It was a small study out of a modest West Virginia lab that put an end to Volkswagen's exhaust pipe dreams. In 2012, a group of scientists at West Virginia University got a grant to test diesel cars. When the VWs failed on the road but passed during standard emissions tests, they knew it was a big deal; but the study didn't get all that much attention when the findings were published a year and a half ago. Things have accelerated since then. From NPR: How a little lab in West Virginia caught Volkswagen's big cheat. And from CityLab, the study that brought down Volkswagen.

+ "Apparently some people at VW thought they could get away with it ... a large part of their reason for believing this would have been that carmakers, particularly European ones, are used to getting away with a great deal in such matters." The Economist on how systematic fraud by the world's biggest carmaker threatens to engulf the entire industry and possibly reshape it.

+ The New Yorker's James Surowiecki compares the VW story to the Seinfeld episode when the characters fall in a love with a "healthy" brand of frozen yogurt, and explains why the scandal could have an upside (for those other than Volkswagen shareholders): "The fallout from the controversy will hurt not just the company but also diesel technology itself."

+ And two stories on the bigger picture: From Upshot, the clear connection between cleaner air and longer lives. And China announces a major cap and trade program to reduce emissions.

In a move surprising enough to serve as a House of Cards plot twist, Speaker John Boehner announced he would step down and leave Congress at the end of October.

+ WaPo: "Almost since the day he became speaker ... Boehner had been caught betwixt and between."

+ Robert Costa: What John Boehner told me the night before he said he was quitting.

+ And after a career of public crying and amazing facial contortions, Boehner is going out with one of his best combinations of both.

"I will never get to talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you." David Remnick on violence and forgiveness in Charleston: Blood at the Root.

+ The great ad targeting algorithms don't seem all that great. Sometimes, they don't even know if they are targeting humans. Bloomberg: How much of your audience is fake? (I actually hope you're a bot. Less emotional overhead)

+ VanityFair: Mike Nichols's Life and Career: The Definitive Oral History.

"I was shocked. One day it was kilos of coke, and suddenly it was heroin." WaPo has a really interesting piece on the way Mexican cartels are targeting small town America: Pellets, planes and the new frontier. (It's remarkable how the drug war story just keeps repeating itself over and over like a bad trip.)

+ ProPublica on how an Alabama drug law seems to be most effective when it comes to prosecuting the wrong people: Take a Valium, Lose Your Kid, Go to Jail.

Pope Francis continues his American tour with a visit to Ground Zero and a speech at the UN in which he focused on climate change.

+ FastCo: Five leadership lessons from Pope Francis. (I'd be interested in some leadership lessons from his boss.)

Question: What's the single thing that could change the lives of the most poor people living in America? Answer: A better turnout at the polls. Vox with an interesting analysis of the big reason Congress ignores the poor: They don't vote.

It's no surprise that younger viewers are abandoning their TV screens for their mobile devices. But the drop is pretty remarkable. Let's look at the first two nights of the Fall television schedule. "TV viewing among adults 18-to-24 is now down 20% versus the first two nights of the 2014-15 season." Edward R. Murrow once worried that TV and Radio might become "the real opiate of the people." Looks like our kids have kicked their opium habit. Now they're hooked on WiFi instead.

The Atlantic's Ariana Kelly on the rebirth of the Mason Jar: "Mason jars suggest resistance to the mass production of food and culture; they emphasize the values of self-sufficiency and community." (They might actually suggest that there are too many hipsters.)

You knew this moment was coming. A school district has decided to ban the game of tag.

+ Vice on the small town that just banned underboob. (If nothing else, that puts the tag ban into perspective.)

If the Pope wanted to see American commercialism and consumerism in action, he picked the right week for a visit. With the release of a new iPhone, he'll get a firsthand look at just how evolved we are when it comes to getting the next new thing. And no one does it better than the iPhone line pros.

+ If you're in that line, you might be interested in Wirecutter's listing of the best accessories for you iPhone.

+ Syndicated from Kottke: Netflix is making more Black Mirror. (So so good...)

+ Popular Mechanics shares 10 of history's most death-defying stunts. (None of these people has anything on the indestructible koala.)