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Good morning, it's Saturday, August 1. Three western states face steep water cuts from the Colorado River Basin. First time reading? Join over 4.7 million insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.
Also in today's Digest: a rescue mission at one of the world's highest peaks (Quick Hits), a single dad perfects the French braid (Humankind), artistic toilets (Etc.), and much more.
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One Big Headline
Colorado River Cutbacks
Arizona, California, and Nevada must cut Colorado River water use by roughly 20% over the next two years under a federal plan proposed yesterday, as the nation's two largest reservoirs near record lows. See a map of the Colorado River Basin here.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell fell this month to their lowest combined level since 1957, at 27% and 23% capacity, respectively. The plan is the first phase of a 10-year framework that allows cuts of up to 40% and imposes no mandatory reductions on the upper-basin states—Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The lower basin used 6.5 million of the river's 13.1 million acre-feet annually from 2020 to 2024, versus the upper basin's 3.8 million. Lake Mead is about 146 feet above "dead pool," where water can no longer flow through a dam by gravity. Lake Powell is about 152 feet above the threshold. Some 40 million people across the US and northwestern Mexico depend on the river.
See real-time reservoir levels and track storage across hundreds of US reservoirs.
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Quick Hits
Hamas reaches deal to disarm, a significant step toward ending the war in Gaza.
The militant group yesterday said it would begin disarming in Gaza if Israel agrees to halt strikes and withdraw its forces (read the deal). Hamas' weapons would be transferred to a US-backed Palestinian committee—a process estimated to take 200 to 350 days. Israel has yet to officially comment on the deal, but Israeli officials have previously said they would not withdraw until the militant group is fully disarmed. (More)
Famed climber among 6 missing after avalanche in Pakistan.
Rescuers yesterday recovered four bodies after an avalanche struck a 10-person expedition on Broad Peak, the world's 12th-highest mountain. British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja, whose record-setting ascent of the 14 highest peaks was chronicled in a Netflix documentary (watch trailer), is among those still missing. Search efforts continue, though poor weather is interfering with helicopter flights. (More)
Women's Pro Baseball League's first season begins today.
The four-team league is the nation's first professional women's baseball league of its kind in over 70 years. Every game this season will be held in Springfield, Illinois, with the first today at 5 pm ET between the Los Angeles Queens and New York Heights. The other two teams—the San Francisco Firebells and Boston Hunters—play tomorrow at 6:30 pm ET. (More)
Department of Veterans Affairs to test if GLP-1s can treat alcohol abuse.
The clinical trial will enroll over 600 veterans across 18 VA medical centers. Excessive drinking is a well-documented challenge among service members and veterans, with roughly a third of service members meeting the criteria for possible alcohol use disorder. Early research suggests that because GLP-1 drugs can reduce cravings for food, they may also help curb alcohol cravings. (More)
Learn how semaglutides—the GLP-1s being tested—work here. (w/video)
Hundreds of ancient geoglyphs in the Amazon hint at complex societies.
Archaeologists uncovered nearly 400 circles, squares, and other geometric shapes carved beneath the forest canopy using laser-scanning technology. The geoglyphs are estimated to be roughly 1,200 to 2,600 years old, challenging the long-held theory that the Amazon was largely untouched before Europeans arrived in the 15th century. Researchers think the carvings were used for festivities among an ancient society called the Aquiry. (More, w/photos)
Claude AI hacks 3 companies during cyber tests.
Anthropic said a misconfiguration allowed Claude to connect to the internet and gain unauthorized access to the companies' systems. The disclosure comes days after rival OpenAI said its model went rogue during a security test and hacked the systems of AI firm Hugging Face. The incidents have raised questions among experts about how AI can be safely kept under human control. (More)
Humankind
Disney screens "Toy Story 5" at over 400 children's hospitals and gives away over 18,000 toys and character-inspired hospital gowns to sick children. (More)
Firefighters rescue a small dog, which had been missing for weeks, from San Francisco Bay. (More, w/video)
Spider-Man impersonator sprints into traffic to help a man in a wheelchair cross the road. (More, w/video)
Single dad spends over 200 hours learning how to do his daughter's hair; Ring camera captures the moment he gives her a French braid. (More, w/video)
Ghanaian conservationist teaches local fishermen how to farm snails as an alternative to catching critically endangered guitarfish. (More)
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Humankind(ness)
Today, we're sharing a story from reader Jerry K. in Ashland, Oregon.
"Standing in a long line at Safeway, I watched the face of the clerk stay in a stoic, frowning facade. None of the customers spoke to her or paid any attention to her. She was just a store fixture, until the man in front of me called her by name, asked about her day, and asked what her favorite thing to do was. Her face lit up with a huge smile and became animated. Her whole demeanor changed just because someone noticed her as a human, not as a store fixture. We all should try it! Frequently!"
Humankind(ness) is a reader-built corner of joy. So, what act(s) of kindness did you experience this week? Tell us here. And if this story made you smile—share our email (copy URL here).
Etcetera
The risks and benefits of staying in bed all day.
New parents turn to "Gilmore Girls" for baby names.
Hiker treks 10 miles to safety after impaling himself with a pole.
Avocados are in danger; researchers have a plan to save them. (w/audio)
Could you survive eating George Washington's diet?
Toilets that double as works of art. (w/photos)
A bald eagle, cheekily named Jolene, wants to take someone's man.
Man picking berries may have stumbled on a World War II plane.
The three kinds of stupidity that destroy societies. (w/video)
Why people gravitate toward stories with animal narrators.
Traveler tries to sneak Civil War-era cannonball onto a plane.
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Antarctica just reached Earth's coldest temperature since 2012.
Why saffron costs over $600 per ounce. (w/video)
Most Clicked This Week: Where does your state rank among America's best?
Historybook: "Moby-Dick" author Herman Melville born (1819); American frontierswoman Calamity Jane dies (1903); Sniper kills 14, wounds 31 at University of Texas (1966); MTV launches with "Video Killed the Radio Star" as first video (1981).
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"I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing."
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