Pretense, human rights, and U.S. policy (The Conversation)
by David Mednicoff
The U.S. has never been a pure defender of democracy and human rights in the Middle East. But keeping up the pretense matters to repressive regimes and to those that oppose them. What happens if we stop pretending?

The devastating history of coffee rust (NPR)
by Jeff Koehler
A fungal infection called coffee rust threatens to decimate Latin American coffee bean harvest. This is just the latest chapter in a battle between farmers and fungus that began with a definitive rout by coffee rust in Sri Lanka in 1870.

How humans have killed our most distinctive kin (The Atlantic)
by Ed Yong
Humans have driven a lot of mammals to extinction. And not just any mammals; we’ve focused particularly on those that are largest, and most genetically distinct. That means that recovering the lost biological diversity could take ten times as long as humans have even existed.

How “exact match” stops voters (The Washington Post)
by Ted Enamorado
The “exact match” method used to determine who is eligible to vote under a new Georgia law has already left 53,000 voters in limbo. Comparing it with a different type of matching system shows how many people can fall through the cracks.

The planned chaos of Oklahoma City’s founding (99 Percent Invisible)
by Roman Mars and Delaney Hall
Oklahoma City began with a strange contest arranged by the U.S. government that let white settlers line up at the borders and rush in to stake out a claim. The legacy of that chaos is still visible on the city map.

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