🏔 7 things I learned last week (Issue 011)
Hey folks! Toothaches predate teeth, climate change boosts satellite collisions, and ancient wine tasted like vanilla. What a week, what a world!
Climate change and melting glaciers now cause drowning deaths on Mount Everest.
Teeth first evolved as sensory organs on the skin of early fish to detect changes in water. This means toothache nerves might be older than the actual teeth.
2,500 years ago, the inhabitants of Jerusalem flavoured wine with vanilla.
Scientists track drug use by testing rivers: during COVID lockdowns, London’s waterways showed dropping levels of everything from antidepressants to cocaine. When people returned to the city, these amounts rose again.
Greenhouse gas emissions thin Earth’s upper atmosphere, reducing drag on space debris and allowing it to stay in orbit longer. This could cut the number of satellites we can safely operate by 50-66 per cent over the next century.
London streets saw a 34 per cent drop in deaths and serious injuries after implementing 20 mph speed limits between 1989 and 2013.
Theatre start times follow meal schedules. In 17th-century London, people typically ate their main meal at 2 p.m., so shows began around 4 p.m. As dining shifted to evening over the next century, curtain times moved to 7:30 p.m. by the 1800s—still London’s standard today.
What I’ve been reading
12 best ways to get cars out of cities: “The most effective measures are introducing a congestion charge, which reduces urban car levels by anywhere from 12% to 33%, and creating car-free streets and separated bike lanes, which has been found to lower car use in city centres by up to 20%.”
Climate change puts archaeological sites at threat: “Sea-level rise threatens coastal sites such as that of the Cosquer cave in Marseille, a vast replica of which can now be visited in a specially-dedicated museum.”
When Victorian scientists caught ballomania: “In August 1863, at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, astronomer and meteorologist James Glaisher shared his observations of atmospheric phenomena at varied elevations, documented from a previous gas-filled balloon voyage with aeronaut Henry Coxwell. After he was done, Glaisher dramatically stepped away from the podium and boarded Coxwell’s gas-filled balloon to again ascend into the clouds.”
And 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.