Speaker 1: Strange News Daily. It's a production of I heart media.
Speaker 1: In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
Speaker 1: a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
Speaker 1: news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
Speaker 1: to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
Speaker 1: These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan
Speaker 1: and this is the Strange News Daily, our first story today.
Speaker 1: Could drones be the answer to the current pollination crisis?
Speaker 1: It turns out this may be the case. Drones that
Speaker 1: blow bubbles aiden with pollen could one day help farmers
Speaker 1: pollinate their crops. This means that instead of relying on
Speaker 1: bees or other pollinating insects, which are of course dwindling
Speaker 1: worldwide as a result of climate change, neo nicotinoids and
Speaker 1: other pesticides, and various other factors, farmers can spray or
Speaker 1: swab pollen onto crops themselves. The problem is that machine
Speaker 1: blown plumes can waste many many grains of pollen, and
Speaker 1: it's incredibly labor intensive to go to every plant and
Speaker 1: manually brush pollen on it. So materials chemist A. G.
Speaker 1: Ro Miaco of the japan Advanced Institute of Science and
Speaker 1: technology in no Me imagines we could outsource pollination to
Speaker 1: autonomous drones that would deliver pollen grains to individual flowers.
Speaker 1: His idea initially involved coding a drone and pollen and
Speaker 1: having it rub grains onto of flowers, but that treatment
Speaker 1: would damage the blossoms. So one day, Miako was blowing
Speaker 1: bubbles with his son and he thought, hey, bubbles might
Speaker 1: be a much more gentle means of delivery. In their
Speaker 1: report published June seventeenth in E Science, Miako and his
Speaker 1: colleague she Young describe how they devised a pollen containing
Speaker 1: solution that's used by a drone toting a bubble gun.
Speaker 1: It can blow these pollen laced bubbles out onto crops.
Speaker 1: They tested the viability of this delivery method by using
Speaker 1: this technique to pollinate pear trees in an orchard. The
Speaker 1: pear trees and the test bore about as much fruit
Speaker 1: as trees pollinated using the traditional method of hands pollination.
Speaker 1: Miako and his colleague found that pollen grains remained most
Speaker 1: healthy and viable in certain solutions. One of the most
Speaker 1: promising uses a chemical that's currently most often ound in
Speaker 1: cosmetics and personal care products. Using this solution, as their base.
Speaker 1: The researchers added pollen protecting ingredients things like calcium and potassium,
Speaker 1: along with a polymer that would make sure the bubbles
Speaker 1: are sturdy enough to withstand the winds generated by all
Speaker 1: those drone propellers. And then the researchers blew pollen bubbles
Speaker 1: at flowers on three pear trees in an orchard. On average,
Speaker 1: of the fifty pollinated blossoms on each tree formed fruits.
Speaker 1: This was comparable to another set of three similar trees
Speaker 1: pollinated by hand with a standard pollen brush. Only about
Speaker 1: fifty eight percent of flowers on three trees that relied
Speaker 1: on insects and wind to deliver pollen bore any fruit
Speaker 1: at all. It's a promising idea, but not everyone is
Speaker 1: convinced it's a good one. Simon Pott's sustainable land management
Speaker 1: researcher at the University of Reading in London, says this
Speaker 1: technology is a piece of smart engineering and shoehorn to
Speaker 1: solve a problem which could be solved in a more
Speaker 1: effective and sustainable way. Specifically, Potts and his colleagues would
Speaker 1: argue that protecting natural pollinators is a better way to
Speaker 1: safeguard plant pollination in the future. At least it's a
Speaker 1: better method than going out and building robotic bees. These
Speaker 1: researchers note that insects are already more dept pollinators than
Speaker 1: any machine, and they don't disrupt the existing ecosystems because
Speaker 1: they've evolved to be a part of them. Miako and
Speaker 1: his colleagues say they're bubble solution was biocompatible, but pots
Speaker 1: still worries that dowsing flowers and human made substances could
Speaker 1: make the insects less likely to visit those trees. A
Speaker 1: roboticist named you Gou of West Virginia University in Morgantown
Speaker 1: designs robotic pollinators himself, but was not involved in the work.
Speaker 1: And this scientist says building robotic bees and supporting insect
Speaker 1: populations are not mutually exclusive aims, and said he says,
Speaker 1: we're not hoping to take over for bees or any
Speaker 1: other natural pollinator. What we're trying to do is complement them.
Speaker 1: When there's a shortage of winged workers to pollinate crops.
Speaker 1: Farmers could one day use these robots as a backup plan,
Speaker 1: or wait for it, a plan by our second story. Today,
Speaker 1: firework sales are shooting through the roof along with noise
Speaker 1: complaints in the big Apple Suppliers like Phantom Fireworks, popular
Speaker 1: firework company based out of Ohio, experienced a two hundred
Speaker 1: four increase in sales every day compared to this time
Speaker 1: last year, while Fireworks saw an uptick in sales. Noise
Speaker 1: complaints in New York City also saw aw some skyrocketing rises.
Speaker 1: Firework complaint calls have increased almost four hundred thousand percent
Speaker 1: during the last two weeks of June as compared to
Speaker 1: June since that time. June tenth saw the highest number
Speaker 1: of calls, with one thousand, seven hundred complaints. The reason
Speaker 1: for this sudden proliferation of firework displays is not clear,
Speaker 1: and it's happening in cities around the country. You could
Speaker 1: say is simply a matter of boredom. You know, people
Speaker 1: have so much cabin fever energy that they've built up
Speaker 1: during the pandemic, or like some media is speculating, it
Speaker 1: could be a form of protest against police brutality. But
Speaker 1: there are other potential reasons here. One of the big
Speaker 1: ones is cheaper fireworks. Some firework fans in Michigan it
Speaker 1: purchased thousands of dollars worth of fireworks as suppliers promote
Speaker 1: special sales because of the upcoming July four celebration cancelations
Speaker 1: and because families planned to stay at home during the
Speaker 1: pandemic and set of traveling for summer vacations. The spokesperson
Speaker 1: for Phantom Fireworks said that nearly half the people purchasing
Speaker 1: fireworks were new customers. Meanwhile, back to New York City,
Speaker 1: their firework complaints from June one to June nine total
Speaker 1: six thousand, three dight five, compared to twenty seven complaints
Speaker 1: recorded during that time period last year. But the fireworks
Speaker 1: that are getting set off in the Big Apple are
Speaker 1: not your average store bought firecrackers. They're drawing concern from
Speaker 1: some local authorities because of their size and intensity. Brooklyn
Speaker 1: Borough President Eric Adams said, this is not the simple
Speaker 1: firecrackers and little toy type rockets, but it's very elaborate.
Speaker 1: The disruption of fireworks and neighborhoods and the potential danger
Speaker 1: of these pyrotechnic displays is leading for some community members
Speaker 1: to order a stop to them. But in light of
Speaker 1: the police killing of George Floyd and the ongoing protests
Speaker 1: against police brutality that have erupted since then, people want
Speaker 1: non police intervention here, and that's why Eric Adams wants
Speaker 1: Cure violence organizations and the Vulcan Society. It's a group
Speaker 1: of black, active and retired firefighters to encourage and educate
Speaker 1: people not to use illegal fireworks. Finding alternatives to solve
Speaker 1: community issues without police is a very timely question as
Speaker 1: municipalities across the nation are debating changing or entirely dismantling
Speaker 1: their police force. Eric Adams says, this is local proactive
Speaker 1: policing where you don't want uniformed personnel with a gun
Speaker 1: and a billy club to come. You want everyday people
Speaker 1: to talk to other people in their community. Our third
Speaker 1: story today. In Kentucky, voting rights advocates have been sounding
Speaker 1: an alarm ahead of today's primary. The state has reduced
Speaker 1: the number of polling police is drastically from three thousand,
Speaker 1: seven hundred to fewer than two hundred. That's a reduction.
Speaker 1: The most closely watched race is the Democratic primary, which
Speaker 1: will pick a candidate to challenge Senate Majority Leader Mitch
Speaker 1: McConnell this November. State level lawmakers and voting rights activists
Speaker 1: are bracing for potential chaos during Kentucky's primary election today.
Speaker 1: These closings of polls come after concerns over coronavirus led
Speaker 1: state elections officials to limit the number of in person
Speaker 1: polling places. These limits, according to the Kentucky Secretary of State,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have only on seventy locations open today, have
Speaker 1: led to a massive outcry across the country, especially from
Speaker 1: Democrats who say this could result in a nightmare scenario
Speaker 1: in big cities with hour long lines, potentially disenfranchising voters.
Speaker 1: The Commonwealth's to most populous counties, Jefferson and Fayette, are
Speaker 1: the homes of Louisville and Lexington. They will have just
Speaker 1: one polling location each open today, and this backlash has
Speaker 1: made Kentucky the newest battleground in an ongoing nationwide fight
Speaker 1: over voting access. NBA star Lebron James chimed in tweeting
Speaker 1: this is systemic racism and oppression, and Stacy Abrams, Georgia
Speaker 1: gubernatorial candidate and a leading voice on voting access in
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party, said that the coronavirus was quote no
Speaker 1: excuse for such limited in person polling places. Abrams continued,
Speaker 1: saying voter suppression is no longer Billy Clubs and Jim Crow.
Speaker 1: It's closed polling sites plus six hour waits without pay
Speaker 1: COVID is no excuse. Who needs to vote in person?
Speaker 1: The disabled, the homeless or displaced voters with language barriers,
Speaker 1: folks who didn't get their ballots in time. Americans. However,
Speaker 1: Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams pushed back against these concerns,
Speaker 1: pointing out that the current rules were part of a
Speaker 1: bipartisan agreement between the Republican election official and Kentucky Democratic
Speaker 1: Governor Andy Bashir. The election features a high profile Democratic
Speaker 1: Senate matchup between establishment favorite Amy McGrath and Charles Booker,
Speaker 1: a black state representative whose candidacy has been propelled by
Speaker 1: the activism sweeping the country today. They're both lying for
Speaker 1: the chance to take on Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell
Speaker 1: in November, and interest in the Democratic Senate primary there
Speaker 1: in Kentucky is sword following the shooting of Brianna Taylor,
Speaker 1: a twenty six year old black e mt who was
Speaker 1: killed when police broke down the door to her apartment
Speaker 1: in an attempted drug sting and shot her eight times.
Speaker 1: The interest in the race has also led to increased
Speaker 1: turnout expectations, intensifying those fears of long lines and limited
Speaker 1: polling sites. Back in March, Kentucky postponed its May primary
Speaker 1: to June. All the voters in the state were allowed
Speaker 1: to request apps in t ballots. The Kentucky Secretary of
Speaker 1: State's office said Monday that it had issued over eight
Speaker 1: hundred sixty seven thousand, three hundred and eleven mail in
Speaker 1: ballots in the primary election, and just over half four hundred,
Speaker 1: nine hundred and nineteen have been returned. Election day concerns,
Speaker 1: especially over how the lack of in person polling sides
Speaker 1: could affect black voters, were so great that a bipartisan
Speaker 1: group went to court just last week to demand more
Speaker 1: polling locations. However, a judge denied the claims, citing concerns
Speaker 1: that last minute action by the court could adversely impact
Speaker 1: the election, essentially worsening the problem they would be attempting
Speaker 1: to solve. In a joint statement after the decision, Louisville
Speaker 1: Councilwoman Kesha Dorsey, a Democrat, and Jason Nemes, a Republican
Speaker 1: state representative, wrote, we hope we are wrong and that
Speaker 1: there are no problems in voting but if there are
Speaker 1: major concerns with the election, we will fight as hard
Speaker 1: as we can to ensure that similar problems don't recur
Speaker 1: during the general election in November. These concerns are, of course,
Speaker 1: not without precedent. The rise of the coronavirus pandemic and
Speaker 1: cuts to in person voting sites already have led to
Speaker 1: long lines in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Georgia earlier this year,
Speaker 1: especially in the state's biggest cities, such as Atlanta, where
Speaker 1: this show is based. Kristen Clark, the head of the
Speaker 1: Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights under the Law, said, in
Speaker 1: parts of the country with major cities this primary season,
Speaker 1: the decision to have a handful of in person voting
Speaker 1: sites has been proving increasingly problematic. So it's hard not
Speaker 1: to see one in person voting location not proved to
Speaker 1: be equally challenging. Both Booker and McGrath have seized on
Speaker 1: these voting issues, but the insurgent challenger has been far
Speaker 1: more public. That's Booker, as he blankets the state and
Speaker 1: constantly makes himself available to the media. In an earlier
Speaker 1: exchange with the CNN, Booker said, it's not right, and
Speaker 1: we've seen this in other parts of the country. It's
Speaker 1: not excusable at all. We are better than this. This
Speaker 1: is not what democracy is all about. It should be
Speaker 1: easy to have your voice heard. Good luck to everyone
Speaker 1: voting today in Kentucky's primary. That's all for now. We've
Speaker 1: been asking you chime in with suggestions for stories you
Speaker 1: think you are fellow listeners should know about. To hit
Speaker 1: us with your best or worst bad dad jokes, and
Speaker 1: to let your fellow listeners know about your personal experience
Speaker 1: with COVID nineteen, the ongoing protest, voting, or anything else
Speaker 1: happening in your neck of the Global woods. Let us
Speaker 1: know by tagging hashtag Strange daily on Twitter. We'll reach
Speaker 1: out to me directly. I'm at Ben Bullin hsw on
Speaker 1: Twitter or at ben Bullin on Instagram. Thanks as always
Speaker 1: to our super producer Dylan Fagan, our research associate Sam T. Garden,
Speaker 1: and most importantly, thanks to you. I'm Ben Bullin. We'll
Speaker 1: see you tomorrow. Until then, stay strange.