Every day my web browser offers me a selection of “thought-provoking articles.” I’m a total sucker for them. This morning I opened articles with the following titles:
- Remarkable News in Potatoes
- Scientists Found Sticky Goo Inside a 2,500-Year-Old Jar. Seventy Years Later, They Finally Know What It Is
- Offering women a cash bonus isn’t the way to boost birth rates
- The Enormous Heat Pumps Warming Cities
- The True Story Behind Chief of War, Jason Momoa’s Hawaiian History Epic
- The labor market is showing big cracks that were invisible just weeks ago
- The Secret to Hibernation Is Hidden in Human DNA and We Might One Day Activate It
- Why Do People Faint?
Reading articles like these is not necessarily the best use of my time, but I like learning about so many different things.
P.S. In case you were wondering about the remarkable news in potatoes, it’s that scientists have discovered that potatoes evolved from tomatoes.
P.P.S. I agree with the article about cash bonuses for babies, and I would add this downside: there would be some men who would take advantage of the baby-bonus system in various malicious ways, including the most obvious way, which would be to stay with the woman long enough to get their hands on the money, then scarper off with it. Actually, when I consider how women’s rights are being restricted in some places and how access to birth control is in jeopardy, baby bonuses sound terrifying rather than helpful, practically an invitation for men to behave badly toward women.
P.P.P.S. Human hibernation sounds awesome. Sign me up!