☠️ 10 things I learned last week (Issue 006)
Hey, folks! Last week, I learned how a chocolate bar can shake the world, why sleep matters more than we think, and what happens when we drift too far from our planetary limits.
Here’s today’s selection:
Oxford academics drank for decades from a human skull—possibly that of an enslaved woman—at Worcester College. The skull-cup, donated by a fascist sympathiser in 1946, was only retired in 2015.
Earth has breached six planetary boundaries out of nine by 2023, including CO₂ levels, freshwater use, and synthetic chemicals. Ocean acidification approaches its limit, while only the ozone layer shows recovery. Our planet now operates well beyond the safe zone for humanity.
An idling exhaust pumps out 150 balloons of toxic air every minute. If no one idled in Greater London for just one day, pollution would drop by a third.
Since Dubai chocolate went viral, it triggered a global pistachio shortage and pushed kernel prices from $7.65 to $10.30 a pound.
Batteries make up a third of an EV’s cost. CATL, the world’s biggest battery maker, says it can cut that by ditching graphite, a key but costly material. The new design squeezes in 60 per cent more energy per volume and kicks in on long drives, after the main battery runs low.
Teenagers who sleep longer and go to bed earlier score higher on cognitive tests and show sharper mental skills.
Every 10% increase in ultra-processed food intake—like bread, cakes and ready meals—raises the risk of dying before 75 by 3%.
Up to 1.4 billion people live on land dangerously contaminated with heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, and lead.
The U.S. is so reliant on China that it can barely celebrate Independence Day without it, since almost all fireworks are imported from China.
Generating an AI image uses about 0.5 watt hours, while text generation requires a little less. For comparison, a full smartphone charge needs around 22 watt hours.
What I’ve been reading
He was a prophet of space travel. His ashes were found in a basement: “On the far side of the moon, a crater was named in his honour. On earth, Willy Ley would be consigned to a basement, forgotten in a can.”
Last days of the lonely interstellar spacecraft: “When Voyager broke, the team couldn’t fix it. They did not have any flight-software engineers. No one remembered the intricacies of its arcane source code. They could not decipher its whimpering messages.”
To understand global migration, you have to see it first: “Instead of arguing over immigration with shocking anecdotes and exceptional incidents, our debates should start with a resource like this one.”
That’s it for today! Thanks for reading! If you enjoy the newsletter, share it with a friend—or a dozen. And if you really enjoyed it, consider upgrading to a paid subscription—it helps support my work and means a lot.
Elia Kabanov is a science writer covering the past, present and future of technology (@metkere)
Illustration: Elia Kabanov feat. DALL-E.