Welcome back to the Curious About Everything Newsletter. CAE 53 is here, if you missed it. The most popular link from last month was my resources page on alternative careers for lawyers (thank you!) My updates
Featured art for CAE 54CAE 54’s featured artist is Christian Ruiz Berman, whose work draws from histories of adaptation and migration, addressing the surreal nature of being stuck between two worlds. The artwork below stood out to me, both for its beauty and for its depiction of elements that are rarely painted together. Ruiz Berman notes that he paints about how “abstraction and realism can be recombined to talk about a paradoxical universe,” and in today’s world shining a light on those paradoxes is essential. You can see the rest of Ruiz Berman’s thoughtful work on his website and Instagram feed.
The most interesting things I read this monthHeyyy I did my links myself this month! Start here:Start here for my faves, then fill up your browser tabs with the pieces below. 🌱 The Luna Moth and the Sweet Gum Tree. A gorgeous, nostalgic ode to the Luna Moth, one that caught my eye both because of its beautiful writing but also because I too found a Luna Moth outside my house as a child and was enchanted. (I tried to give it a bowl of milk to eat; enchanted — but not educated!) “We, like the moth, are battered and bruised, rough around the edges, yet beautiful at our core,” Bill Davidson writes. He went 45 years between Luna Moth sightings, and the return of something wondrous led to a lovely post. Easy By Nature 🧠 Could Lithium Explain — and Treat — Alzheimer’s Disease? A surprising study our of Harvard Medical School found a link between lithium deficiency in the brain and the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists found that lithium was depleted by binding to toxic amyloid plaques, leading them to theorize that this may be a way that Alzheimer’s takes root. That loss in specific areas of the human brain was one of the first (early) changes linked to Alzheimer’s, too. Similarly, in mice feeding them a lithium-depleted diet accelerated brain changes found in Alzheimer’s: it caused significant elevation of those plaques, but also upregulated pathways seen in Alzheimer’s. It also increased inflammatory cytokines as well as memory decline. In both humans and mice, lower lithium levels affected all major brain cell types. This study reported that these neurological changes were reversed in mice given a supplement containing lithium orotate, a form of lithium. (In lithium treatments for bipolar conditions, lithium carbonate is used — not orotate). The reason this kind of lithium matters is that it can evade ‘capture’ by the amlyoid beta in the brain. Not only did it reverse Alzheimer’s disease pathology, but the lithium orotate also prevented brain cell damage and restored memory. Harvard News 🇹🇻 How to leave a sinking nation: Tuvalu’s dreams of dry land. Tuvalu is barely above sea level now, and could sink further and disappear within decades. But change doesn’t come easy, and infrastructure is lacking to move people to safer land. The country with a combined surface area smaller than NYC’s Central Park, is halfway between Australia and Hawaii. It’s made up of 9 islands — 6 of which are atolls. Atoll Funafuti itself has 33 islets, with half of Tuvalu’s population on one of them. “[A]t the current rate, it will take more than 30 years for everyone to leave Tuvalu, by which time Funafuti, according to government estimates, might be underwater,” the article notes. Factual and insightful, this piece goes into what’s happening but also how it feels for citizens to potentially lose their identity as the need to leave gets more pressing. The Guardian 💎 Whiteouts, Ice Roads, and Wolverines: What Working at a Diamond Mine in the Far North Is Like. Life on a diamond mine may sound exciting to newcomers, but former mine worker Jeremy Thomas Gilmer knows the truth. Laden with obstacles like whiteouts, ice roads, and wolverines, the North demands more grit than most bargain for “Hypothermia and severe frostbite are an excellent tag team for death,” he writes. “Improperly dressed, forty below zero will kill a man in about thirty minutes; he is likely past the point of rescue after fifteen.” All this danger for a shiny bauble? Such a strange custom we humans have wrought. The Walrus 🐌 All Hail the Mighty Snail. We get to meet Texans who love (like, really love) their pet gastropods. And we are better for it. Short piece, whimsical and full of snail facts. During the 500 million years of their evolution, snails have taken up nearly everywhere on earth. They enrich the soil through nutrients left when they poop, and through their bodies and shells when they decay. They’re also an important food source for birds, mice, squirrels, and reptiles. Snails are easy to breed because they’re hermaphroditic, so both males and females possess ova and spermatozoa, doubling the rate of conception. Texas Monthly ⚠️ Our Shared Reality Will Self-Destruct in the Next 12 Months. A dramatic title, but Ted Goia, who I’ve featured here over the years a few times, is not one for needless hyperbole. He believes, and researchers have increasingly warned us about, a post-factual world where it’s going to be impossible to know what is actually real. “At the current rate of technological advance, all reliable ways of validating truth will soon be gone. My best guess is that we have another 12 months to enjoy some degree of confidence in our shared sense of reality.” The technology for creating deep fakes improves consistently. Whether the tipping point comes in a year or not, it’s a realistic and worrisome concern — especially when paired with increased outrage, less empathy, and rising disability in the general population. And, he notes, “the budget for truth and reality is tiny”, far less resourced than the trillions of dollars that are funnelled into creating fakes. Honest Broker 👛 Knock It Off. We talked about superfakes last month, and this month we’re looking at ‘dupes’, another scourge to those with branded success. When it comes to fashion, the bulk of designers’ work is not protectable, and for the parts that are, few have the time, money, or legal standing to take down every imitation. Interesting read, and full of bright, fun graphics by Ryan Haskins that accompany it. The Verge 🦠 Why scientists are rethinking the immune effects of SARS-CoV-2. Our immune systems are different than pre-2019. Though it’s somehow still an argument I see online, it’s not because of “immunity debt” during lockdowns years ago. It’s because of Covid itself. These days, people have more fungal and other infections, more inflammation and immune disruption, more disability, more comorbidities and earlier neurodegeneration. People don’t want to hear it because Covid is still doing its thing unchecked by public health and society, but I fear what is to come; the picture is only likely to worsen as reinfections stack up. BMJ 🔪 The Weaponized World Economy. The US is flying blind on Russia and elsewhere, relying on a president (and those he surrounds himself with) who have no expertise to handle the complex negotiations that geopolitics requires. This is a new era of economic coercion, this piece argues, one with weaponized interdependence. So how can countries protect themselves. “Every administration is forced to build the plane as it flies,” the authors note, “but this is the first one to pull random parts from the engine at 30,000 feet.” Trump is not only avoiding effective strategy, but also gutting the resources that the US would need to protect itself. Foreign Affairs 🕸 The predatory web of sextortion increasingly ensnares young athletes. Speaking of weaponization, this story talks about extortion on a more local level: the devastating impact sextortion is having on young athletes, with 40 known deaths of young men thus far. I am not a parent, but I can’t imagine how stressful it must be to help your kids navigate the minefield of online onslaught in today’s world. This story is horrifying. ESPN ⭐️ Unmasking the sea star killer. A very well-crafted read spotlighting the many factors, both ordinary and extraordinary, that go into how we discover more about the animals and ecosystems that surround us. In this case, the author tracks researchers looking into why sea stars began dying of a plague known as sea star wasting disease along North America’s West Coast in 2013. (Sea stars and starfish are the same thing, it turns out!) Twenty-six species of sea stars have been dying by the billions from Mexico to Alaska, their bodies dissolving, and this has huge consequences for the sea. Gorgeous photos throughout, including of astropecten articulatas, a royal sea star with its blazing purple centre surrounded by bright orange trim. bioGraphic 🧠 How a rare disorder makes people see monsters. (Archive link) A new-to-me neurological condition called prosopometamorphopsia, or PMO, makes faces look grotesque. The condition is often associated with head trauma or damage to the brain. In studying it, scientists are getting new insights into the inner workings of the brain. Distorted perceptions are not the same as hallucinations, the article notes, and patients with PMO are not psychiatric patients; they know their views are distorted and aren’t thinking they’re seeing reality. Fascinating read. New Yorker (via Leah) 🦿 In the brain, a lost limb is never really gone. Phantom limb syndrome isn’t a new finding, but this piece discusses new advances in understanding of how the brain maps the body after amputation. The result is surprising, as research shows that brain scans in patients relating to that limb were “exactly similar” to pre-amputation brain scans, challenging decades-old research in monkeys and people that suggested the brain reorganizes the areas linked to a limb that has lost sensory input. The new finding supports a surgically implanted brain-computer interface to control a prosthetic or robotic limb as an option, since its interface depends on the brain maintaining the same old circuits for years after implant. NPR 👁 The Ancient Art and Intimate Craft of Artificial Eyes. When one loses an eye, this piece notes, it isn’t like the cartoons depict. They don’t “fall out of sockets and roll across floors, horrifying those whose feet they rumble past”. This is because eyes aren’t actually round (TIL), though of course they look it in someone’s face. An artificial eye isn’t glass most of the time, either, though it’s still nicknamed a ‘glass eye’. From this piece we learn these and other facts, including that the dominant material for these products is acrylic these days, and that early prosthetics ranged from wax-plastered orbed wax with gemstone irises for mummies, to simple painted clay eyes worn over the socket. In the mid 1500s, French military surgeon Ambroise Paré described replacement eyes for what is thought to be the first time, though he didn’t invent them. From steel, to venetian glass, and now acrylic, the art and craft of these prosthetics span eras and honestly I knew very little about them until I read this piece. It is “ocularists” who craft them with an intimate blend of art, sculpture, and anatomy, aimed at restoring both form and subtle expression — a profession nearly as rare as astronauts. So interesting! MIT Reader The rest of the most interesting things I read this month:🕵🏻 The Great French Fry Mystery. A curious whodunit featuring midnight French fry deliveries. The author went down quite the rabbit hole trying to figure out why bags of A&W fries kept being delivered to her neighbour, trying to trace the order back to whoever placed it. Great writing, and I can’t imagine what it felt like to keep finding them in the morning! I won’t spoil the mystery here, but it’s worth the full read. Toronto Life (via Barbara) 😡 My Scammer. If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you reply to those low effort spam texts from a “recruiter” offering “highly paid” remote work jobs, look no further. The author did so for us, then ended up spending the last two months working in a Filipino clickfarm for a very disappointed boss, a woman named Cathy. (The real conclusion here is that it’s a golden age to be a scammer.) Slate Magazine 💧 What does it meant to be thirsty? Our experience of thirst, the symptoms we feel (like scratchy throat, dry mouth, or even brain fog) aren’t dictated by individual cells. Instead, they are orchestrated by the brain. Deep brain regions like the hypothalamus, along with specialized sensory organs such as the the vascular organ of lamina terminalis (OVLT) and the subfornical organ (SFO), monitor blood salt concentration and send signals that awaken that visceral urge to drink. It takes only a 1-3% drop in our body’s water content for thirst to kick in, but there is a disconnect between us drinking the water, and our body fixing the water-salt balance: it takes 30 to 60 minutes for water to enter the bloodstream once it’s consumed. The brain can’t wait that long to figure out if our body has the water we needed, so it takes a guess about when to shut off the thirst response using those organs above. Some animals, like hibernating squirrels, suppress that drive entirely even when dehydrated. Others (camels, otters) have evolved hydration strategies we don’t have access to. Quanta Magazine 🥜 Can Peanut Allergies be Cured? Peanut allergies are the third most common allergy in the US, but they send the most kids to the hospital with anaphylaxis. Parents need to be hyper-alert, and as kids age they have to transition to understanding avoidance and treatments themselves. This piece goes into new meds that may change things and reduced the risks of peanut allergies, like Palforzia, the first FDA-approved oral immunotherapy that helps desensitize children to peanuts by exposing them to gradually increasing doses, lowering the risk of severe reactions though not eliminating the allergy. A new skin-patch therapy has also shown promise, offering a less invasive approach to building tolerance. At the same time, researchers are testing biologics, including antibody therapies that block allergic pathways, which could offer more durable protection. Smithsonian Magazine 🚫 Asthma drug shows promise in blocking food allergy reactions. Speaking of biologics that may be helpful in allergies: this piece looks at asthma drug Zileuton, though the study was in mice and the headline should say as much. (The Northwestern team did launch a small early-stage clinical trial in July to test whether blocking this newly identified pathway with Zileuton in humans will be as effective in people as it was in mice, though!) “After treatment with Zileuton, 95% of the mice showed almost no symptoms of anaphylaxis. The treatment reversed their risk from 95% susceptible to 95% protected,” researchers note. Promising indeed! Northwestern News ☀️ The Sunlight Budget of Earth. Sunlight is abundant and renewable, and though I’d never given thought to it before, this article also explains how our use of it is not without limits. Humans currently capture about 11% of the energy that wild photosynthesis absorbs, mostly through agriculture and solar panels. Wildlife still makes greater use of sunlight than we do, but together both account for use of only 0.5% of the sunlight reaching Earth’s surface. The real constraints in harnessing sunlight aren’t about light availability, but about water, nutrients, land, and other ecosystem limits. We tend to think of solar power as an industry that can grow infinitely, but the sunlight “budget” will depend more on access to resources like land and water than on whether the sun itself still shines upon us. Asimov Press 📱 Phone Searches at the US Border Hit a Record High. (Archive link) Customs and Border Protection agents searched nearly 15,000 devices from April through June of this year, a nearly 17% spike over the previous three-month high in 2022. Anyone could be subject to a potential device search, including those who are critical of the administration or lawyers and journalists who may have sensitive information on their devices. “This is essentially a limitless authority that they claim for themselves to search travelers without a warrant to search the full scope of information people carry on them,” the article notes. Sharing here as I often see cynicism when individuals report that their devices were searched; the data are clear though, as this report shares. See also: US Border Patrol arrests two firefighters for being in the country illegally…to battle Washington’s biggest wildfire. WIRED 🐾 Doodlemania. (Archive link) No, not the illustration type of doodle — the canine one. This piece dives into the very lucrative industry of different types of doodles, poodles crossed with other breeds, and uh, there are some interesting quotes in here about dog purity and the quest for the ideal dog in today’s ‘if it doesn’t exist we can make it’ world. Bloomberg 🫀 Vascular Aging May Explain Long COVID's Predominance in Women. Covid seems to age blood vessels, but longer term effects impact women more than men. A vast new study shows that women who recovered from Covid had stiffer arteries six months later, equivalent to roughly 5–10 extra years of vascular aging, depending on illness severity. In contrast, men did not show statistically significant changes. Follow-up tests suggested partial recovery over prolonged tranches of time. Vaccination was also linked to less arterial stiffening, though more research is needed. Is this why long covid statisitically affects women more than men? Scientists believe that these findings can also help with treatment for long Covid. See also: a good round up with illustrations of other ways Covid affects our arteries regardless of gender, including by driving atherosclerosis, here. MedPage Today; Ground Truths 🤖 A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In. (Archive link) This sad and awful piece by Kashmir Hill has been making the rounds, but for those who missed it: an outgoing 16 year old boy who loved to pull silly pranks committed suicide, shocking his family. Only after did his parents realize that he’d been confiding in ChatGPT — and that it had discouraged the boy from telling his family. “I want to leave my noose in my room so someone finds it and tries to stop me,” Adam wrote at the end of March. “Please don’t leave the noose out,” ChatGPT responded. “Let’s make this space the first place where someone actually sees you.” His parents are now suing OpenAI, and the piece is full of screenshots from conversations between their son and ChatGPT. Say what you will about technology, but if someone designs it to mimic a flattering and non-judgemental human (or, as the lawsuit alleges, to “foster psychological dependency”) it can go off the rails to devastating effect. New York Times 💸 Why insurers worry the world could soon become uninsurable. Though some still don’t believe it, the world is fast approaching temperature levels where our professional risk managers — the insurance companies we pay to help mitigate our risks of existing — will no longer be able to offer cover for us. It’s an aspect of climate change that gets less press than others, but we’re in for a rough go if adapting to the new normal is economically unviable. NBC News 🎂 From empty party to an all-night stadium bash, a Mexican teen’s 15th birthday goes viral. In much more wholesome news involving teens, this story involves a quinceañera that turned into community-wide support. Isela Anahí Santiago Morales first had a small quinceañera in her town of San Luis Potosí, but many invited guests did not show up. With trays of food left over, her father posted on Facebook saying that they had enough food for 40 people, and anyone who wanted a meal could stop by. Within days, the story exploded and local community members rallied to host a second celebration for her in the town stadium, complete with a free photo shoot, live music, and around 2,000 attendees. While she requested toys for children instead of personal gifts, Isela was nonetheless showered with gifts herself, including a 90-square meter plot of land and a scholarship for her to pursue her dreams of becoming a teacher. Associated Press 😍 These Sandhill Cranes Have Adopted a Canada Gosling, and Birders Have Flocked to Watch the Strange Family. Another cute story: long time readers know I love me some sandhill cranes, so this piece about a crane family adopting a lost gosling was like catnip. How this happened is still in dispute; some photographers think a Canada goose laid an egg in the cranes’ nest, and others think cranes took over the goose nest. No matter, the result is that the gosling has been imprinted by cranes and is being raised as “one of their own”. Smithsonian Magazine 🦪 Tainted waters. Sorry, we are back to the not-so-cute stories. I loved oysters, before my immune system went haywire on me and they became off limits. Increasingly, though, oysters are making people sick. Since 2019, in Canada alone, we’ve had 39 recalls of Canadian oysters on both coasts, mostly related to norovirus. Over 550 people fell ill following PEI’s shellfish festival last year. Why is this happening? While PEI’s guidance focused on refrigeration and hand-washing, but as the piece notes: norovirus is about human waste. In BC, one outbreak was traced to pollution from failing septic systems and sewage runoff near aging cottage developments, and another thought to be due to fecal waste disposal into the ocean by commercial fishing vessels. Norovirus yields no smell or difference to the oysters themselves, making it hard to detect. And as we often eat them raw, we don’t cook off the contamination. UofT’s Investigative Journalism Bureau (via Nick) 🧬 Possible genetic clues to ME/chronic fatigue syndrome identified in massive study. A large genome-wide study used DNA analysis of more than 15,500 people with the debilitating condition to identify eight tentative genetic signals of ME/CFS, ones that will hopefully help understand the risk factors underlying the debilitating condition that affects millions of people. The study provides some validation of ME/CFS as having a biological basis, a crucial thing as patients are often told it’s “all in their minds.” Science 💡 Living Nightlights: Scientists Turn Succulents Into Colorful Glowing Decor. Scientists in China have produced the world’s first multicoloured luminescent plants taking the leaves of Echeveria ‘Mebina’ succulent plants and injecting them with blue, green, red and blue-violet phosphor particles using needle-free injectors. Using these modified plants, researchers then built a plant wall of 56 succulents that “produced enough light to see nearby objects and read text in the dark.” Plus, they recharge with the sun. Echeveria nightlights > regular nightlights. Study Finds Thanks for reading ♥ Subscribe to receive next month’s Curious About Everything—it’s free! 🔗 Quick links
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