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What are we reading? May 16, 2019

Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web. Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor: Robert Lighthizer, chief U.S.
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Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.

Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:

Robert Lighthizer, chief U.S. negotiator of the so-called United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement – as a trade agreement name it calls to mind the infamous video clip of Donald Trump elbowing his way through other leaders to put himself front and centre at a at a NATO summit photo op – catches flak in this discussion by Yahoo Finance panellists. Among them is Bruce Heyman, former U.S. ambassador to Canada, who says Lighthizer “bungled” the negotiations. - Yahoo Finance

https://finance.yahoo.com/video/usmca-agreement-jeopardy-taking-backseat-161213859.html

Atlantic staff writer Sarah Zhang documents a little-known ambition among the Soviet Union’s many grand plans: to eliminate the plague, which continued to kill people in recurrent outbreaks in the 20th century. Officially, the efforts were successful; in reality, not so much. - Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/05/when-soviets-tried-to-eradicate-the-plague/589570/

Timothy Renshaw, managing editor:

Canada's appetite for cannabis edibles waning, already? - Dalhousie University

https://www.dal.ca/faculty/management/news-events/news/2019/05/09/release__canadians_now_less_enthusiastic_about_the_prospect_of_legalized_edibles.html

Interesting insights into the future of Canada's beleaguered forestry industry. - CD Howe Institute

https://www.cdhowe.org/public-policy-research/branching-out-how-canada%E2%80%99s-forestry-products-sector-reshaping-its-future

Glen Korstrom, reporter:

CBD seems to be everywhere, as it is marketed as a seeming cure-all.  This excellent, and very long, read examines CBD (the cannabinoid known as cannabidiol that comes from the cannabis plant), and whether it can really do all its marketers claim.  It also provides a better understanding of how marijuana can make people high and about its history. - New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/14/magazine/cbd-cannabis-cure.html

Tyler Orton, reporter:

“Your 5G Phone Won’t Hurt You. But Russia Wants You to Think Otherwise”: RT’s campaign against 5G (health concerns, they say) seem to be at odds with Putin’s promotion of the next generation of mobility. Report comes out the same week the first 5G phone hits the markets. - New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/12/science/5g-phone-safety-health-russia.html

“A Bizarre Form of Water May Exist All Over the Universe”: Superionic ice is pretty much the opposite of what you find in your freezer (black and hot) … and yet it’s still ice. - Wired https://www.wired.com/story/a-bizarre-form-of-water-may-exist-all-over-the-universe/  

Nelson Bennett, reporter:

Another interesting analysis of B.C.’s high gasoline prices, with an explanation for why regulating gas prices is a very bad idea. Sauder School of Business professor Werner Antweiler pours cold water on the idea that price gouging is responsible for B.C.’s high gas prices, and concludes there is no quick fix. - Werner’s Blog

https://wernerantweiler.ca/blog.php?item=2019-05-01