Day: April 26, 2017

El Lobo Returns Home

‘The battle over America’s wolves goes back centuries. In an excerpt from the forthcoming Wolf Nation, a journalist follows the release of a single family into the wild.’ (The Morning News)

Why Uploading Consciousness to the Cloud Will Be Impossible

‘Brain-enhancing technologies like Elon Musk’s neural lace and neural activity transference have raised both excitement and concern about the possibility of uploading human consciousness to the cloud. Doing so would, in theory, free us from Shakespeare’s mortal coil, allowing us to exist indefinitely in digitized form. This idea presupposes that our bodies and consciousness can be separated, which, if you ask neuroscientist Anil Seth, Ph.D., is bunk. In a TED Talk in Vancouver on Wednesday, Seth, a co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and professor at the University of Sussex, explained why doing so was impossible….’ (Inverse)

The World’s Rudest Hand Gestures

‘…Herewith a sampling, courtesy of the ever-brilliant Chronicle Books, of how to throw down with the locals, wherever you are…’  (The Atlantic)

Of course, this can be used either as a guide to what you should avoid or what communication skills you should cultivate

10 Chinese Thinkers and Why You Should Know Them

‘The world’s most populous country is home to some of the world’s most interesting philosophical traditions. Going hand in hand with the world’s longest continuous history is an unbroken chain of thought that blends and complements opposing schools to create fascinating, beautiful, and practical approaches to life.Here is a list of ten of the greatest, most influential thinkers in Chinese history. Some you will have heard of, others… not so much. All of them are worth your time, and your study…’ (Big Think)

Accidental Discovery Could Solve Earth’s Plastic Waste Problem

‘Scientists might have stumbled upon an unexpected way to solve pollution from plastics. A caterpillar bred to be fishing bait is apparently able to biodegrade polyethylene – a commonly used plastic found in shopping bags. With people using around a trillion plastic bags every year, and with up to 40% of them ending up in landfills, this could be a very significant discovery.The wax worm caterpillar that eats plastic is the larvae of the common insect Galleria mellonella, aka greater wax moth…’ (Big Think)

What ‘personal space’ looks like around the world

‘…[P]ersonal space — how close we stand to our colleagues, our friends, strangers — varies widely between countries. Sociologists have studied the whys and hows, and they’ve come up with some theories about why these social norms exist. Temperature tends to affect how people define personal space. So do gender and age.

But, they think, our personal boundaries have a lot to do with where we grow up. These researchers sort the world into “contact cultures” (South America, the Middle East, Southern Europe) and “non-contact cultures” (Northern Europe, North America, Asia). In non-contact cultures, people stand farther apart and touch less…’ (Washington Post)

Americans are now utterly intolerant of ever being told they’re wrong about almost anything

‘This isn’t just human nature, but the result of a narcissism that took root in American society after the 1960s and has been growing ever since. Surrounded by affluence, enabled by the internet, and empowered by an educational system that prizes self-esteem over achievement, Americans have become more opinionated even as they have become less informed, and are now utterly intolerant of ever being told they’re wrong about almost anything…’ (MarketWatch)

Suicide and the Rural ER


US has regressed to developing nation status, MIT economist warns







When applied to the US, Mr Temin said that “the Lewis model actually works”. ‘ (The Independent)

Pen Pals Provide Linguistic Curios

‘After Robert Macfarlane published “Landmarks,” a book about the language of place, he received a deluge of mail from readers with “gift words.”  …’ (The New Yorker via abby)

This is one in my ongoing series of posts, as a language-lover, about the splendor of uncommon words.