Bring on the Plastic-Eaters! (Knowable Magazine)
by Sandy Ong
Among the many problems with plastic, it’s notoriously difficult to recycle. But in recent years, scientists have discovered many organisms that do just that, turning polymers into food for themselves. If we can borrow the enzymes they use, we might revolutionize recycling.
Can We Reverse the Epidemic of Poor Eyesight? (Wired)
by Amit Katwala
Poor eyesight is becoming dramatically more common around the world. In Taiwan, where 90 percent of high schoolers are already nearsighted, people are putting some possible solutions into action.
What Are These Frogs Glowing For? (Atlas Obscura)
by Roxanne Hoorn
Frogs can see in ways we can’t. That may explain why many of them absorb evening light and reemit it as vibrant color. Then again, many creatures—including humans—also have a version of this power of biofluorescence, apparently for no particular reason.
The Genre Exploration of Kayapó Filmmakers (Sapiens)
by Paul Chilsen, Glenn H. Shepard Jr., and Pat-I Kayapó
In the Brazilian Amazon, members of Kayapó communities are making movies to tell their stories on their own terms. They began with documentaries, but now they’re finding ways to adapt traditional stories into film.
The Amazing Vagus Nerve (The Guardian)
by Linda Geddes
On TikTok and around the world, people are trying to fix anxiety, inflammation, and much more with a variety of techniques designed to stimulate the vagus nerve. It’s not clear if these interventions are effective, but researchers are hard at work figuring out how to make use of this crucial “electrical superhighway.”
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