Feather by Feather

1. 25% of new Chinese vehicle sales will be electric by 2028?

"We expect EV penetration will follow the trajectory of similar innovations that have reached cost parity with prior technologies. We point to wind power generation, compact fluorescent light bulbs and the first automobiles as a representative group of comparable innovations that reached cost parity. These innovations share similar characteristics with electric vehicles: function held constant, higher purchase (fixed) cost and lower operating (variable) cost, government support and other considerations. We forecast electric vehicles will account for 15% of all new passenger vehicle sales globally by 2028. However, EV penetration rates will vary widely by region. China and the EU will outpace the global EV penetration rate at 25% and 20%, respectively, while the United States will lag the global rate at 12.5%."

2. The archive of dirty feathers.

"What they found was that the specimens’ dirtiness tracked environmental turning points in the country’s history. Both feather and air pollution peaked during the first decade of the 20th century, when coal emissions reached its all-time high. The pattern then dropped off during the Great Depression, and rose during World War II as manufacturing ramped up again. But soon after the war, it decreased dramatically, marking the impact of regulations like the 1955 Air Pollution Control Act and the 1963 Clean Air Act. Fuldner and DuBay’s methods was so sensitive, in fact, they revealed a small dip in black carbon between 1880 to 1910. This could be traced back to early environmental reforms and anti-smok[e] initiatives in individual cities, the researchers say. As the study rebuilds the past, feather by feather, it also informs us on how we can maintain a healthy, livable world today."

3. For the first 30 or so years of my life, the dominant narrative was that things were "getting better" for black Americans.

"Researchers at Northwestern University, Harvard, and the Institute for Social Research in Norway looked at every available field experiment on hiring discrimination from 1989 through 2015. The researchers found that anti-black racism in hiring is unchanged since at least 1989, while anti-Latino racism may have decreased modestly."

4. I'm a sucker for research that extends humanity's drive to create ever deeper into our past.

"The ceramic shell at first appeared to be one of a kind. One hypothesis was that it might have been a cheese strainer. Then, similarities were found with two other objects, found near Naples, that had been convincingly identified as sound boxes for musical instruments. When Martina Nicole Cerri, an archaeology student at Sapienza University in Rome, began to analyze the object for her doctoral thesis in 2014, she sought to determine whether it had been decorative or meant to be played. That investigation involved making two hypothetical versions of the instrument — one a kind of lute, the other a sort of lyre — using the materials that would have been available 5,000 years ago, she said during an interview last month."

5. Neo-Kawaii.

Chai’s discernible delight might seem incongruent with the stated mission of their band: to dismantle and subvert notions of cuteness that its members feel are so repressive in Japan. They call the overriding concept of their band “Neo-Kawaii,” or “New Cute”—a phrase they coined to signal a move towards the embrace and celebration of human imperfection. The first song Chai ever wrote together, “Gyaranboo,” is about body hair; Yuki describes its theme as “I’m hairy, oh well.” But “Neo-Kawaii” is properly summarized on the single “N.E.O.” from Pink, which directly comments on oppressive beauty standards, offering a list of supposed imperfections that translate to “Small eyes/Flat nose/No shape/Fat legs!” Chai seek to reclaim them as perfect.

[feather by feather]