Start your Tuesday with some environmentally friendly pest control, a Pokemon Go mishap, a watery art installation, and more!
Happening in the World: Macaque monkeys are eating so many rats in Malaysia that they may eliminate the need for the chemical pest controls currently used to protect palm oil plantations from hungry rodents. Palm oil is already infamous for its role in deforestation, so using monkeys to reduce the crop loss from 10% to 3% could certainly help make palm oil plantations more sustainable. (CNN)
Happening in the US: While playing Pokemon Go in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a woman stumbled across a robbery in progress and was fatally shot before she could flee the scene. The police department has not yet identified the shooters, and the Pokemon Go players of the community are reportedly “on edge.” (ABC)
Happening in NYC: Manhattan district attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. is facing renewed criticism for leniency towards sex offenders including Jeffrey Epstein, who was given the lowest possible sex offender status even with dozens of accusations, and Robert A. Hadden, who avoided prison time despite being accused of sexual abuse by 19 patients. Given Vance’s historic leniency, some of Vance’s accusers have called for an investigation of how the district attorney’s office handles sex crimes. (NYT)
Happening on Campus: Today is the opening of Waterlicht, a large-scale, immersive light installation by Daan Roosengaarde, a Dutch artist. The exhibit has a special focus on rising global sea levels and will be held at the Lenfest Center for the Arts for the next three days from 7:30-11:00 pm.
Poem: Once again I have stolen this from my poetry professor but go read “Jessica, From the Well” by Lucie Brock-Broido, an ethereal poem inspired by the true story of a one-year-old that was trapped in a well shaft for 58 hours.
Macaque via Wikimedia Commons