On Saturdays we catch up with the non-finance related items that we didn’t get to earlier in the week. You can check out last week’s edition here. Have a great weekend!
Quote of the Day
"We don’t have a freedom problem: we have a responsibility problem."
(Ryan Holiday)
Autonomous driving
- Five reasons why NHTSA is interested in Tesla's ($TSLA) Autopilot system. (businessofbusiness.com)
- The autonomous driving truck space is rife with competitors. (wsj.com)
- Assistive driving technologies make us worse drivers. (axios.com)
Autos
- Why bans on new gas stations are only going to increase. (theguardian.com)
- RepairSmith, the mobile auto-repair startup, raised a new round of capital and is expanding it geographic reach. (fastcompany.com)
- Tractors are going electric. (bloomberg.com)
Energy
- Signs that fusion energy is coming closer to fruition. (nytimes.com)
- How Poland plans to wean itself off coal for energy production. (ft.com)
- What it would take to make American homes more energy efficient. (theguardian.com)
- Fracking is a huge source of methane emissions. (bloomberg.com)
- The U.S. would do well to tax carbon. (klementoninvesting.substack.com)
Water
- The National Flood Insurance Program is getting an overhaul. (cnbc.com)
- The federal government has declared the first-ever shortage of water on the Colorado River. (wsj.com)
- New Jersey's shore is getting gobbled up by the sea. (nytimes.com)
Carbon
- Eric Newcomer talks low carbon investing with Chris Sacca. (newcomer.co)
- The State of Michigan is getting into the carbon offset game. (wsj.com)
Environment
- The problem with climate change is the non-linearity of its effects. (theconversation.com)
- The Amazon is stuck in a cycle of deforestation and fire. (bloomberg.com)
- How rainfall affects forest fire intensity. (theconversation.com)
- Why we need to focus on methane emissions. (newyorker.com)
Animals
- Why native Alaskans are seeing a drop in salmon catches. (eater.com)
- Dairy cows don't like wildfire smoke. (hcn.org)
Science
- What's the point of calculating Pi out to 62.8 trillion digits? (theguardian.com)
- Boreal forest may have shifted from carbon sink to carbon emitter. (daily.jstor.org)
- An odd link between grizzly bears and people. (bigthink.com)
Behavior
- Researchers are moving away from the 'central dogma of depression,' i.e. a focus on neutrotransmitters. (statnews.com)
- Research into how histmanine levels may play a role in depression. (newatlas.com)
- Five insights from Joe Keohane's new book "The Power of Strangers: The Benefits of Connecting in a Suspicious World." (nextbigideaclub.com)
- 'Tragic optimism' is the antidote to 'toxic positivity.' (theatlantic.com)
- As we get older, the more generous we become. (wsj.com)
- How generosity is good for the brain. (bigthink.com)
Health
- Ransomware attacks on hospitals have real world impacts. (theverge.com)
- Why women need to be screened for PALB2 mutations in addition to BRCA mutations. (nytimes.com)
- Why some people with good oral hygiene still get cavities. (fivethirtyeight.com)
- Naps won't fix your sleep problem(s). (bigthink.com)
Dogs
- Clive D. L. Wynne, "It is your intelligence and your dexterity that make you the “alpha” — not whether you smack your dog or eat dinner first." (washingtonpost.com)
- There is a surge in interest in research on dog cognition. (washingtonpost.com)
Food
- Reduced water volume on the Colorado River will hit agriculture first. (modernfarmer.com)
- The California drought is taking its toll on almond production. (apnews.com)
- Why eating out for big occasion is so often disappointing. (marginalrevolution.com)
- 'Fake meat' needs a new story. (fastcompany.com)
Drink
- Natural wine is giving way to “zero zero” wine. (sfchronicle.com)
- College kids are still on the hard seltzer bandwagon. (axios.com)
Sports
- There is some pushback in New Zealand against selling a stake in the All Blacks rugby team. (wsj.com)
- Covid-emptied stadiums made for a smaller home field advantage. (newatlas.com)
Children
- Schools around the country are dealing with shortages including bus drivers and substitute teachers. (washingtonpost.com)
- The return to school is a hot mess of conflicting and confusing policies. (axios.com)
- Summer smoke is making it hard to be a kid. (washingtonpost.com)
Colleges
- Some colleges are offering kids on the wait list an opportunity to enroll after a semester studying abroad. (wsj.com)
- Why more business are offering 'free college' as a perk. (vox.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: a better alternative. (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Podcast links: the innovation economy. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Context matters: the case of Palantir's vaunted vault of gold. (abnormalreturns.com)
- My post on the disappointing past year for gold over at the YCharts blog. (get.ycharts.com)
- Are you a financial adviser looking for some out-of-the-box thinking? Then check out our weekly e-mail newsletter. (newsletter.abnormalreturns.com)