Mystery Brain Disease & Monopoly Money

Featured Articles

They All Got Mysterious Brain Diseases. They’re Fighting to Learn Why.

New York Times • 14 Aug 2024 • ~5100 words

Something mysterious is happening in New Brunswick, Canada. Dozens of patients have been struck by unexplained neurological symptoms, sparking a scientific and political controversy that has yet to be resolved. This story explores the unsettling medical mystery and the high-stakes effort to uncover its cause.

According to P.H.A.C. scientists, both the number of undiagnosable patients and, more important, their ages were “unprecedented at the national and provincial levels.” They called it the “New Brunswick neurological syndrome of unknown etiology.”

Monopoly Money

wheresyoured.at • 12 Aug 2024 • ~7000 words

This is one of the best pieces of writing I read about the recent monopoly ruling for Google. It explores the antitrust challenges facing the likes of Google, Meta, and Apple, as well as the potential implications for the tech industry's future. Considering how entangled our lives are with these companies, I think this is a must read.

At the very least, I’d love somebody to ask Mark Zuckerberg how he feels about the idea of an alternative advertising network on Meta. He’ll hate the idea, just as Sundar Pichai would hate the idea of any kind of competition with Google Search or Google Ads. They must squirm — we must make them squirm — and we need to be talking about these monopolies every single day as loudly as possible. . .

Recommended Articles

The Veterinarians Preventing the Next Pandemic

The New Yorker • 14 Aug 2024 • ~2300 words

Veterinarians are on the frontlines of preventing the next pandemic and play a critical role in bridging the gap between animal and human health. This piece explores how these disease detectives work across animals, humans, and the environment to identify and contain emerging zoonotic threats.

Trying to predict which diseases will become significant threats is a bit like counting cards: you can know a lot—the gene sequence of a virus, what mutations make it easier for it to jump, where it’s coming from—yet it’s still uncertain how you should place your bet, and what the next card in the deck will be.

Is There a Globalist Conspiracy to Make Us Eat Bugs?

Texas Monthly • 13 Aug 2024 • ~2600 words

What happens when food sustainability meets conspiracy theories? This story explores the truth behind the growing interest in insects as a sustainable food source. Discover the real motivations and controversies surrounding this emerging industry, and decide for yourself whether there's a globalist plot afoot.

He repeatedly reminded me that the interest in bugs as food is driven more by capitalism—you can make money farming them—than by government incentives. He told me the folks who react viscerally to the idea of eating bugs are typically those most removed from their food sources. Farmers like him know that insects have always dwelled in produce.

Making ‘Food Out Of Thin Air’

NOEMA • 13 Aug 2024 • ~4600 words

While we are on the topic of food production, this fascinating article explores how a Finnish startup uses microbes and renewable energy to create a novel protein source that could revolutionize how we think about feeding the world. It’s an interesting look at how science and technology might shape the future of food, and it's definitely worth a read.

Standing there, it all seemed simple, an engineering problem like any other. But food and nutrition are some of our most potent sources of disagreements, ideologies, dogmas and closely guarded beliefs, a reality that must be negotiated both by governments and in our private lives.

How California Turned Against Growth

construction-physics.com • 8 Aug 2024 • ~7100 words

California was once a growth machine, attracting millions seeking a better life. But starting in the 1960s, the state began to put the brakes on growth, leading to a dramatic shift that has had lasting impacts. This essay explores the story of how California turned against growth.

But growth-stifling measures didn’t eliminate people’s desire to live in California. Unsurprisingly, increased barriers to development drove up California real estate prices.

A medieval Chinese cousin of Eastern European cherry pierogi?

upenn.edu • 14 Aug 2024 • ~1900 words

Did you know there might be a medieval Chinese counterpart to the beloved Eastern European cherry pierogi? In this intriguing exploration, Victor Mair delves into the etymology and history of both dumplings, linking the culinary traditions of far-flung cultures. Language Log is one of my favorite blogs and Mair produces a lot of interesting content there. I’ve been looking for an excuse to recommend something here, and this is one of the more accessible and fun posts recently.

Eastern Europe, where pierogi / vareniki originate, was not too far from Tang China either, and even closer to medieval Eastern Central Asia (ECA).

The Murder Circuit

Slate Magazine • 14 Aug 2024 • ~4600 words

What happens when a family’s tragedy turns into a public spectacle? In "The Murder Circuit," the author explores the aftermath of Gabby Petito's murder and how her family navigates the true-crime circuit, sharing their pain at events like CrimeCon. This piece reflects on the complex interplay between grief and public interest, raising questions about the nature of victimhood in the modern world.

This was CrimeCon in its basic essence: powerful, tender, and undeniably lurid. It left me with a question I couldn’t stop asking in Nashville: What on earth brings people like Petito here?

Modernists and historians alike loathed the millions of new houses built in interwar Britain. But their owners loved them

Aeon • 12 Aug 2024 • ~3400 words

The interwar years in Britain saw a dramatic transformation as millions of working-class families moved from inner-city tenements to new suburban "cottage estates." This piece from Aeon explores how these seemingly mundane suburban spaces became contested sites of identity and aspiration, revealing a deeper story about community and the desire for connection to nature amid rapid industrialization.

This was a time when the world war-weary, grey nation was being colourfully transformed, inch by hard dug inch.