Biofueled Planes, Criminal Sentencing by Computer, and Apple Music

We start with biofuel, the trash-into-fuel technology you may remember from Back to the Future II. Sometime this summer, United Airlines will start a regular flight between L.A. and San Francisco powered, at least partly, by biofuels. Then, a discussion of L.A. County’s new wrongful convictions unit, which will investigate and review cases that may have resulted in the convictions of innocent people. Next, a new program aims to take the subjectivity out of whether to grant bail or not. Then, Madeleine Brand, in Berlin, speaks with author Nell Zink. Zink’s new novel, Mislaid, tells the story of a Virginia woman who co-opts the identity of a black child for her daughter, and then lives as a black woman herself. Finally, we look at the launch of Apple Music, which has three offerings that you can’t get anywhere else yet—at least not legally: Taylor Swift’s 1989, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, and an exclusive new single from Pharrell. As these services grow, and feature only certain songs and artists, it raises the question: does music exist if you can’t stream it? And how has streaming affected the Billboard charts?

Banner Image: United Airlines will be utilizing biofuels to fuel some of their regular flights beginning this summer; Credit: Aero Icarus