The Ed's Up #211
Brain Cells Share Information With Virus-Like Capsules
"Shepherd studies a gene called Arc which is active in neurons, and plays a vital role in the brain. A mouse that’s born without Arc can’t learn or form new long-term memories. If it finds some cheese in a maze, it will have completely forgotten the right route the next day. “They can’t seem to respond or adapt to changes in their environment,” says Shepherd, who works at the University of Utah, and has been studying Arc for years. “Arc is really key to transducing the information from those experiences into changes in the brain.” But Shepherd also found that Arc proteins assemble into hollow, spherical shells that look uncannily like viruses. “When we looked at them, we thought: What are these things?” says Shepherd. They reminded him of textbook pictures of HIV, and when he showed the images to HIV experts, they confirmed his suspicions. That, to put it bluntly, was a huge surprise. “Here was a brain gene that makes something that looks like a virus,” Shepherd says." (Image: Chris Manfre)
Super-Black Is the New Black
"Blackbirds, it turns out, aren’t actually all that black. Their feathers absorb most of the visible light that hits them, but still reflect between 3 and 5 percent of it. For really black plumage, you need to travel to Papua New Guinea and track down the birds of paradise. Although these birds are best known for their gaudy, kaleidoscopic colors, some species also have profoundly black feathers. The feathers ruthlessly swallow light and, with it, all hints of edge or contour. They make body parts seem less like parts of an actual animal and more like gaping voids in reality. They’re blacker than black. None more black." (Image: Feathercollector)
When Humans War, Animals Die
"In 1977, two years after declaring independence from Portugal, Mozambique erupted into civil war. Over the next 15 years, the violent conflict claimed at least a million lives—and that was just the humans. Government troops and resistance fighters also slaughtered their way through the wildlife in the nation’s renowned Gorongosa National Park, once touted as a natural paradise. Thousands of elephants were hunted for their ivory, which was sold to buy arms and supplies. Zebras, wildebeest, and buffalo were killed for meat. Around 90 percent of the park’s large mammals were shot or died of starvation. “They caused almost total collapse of the wildlife there,” says Joshua Daskin, an ecologist at Yale University who started working at Gorongosa in 2013.* “I wondered if that was a one-off, or emblematic of a wider trend.” (Image: Philimon Bulawayo)
Animals Have Culture, Too
"In this episode of Animalism, we investigate fascinating examples of culture in the animal kingdom, including the bizarre traditions of Capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica, the long-held fashion trends of bottlenose dolphins in Australia’s Shark Bay, and the incredible "Top 20" music charts of humpback whales, which have a structure that strongly resembles human songs."Friends of the Ed's Up
Here's where I promote the work of people I care about--people who make incredible art that I think is worthy of your attention and support, but whose fierce intelligence is also match by a genuine warmth of spirit.Story Collider features true personal stories about science. In the latest episode of the podcast, Kate Marvel's dream of being a genius inspires her to study astrophysics at Cambridge, and when Joe Normandin begins to question his sexuality as a teenager, he turns to neuroscience for help. Directors Liz Neeley and Erin Barker also run workshops teaching storytelling skills to scientists. And there are live shows coming up in Toronto (Jan 17), Los Angeles (Jan 25), Cambridge MA (Jan 30), and NYC (Feb 6).
Flash Forward is a podcast about the future run by Rose Eveleth. It's part radio drama, part science journalism, and a lot of fun. The latest episode features telepathy.
Gastropod is a food, science, and history podcast run by Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley. The latest episode is on the secrets of sourdough.
Convergence is a live show about the future, hosted by Meehan Crist. The next show, on January 18 in NYC, asks how rising seas will change coastal cities. Tickets are available here. It’s going to be a podcast soon.
The Brain Scoop is a video show about natural history, museums, and occasionally taxidermy, hosted by Emily Graslie. The latest episode features a Q&A session with Emily.
Climate Stories is a newsletter by Alice Bell, in which she writes wonderful weekly histories about the people of climate science. It's lively and fascinating. The latest one is about climate skeptics.
Terrestrial is an environmental podcast by Ashley Ahearn about how people are coping in a world that is changing. It's top-notch journalism that brings fresh perspectives to a vital topic, The latest episode is about the choice of give up flying.
More good reads
- “It is a public admission of sorts that he is incapable of being a president for all Americans, the logic of his argument elevating not just white immigrants over brown ones, but white citizens over the people of color they share this country with.” Adam Serwer on Trump’s “shithole” remarks.
- “This is a painful, uncomfortable moment. Instead of trying to get past this moment, we should sit with it, wrap ourselves in the sorrow, distress and humiliation of it.” Roxane Gay, on Trump’s racism. (See also this long history of racism from the self-described “least racist person”)
- “Critics of the movement against sexual harassment and assault charge that it’s going too far, but their arguments take very little stock of what women are actually saying.” Sophie Gilbert on why #MeToo is not McCarthyism. See also this personal essay from Moira Donegan, who started the Shitty Media Men list.
- "If you wanted to avoid our rage, perhaps you shouldn’t have left us with so little to lose." Ijeoma Oluo on women’s rage.
- "As the week closes, everything is a mess." As good a summary as any of the last five-day stream of ridiculous news.
- Rose Eveleth on the perils of throwing people into virtual reality experiences and expecting them to learn empathy.
- It's a time when the air leaves the sea, it chokes me...
And that's it. Thanks for reading.
- Ed