The Ed's Up #198
How Mushrooms Became Magic
"Why, for example, do mushrooms make a hallucinogen at all? It’s certainly not for our benefit: These mushrooms have been around since long before people existed. So why did they evolve the ability to make psilocybin in the first place? And why do such distantly related fungi make psilocybin? Around 200 species do so, but they aren’t nestled within the same part of the fungal family tree. Instead, they’re scattered around it, and each one has close relatives that aren’t hallucinogenic." (Image: Jerry Lampen)
How Climate Change Canceled the Grizzly Salmon Run
"In the summer of 2014, William Deacy and Jonathan Armstrong returned to Kodiak Island, Alaska—a place where the world’s biggest grizzly bears gather to gorge themselves. Every year, hordes of sockeye salmon swim up from the ocean and fill the island’s streams in a spawning frenzy. Every year, the bears are waiting for them. And every year, Deacy and Armstrong had gone to wait for the bears. But in 2014, the bears were gone." (Image: Jonny Armstrong)
The Case for Sharing All of America's Data on Mosquitoes
"For decades, agencies around the United States have been collecting data on mosquitoes. Biologists set traps, dissect captured insects, and identify which species they belong to. They’ve done this for millions of mosquitoes, creating an unprecedented trove of information—easily one of the biggest long-term attempts to monitor any group of animals, if not the very biggest. The problem, according to Micaela Elvira Martinez from Princeton University and Samuel Rund from the University of Notre Dame, is that this treasure trove of data isn’t all in the same place, and only a small fraction of it is public. The rest is inaccessible, hoarded by local mosquito-control agencies around the country." (Image: Christophe Simon)
A Grand Unified Theory of Unhealthy Microbiomes
"Zaneveld and Vega Thurber now think that this trend applies to all kinds of microbiomes, whether in corals, chimps, or humans. All of these hosts use a range of tactics to control which species and strains get to share their bodies. When the hosts are stressed or diseased, their control breaks down, and their microbiomes start to change. But they change randomly, rather than predictably. They don’t shift to any one specific unhealthy state. Rather, they veer off in unpredictable directions and enter a wide range of new states. They have called the idea the Anna Karenina Hypothesis, after the opening lines of Tolstoy’s novel: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Similarly, every unhealthy microbiome is unhealthy in its own way." (Image: David Gray)
More good reads
- Machines taught by photos learn a sexist view of women.
- Transplant recipients hold their own hearts in their hands—and wonder at the significance.
- "Blood is not thicker than freedom and it’s not thicker than safety." What happens if a family member stands for everything you oppose? By Panama Jackson
- “Obelisks don’t grow from the soil, and stone men and iron horses are never built without purpose.” Vann Newkirk II on growing up in the shadow of the confederacy.
- Don’t miss this episode of Radio Atlantic—the Atlantic’s new podcast—featuring two of our greatest treasures, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Yoni Appelbaum, talking about Charlottesville, Confederate statues, and more.
- James Fallows on how the Republican Party is enabling an increasingly dangerous demagogue.
- Men’s rights activism is the gateway drug for the alt-right. By David Futrelle
A brief hiatus
I'm on holiday for the next few weeks, so The Ed's Up is going to hibernate for the duration. See you all in September!You can also follow me on Twitter or find my writing at The Atlantic. My New York Times-bestselling book, I Contain Multitudes, is out now. If someone has forwarded this email to you, you can sign up yourself.
And that's it. Thanks for reading.
- Ed