Airline Chaos, Billionaires In Space, Shipping Bozos And The Best Transportation Stories Of The Week

Congratulations! You got a seat in an exit row for your flight. All that sweet, sweet extra legroom is yours, and now the only thing that stands between you and actually being able to stretch your legs out is to simply say, “Yes,” when the flight attendant comes by to make sure you’re willing and able to help in the event of an emergency that almost definitely won’t happen. Easy peasy, right? Well, as the Independent reports, that wasn’t so easy for one Frontier Airlines passenger who actually managed to get herself arrested before takeoff. - Collin Woodard Read More

Researchers at the Blue Visby Consortium developed a simple solution that will significantly cut the carbon emissions produced by international maritime shipping with expensive refits of already operating ships. The solution: sail slower. Last week, the research group released results from a two-month, two-ship trial showing a 17.3 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. While the results are promising, it will take an industry-wide effort to make a positive impact on the planet’s climate. - Ryan Erik King Read More

Billionaires are having a moment with space right now. Elon Musk with SpaceX, Jeff Bezos with Blue Origin, even Richard Branson with Virgin Galactic — all the rich folks are building rockets so they can go look at space. But one billionaire isn’t satisfied with just looking at space: He wants to go touch it. Specifically, touch the Hubble Space Telescope. - Amber DaSilva Read More

A large pile of meat was seemingly dumped on the side of the road in Ohio, and contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t your mom. I know, I’m as surprised as everyone else is right now. - Andy Kalmowitz Read More

Your brain is a pretty important part of your body. Everything that makes you who you are is held in that little three pound sack of fat and neurons, so you should probably do what you can to protect it. Wear a frickin’ helmet, you dorks! Only nineteen of these fifty United States have a law on the books requiring motorcycle riders to wear a brain bucket, while most others only require one for riders under 18 years of age. About 41 percent of American motorcycle fatalities are riders without a wrapper on their coconut. So how do we get more riders to wear them? Bangladesh might have a good answer. - Bradley Brownell Read More

It’s taken almost two months of work, a few tons of explosives and the construction of a whole new trench in the lower Patapsco River, but the container ship that hit and destroyed the Francis Scott Key bridge is finally on the move again. The Dali hit the bridge on March 26 and has finally returned to port in Baltimore after the crash, which occurred just 30-minutes into its 27-day voyage to Sri Lanka. - Owen Bellwood Read More

It turns out that killer wales do not like boats. They really don’t like them, in fact, and have made it their mission to sink them all to the bottom of the ocean in recent years. Now, instead of letting the orca have their fun with boats sailing the seven seas, one New Zealander has tried to fight back, which is something you definitely should not do. - Owen Bellwood Read More

A Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore ended in tragedy and was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok after severe turbulence left one person dead and more than 30 others injured. The BBC reports the plane dropped about 6,000 feet in only a couple of minutes, sending the Boeing 777-300ER into chaos. - Collin Woodard Read More