between recharges.
“Electric roads will bring us one step closer to fossil fuel-free transports, and has the potential to achieve zero carbon dioxide emissions,” Lena Erixon, director general of transport authority Trafikverket, said.
• White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett makes clear administration wants a renewed assault weapons ban: Chances of getting that through Congress when universal background checks can’t make it would seem to make this a goal for after the election when the congressional margins could shift significantly given the drag Donald Trump may have on down-ticket races.
• On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, the House sit-in continues. Greg Dworkin reminds us these things don’t just spring up from nowhere. Donald Trump is still a developer at heart, by which we mean a grubby cheater. Red flags raised on Patrick Murphy. Jane Kleeb wins the NE Dem Chair.
On iTunes | On Stitcher | Support the show: Patreon; PayPal; PayPal Subscription