The early season heatwaves scorched much of the West, resulting in dangerously high temperatures and prompting extreme heat warnings lasting from Friday through Saturday. Southern Nevada saw widespread triple-digit highs, with Death Valley expected to surpass 115 degrees.
Weeks ahead of the official start of summer, we intensified the union message. The organization’s signage campaign aims to address the far-reaching effects of Doge layoffs and budget cuts on the nation’s beloved national parks. In the Southwest, this translates to zero tolerance for extreme heat, according to Shaquille.
“We had to adapt our message to connect with people directly,” he stated.
Results from the National Park Service’s budget cuts are still pending, especially with the peak summer tourist season on the horizon.
Abigail Wine, deputy director of Death Valley National Park, mentioned that park staff are committed to ensuring public safety and raising awareness about the hazards of extreme heat. She urged visitors to take necessary precautions before heading to Death Valley, such as checking weather warnings, verifying closures, and packing adequate water, sunscreen, and other essentials.
“As always, the National Park Service is dedicated to providing visitors with an incredible, safe, and unforgettable experience at Death Valley National Park and throughout the country,” Wines informed NBC News in a statement.
The broader objective of achieving a more perfect union in the Billboard campaign is to spotlight Doge’s controversial actions and the significant cuts instituted by the Trump administration to federal agencies. Shaquille noted that the organization strategically leveraged the bipartisan support enjoyed by national parks to ignite discussion.
According to a 2024 Population Survey from Pew Research Center, the National Park Service ranks as the most favored federal agency, with a favorable rating of 76% among over 9,400 Americans surveyed.
“Many of the locations where we placed our signs are in areas assumed to lean Republican, where a significant number of people likely voted for Donald Trump. Even the Doge component resonates,” Shaquille explained. “But national parks serve as a perfect example of where the limits were overstepped.”
The wheel of time turns, the cycle repeats and another Jurassic Park movie is coming out this year. Feedback has faint hopes due to the presence of director Gareth Edwards, who proved in Monsters and Godzilla that he can direct films featuring huge creatures. But still, yawn.
While we all wait with bated breath, YouTuber CoolioArt is supplying dinosaur footage to keep us sated. They are using the animation tool Blender to redo key scenes from the original Jurassic Parkin order to give the Velociraptors feathers. So far, they have done the kitchen scene and the climactic scene in the visitor center (just before, spoiler alert, the Tyrannosaurus rex saves the day).
Given the amateur nature of the project, the animations are really good. However, one problem remains: the raptors are still way too big. You see, despite his reputation for careful research, Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton was a bit prone to getting things badly wrong.
Crichton's biggest scientific fail was controversial his 2004 climate change novel State of Fear. This features environmental terrorists who fake natural disasters to convince the world of the dangers of global warming. They have to do this because, in the universe of the bookall the scientific evidence that greenhouse gas emissions are heating up the climate is flared or faked.
There is even a series of pages entirely dominated by graphs from weather stations in the US that show local temperature declines, and which are meant to be more meaningful than the trend in the average global temperature for some reason. Crichton also recycles the myth that the warming trend is an artefact of “urban heat islands”. It's like a terrible Reddit thread in book form.
Even Jurassic ParkCrichton's most famous creation, wasn't immune. He wanted to feature a dromaeosaurid dinosaur, as they were understood to be fast and intelligent hunters – contrasting with the lumbering T. rexUnfortunately, the scariest ones had a name that Crichton didn't think was cool – Deinonychus antirrhopus – so he used every detail of that species but incorrectly called them Velociraptor.
That's why, in the books and films, an adult Velociraptor is about as tall as a human being. In reality, a Velociraptor was about as tall as a turkey. Feedback imagines that an angry Velociraptor could still cause problems for a human being, but it's just not the same when the terrifying predator is about the size of the average toddler.
The irony is that the evidence that dromaeosaurids had feathers was pretty equivocal in the 1990s, so it was justifiable to present the raptors as featherless – but not to triple their height.
Which explains why CoolioArt has overdubbed some of the dialogue in the kitchen clip. When the girl whispers “What is it?”, a female voice dubbed over the boy's now cheerily says “It's a Deinonychus“. 10/10, no notes.
AI for rOAds
Sometimes, on a gray Monday when the column is due, Feedback can be found hastily scratching around for story ideas because nobody has done anything especially within silly sight of us. However, on Monday 13 January the following item dropped into our lap.
The UK government announced that it was going to “unleash AI” because of its “vast potential” to improve the country's decaying public services. This vision of the future is called the AI Opportunities Action Plan. Feedback feels that the name could have used a bit of work: it abbreviates to AIOAP, which sounds like the Terminator movie Arnold Schwarzenegger will make when he's 85 and an old-age pensioner himself.
The AIOAP contains a lot of proposals, one of which caught Feedback's eye. to BBC News“AI will be fed through cameras around the country to inspect roads and spot potholes that need fixing”.
Like a rabbit caught in headlights, or, more aptly, like a driver heading straight for a pothole because they're being tailgated and there's no room to steer, Feedback found ourself staring blankly forward into space, stunned by the visionary nature of this vision .
It's not that we doubt that AI could be trained to spot potholes. On the contrary: it would probably do it rather well. Instead, we are concerned that this might be solving a non-existent problem.
The BBC reported in March 2024 that English and Welsh roads are blighted by potholes, with a backlog of repairs estimated to cost £16.3 billion. That is a long way short of “Elon Musk buying Twitter” money, but it's still roughly equivalent to the GDP of Jamaica. Furthermore, Feedback can attest to a deep familiarity with the numerous potholes in our local area , many of which have gone unrepaired for months.
The problem, in short, doesn't seem to be lack of knowledge about where the potholes are. We wouldn't have a backlog that would cover the cost of building several skyscrapers if the potholes weren't being logged. This is doubly so for any road busy enough to have cameras on it.
Instead, the problem seems to be getting the actual repairs done. Feedback doesn't see how the AI will help with that. No, we need to turn to genetics.
The only solution is an army of Ron Swanson clones to go and fill the potholes.
Got a story for Feedback?
You can send stories to Feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week's and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website.
Cars have weight issues. The example of the Mini, designed to save fuel during rationing, highlights this trend. The size of cars is increasing, especially with the surge in popularity of SUVs.
Electric cars may look similar to traditional cars for now, but the key difference is the heavy battery they carry.
In our series debunking electric vehicle myths, we address common misconceptions about EVs, including range anxiety, carbon emissions, mining, and air pollution. In this final episode, we investigate whether electric cars will be too heavy for our roads and infrastructure.
Claim
As roads have evolved over time, concerns have arisen about whether electric cars will strain infrastructure like roads, bridges, and parking lots due to the weight of their batteries.
Matthew Lin, a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, recently questioned the readiness of charging infrastructure and the capacity of roads and bridges to handle heavier vehicles.
Conservative MP Greg Knight urged the UK government to test the structural integrity of multi-storey car parks and bridges against the added weight of electric vehicles.
The Asphalt Industry Alliance warned that small roads could suffer more potholes, while the Daily Mail suggested that multi-storey car parks might be at risk of collapse due to the weight of electric vehicles.
Science
Electric cars can be quite heavy. For example, General Motors’ Hummer weighs over four tons, with a significant portion of that weight attributed to its battery pack. On the other hand, the Tesla Model Y, a more affordable electric car, weighs 2 tons, still lighter than some traditional vehicles like the Range Rover or Ford F-150.
The Tesla Model Y weighs 2 tons, lighter than a Range Rover or Ford F-150. Photo: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images
According to a transport and environment advocacy group, EVs are on average 300-400kg heavier than traditional vehicles. The weight of the battery increases by approximately 100kg for every 150km of range.
The increased weight of electric cars leads to more road wear and faster deterioration of roads. However, a study found that the wear is primarily caused by heavy vehicles like buses and trucks, rather than cars and motorcycles.
Road wear is primarily caused by heavy vehicles like buses, rather than cars or motorcycles. Photo: Joe Giddens/Pennsylvania
Regarding bridges, most in the UK can support vehicles weighing up to 7.5 tonnes, with a safety margin built into the design. There are no concerns about national highways, which are built to accommodate heavy goods vehicles.
There are limitations to the weight of electric vehicles, especially in older car parks. While newer facilities can accommodate heavier vehicles, older structures may require reinforcement to handle the increased weight.
Options for multi-storey car park owners include strengthening the building or reducing the number of cars on each floor, which can impact profits.
Regular inspections are essential for car park owners to ensure the structural integrity of their buildings amid the transition to heavier electric vehicles.
Governments could encourage smaller cars through policies such as taxes and parking fees. Photo: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
It’s worth noting that advancements in battery technology may address the weight concerns of electric vehicles in the future. Continued progress in battery energy density could lead to lighter EVs in the long run.
Encouraging smaller cars through policy measures like taxes and fees can have additional benefits beyond reducing road wear, such as resource conservation, carbon emission reductions, and improved parking lot management.
While EVs are heavier than traditional vehicles, it’s unlikely that their weight will significantly impact road infrastructure. Concerns about weight should not overshadow the importance of transitioning to zero-emission vehicles.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
