Judge voids oil and gas leases on almost 1 million acres of public lands

A federal judge on Thursday voided five oil and gas leases on public lands that amounted to nearly a million acres, arguing that the Trump administration wrongly excluded public input. 
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/485133-judge-voids-almost-1-million-acres-of-oil-and-gas-leases-on-public?source=Snapzu

Major news networks devoted less than 4 hours to climate change in 2019. Total.

Global warming garnered well under 1 percent of overall broadcast news coverage in 2019, according to a new study.
Read more: https://grist.org/climate/major-news-networks-devoted-less-than-four-hours-to-climate-change-in-2019-total/?source=Snapzu

More Than 9 Million People Are Freecycling Instead of Buying New

Freecycle plans to add a lending and borrowing tool to encourage people to share with friends and neighbors.
Read more: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/more-than-9-million-people-are-freecycling-instead-of-buying-new/?source=Snapzu

The Church of Scientology released hundreds of balloons at the opening of a California church. Local officials want to make sure it never happens again

Officials in California say the Church of Scientology is apologizing after releasing hundreds of balloons during a grand opening of a new church. Saturday's release of the helium balloons angered Ventura city officials, who fear they will damage the environment in and around their community some 68 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/26/us/scientology-balloons-plastic-ban-trnd/index.html?source=Snapzu

For Decades, Cartographers Have Been Hiding Covert Illustrations Inside of Switzerland’s Official Maps

The first three dimensions—length, height, and depth—are included on all topographical maps. The “fourth dimension,” or time, is also available on the website of the Swiss Federal Office of Topography (Swisstopo). In the “Journey Through Time,” a timeline displays 175 years of the country’s cartographic history, advancing in increments of 5-10 years.
Read more: https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/for-decades-cartographers-have-been-hiding-covert-illustrations-inside-of-switzerlands-official-maps/?source=Snapzu

Turkey says will not stop Syrian refugees reaching Europe after troops killed

Refugees in Turkey headed towards European frontiers on Friday after an official declared that borders had been thrown open in response to the escalating war in Syria, a day after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed by Russian-backed Syrian government troops.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security/turkey-says-will-not-stop-syrian-refugees-reaching-europe-after-troops-killed-idUSKCN20L0GQ?source=Snapzu

A woman took 550 times the usual dose of LSD, with surprisingly positive consequences

Accidental drug overdoses can be life threatening but for two women who took massive hits of LSD the experience was life changing -- in a good way.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/27/health/lsd-overdoses-case-studies-wellness/index.html?source=Snapzu

A government whistleblower alleges US health workers treated coronavirus evacuees without proper protective gear or training

A whistleblower from the Department of Health and Human Services has alleged that the US sent more than a dozen government workers to assist Americans who were evacuated from Wuhan, China, without giving them proper training or protective gear, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported on Thursday. The whistleblower is a senior HHS official based in Washington, DC, and oversees employees at the Administration for Children and Families unit within the federal agency, according to The Post and The Times.
Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/whistleblower-us-workers-treated-coronavirus-without-gear-training-2020-2?source=Snapzu

How Hindu supremacists are tearing India apart

The long read: For seven decades, India has been held together by its constitution, which promises equality to all. But Narendra Modi’s BJP is remaking the nation into one where some people count as more Indian than others
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/20/hindu-supremacists-nationalism-tearing-india-apart-modi-bjp-rss-jnu-attacks?source=Snapzu

Coke and Pepsi sued for creating a plastic pollution ‘nuisance’

Coke, Pepsi, Nestle and other large companies are being sued by a California environmental group for creating a plastic pollution “nuisance” and misleading consumers about the recyclability of plastic. The suit, filed in San Mateo county superior court on Wednesday, argues that companies that sell plastic bottles and bags that end up polluting the ocean should be held accountable for damaging the environment.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/27/california-plastic-pollution-lawsuit-coke-pepsi?source=Snapzu

MI5 chief asks tech firms for 'exceptional access' to encrypted messages

MI5’s director general has called on technology companies to find a way to allow spy agencies “exceptional access” to encrypted messages, amid fears they cannot otherwise access such communications. Sir Andrew Parker is understood to be particularly concerned about Facebook, which announced plans to introduce powerful end-to-end encryption last March across all the social media firm’s services.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/25/mi5-chief-asks-tech-firms-for-exceptional-access-to-encrypted-messages?source=Snapzu

Scientists discover 1st animal that doesn't breathe oxygen

Scientists have discovered something they didn't think existed: an animal that can't breathe oxygen, and obviously doesn't need to. That animal is a parasite called Henneguya salminocola, distantly related to jellyfish. It lives in the muscles of salmon and trout, causing unsightly little white nodules known as "tapioca disease."
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/animal-breathe-oxygen-1.5478645?source=Snapzu

Opinion: Putting Mike Pence in charge of the US coronavirus response is some kind of sick joke

So Vice President Mike Pence is heading up the US government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. Is that some sort of sick joke? Because I find it hard to think of anyone less suited to manage a complex healthcare crisis. As governor of Indiana, Pence slashed public health spending and then delayed the vital introduction of needle exchange programmes, which contributed to the state’s worst ever outbreak of HIV...
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-mike-pence-response-us-indiana-hiv-trump-a9363066.html?source=Snapzu

Sanders rips Pence: His last response to an epidemic was to 'pray' it away

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday slammed President Trump’s appointment of Vice President Pence as point man on the coronavirus outbreak, noting the HIV outbreak that occurred during Pence’s tenure as governor of Indiana as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar’s refusal to promise that a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable to all.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/484900-sanders-rips-pence-his-last-response-to-an-epidemic-was-to-pray-it-away?source=Snapzu

Why Hate Groups Went After Johnny Cash in the 1960s

Led by white supremacists, the bigoted boycott threatened Cash’s popularity in the South.
Read more: https://www.history.com/news/why-hate-groups-went-after-johnny-cash-in-the-1960s?source=Snapzu

In Britain, Even Jails Have a Class System

How a filmmaker, convicted of fraud, discovered the “White Collar Club.”
Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/02/jails-britain-chris-atkins-book/606730/?source=Snapzu

Missouri hunters donated nearly 350,000 pounds of deer meat to food banks this season

Missouri deer hunters donated nearly 350,000 pounds of venison to food banks and pantries across the state this season, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) said in a news release. The hunters donated the meat to Missouri's Share the Harvest program, which provides "lean, healthy" venison to help feed hungry Missourians.
Read more: https://us.cnn.com/2020/02/26/us/missouri-hunters-donate-meat-food-bank-deer-trnd/index.html?source=Snapzu

People survived the Toba supervolcano’s global winter after all

Previous studies suggest volcanic winter caused a population bottleneck 74,000 years ago.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/people-survived-the-toba-supervolcanos-global-winter-after-all/?source=Snapzu

Bob Iger to step down as Disney CEO, effective immediately

Bob Chapek, who most recently served as chairman of Disney parks, experiences and products, will assume the role of CEO.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/25/disney-names-bob-chapek-next-ceo.html?source=Snapzu

Pets 'go hungry' after smart feeder fails

Owners of a device designed to release food for pets say their animals were left hungry during a week-long system failure. Petnet allows owners to schedule and control feeding via a smartphone app. When the BBC contacted Petnet on its advertised email address, the email bounced back with a delivery failure notice.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51628795?source=Snapzu

Nintendo Comes To The Rescue After 95-Year-Old Grandmother's Game Boy Breaks

In the Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan’s largest newspapers, 70-year-old Kuniko Tsusaka recounted how her mother always had a Game Boy nearby to play Tetris. But when her mother turned 95 and her health started to suffer, her Game Boy stopped working.
Read more: https://kotaku.com/nintendo-comes-to-the-rescue-after-95-year-old-grandmot-1841902441?source=Snapzu

Pizza Hut Wants To Replace All Cheese With Vegan Alternative To Cut Emissions

Pizza Hut has revealed that it would like to replace all its dairy cheese with a vegan alternative one day as part of its plans to become more sustainable. While the chain says its does not envision taking dairy products off the menu in the 'near future', it is 'dedicated to evolving our practices and processes with the aim of making a more positive impact'.
Read more: https://www.plantbasednews.org/news/pizza-hut-wants-replace-cheese-vegan-alternative?source=Snapzu

Pentagon adopts new ethical principles for using AI in war

The Pentagon is adopting new ethical principles as it prepares to accelerate its use of artificial intelligence technology on the battlefield
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/pentagon-adopts-ethical-principles-ai-war-69181756?source=Snapzu

A Billionaire Who Funds Climate Denial Is No Longer on American Museum of Natural History Board

Billionaire Rebekah Mercer, who with her father Robert Mercer has poured millions of dollars into climate-denying organizations, candidates, and media, is off the board of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).
Read more: https://earther.gizmodo.com/a-billionaire-who-funds-climate-denial-is-no-longer-on-1841911672?source=Snapzu

US 'plotted to kill Julian Assange and make it look like an accident'

US spies hatched a plot to kidnap or even poison Julian Assange using shady Spanish private detectives after he leaked 250,000 top secret documents online, his extradition hearing was told yesterday. The WikiLeaks founder's human rights barrister Edward Fitzgerald, who has previously represented Moors Murderer Myra Hindley and hate preacher Abu Hamza, said an attack inside London's Ecuadorean embassy would have looked like an 'accident'.
Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8041597/US-plotted-kill-Julian-Assange-make-look-like-accident.html?source=Snapzu

Amazon is opening its first full-size, cashierless grocery store. Here's a first look inside

Amazon is cracking further into the $800 billion U.S. grocery industry, keeping the likes of Walmart, Kroger, 7-Eleven and Instacart on their toes.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/24/amazon-opens-its-first-full-size-cashierless-grocery-store-in-seattle.html?source=Snapzu

Apple to again skip US congressional hearing on Chinese influence in tech

Apple has for the second time declined to attend a U.S. congressional hearing that would have scrutinized its relationship with China as part of a larger investigation into tech privacy and security.
Read more: https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/02/24/apple-to-again-skip-us-congressional-hearing-on-chinese-influence-in-tech?source=Snapzu

Smithsonian Releases 2.8 Million Free Images for Broader Public Use

The Smithsonian announced today the launch of Smithsonian Open Access, an initiative that removes Smithsonian copyright restrictions from about 2.8 million of its digital collection images and nearly two centuries of data. This means that people everywhere can now download, transform and share this open access content for any purpose, for free, without further permission from the Smithsonian. Among museums and cultural institutions, this is the largest and most interdisciplinary open access program to date.
Read more: https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/smithsonian-releases-28-million-free-images-broader-public-use?source=Snapzu

Apple may be forced to disclose censorship requests from China

Two major shareholder groups backed proposal that would force tech company to make new human rights commitments
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/feb/25/apple-censorship-requests-china-shareholder-groups-proposal?source=Snapzu

Coronavirus Disinformation May Have Contributed To Market Drop

Financial markets are particularly susceptible to disinformation driven manipulation
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/waynerash/2020/02/24/coronavirus-disinformation-may-have-contributed-to-market-drop/#3ec4618625a7?source=Snapzu

How the Coronavirus Revealed Authoritarianism’s Fatal Flaw

China’s use of surveillance and censorship makes it harder for Xi Jinping to know what’s going on in his own country.
Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/02/coronavirus-and-blindness-authoritarianism/606922/?source=Snapzu

Farming gave us salmonella, ancient DNA suggests

But pigs didn’t give humans typhoid
Read more: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/farming-gave-us-salmonella-ancient-dna-suggests?source=Snapzu

Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape at New York trial

Film mogul found guilty of a criminal sex act in the first degree and rape in the third degree, and acquitted on three further charges
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/feb/24/harvey-weinstein-guilty-trial-charges-verdict?source=Snapzu

Greta Thunberg’s mother reveals teenager’s troubled childhood

Swedish opera singer Malena Ernman gives emotional account of daughter’s battles with autism and an eating disorder
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/22/greta-thunberg-mother-she-stopped-talking-and-eating?source=Snapzu

Coronavirus: Wuhan to quarantine all cured patients after some test positive

The authorities in Wuhan on Saturday introduced 14 days’ mandatory quarantine for recovered coronavirus patients, after some discharged patients again tested positive. From Saturday, all patients who had recovered and been discharged had to be sent to designated places for two weeks of quarantine and medical observation, the city’s coronavirus treatment and control command centre said on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter.
Read more: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3051966/coronavirus-wuhan-quarantine-all-cured-patients-14-days-after?source=Snapzu

Assange was meeting his lawyer. He didn't know there were microphones in the room

Julian Assange's conversations, including legally privileged meetings with Australian lawyers, were secretly recorded inside his London embassy home.
Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-23/surveillance-of-julian-assange-captured-lawyers-conversations/11985872?source=Snapzu

Another Wuhan doctor dies from coronavirus

A female doctor at a Wuhan hospital that receives patients infected with the coronavirus died from the virus on Sunday (Feb 23), according to the hospital. Dr Xia Sisi, 29, a gastroenterology physician, became infected while working at the Union Jiangbei Hospital of Wuhan in central China's Hubei province.
Read more: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/another-wuhan-doctor-dies-from-coronavirus?source=Snapzu

Genetically Engineered Bacteria Protect Honey Bees Against Parasites

In a new study published in the journal Science, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin outline their novel approach to protecting honey bees at risk of colony collapse – genetically engineered bacteria.
Read more: https://www.technologynetworks.com/genomics/news/genetically-engineered-bacteria-protect-honey-bees-against-parasites-331209?source=Snapzu

Daredevil dies after crash-landing rocket

"Mad" Mike Hughes, 64, wanted to launch himself into space to prove that the Earth was flat.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-51602655?source=Snapzu

Meet One of the Earliest Victims of Internet Bullying

Alex Lunney was a victim of cyberbullying before the word existed.
Read more: https://slate.com/technology/2020/02/alex-lunney-prodigy-boy-scout-lawsuit-section-230.html?source=Snapzu

'Inequitable': Pope indirectly criticises Trump's Israel-Palestine plan

Pope Francis on Sunday criticised "inequitable solutions" to the Palestine-Israel conflict, in his first remarks since the US President Donald Trump announced his controversial Middle East plan last month. Speaking at a conference of bishops from the Mediterranean in the southern Italian city of Bari, the pope appeared to give a thumbs down to Trump's plan, without naming it.
Read more: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/pope-francis-indirectly-criticises-trumps-israel-palestine-plan-first-time?source=Snapzu

The multimillion-dollar Christian group attacking LGBTQ+ rights

A group of about two dozen people, mostly women, stood on the steps of the Connecticut capitol on a New England winter day with signs reading “Protect Women’s Sports” and “#FairPlay”. In front stood Christiana Holcomb, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative Christian legal group representing three cis teen girls in a lawsuit filed this month demanding two transgender teen girls be barred from competing in the female high school sports division.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/20/alliance-defending-freedom-multimillion-dollar-conservative-christian-group-attacking-lgbtq-rights?source=Snapzu

Indian man is stalking Apple CEO Tim Cook and offering him flowers, Apple goes to court

In a bizarre turn of events, an Indian man named Rakesh Sharma has been accused of allegedly stalking Apple CEO Tim Cook and trespassing his property twice. On a chilly December night, Sharma showed up at Tim Cook’s residence with a bottle of champagne and flowers. What might appear as admiration soon turned into obsession when he showed up again at his property without permission.
Read more: https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/indian-man-is-stalking-apple-ceo-tim-cook-and-offering-him-flowers-apple-goes-to-court-1648797-2020-02-21?source=Snapzu

Robots, clocks and computers: How Ancient Greeks got there first

A humanoid figure dressed as a maid holds a jug in its right hand and, as hidden...
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-technology-museum/robots-clocks-and-computers-how-ancient-greeks-got-there-first-idUSKBN20C1UC?source=Snapzu

L.A. County D.A.’s Office Reaches $18.8M Settlement on Behalf of 170,000 Customers Over Internet Speeds

Time Warner Cable has agreed to pay a $16.9 million settlement to thousands of consumers in California who did not receive the high-speed internet they paid for, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. More than 170,000 customers will benefit from the settlement, the largest direct restitution order ever secured in a consumer protection lawsuit by the DA's office, L.A. prosecutors said in a news release.
Read more: https://ktla.com/2020/02/20/l-a-county-d-a-s-office-reaches-18-8m-settlement-on-behalf-of-170000-customers-over-internet-speeds/?source=Snapzu

Silicon Valley’s psychedelic wonder drug is almost here

A new startup called MindMed could have the key to providing the upsides of psychedelic drugs for both focus and addiction treatment—while cutting out the downsides of tripping.
Read more: https://www.fastcompany.com/90436824/silicon-valleys-psychedelic-wonder-drug-is-almost-here?source=Snapzu

Twitter is considering warning users when politicians post misleading tweets

Leaked design plans reveal that the company is thinking about putting bright red and orange labels on false tweets by politicians and public figures.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/20/21146039/twitter-misleading-tweets-label-misinformation-social-media-2020-bernie-sanders?source=Snapzu

Celebrities rally around boy in bullying video

A viral clip of bullied Australian boy Quaden Bayle has triggered an outpouring of support globally.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51582696?source=Snapzu

One Woman and Thousands of Lego Bricks Are Building a Town Much-Needed Wheelchair Ramps

In an effort to undo decades of building design and urban planning that’s made spaces inaccessible to those with mobility challenges, 62-year old Rita Ebel is spending part of her golden years building wheelchair ramps out of colorful Lego bricks in an effort to improve the small German town she calls home in several different ways.
Read more: https://gizmodo.com/one-woman-and-thousands-of-lego-bricks-are-building-a-t-1841813835?source=Snapzu

Airlines suspend China flights due to coronavirus outbreak

Airlines have been suspending flights to China or modifying service in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-airlines-factbox/airlines-suspend-china-flights-due-to-coronavirus-outbreak-idUSKBN20F0J3?il=0?source=Snapzu