One thing I learned from Mr. Armstrong while striving heartily to remain uneducated: a good story doesn’t just copy life, it pushes back on it. It’s why guys like Chartrain wear their clothes too big and their teeth edged with gold, why Mr. Dick puts words on kites and sends them to the sun. It’s why I draw what I draw.
Demon Copperhead
page 7538
—Barbara Kingsolver
The clouds were scooting by, throwing shadows like a herd of wild monsters rumpusing over the field, and I was right there with them. I hefted the kite and let out the string, more and more till it was not but a speck in the sky. I could feel rain starting to spit on us, and who cared. Let it thunder. The string was pulling hard in the wind, but I towed it back to Mr. Dick and put it in his hand. “Hang on tight,” I said, and flopped on the ground beside him, panting like a dog. He was quiet, holding that string and kite with everything he had. The way he looked. Eyes raised up, body tethered by one long thread to the big stormy sky, the whole of him up there with his words, talking to whoever was listening. I’ve not seen a sight to match it. No bones of his had ever been shoved in a feed bag. The man was a giant.
Demon Copperhead
page 3090
—Barbara Kingsolver
Rather than avoiding emotions we’d rather not face, we need to make a shift. We need to say to ourselves, “[Anxiety/anger/sadness] is not my enemy. My [anxiety/anger/sadness] is allowed to be here. I can tolerate my discomfort.” This tactic is useful for addressing any uncomfortable feeling. The next time you find yourself drowning in an emotion you’d rather avoid, remind yourself to acknowledge, validate, permit. If there’s a secret recipe for self-regulation, that’s it.
Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be
page 1939
—Becky Kennedy
Parents often get hung up on the what of communicating with honesty: “What should I say to my child to break the news that his grandfather died?” “What phrases should I use to explain homelessness?” “What’s the best way to tell my kid that the reason we don’t see my brother anymore is that he’s toxic and won’t change?” Pause here. There are no perfect words to explain imperfect situations. In fact, the how of our talking—the pace, the tone, the pausing, the checking in with our child, the rub on the back, the “What an important question” or “I’m so glad we are talking about this”—these factors are more impactful than any specific words. Even if there were some “perfect phrase,” words delivered in a cold or distant manner, or that don’t inquire about your child’s experience, will lead to his feeling confused, alone, and overwhelmed. It’s your loving presence and attention to your child’s experience that his body will remember the most.
Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be
page 1845
—Becky Kennedy
Deep breathing is effective because it regulates a number of important bodily processes, including those involved with lowering stress levels and reducing blood pressure. Diaphragmatic breathing, also known as “belly breathing,” stimulates your vagus nerve, which is the longest and most complex cranial nerve in the body. The vagus nerve is a main component of your parasympathetic nervous system, or your “rest and restore” system (the opposite of your sympathetic or “fight or flight” system), and helps your body access feelings of safety and regulation. That’s just a fancy way of saying that deep belly breathing activates the circuits in our bodies that start the calming-down process. When we’re feeling upset, angry, frustrated, anxious, or out of control, the simple act of deep belly breathing will turn on the part of the brain that sends the message “You are safe . . . all will be okay . . . you’ll weather this storm.” Once our bodies start to regulate, we can make good decisions and interact with ourselves and others in ways that feel good.
Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be
page 1919
—Becky Kennedy
The country aims to become [carbon neutral by 2035](https://www.treasuryfinland.fi/investor-relations/sustainability-and-finnish-government-bonds/climate-neutral-finland-2035/#:~:text=The%20new%20Climate%20Change%20Act,for%202030%2C%202040%20and%202050.), putting it fourth in the world and ahead of every other country in Europe – Austria and Iceland are next, with 2040 targets. [The only countries ahead of Finland are Bhutan and Suriname](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/race-to-net-zero-carbon-neutral-goals-by-country/) – which are already carbon neutral – and Uruguay, which aims to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Out there in low Earth orbit, 400 kilometres up, Hadfield began the first ever spacewalk by a Canadian. The first set of Canadarms had almost the same manoeuvrability as this new model: a shoulder moving on two axes; an elbow on one; a wrist that can pitch, yaw, and roll; and a grappler. Unlike the originals—which were affixed to the space shuttles *Columbia*, *Atlantis*, *Endeavour*, and *Discovery*—the Canadarm2 was designed to remain permanently attached to the ISS, to assist in the broader mission of space exploration and habitation. Seventeen metres long when fully extended, the Canadarm2 was only slightly larger than its predecessors, but it would be nearly twice as fast, three times stronger, much more dextrous, and exceedingly more useful. Whereas the first arm looked and functioned quite literally like an arm mounted at the shoulder, the Canadarm2 was like two arms connected to one elbow. This configuration would eventually allow it to move along rails running the length of the ISS, making it a 1,500-kilogram multi tool for the space station—a crane, grabber, and camera, all in one.
Canada’s Big Flex in Space
—OMAR MOUALLEM
So why have fungi become the planet’s melanin specialists? “I think because fungi are eukaryotes, so they are much more complex than other microbes and have to protect the genome, their nucleus,” says Dadachova. “They often live on or in soil, where there are many environmental insults and predators. So the fungi have evolved this sophisticated first line of defence against it all. There are some really severe cases of fungal disease where the fungi have thick layers of melanin in their cell wall and the patient’s immune system can do nothing against them.”
It’s worth remembering that life on Earth emerged at a time when radiation levels were far higher than they are now. Many fungal fossils show evidence of melanisation, especially in periods of high radiation when many animal and plant species died out, such as during the early Cretaceous, when the Earth temporarily lost its shield from cosmic radiation. Melanised fungi are still common today and many types of edible mushroom contain lots of melanin, including the dark mushrooms used to give earthy, umami flavours in Chinese cooking. Heavily melanised fungi have been found growing on the outside surfaces of the Mir and ISS space stations, which are battered by huge levels of solar radiation.
“For the fungi to grow towards the radiation, you need some kind of very robust sensor that is not destroyed in the process of interacting with that radiation,” says Dadachova. “The radiation is a million times higher energy than the energy of visible light or the energy of a chemical bond. That’s what melanin, by virtue of being such a unique molecule, could do.”\nIn the species found in the Chernobyl reactors, the heavy pigment forms multiple concentric layers that build into a dark spherical shell. Eroding the other cell material away with strong chemicals leaves dark melanin ‘ghosts’ in the shape of the parent cell[[4](https://thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-features/eating-gamma-radiation-for-breakfast#ref1)].\nDadachova and colleagues found that strong ionising radiation changes the electrochemical structure of fungal melanin, increasing its ability to act as a reducing agent[[3](https://thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-features/eating-gamma-radiation-for-breakfast#ref1)] and transfer electrons. They began to theorise that melanin was acting not just as a radioprotective shield, but as an energy transducer that could sense and perhaps even harness the energy from the ionising radiation in the same way photosynthetic pigments help harness the energy of sunlight.
Melanin is a large group of dark, high-molecular-weight polymers that can absorb 99.9% of UV and visible light. In its various forms, melanin performs a variety of biological functions, including skin and hair pigmentation, photoprotection of the skin and eye, and also some neurological functions.
After the initial observational studies by Ukrainian scientists, Professor Ekaterina Dadachova and colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York decided to investigate these remarkable fungal species in more detail in a series of laboratory experiments. They found that cells of fungi such as *Wangiella dermatitidis* (now *Exophiala dermatitidis*) and *Cryptococcus neoformans* grew significantly faster and accumulated more biomass during exposure to high levels of radiation than when exposed to background levels of radiation[[2](https://thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-features/eating-gamma-radiation-for-breakfast#ref1)]. The fungi’s transcriptome and metabolism were significantly altered under the high-radiation conditions[[3](https://thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-features/eating-gamma-radiation-for-breakfast#ref1)].\nThe key to it all seemed to be melanin – the ubiquitous group of pigments found in many types of eukaryote that protect against UV radiation. Dadachova and her colleagues found that when the radiotrophic fungal strains were engineered to have no or little melanin (known as albino mutants) they did not grow better in the presence of ionising radiation.
Under normal conditions, the canal operates with a draught of 15.24 metres. However, in early May, the ACP adjusted the draught limits for neo-Panamax locks, to a draught of up to 13.56 metres, with a further reduction to 13.4 metres on 30 May. The draught restrictions reduce the volume of cargo that vessels can carry through the key waterway, and the ACP said a “limited number” of ships had had to lower their draught to comply with restrictions.\nIt requires 200m litres of water to allow the passage of a single vessel along the canal, water that is largely generated from Lake Gatun in the centre of the waterway, which is drying up fast.
Panama Canal takes water saving measures in face of ‘unprecedented drought’
—Michele Labrut
\"Taken from the round tree to a square timber all by hand, all with axes,\" he says, describing what's known as boxed heart timber, where logs aren't split down the middle but the edges are cut, leaving the center.
To rebuild Notre Dame's fire-ravaged roof, carpenters use centuries-old techniques
—Eleanor Beardsley
Visa founder Dee Hock had a great saying: “A belief is not dangerous until it turns absolute.” That’s when you start ignoring information that might require you to update your beliefs. It might sound crazy, but I think a good rule of thumb is that your strongest convictions have the highest chance of being wrong or incomplete, if only because they are the hardest beliefs to challenge, update, and abandon when necessary.
Mental Liquidity
—Morgan Housel
**Most fields have lots of rules, theories, ideas, and hunches**. But laws – things that are unimpeachable and cannot ever change – are extremely rare. Some fields only have a handful. A big problem arises when you try to force rules and theories to become laws. The few laws tend to be the most important things in any field. But everything else, like Einstein said, is just a theory of maybes.
Mental Liquidity
—Morgan Housel
So much of what people call “conviction” is actually a willful disregard for facts that might change their minds. It’s dangerous because conviction feels like a good attribute, while its opposite – being wishy-washy – makes you feel and sound like an idiot.
Mental Liquidity
—Morgan Housel
I recently heard a phrase I love: Mental liquidity. It’s the ability to quickly abandon previous beliefs when the world changes or when you come across new information.
Mental Liquidity
—Morgan Housel
When despair for the world grows in me\nand I wake in the night at the least sound\nin fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,\nI go and lie down where the wood drake\nrests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.\nI come into the peace of wild things\nwho do not tax their lives with forethought\nof grief. I come into the presence of still water.\nAnd I feel above me the day-blind stars\nwaiting with their light. For a time\nI rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry - Scottish Poetry Library
—scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk
The Long Boat\nWhen his boat snapped loose\nfrom its mooring, under\nthe screaking of the gulls,\nhe tried at first to wave\nto his dear ones on shore,\nbut in the rolling fog\nthey had already lost their faces.\nToo tired even to choose\nbetween jumping and calling,\nsomehow he felt absolved and free\nof his burdens, those mottoes\nstamped on his name-tag:\nconscience, ambition, and all\nthat caring.\nHe was content to lie down\nwith the family ghosts\nin the slop of his cradle,\nbuffeted by the storm,\nendlessly drifting.\nPeace! Peace!\nTo be rocked by the Infinite!\nAs if it didn’t matter\nwhich way was home;\nas if he didn’t know\nhe loved the earth so much\nhe wanted to stay forever.
The Long Boat
—Stanley Kunitz