Category Archives: Law

Reclassification “Un-Endangers” Arizona Vole

The critter formerly known as the Hualapai Mexican vole. Credit: George Andrejko, Arizona Game and Fish Department.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has removed the Hualapai Mexican vole (Microtus mexicanus hualpaiensis) from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife because genetic research shows that it’s not a separate subspecies.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Arizona Vole Removed From Endangered Species List

The Foggy Future of Refrigerants

Freon tanks await recycling. Image courtesy U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Stable, nontoxic refrigerants changed the world, transforming food storage, expanding Sun Belt populations, even helping early movie theaters succeed. But they also wrecked the ozone layer — Earth’s shield against harmful ultraviolet radiation.

Today, as stockpiles dwindle — and prices rise — due to phase-outs set by the Montreal Protocols 30 years ago,  the future of Freon and its successors remains in doubt.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
As Stockpiles Dwindle, Freon Prices Rise

Clock Ticking for Mexican Wolf and Recovery Plan

Photo Courtesy of the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team.

After 30-plus years of wrangling, wildlife managers have yet to agree on a revised recovery plan for the endangered Mexican wolf. As a November deadline looms, a study by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and British Columbia’s Wildlife Genetics International offers guidance for finding common ground.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
As Deadline Looms For Mexican Wolf Plan, Arizona Study Offers Guidance

ASU Lab Takes Deep Dive into Dark Web

So 133t

The time to fix a security flaw is before it’s exploited — just ask the Clinton campaign or the World Anti-Doping Agency. So Arizona State University’s Paulo Shakarian tracks cyber threats to their origins: In the hard-to-access deep web and the secretive dark web.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
ASU Lab Tracking Cyber Threats On Deep Web, Dark Web

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble: 10 Terrible Cases of Mistaken Identity

The real this isn't quite as funny.
Oddly enough, the Katzenjammer Kids are still sometimes implicated.

It’s said that we all have a double somewhere in the world. It’s a haunting thought, but almost comforting compared to the harrowing tales of identity theft we hear on the nightly news. But, hey, we live in the age of fingerprints, DNA and CSI, right? The post-911 world of ever-more Orwellian identification requirements? Surely we’ve left cases of mistaken identity firmly in the past.

You know where this is going …

10 Terrible Cases of Mistaken Identity