Dear Reader,
Before the BP Deepwater Horizon oil explosion poisoned the Gulf of Mexico, before the Exxon-Valdez streamed millions of gallons into Alaska's Prince William Sound, there was the oil spill that permanently changed the politics in the state of California and the nation: the Santa Barbara oil platform blowout of 1969. More than four Olympic swimming pools of oil poured into the sea, washing up on beaches and killing thousands of birds. The spill ignited a young environmental movement and led to the first Earth Day in 1970.
Last year, the Trump administration announced plans to expand oil drilling off the nation's coasts, including California, and has eased rules aimed at preventing catastrophic oil spills. Our interview with longtime ocean advocate and senior fellow at The Ocean Foundation Richard Charter gives you the context to understand today's offshore oil battles in California and in Congress.
I hope you enjoy this week's science stories; let me know how we're doing by emailing me here.
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Kat Snow
Senior Editor, Science
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| | | The federal government hasn't issued leases for drilling along the Pacific coast since 1984. Ocean advocate Richard Charter discusses the administration's now-delayed plan to overturn this decades-long environmental policy. | | |
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| | | Every spring, honey bees trap, brush and pack pollen into baskets on their legs to make a special food called bee bread. | | |
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| | | A dead gray whale that washed ashore at San Francisco's Ocean Beach had been struck by a ship and killed by the resulting blunt force trauma, the Marine Mammal Center said. | | |
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| | | Ethical concerns aside, the genetic ingredients for human traits are so complex that editing a few embryonic genes is unlikely to have much effect — or achieve the fantasy of enhancing humans. | | |
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| | | Tests of supposedly eco-friendly bags made from various organic and plastic materials found that after three years buried in garden soil, submerged in ocean water, and exposed to open light and air, none of the bags broke down completely in every environment. | | |
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| In an interview, Elizabeth Cheung reflects on how she went from starry-eyed to disillusioned at Theranos and why she thinks Elizabeth Holmes, the company's disgraced CEO, should spend at least five years in prison. | | |
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