A weekly collection of links lovingly curated by Colin Wright.
How Stem Cells Make a Human Brain
“The brain is an intricate symphony of different cells, each of which performs essential functions. Star-shaped cells known as astrocytes, for example, are important for supporting metabolism in neurons, and loss of astrocyte function is linked to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Oligodendrocytes are cells that create a protective, insulating sheath around the connections between neurons. When they are damaged—as in diseases such as multiple sclerosis—communication between neurons slows or stops altogether.”
US and China Wage War Beneath the Waves Over Internet Cables
“In February, American subsea cable company SubCom LLC began laying a $600-million cable to transport data from Asia to Europe, via Africa and the Middle East, at super-fast speeds over 12,000 miles of fiber running along the seafloor. That cable is known as South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 6, or SeaMeWe-6 for short. It will connect a dozen countries as it snakes its way from Singapore to France, crossing three seas and the Indian Ocean on the way. It is slated to be finished in 2025. It was a project that slipped through China’s fingers.”
The Regional Winners of the 2023 World Press Photography Competition
“As life expectancy rises, dementia is increasingly becoming a public health and socio-cultural issue in Ghana and across Africa. Lack of public awareness of behavior associated with the condition means that women displaying symptoms are sometimes perceived as witches. In Ghana, they may be sent away to live in so-called “witch camps”. Lee-Ann Olwage’s personal project attempts to bring attention to often overlooked stories about dementia from the African continent.”
My Quest to Re-Create Street Fighter’s Long-Lost Pneumatic Controls
“Rumor had it that there was this fighting video game, like Karate Champ, except the harder you hit the buttons, the stronger your attacks were. It was also said that if you hit a button hard enough, you could knock out your opponent with one hit! Certain people were supposedly seen climbing on and jumping up and down on the buttons of the machine in the hope of making a killing strike. As a child of the '80s who loved video games, this game intrigued me. I soon discovered that the game was called Street Fighter (SF1), and it was made by a company called Capcom. In my local arcade, it consisted of a large, curvy cabinet with two sets of controls to accommodate two players at once. Each player had a start button, an eight-way joystick, and two large pressure-sensitive rubber buttons. This cabinet is now often called the "deluxe" or "crescent" cab, and the pressure-sensitive buttons are often called "bash pads" or "pneumatic buttons." It looked totally rad.”
Was She Really Rosie?
“As JSTOR Daily has previously pointed out, Miller’s image was not a recruitment poster, and the figure it depicted was not named “Rosie the Riveter.” She had no name at all. The image would likely have been identified only by its slogan: “We Can Do It.” Instead, the phrase “Rosie the Riveter” was the title of a 1943 song by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb as well as that of a 1943 Norman Rockwell cover illustration for the Saturday Evening Post.”
National Geographic Society World Water Map
“Schoolbooks show a simple picture of the water cycle—water evaporates from the ocean, drifts in clouds over land, falls as rain, flows in rivers to the sea—that is no longer accurate. Humans intrude on the cycle now: Each year we extract 4,000 cubic kilometers of water, eight times more than a century ago. We consume it in kitchens and bathrooms, factories and power plants; we use it to irrigate our crops. Growing populations and aspirations drive a growing demand for water. The result is a water gap in an increasing number of places. Humans are using more water than the water cycle can provide, and so we deplete shallow aquifers, and may need to tap into deep ones that will not be renewed in our lifetime. In the process we threaten not only our own health, peace, and well-being, but also the health of ecosystems and wildlife.”
My Life as a Teenage Dungeon Master and How It Prepared Me to Become an Anthropologist
“Managing group projects, telling a story, making sure everyone was participating and contributing, changing and adapting my approach on the fly or in response to an unexpected question, thinking on my feet, learning and applying rules to various situations, building a world we could all enjoy, and, not to be underestimated, math and vocabulary (thanks ThaAC0 and White Wolf!) – and let’s not forget to mention map-drawing and miniature building – are all still relevant to what I do now as a college professor in the social sciences. But beyond the general, I have D&D (and Sherlock Holmes) to thank for making me a better anthropologist.”
If you’ve found some value in this email, consider supporting this project by becoming a paid subscriber or buying me a coffee. You can also support all my projects by becoming an Understandary member.