1. Fighting the Vanilla Thieves of Madagascar
and
Why One Island Grows 80% of the World’s Vanilla
It’s wild. First things first, most of the vanilla-flavored things you eat are not actually made of naturally ocurring vanillin. Vanilla is a very rare commodity to be had these days, because it is incredibly hard to grow. In Mexico, vanilla is pollinated normally because of the existence of tiny bees that can enter the flowers. In other countries where it is grown now, the pollination is done by hand, and it is incredibly painstaking. After I read these two pieces, I checked the vanilla extract I keep in my kitchen, and it was actually an artifical essence. Well, the essence of the matter is that vanilla is a very valuable substance, and sometimes people will kill (and far more commonly, steal) for it.
2. Larry David and the Game Theory of Anonymous Donations
This was a nice piece to read. When you donate to a cause, would you rather it be that the donation was anonymous? If yes, why? That doesn’t make sense if thought of rationally. If you assume that people donate to show off their social altriusm and wealth, why would they agree to anonymous donations at all? This piece details some research done on this from a game theoretic perspective, and the answer is all about signaling. If your anonymous donation is revealed, you come off both as altruistic and rich, and humble. Killer combo. So sometimes it’s okay if the donation goes unnoticed.
3. To Remember, the Brain must Actively Forget
I’ve found lately that I’m so behind on my reading list that I end up reading some pieces of journalism months after they were first popular. This is one of those. Better late than never, eh. The takeaway from this piece is that the brain’s primary job is to forget , not to remember. Or rather, the brain’s default mode is to forget. It takes something special for the brain to decide to actually save and remember something.
4. Decoding the Design History of Your Coffee Cup Lid
I found this fascinating. Personally I’m not a fan of disposable coffee cups and lids (actually anything single-use and disposable), but as a design project, this is good history. The lids to coffee cups were initially solid with no holes or perforations, which were actually added by irritated and enterprising drinkers . So much thought goes into these!
5. How to Count Every Language in India
How?? I remember reading in school that one particular survey pegged the number of languages in India to be over 1500. That may not be the authoritative count, but basically accept it: India has a lot of languages. Some of them are disappearing. Since the government isn’t doing anything about it, a man (not even a linguist) named Ganesh Devy started a search and survey of his own, after assembling a group of over 3000 volunteers. He seems like an indomitable man. He now wants to do the same for the whole world.
“I have been traveling to Africa for a year now and I am not deterred by the scope of mapping 54 countries,” Devy says. “The experience with PLSI was great fun, and I believe if people decide to do something, they actually can.”
6. Where Do Whales Go When They Die?
I loved this excerpt from a book called Spying on Whales , by Nick Pyenson. The book has a blurb from E.O.Wilson saying, “The best of science writing.” And that’s a lot. Again, I’m amazed: apparently a whalefall (the fallen carcass of a whale) may provide up to a hundred years of sustenance to organisms around it.
7. What Does Immersing Yourself in a Book Do To Your Brain?
That young woman’s exceptional example is not so much about whether the mind and heart can overcome the limitations of the body; rather, it is about the powerful nature of what entering the lives of others can mean for our own lives. Drama makes more visible what each of us does when we pass over in our deepest, most immersive forms of reading. We welcome the Other as a guest within ourselves, and sometimes we become Other. For a moment in time we leave ourselves; and when we return, sometimes expanded and strengthened, we are changed both intellectually and emotionally. And sometimes, as this remarkable young woman’s example shows us, we experience what life has not allowed us. It is an incalculable gift.
8. The New Passport-Poor
I learnt here that in earlier times, you actually needed visas to exit countries, an about turn from the situation now where you need a visa to enter countries.
If the passport served as a symbol of belonging to a sovereign nation, and, for the more fortunate, a way to travel outside it, not long from now the lines will be drawn around our bodies, rather than our countries. As printed papers and analogue technologies are giving way to intricate scans that can identify us by the patterns on our irises, the shape of our faces, and even maps of our veins and arteries, we no longer are our papers; rather, our papers become us.
9. LA Is Doing Water Better Than Your City. Yes, That LA
Los Angeles is a massive city with massive water problems. However, the city planners are realizing that soon, the aquifer that feeds the people of LA will not be sufficient. Steps have to be taken, and they are. It’s funny; decades ago, the city was designed to carry water away to safeguard against flash floods. Now stormwater is being seen not as a danger, but as a resource. Some metaphorial turning of the tide.
10. It’s Time to Admit that Iceberg is a Superior Lettuce
Yes, this is it. OK I have to go, and yes, I’m eating iceberg.
One of a variety of cabbage-like lettuces called crisphead, iceberg is distinguished by thick interior leaves that are forced, as they grow, into fractal labyrinths, which fold over and back on themselves until they are a self-supporting mass.