There goes the neighborhood!: How do you know when your apartment rent is about to go up and that your street will soon be overrun with tea cafés and boutique cheese shops? Apparently, the most telling harbinger of gentrification is… the “green” dry cleaner. You may choose to avoid the newly formulated chemical concoctions at these so-called eco-cleaners, but keeping that six-figure, professional couple (who’s eyeing your closet-size studio as their future baby nursery) at bay may prove a little trickier. New York Times
Inert windbags: A bill addressing the U.S.’s looming helium shortage is being considered by Congress for the second time in under a year. "Unless Congress takes swift action, the U.S. will float off the helium cliff," says one representative. Sorry about the balloons, kids, but this inert gas is especially good for manufacturing microchips, MRI machines, and optical fibers. An inert Congress is good for … well, nothing. ScienceInsider
Gravitational pull (to the toilet): NASA better hope the FDA checks its astronaut ice cream twice for salmonella contamination (if it’s checked at all…). Turns out, the food-poisoning bacterium becomes even more virulent in space. Bad news for Martians, but it could be good news for us: If scientists can get a clearer understanding of how the bacteria change, they might learn how to better zap the bugs down here on Earth. Smithsonian
The parched plains: An infograph shows the ten states hit hardest by last year's drought (which has now become this year's drought). Climate Central
Local man becomes hero: Who do Americans trust most with climate change information after scientists? The local weatherman. And why not? We plan our weekends by them, why not our decades? The problem is many meteorologists aren't trained in the climate field or are scared to rock the local news boat by bringing global warming info to the masses. Luckily, some forecasters -- including one in the deep red state of South Carolina -- are forming an education front and hoping to change that. National Public Radio
One bad-ass baleen: A project to expand a highway in southern California has uncovered four whale species never before seen by science and a trove of other prehistoric animals. One of the larger of 30 whale skulls found belongs to "Willy," an ancient baleen whale that also had teeth. Judging by how worn down the teeth are, scientists say that around 18 million years ago, Willy used to munch on a whole lot of sharks. ScienceNOW
A fearsome flock: Millions of birds have descended on Hopkinsville, Kentucky, this winter, terrorizing residents with massive amounts of drippy, disease-carrying droppings. While we never do find out what made our feathered friends turn on us in the Hitchcock thriller The Birds, local scientists believe they’ve fingered the culprit in this real-life avian invasion: climate change. Reuters
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Image: screenshot from "The Birds"
