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.