peter smith

@peterandreysmith.com

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reporter and researcher. senior contributor at undark magazine. bylines with wnyc radiolab, nyt, stat, businessweek, and elsewhere

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almost like there needs to be a whole separate unit of measurement to describe the incredible lengths the state will go rather than right a wrongful conviction www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/m...

He Was Sent to Prison for Killing His Baby. What if He Didn’t Do It?www.nytimes.com Flawed science helped convict Russell Maze more than 20 years ago. The D.A.’s office now says it got it wrong. Why is he still behind bars?

listen to the story that critics* are calling “engrossing” and “quintessential radiolab” radiolab.org/podcast/the-... *random reddit commenters

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peter smith

three years ago, I started reporting on a case that involved a detection dog, but eventually spiraled into something totally different: an Alford plea radiolab.org/podcast/the-...

technical note why can I not post a link card because the sky lords say the image too large? almost makes me want to rejoin the other site overlorded by apartheid clyde

three years ago, I started reporting on a case that involved a detection dog, but eventually spiraled into something totally different: an Alford plea radiolab.org/podcast/the-...

I am biased (and cited in this white paper), but recommend this weekend read on ending the use of dogs in policing

A Case for Eliminating Police K9 Units | National Police Accountability Projectengage.nlg-npap.org

mixed feelings about seeing the new yorker writer quote my decades-old reporting

dogs are like artificial intelligence. people place an undue credulity in a system that not only lacks functionality but also cannot be methodologically explained

the trial by jury has all but disappeared in this country “Data collected by the National Center for State Courts shows that, in 2017, New York had 2.91 percent of criminal cases proceed to trial” store.abramsbooks.com/products/pun...

“an Elvis sighting”

there’s a lot of prescriptive lawn maintenance absolutists, and I came at this with a simple q: given the continental-scale of the "homogenized lawn community" why isn’t there more literature on evidence-based grass removal and care? undark.org/2024/05/13/l...

There’s Little Science Behind 'No Mow May'undark.org Ecologists don't agree on what makes for the healthiest lawn. And restoring biodiversity requires more than doing less.

in the book wasteland to wonder, a treecologist suggests eradicating existing vegetation with herbicide. but municipalities expressly prohibit the use of pesticides, particularly glyphosate, on private property—even for the eradication of invasive species undark.org/2024/05/13/l...

There’s Little Science Behind 'No Mow May'undark.org Ecologists don't agree on what makes for the healthiest lawn. And restoring biodiversity requires more than doing less.

some science writers tweeted about digging up their existing lawn. but dig into the published scientific literature and there’s little support for sanctimonious sod-busting undark.org/2024/05/13/l...

There’s Little Science Behind 'No Mow May'undark.org Ecologists don't agree on what makes for the healthiest lawn. And restoring biodiversity requires more than doing less.

pollinator proponents tout feel-good slogans like no mow may. but ecologists say there’s a better way undark.org/2024/05/13/l...

There’s Little Science Behind 'No Mow May'undark.org Ecologists don't agree on what makes for the healthiest lawn. And restoring biodiversity requires more than doing less.

really as good as everyone says it is www.newyorker.com/magazine/202... a gutting illustration of the texas sharpshooter fallacy

A British Nurse Was Found Guilty of Killing Seven Babies. Did She Do It?www.newyorker.com Colleagues reportedly called Lucy Letby an “angel of death,” and the Prime Minister condemned her. But, in the rush to judgment, serious questions about the evidence were ignored.

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peter smith

This is an excellent article that doesn't purport to assert a definitive answer. I have always been a "managed landscape" guy, and now that I have a home with a sizable yard I have the opportunity to put it into practice. Here's how I manage my local ecosystem and still keep my lawn (1/x).

what happens when people stop growing grass and start getting real about restoration? 🌱my latest undark.org/2024/05/13/l...

a preview of coming attractions and an incredible digitization error unearthed while searching the archival depths

ai drawing hands or actual photographic depictions of people eating in the new yorker

a rare, ultra-local comments section chef’s kiss

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It's not a crime at all when cops kill your dog, but they reserve the right to charge you if a K9 dies. www.washingtonpost.com/national/202...

A police dog's death has Kansas poised to increase penalties for killing K-9 officerswww.washingtonpost.com Kansas is poised to increase its penalties for killing police dogs and horses

where moral absolutists see a firehose of addictive content, others see a case study in “how to avoid making up stories by simply looking at trend lines” www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness?www.nature.com The evidence is equivocal on whether screen time is to blame for rising levels of teen depression and anxiety — and rising hysteria could distract us from tackling the real causes. The evidence is equ...

happy [squints at notes] spring winter to all who celebrate patrick and sheila

that perennial spring question what the h*ck are grackles tryin to say opening and closing that rusty hinged gate

still find it odd that neuroscientists researching human olfaction in 2007 (left) reproduced a 1986 national geographic photo (right)

back in the day, ken chesebro did what’s that you say? “An impressive group of scientists that includes Stephen Jay Gould and historian of science Gerald Holton of Harvard supported the arguments of Kenneth Chesebro, lead attorney for the Daubert and Schuller families, before the Supreme Court.”

a single photograph

Fahndung nach Daniela Klette: Deshalb hat die Polizei die RAF nicht mit Gesichtserkennung gesuchtwww.zeit.de Die RAF-Terroristin Daniela Klette lebte mitten in Berlin, doch die Polizei brauchte Jahrzehnte, um sie zu finden. Denn das mächtigste Werkzeug darf sie nicht nutzen.

serendipitous digital discovery of the day: personal air pollution monitors that adorn people like jeweled necklaces

the commander-in-chief kept a pointy eared dog that routinely bit people with impunity

educate people about drugs and tamp down unfounded fears around fentanyl, yes, but I am still not sure the repeated public debunking reaches the intended audience westvirginiawatch.com/2024/02/16/i...

‘It will create real harm’: House passes bill creating felonies for fentanyl exposure - West Virginia Watchwestvirginiawatch.com The West Virginia House of Delegates on Friday advanced a bill to create felonies for exposing anyone to the drug.

history is lit academic.oup.com/jah/article/... fascinating weekend read on arson, falsely reported confessions, and “accidental combustion seen through the distorting lens of white paranoia”

Burning Down the House: Slavery and Arson in Americaacademic.oup.com Of those who escaped slavery and told the tale, few inspired such admiration as the Reverend Josiah Henson. No slave narrative was as “instructive” as his, the