Under the Southwestern Sky

 (Arizona sunset)

NOTE to readers: I’ve temporarily escaped from the seemingly endless series of incoming assaults from atmospheric rivers at the coast to migrate inland to the Phoenix area, where there’s been some rain but in moderate amounts.

Plus the temperatures here are some 30 degrees higher than back home.

I’ll only be here for a short visit with my sister and brother-in-law, but it’s a vacation, so I may go light on the essays over the next few days. 

Meanwhile the news headlines will be here on Substack, as usual, so enjoy.

LINKS:

• New study on monkeys using stone tools raises questions about evolution (The Hill)

• Scientists find a way to suck up carbon pollution, turn it into baking soda and store it in the oceans (CNN)

• The First-Ever Complete Map of an Insect Brain Is Truly Mesmerizing (ScienceAlert)

• Texas man sues ex-wife's friends for allegedly helping her get abortion pills (NPR)

• Elon Musk Calls for Action Against an Imminent AI Threat (The Street)

• The rise of the robots (Economist)

• AI lectures at Berkeley to explore possibilities, implications of ChatGPT (U-C)

• Yes, ChatGPT Is Coming for Your Office Job (Wired)

• Trump in growing legal and political peril ahead of 2024 (WP)

• Records in Fox defamation case show pressures on reporters (AP)

• Silicon Valley Bank failure raises fear of broader financial contagion (WP)

• How Beijing Boxed America Out of the South China Sea (WSJ)

• Saudi Arabia, Iran and how a Chinese-brokered deal shows Beijing’s Mideast influence (South China Morning Post)

• Russian Forces Battle to Cross River in Bakhmut, as Fighting in Ukraine Intensifies (WSJ)

• How the Italy migrant disaster unfolded Just about everything that could go wrong did in the attempt to sail an estimated 180 migrants from Turkey to Italy. (Reuters) 

• A giant seaweed bloom that can be seen from space threatens beaches in Florida and Mexico (NBC)

• 1,000 super-emitting methane leaks risk triggering climate tipping points (Guardian)

• ‘Pan-variant’ COVID vaccine could defang future strains thanks to machine learning (TechCrunch)

• Pandemic 3 years later: Has the COVID-19 virus won? (AP)

• Why Women are more at risk for developing Alzheimer’s or dementia (Financial Express)

• Man Uses Weekend To Make Totally Different Mistakes Than He Did During Workweek (The Onion)