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August 27, 2024
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FREEMusic Appreciation Song CurioFree2 CQ
This has to be one of the strangest hits by one of the strangest musical duos of all time. Born on this day in 1942, American musician Daryl Dragon, along with his then-wife, Toni Tennille, formed the soft-rock duo Captain & Tennille. For their performances, Dragon would dress as a cruise ship captain while Tennille wore outfits typical of stylish cruise ship passengers. But the absurdity didn’t stop at their costumes. Their best-remembered hit is a song called Muskrat Love...and the title really says it all. The soft-rock tune, which features gentle, romantic piano and Tennille’s soft vocals, is a love song about two muskrats (yes, muskrats) named Susie and Sam. The song wasn’t actually written by or for Captain & Tennille. It was originally conceptualized as a country song called Muskrat Candlelight by Texas singer/songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey in 1972. America even recorded a cover of it the following year. But it really took off when Captain & Tennille took the helm. Under their captainship, the song reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Easy Listening chart. Who says rodents aren’t romantic?
This has to be one of the strangest hits by one of the strangest musical duos of all time. Born on this day in 1942, American musician Daryl Dragon, along with his then-wife, Toni Tennille, formed the soft-rock duo Captain & Tennille. For their performances, Dragon would dress as a cruise ship captain while Tennille wore outfits typical of stylish cruise ship passengers. But the absurdity didn’t stop at their costumes. Their best-remembered hit is a song called Muskrat Love...and the title really says it all. The soft-rock tune, which features gentle, romantic piano and Tennille’s soft vocals, is a love song about two muskrats (yes, muskrats) named Susie and Sam. The song wasn’t actually written by or for Captain & Tennille. It was originally conceptualized as a country song called Muskrat Candlelight by Texas singer/songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey in 1972. America even recorded a cover of it the following year. But it really took off when Captain & Tennille took the helm. Under their captainship, the song reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Easy Listening chart. Who says rodents aren’t romantic?
August 26, 2024
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day
: August 26, 2024\fuh-LAY-shus\ adjective
What It Means
Fallacious is a formal word that typically describes something, such ...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day
: August 26, 2024\fuh-LAY-shus\ adjective
What It Means
Fallacious is a formal word that typically describes something, such ...
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6 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
A lot of Chicagoland restaurants were hoping for a shot in the arm courtesy of the Democratic National Convention this week. But so far, that hasn’t seemed t...
A lot of Chicagoland restaurants were hoping for a shot in the arm courtesy of the Democratic National Convention this week. But so far, that hasn’t seemed t...
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FREEArt Appreciation Art CurioFree1 CQ
It’s not quite clear what’s going on with this guy, but one thing’s for sure: he’s in trouble. German artist Hans Baldung created this woodcut illustration that continues to confound scholars. The piece, titled The Bewitched Groom, shows a man lying on his back. There is a horse in the background looking toward the man, and an old, laughing woman carrying a lit torch is leaning through a nearby window. Baldung was deeply concerned with themes of death, the threat of witchcraft, and female sexuality in general, which is reflected in many of his illustrations. It’s not entirely clear, though, what this piece is meant to represent. The coat of arms featuring the head of a unicorn that is hanging above the old woman is Baldung’s own, and the man on the floor also resembles the artist. It’s possible that the old woman is meant to be a witch, and that Baldung was simply expressing his fears about black magic or even his own mortality. The woodcut was completed in 1545, and Baldung actually died that same year. If the meaning of the illustration was a secret, he didn’t have to wait long to take it to the grave.
The Bewitched Groom, Hans Baldung (1484/85–1545), 1544–45, Woodcut, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
[Image credit & copyright: Hans Baldung (German, 1484/85–1545), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection 1966.172. Public domain, Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation.It’s not quite clear what’s going on with this guy, but one thing’s for sure: he’s in trouble. German artist Hans Baldung created this woodcut illustration that continues to confound scholars. The piece, titled The Bewitched Groom, shows a man lying on his back. There is a horse in the background looking toward the man, and an old, laughing woman carrying a lit torch is leaning through a nearby window. Baldung was deeply concerned with themes of death, the threat of witchcraft, and female sexuality in general, which is reflected in many of his illustrations. It’s not entirely clear, though, what this piece is meant to represent. The coat of arms featuring the head of a unicorn that is hanging above the old woman is Baldung’s own, and the man on the floor also resembles the artist. It’s possible that the old woman is meant to be a witch, and that Baldung was simply expressing his fears about black magic or even his own mortality. The woodcut was completed in 1545, and Baldung actually died that same year. If the meaning of the illustration was a secret, he didn’t have to wait long to take it to the grave.
The Bewitched Groom, Hans Baldung (1484/85–1545), 1544–45, Woodcut, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
[Image credit & copyright: Hans Baldung (German, 1484/85–1545), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection 1966.172. Public domain, Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation. -
FREEMind + Body Daily Curio #2931Free1 CQ
The cure for baldness might be sugar! But don’t go stocking up on candy bars just yet. Millions of men around the world experience male pattern baldness, the treatments for which can have mixed results. Now, though, a group of researchers may have unlocked an actual cure for baldness by utilizing a common, naturally occurring sugar. While hair loss has never killed anyone, it’s certainly a bummer to deal with. In men, a balding head is most commonly a hormonal issue and completely natural. Some products like minoxidil can help grow back some of the lost hair, but it can cause side effects like scalp irritation (which can worsen hair loss) and is very toxic to cats (so cat lovers beware). Drugs like finasteride can also halt or reverse male pattern baldness to some degree, but it can cause undesirable side effects like gynecomastia (the development of breast tissue in men). Other remedies like hair plugs or transplants can be costly, and not everyone wants to have surgery just to have a brushable coif. But scientists at the University of Sheffield and COMSATS University Islamabad have discovered a simpler and more effective way to grow back lost hair using 2-deoxy-D-ribose (2dDR). 2dDR is a sugar that is naturally occurring in the human body and inexpensive to produce. Researchers were originally conducting a study on wound healing when they found that sites with the sugar present also had increased hair growth. When they followed up with an experiment using a gel containing the sugar, they found it to be 80 to 90 percent as effective as minoxidil. The sugar seems to promote hair growth by increasing blood flow to the affected area, bringing back dormant hair follicles and even encouraging new growth. Not only does this apparently work on male pattern baldness, researchers believe it may be able to help cancer patients experiencing chemotherapy-induced hair loss. It seems like it may be all over for the comb-over.
[Image description: Sugar cubes against a pink background.] Credit & copyright: Polina Tankilevitch, PexelsThe cure for baldness might be sugar! But don’t go stocking up on candy bars just yet. Millions of men around the world experience male pattern baldness, the treatments for which can have mixed results. Now, though, a group of researchers may have unlocked an actual cure for baldness by utilizing a common, naturally occurring sugar. While hair loss has never killed anyone, it’s certainly a bummer to deal with. In men, a balding head is most commonly a hormonal issue and completely natural. Some products like minoxidil can help grow back some of the lost hair, but it can cause side effects like scalp irritation (which can worsen hair loss) and is very toxic to cats (so cat lovers beware). Drugs like finasteride can also halt or reverse male pattern baldness to some degree, but it can cause undesirable side effects like gynecomastia (the development of breast tissue in men). Other remedies like hair plugs or transplants can be costly, and not everyone wants to have surgery just to have a brushable coif. But scientists at the University of Sheffield and COMSATS University Islamabad have discovered a simpler and more effective way to grow back lost hair using 2-deoxy-D-ribose (2dDR). 2dDR is a sugar that is naturally occurring in the human body and inexpensive to produce. Researchers were originally conducting a study on wound healing when they found that sites with the sugar present also had increased hair growth. When they followed up with an experiment using a gel containing the sugar, they found it to be 80 to 90 percent as effective as minoxidil. The sugar seems to promote hair growth by increasing blood flow to the affected area, bringing back dormant hair follicles and even encouraging new growth. Not only does this apparently work on male pattern baldness, researchers believe it may be able to help cancer patients experiencing chemotherapy-induced hair loss. It seems like it may be all over for the comb-over.
[Image description: Sugar cubes against a pink background.] Credit & copyright: Polina Tankilevitch, Pexels
August 25, 2024
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7 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
The U.S. economy added 800,000 fewer jobs than originally thought between the first quarter of last year and this year, according to updated data from the La...
The U.S. economy added 800,000 fewer jobs than originally thought between the first quarter of last year and this year, according to updated data from the La...
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FREEPolitical Science PP&T CurioFree1 CQ
A national park without the National Park Service? That’s like mashed potatoes without gravy! It might surprise modern park-goers, but the first national park in the U.S. was created in 1872, long before there was a government agency to specifically manage it. Instead, national parks were variably managed by the Department of the Interior, the War Department, and the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service before 1916. It wasn’t until this day that year that the National Park Service (NPS) was established with the passing of the Organic Act, placing the management of all national parks and monuments under a single agency.
When Yellowstone National Park (shared by Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana) was created in 1872, you could say it was a pretty big deal. Never before had a piece of wilderness been placed under federal protection solely for the purpose of preserving its natural beauty. Once Yellowstone paved the way, others followed suit. Some of the most well known national parks were created before 1916, including Yosemite, Crater Lake, and Glacier in 1890, 1902, and 1910, respectively. In all, 35 national parks and monuments (smaller areas and objects of historic, prehistoric, or scientific interest) were created by 1916, but there was a problem. The object of national parks was to protect the designated lands, but that didn’t always work out in practice. Environmental advocates were becoming concerned by the lack of effort put in to actually preserve and maintain the pristine conditions of national parks. Due to lack of funding and a lack of authority inside the parks, hunting, logging, and livestock grazing continued to harm the supposedly protected land. One concerned citizen was Stephen Mather, a businessman who found himself appalled by the state of the national parks he visited. With the help of other environmental advocates, Mather pushed Congress to pass the Organic Act in 1916, which created the NPS, placing 35 national parks and monuments under its purview with Mather as the agency’s first director. Then, in 1933, the management of another 56 national monuments and military sites were transferred to the NPS, further expanding the national park system.
There are now over 400 national parks, and they truly reflect the varied geography and biomes of the U.S. and its territories. For example, Denali’s peak in Alaska is the highest point in North America at 20,320 feet, while Death Valley in California is the lowest at 282 feet below sea level (and also the hottest place in the world). Some parks, like Yellowstone and Yosemite, are large enough that visitors could spend days or weeks traversing them. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is larger than some countries at 13.2 million acres. Yet others represent natural oddities, like Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Also called Bear Lodge, it’s a mesa that rises over 5,100 feet in elevation. Surrounded by a forest, Devils Tower itself looks like a giant tree stump made of crumbling stone.
Today, over 20,000 employees and hundreds of volunteers work throughout the year to maintain 140 parks and monuments while also managing the millions of visitors that pass through. The most visible of these workers are the park rangers, who act as law enforcement, guides, and interpreters within park boundaries. The NPS is technically part of the Department of the Interior, and has an annual budget of $2.6 billion. While that might sound like an eye-watering amount of money to spend just to preserve some natural beauty, the park system also generates hundreds of thousands of jobs in the towns and cities that surround the parks, as well as $27 billion a year for the U.S. economy. Who says conservation doesn’t pay?
[Image description: A grassy field at Yellowstone National Park with mountains and trees on either side.] Credit & copyright: Mike Cline, Wikimedia Commons, This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.A national park without the National Park Service? That’s like mashed potatoes without gravy! It might surprise modern park-goers, but the first national park in the U.S. was created in 1872, long before there was a government agency to specifically manage it. Instead, national parks were variably managed by the Department of the Interior, the War Department, and the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service before 1916. It wasn’t until this day that year that the National Park Service (NPS) was established with the passing of the Organic Act, placing the management of all national parks and monuments under a single agency.
When Yellowstone National Park (shared by Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana) was created in 1872, you could say it was a pretty big deal. Never before had a piece of wilderness been placed under federal protection solely for the purpose of preserving its natural beauty. Once Yellowstone paved the way, others followed suit. Some of the most well known national parks were created before 1916, including Yosemite, Crater Lake, and Glacier in 1890, 1902, and 1910, respectively. In all, 35 national parks and monuments (smaller areas and objects of historic, prehistoric, or scientific interest) were created by 1916, but there was a problem. The object of national parks was to protect the designated lands, but that didn’t always work out in practice. Environmental advocates were becoming concerned by the lack of effort put in to actually preserve and maintain the pristine conditions of national parks. Due to lack of funding and a lack of authority inside the parks, hunting, logging, and livestock grazing continued to harm the supposedly protected land. One concerned citizen was Stephen Mather, a businessman who found himself appalled by the state of the national parks he visited. With the help of other environmental advocates, Mather pushed Congress to pass the Organic Act in 1916, which created the NPS, placing 35 national parks and monuments under its purview with Mather as the agency’s first director. Then, in 1933, the management of another 56 national monuments and military sites were transferred to the NPS, further expanding the national park system.
There are now over 400 national parks, and they truly reflect the varied geography and biomes of the U.S. and its territories. For example, Denali’s peak in Alaska is the highest point in North America at 20,320 feet, while Death Valley in California is the lowest at 282 feet below sea level (and also the hottest place in the world). Some parks, like Yellowstone and Yosemite, are large enough that visitors could spend days or weeks traversing them. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is larger than some countries at 13.2 million acres. Yet others represent natural oddities, like Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Also called Bear Lodge, it’s a mesa that rises over 5,100 feet in elevation. Surrounded by a forest, Devils Tower itself looks like a giant tree stump made of crumbling stone.
Today, over 20,000 employees and hundreds of volunteers work throughout the year to maintain 140 parks and monuments while also managing the millions of visitors that pass through. The most visible of these workers are the park rangers, who act as law enforcement, guides, and interpreters within park boundaries. The NPS is technically part of the Department of the Interior, and has an annual budget of $2.6 billion. While that might sound like an eye-watering amount of money to spend just to preserve some natural beauty, the park system also generates hundreds of thousands of jobs in the towns and cities that surround the parks, as well as $27 billion a year for the U.S. economy. Who says conservation doesn’t pay?
[Image description: A grassy field at Yellowstone National Park with mountains and trees on either side.] Credit & copyright: Mike Cline, Wikimedia Commons, This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
August 24, 2024
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day
: August 24, 2024\jair-uh-MYE-ud\ noun
What It Means
Jeremiad refers to a long cautionary or angry rant about something. It c...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day
: August 24, 2024\jair-uh-MYE-ud\ noun
What It Means
Jeremiad refers to a long cautionary or angry rant about something. It c...
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6 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
The economy and the higher cost of living due to inflation are important factors shaping this election. Tonight, when Vice President Kamala Harris delivers h...
The economy and the higher cost of living due to inflation are important factors shaping this election. Tonight, when Vice President Kamala Harris delivers h...
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FREESports Sporty CurioFree1 CQ
Did you think the Olympics were over? Well, there’s still a battle over bronze going on, though it may be more or less settled. American gymnast Jordan Chiles’s bronze medal was recently stripped from her and given to Romanian Ana Bǎrbosu in a ruling that may be appealed. So what exactly happened in the first place—or, in this case, third? The event in question is the women’s floor exercise that took place on August 5, where Ana Bǎrbosu and her fellow Romanian, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, were tied for third with a score of 13.700. After Chiles completed her performance, she was given a score of 13.666, which was based on the difficulty of her routine minus a deduction for a flaw in one element. After Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade clinched the gold with her 14.166 score, it seemed that Bǎrbosu would get the bronze over Maneca-Voinea due to the former’s higher execution score, but after Chiles’s team challenged the difficulty score, her score was changed to 13.766 and she was awarded a bronze medal. However, the Romanian team claimed that the Americans’ challenge came four seconds past the one minute limit, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that the bronze should thus go to Bǎrbosu instead. USA Gymnastics tried to submit a timestamped video that they said proved that the appeal was submitted in time, but CAS refused to consider it. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is planning to appeal the ruling, and in the meantime, the Romanian Olympic Committee is also planning on challenging Maneca-Voinea’s 0.1 deduction for going out-of-bounds based on video evidence showing otherwise. If they’re successful, then the bronze would be awarded to Maneca-Voinea instead. To top it off, Bǎrbosu and Maneca-Voinea themselves are asking the CAS to award all three gymnasts a bronze. With the margin of victory so hard to judge, it doesn’t take mental gymnastics to think that three medals are better than one in this case.
Did you think the Olympics were over? Well, there’s still a battle over bronze going on, though it may be more or less settled. American gymnast Jordan Chiles’s bronze medal was recently stripped from her and given to Romanian Ana Bǎrbosu in a ruling that may be appealed. So what exactly happened in the first place—or, in this case, third? The event in question is the women’s floor exercise that took place on August 5, where Ana Bǎrbosu and her fellow Romanian, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, were tied for third with a score of 13.700. After Chiles completed her performance, she was given a score of 13.666, which was based on the difficulty of her routine minus a deduction for a flaw in one element. After Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade clinched the gold with her 14.166 score, it seemed that Bǎrbosu would get the bronze over Maneca-Voinea due to the former’s higher execution score, but after Chiles’s team challenged the difficulty score, her score was changed to 13.766 and she was awarded a bronze medal. However, the Romanian team claimed that the Americans’ challenge came four seconds past the one minute limit, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that the bronze should thus go to Bǎrbosu instead. USA Gymnastics tried to submit a timestamped video that they said proved that the appeal was submitted in time, but CAS refused to consider it. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is planning to appeal the ruling, and in the meantime, the Romanian Olympic Committee is also planning on challenging Maneca-Voinea’s 0.1 deduction for going out-of-bounds based on video evidence showing otherwise. If they’re successful, then the bronze would be awarded to Maneca-Voinea instead. To top it off, Bǎrbosu and Maneca-Voinea themselves are asking the CAS to award all three gymnasts a bronze. With the margin of victory so hard to judge, it doesn’t take mental gymnastics to think that three medals are better than one in this case.
August 23, 2024
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8 minFREEWork Business CurioFree5 CQ
From the BBC World Service: The visit comes not long after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, which didn’t go o...
From the BBC World Service: The visit comes not long after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, which didn’t go o...
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FREEMind + Body Daily CurioFree1 CQ
This is one succulent sandwich. In fact, the Vietnamese bánh mì is positively loaded with savory meat and crunchy veggies, all on a thick-yet-crispy baguette. Eating a bánh mì is practically a prerequisite for anyone visiting Vietnam, and the country takes great pride in all the sandwich’s regional variations. Yet, the bánh mì has a surprisingly tragic and violent history.
A bánh mì is a fusion of Vietnamese and French cuisine. The baguette is distinctly French, as are some commonly-used condiments, like pâté. Yet, the star ingredients are Vietnamese meats, such as xíu mại, a type of minced pork, chả lụa, a kind of sausage. Pork belly is also popular, as is a combination of all three. A good bánh mì practically overflows with veggies, which can include pickled daikon, pickled carrots, and grilled onions, along with herbs like cilantro.
The story of the bánh mì is, unfortunately, a story of war and conquest. The Cochinchina Campaign, also known as the French Invasion of Vietnam, took place between 1858 and 1862. France was eager to spread Catholicism via missionaries, expand their empire in order to seize control of Vietnamese resources, and create secure trade routes to China. Stating that Vietnamese emperor Gia Long should submit to French rule since France had provided him with military aid years prior, the French invaded Vietnam 1858 and eventually seized control of the country. Until 1954, Vietnam remained under French rule as part of a colony called French Indochina. In this system, the people of Vietnam and their resources were exploited and poverty was widespread. After a costly war against Vietnamese revolutionaries, which ended in a four-month siege of a French garrison in the northwestern city of Điện Biên Phủ, the French finally withdrew from the country.
What does this have to do with bánh mì? Well, when the French abandoned Vietnam, they left their culinary footprint behind. Bread had never been a large part of Vietnamese cuisine before French occupation, while during the occupation it was only considered acceptable for Vietnamese people to eat bread (when they could afford the expensive wheat to make it) in French ways, mainly with butter or cold cuts. But when the French left, it was suddenly safe to combine baguettes with all sorts of Vietnamese ingredients. In Saigon, as migrants fled south during the 1954 Partition of Vietnam, people began selling street food and opening restaurants. While bánh mì can be found all over the world today, the first place to sell it was a small bakery in Saigon called Hòa Mã, run by migrants Lê Minh Ngọc and Nguyễn Thị Tịnh. The rest is cross-cultural culinary history.
[Image description: A close-up photo of a Bánh mì sandwich with meat and cooked onions.] Credit & copyright: Phương Huy, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.This is one succulent sandwich. In fact, the Vietnamese bánh mì is positively loaded with savory meat and crunchy veggies, all on a thick-yet-crispy baguette. Eating a bánh mì is practically a prerequisite for anyone visiting Vietnam, and the country takes great pride in all the sandwich’s regional variations. Yet, the bánh mì has a surprisingly tragic and violent history.
A bánh mì is a fusion of Vietnamese and French cuisine. The baguette is distinctly French, as are some commonly-used condiments, like pâté. Yet, the star ingredients are Vietnamese meats, such as xíu mại, a type of minced pork, chả lụa, a kind of sausage. Pork belly is also popular, as is a combination of all three. A good bánh mì practically overflows with veggies, which can include pickled daikon, pickled carrots, and grilled onions, along with herbs like cilantro.
The story of the bánh mì is, unfortunately, a story of war and conquest. The Cochinchina Campaign, also known as the French Invasion of Vietnam, took place between 1858 and 1862. France was eager to spread Catholicism via missionaries, expand their empire in order to seize control of Vietnamese resources, and create secure trade routes to China. Stating that Vietnamese emperor Gia Long should submit to French rule since France had provided him with military aid years prior, the French invaded Vietnam 1858 and eventually seized control of the country. Until 1954, Vietnam remained under French rule as part of a colony called French Indochina. In this system, the people of Vietnam and their resources were exploited and poverty was widespread. After a costly war against Vietnamese revolutionaries, which ended in a four-month siege of a French garrison in the northwestern city of Điện Biên Phủ, the French finally withdrew from the country.
What does this have to do with bánh mì? Well, when the French abandoned Vietnam, they left their culinary footprint behind. Bread had never been a large part of Vietnamese cuisine before French occupation, while during the occupation it was only considered acceptable for Vietnamese people to eat bread (when they could afford the expensive wheat to make it) in French ways, mainly with butter or cold cuts. But when the French left, it was suddenly safe to combine baguettes with all sorts of Vietnamese ingredients. In Saigon, as migrants fled south during the 1954 Partition of Vietnam, people began selling street food and opening restaurants. While bánh mì can be found all over the world today, the first place to sell it was a small bakery in Saigon called Hòa Mã, run by migrants Lê Minh Ngọc and Nguyễn Thị Tịnh. The rest is cross-cultural culinary history.
[Image description: A close-up photo of a Bánh mì sandwich with meat and cooked onions.] Credit & copyright: Phương Huy, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
August 22, 2024
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7 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
From the BBC World Service: British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch’s body has been recovered after a luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday mornin...
From the BBC World Service: British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch’s body has been recovered after a luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday mornin...
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1 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree1 CQ
Word of the Day
: August 22, 2024\DERTH\ noun
What It Means
Dearth refers to a lack or inadequate supply. It is usually followed by of.
// T...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day
: August 22, 2024\DERTH\ noun
What It Means
Dearth refers to a lack or inadequate supply. It is usually followed by of.
// T...
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FREEScience Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Is it too good to be true or could it be a viral success? Researchers at Northeastern University claim that they’ve discovered an antibody that could potentially provide protection against SARS-CoV-2…and all its variants. That sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but it may be possible. The CDC has announced that the virus is now endemic, meaning it’s here to stay. Part of what makes SARS-CoV-2 so hard to contain is its penchant for mutating rapidly, developing resistances to vaccines and coming back in waves. However, researchers have now found an antibody called CV3-25, which naturally occurs in some people, that might shut down the virus no matter how many times it mutates. Coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 get their name for the spike proteins on the outside, which resemble a crown, or corona. These spike proteins are responsible for allowing the virus to bind to human cells. The most important part of the spike protein (and the part that keeps changing) is called the receptor binding domain (RBD). CV3-25, though, doesn’t care what the RBD looks like—as long as there’s a spike protein for it to disable, it will. Researchers say that instead of developing new vaccines for every new viral strain, it may be possible to create a single vaccine based on this antibody to provide lasting protection. That’s extra good news for anyone who hates needles.
[Image description: Three medical needles against a yellow background.] Credit & copyright: Karolina Kaboompics, Pexels
Is it too good to be true or could it be a viral success? Researchers at Northeastern University claim that they’ve discovered an antibody that could potentially provide protection against SARS-CoV-2…and all its variants. That sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but it may be possible. The CDC has announced that the virus is now endemic, meaning it’s here to stay. Part of what makes SARS-CoV-2 so hard to contain is its penchant for mutating rapidly, developing resistances to vaccines and coming back in waves. However, researchers have now found an antibody called CV3-25, which naturally occurs in some people, that might shut down the virus no matter how many times it mutates. Coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 get their name for the spike proteins on the outside, which resemble a crown, or corona. These spike proteins are responsible for allowing the virus to bind to human cells. The most important part of the spike protein (and the part that keeps changing) is called the receptor binding domain (RBD). CV3-25, though, doesn’t care what the RBD looks like—as long as there’s a spike protein for it to disable, it will. Researchers say that instead of developing new vaccines for every new viral strain, it may be possible to create a single vaccine based on this antibody to provide lasting protection. That’s extra good news for anyone who hates needles.
[Image description: Three medical needles against a yellow background.] Credit & copyright: Karolina Kaboompics, Pexels
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FREEWorld History Daily Curio #2930Free1 CQ
5,000 years old and still full of surprises. Stonehenge, the famous, ancient British monument, was long thought to have been built of stones sourced from modern-day Wales. However, researchers have now found that the monument’s 6-ton centerpiece might have come from much farther away. With only stone age tools at hand, no one would have blamed Stonehenge’s ancient builders for sourcing their stones nearby. And for the most part, that’s just what they did with the iconic structure and many other stone circles that dot the British Isles. There wasn’t any reason to suspect that the massive altar stone, which lies at the center of Stonehenge, was from somewhere else. At least, not until researchers discovered last year that the stone wasn’t exactly local. More specifically, it wasn’t the right kind of sandstone to have come from Wales. Sandstone has a unique composition depending on the region and conditions under which it formed. Once the discrepancy was discovered, archaeologists from the University of Exeter set out to solve this mystery, and while they couldn’t take a sample from the altar stone directly, they looked at previous excavated pieces of the slab, and found that they didn’t match up with the rest of the stone used to build the site. Instead, the altar stone seems to have come from the Orcadian Basin, an area that covers the northeastern tip of Scotland and extends out into the North Sea. That means that the 16-foot slab was carried around 460 miles from its location of origin to where it stands today—almost the entire length of the island. Interestingly, the Orcadian Basin contains the Orkney Islands, an archipelago that extends out from the north coast of Scotland. In past digs, archaeologists found remnants of pottery from that region, showing that people brought more than just sandstone down with them. Researchers say that the presence of the altar stone shows that some ancient European cultures were more developed and culturally connected than previously thought. After all, 460 miles isn’t exactly a stone’s throw away.
[Image description: A photo of Stonehenge, an ancient monument of large, ovular, gray stones.] Credit & copyright: Perituss, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.5,000 years old and still full of surprises. Stonehenge, the famous, ancient British monument, was long thought to have been built of stones sourced from modern-day Wales. However, researchers have now found that the monument’s 6-ton centerpiece might have come from much farther away. With only stone age tools at hand, no one would have blamed Stonehenge’s ancient builders for sourcing their stones nearby. And for the most part, that’s just what they did with the iconic structure and many other stone circles that dot the British Isles. There wasn’t any reason to suspect that the massive altar stone, which lies at the center of Stonehenge, was from somewhere else. At least, not until researchers discovered last year that the stone wasn’t exactly local. More specifically, it wasn’t the right kind of sandstone to have come from Wales. Sandstone has a unique composition depending on the region and conditions under which it formed. Once the discrepancy was discovered, archaeologists from the University of Exeter set out to solve this mystery, and while they couldn’t take a sample from the altar stone directly, they looked at previous excavated pieces of the slab, and found that they didn’t match up with the rest of the stone used to build the site. Instead, the altar stone seems to have come from the Orcadian Basin, an area that covers the northeastern tip of Scotland and extends out into the North Sea. That means that the 16-foot slab was carried around 460 miles from its location of origin to where it stands today—almost the entire length of the island. Interestingly, the Orcadian Basin contains the Orkney Islands, an archipelago that extends out from the north coast of Scotland. In past digs, archaeologists found remnants of pottery from that region, showing that people brought more than just sandstone down with them. Researchers say that the presence of the altar stone shows that some ancient European cultures were more developed and culturally connected than previously thought. After all, 460 miles isn’t exactly a stone’s throw away.
[Image description: A photo of Stonehenge, an ancient monument of large, ovular, gray stones.] Credit & copyright: Perituss, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
August 21, 2024
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6 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
Noncompete agreements, where your employer has you sign a contract promising you won’t work for a competitor in the future, were originally used to protect i...
Noncompete agreements, where your employer has you sign a contract promising you won’t work for a competitor in the future, were originally used to protect i...
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FREEBiology Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Keep your distance, this beetle’s packing heat! There are over 500 species of bombardier beetle, but they’ve all got one thing in common: an incredible chemical weapon. When these beetles are threatened, they shoot a mix of scalding, toxic chemicals from their abdomens, heated up to a blistering 212 degrees Fahrenheit. The beetle’s defense is so awe-inspiring that some have even insisted it could not have evolved naturally. In reality, bombardier beetles pull off their amazing feat using chemicals already present in their—and many other insects’—bodies.
Bombardier beetles’ noxious spray is a mix of hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone. Hydroquinone is common in many insects, as the compound makes their exoskeletons harder. Bombardier beetles aren’t the only insects to harness this chemical for defense, either. Millipedes, spiders, and many other species of beetles secret hydroquinone from their exoskeletons when under threat, as the chemical’s foul taste and smell deters predators. Hydrogen peroxide is produced by many living things, not just insects, as a simple byproduct of cellular respiration. Instead of secreting a bit of hydroquinone and using enzymes to break down excess hydrogen peroxide, as most other insects do, bombardier beetles evolved an elaborate “firing” system. The chemicals are stored in separate sacs inside the beetle’s body, then mixed in a chamber near the back of the abdomen before being let loose in a volley of “shots.” The mixed chemicals cause an exothermic reaction—in other words, energy from the reaction is transferred to the beetle’s surroundings in the form of intense heat. Yet, the beetle never hurts itself with its own chemicals—since the chemicals are released in pulses, the chamber has time to cool down in between “shots”, saving the beetle’s insides. Praying mantises and other insects are almost always driven away by bombardier beetle attacks. Toads are a bigger problem for the beetles, since they’re big enough to swallow them before the bombardier can fire a shot. Of course, they usually vomit the beetles right back up when the chemical explosion happens in their throats or stomachs. When you’re the size of an insect, it pays to be armed.
[Image description: An orange beetle with a dark green body against a white background.] Credit & copyright: Francisco Welter-Schultes, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.Keep your distance, this beetle’s packing heat! There are over 500 species of bombardier beetle, but they’ve all got one thing in common: an incredible chemical weapon. When these beetles are threatened, they shoot a mix of scalding, toxic chemicals from their abdomens, heated up to a blistering 212 degrees Fahrenheit. The beetle’s defense is so awe-inspiring that some have even insisted it could not have evolved naturally. In reality, bombardier beetles pull off their amazing feat using chemicals already present in their—and many other insects’—bodies.
Bombardier beetles’ noxious spray is a mix of hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone. Hydroquinone is common in many insects, as the compound makes their exoskeletons harder. Bombardier beetles aren’t the only insects to harness this chemical for defense, either. Millipedes, spiders, and many other species of beetles secret hydroquinone from their exoskeletons when under threat, as the chemical’s foul taste and smell deters predators. Hydrogen peroxide is produced by many living things, not just insects, as a simple byproduct of cellular respiration. Instead of secreting a bit of hydroquinone and using enzymes to break down excess hydrogen peroxide, as most other insects do, bombardier beetles evolved an elaborate “firing” system. The chemicals are stored in separate sacs inside the beetle’s body, then mixed in a chamber near the back of the abdomen before being let loose in a volley of “shots.” The mixed chemicals cause an exothermic reaction—in other words, energy from the reaction is transferred to the beetle’s surroundings in the form of intense heat. Yet, the beetle never hurts itself with its own chemicals—since the chemicals are released in pulses, the chamber has time to cool down in between “shots”, saving the beetle’s insides. Praying mantises and other insects are almost always driven away by bombardier beetle attacks. Toads are a bigger problem for the beetles, since they’re big enough to swallow them before the bombardier can fire a shot. Of course, they usually vomit the beetles right back up when the chemical explosion happens in their throats or stomachs. When you’re the size of an insect, it pays to be armed.
[Image description: An orange beetle with a dark green body against a white background.] Credit & copyright: Francisco Welter-Schultes, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. -
FREENutrition Daily Curio #2929Free1 CQ
This is some sweet health news. It sounds almost too good to be true, but researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have found that adding a tablespoon of honey to yogurt actually makes it healthier. That’s because the probiotics in the yogurt survive better when honey is present, which means they can do their jobs better once they reach the intestines. It’s long been known that the probiotics in yogurt have health benefits. Some probiotics are necessary for the production of yogurt itself, but others, like Bifidobacterium animalis are added just simply because they aid in digestion. But probiotics have a harrowing journey ahead of them once they’re consumed. Between the mouth, the stomach, and intestines, probiotics have to survive a veritable gauntlet of enzymes, acids, and other digestive bombardments before they can settle down where it’s safe for them to get to work. Many don’t survive long enough to reach the intestines. That’s why researchers were looking at ways to increase the viability of probiotics in yogurt, and the answer, it turns out, has been there all along. The combination of honey and yogurt—common in the Mediterranean diet—delivers a much more potent probiotic punch than yogurt alone. For their experiment, researchers took a commonly available brand of yogurt and had one group add a little honey to it while telling the control group not to. After a few weeks, the groups switched their diets to see what their gut microbiome would look like, and they found that honey really did help. In particular, the researchers found that B. animalis was much more viable with honey than without. And it has to be honey too, not just sugar—when they repeated the same experiment with plain sugar, it didn’t have the same benefits as honey. You could say this golden sweet treat is the gold standard when it comes to gut health.
[Image description: Yogurt with honey and nuts in a black bowl.] Credit & copyright: Amnah Mohammad, PexelsThis is some sweet health news. It sounds almost too good to be true, but researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have found that adding a tablespoon of honey to yogurt actually makes it healthier. That’s because the probiotics in the yogurt survive better when honey is present, which means they can do their jobs better once they reach the intestines. It’s long been known that the probiotics in yogurt have health benefits. Some probiotics are necessary for the production of yogurt itself, but others, like Bifidobacterium animalis are added just simply because they aid in digestion. But probiotics have a harrowing journey ahead of them once they’re consumed. Between the mouth, the stomach, and intestines, probiotics have to survive a veritable gauntlet of enzymes, acids, and other digestive bombardments before they can settle down where it’s safe for them to get to work. Many don’t survive long enough to reach the intestines. That’s why researchers were looking at ways to increase the viability of probiotics in yogurt, and the answer, it turns out, has been there all along. The combination of honey and yogurt—common in the Mediterranean diet—delivers a much more potent probiotic punch than yogurt alone. For their experiment, researchers took a commonly available brand of yogurt and had one group add a little honey to it while telling the control group not to. After a few weeks, the groups switched their diets to see what their gut microbiome would look like, and they found that honey really did help. In particular, the researchers found that B. animalis was much more viable with honey than without. And it has to be honey too, not just sugar—when they repeated the same experiment with plain sugar, it didn’t have the same benefits as honey. You could say this golden sweet treat is the gold standard when it comes to gut health.
[Image description: Yogurt with honey and nuts in a black bowl.] Credit & copyright: Amnah Mohammad, Pexels