💡 How Sound Rules Life Underwater

The latest from Nautilus and the wider world of science. [View in browser](| [Join Nautilus]( Together with Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here.]( Hello there Nautilus readers, and thanks for stopping by. Today we hear from Amorina Kingdon about how sound rules life underwater. Plus, in the news: when Earth first tasted fresh water, what babies learn from overhearing, and more. Feel free to answer today’s question as impulsively as you like, and for your free story of the day, see why mistakes in mathematics aren’t what they used to be. Hope the week started off treating you well! —Brian Gallagher The latest from Nautilus ENVIRONMENT How Sound Rules Life Underwater Amorina Kingdon’s 3 greatest revelations while writing Sing Like a Fish. BY AMORINA KINGDON Like most humans, I assumed that sound didn’t work well in water. After all, Jacques Cousteau himself called the ocean the “silent world.” I thought, beyond whales, aquatic animals must not use sound much. [Keep on reading]( DISCOVERIES The Top Science News This Week A Mystery Brain Illness in Canada Top Canadian scientist alleges in leaked emails that he was barred from studying a condition affecting some 200 people with symptoms including drooling and sensations of bugs crawling on the skin. [The Guardian→]( Earth Got Its First Taste of Fresh Water 4 Billion Years Ago Ancient crystals in Australia suggest our planet’s water cycle started up just 600 million years after Earth formed. [Nature Geoscience→]( Scientists Uncover a Multibillion-Year Epic Written into the Chemistry of Life Is the history of biochemistry on Earth rife with forgotten reactions? [Tokyo Institute of Technology→]( Infants Who Are Rarely Spoken to Nevertheless Understand Many Words Babies are better listeners than we might give them credit for. [PNAS→]( The Hunt for Ultralight Dark Matter Perhaps dark matter is made of an entirely different kind of particle than the ones physicists have been searching for. New experiments are springing up to look for these ultra-lightweight phantoms. [Wired→]( A New Search for Ripples in Space from the Beginning of Time “Never mind the Nobel Prize. The discovery of such a magnitude, who cares what prize you give it?” [The New York Times→]( Humanity Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Say Hello to Aliens Some scientists worry that beaming signals into space could lead extraterrestrials to conquer Earth, as in the TV series 3 Body Problem. But wouldn’t they be more interested in learning about us? [The Wall Street Journal→]( 5 Big Lessons from JWST’s New Record-Setting Galaxy A new all-time record! JWST’s discovery of JADES-GS-z14-0 pushes the earliest galaxy ever seen to just 290 million years after the Big Bang. [Big Think→]( The Perfect Gift for Backyard Birders Never miss a bird at your feeder again with the [Netvue Birdfy Smart Bird Feeder](. The [Netvue Birdfy Smart Bird Feeder]( automatically snaps high-resolution photos of every visiting bird and sends an alert to your smartphone to notify you. Because it’s solar-powered, there are no cords or batteries—you can hang it wherever you like. Best of all, the [Netvue Birdfy Smart Bird Feeder]( uses AI to identify bird species and can even tell you when squirrels are stealing your birdseed. It’s the perfect Father’s Day gift for the backyard birder in your life. [BUY ON AMAZON]( WE ARE CURIOUS TO KNOW... What is your most memorable experience of being impulsive? Let us know! Reply to this newsletter with your response, briefly explaining your choice, and we’ll reveal the top answers. (This question was inspired by ([“Impulsivity Is a Stable, Measurable, and Predictive Psychological Trait.”]() Top Answers to Our Previous Question(On Having Any Sympathy for the Human Extinction Movement) • Us humans have 16 years left. Old age will get me about that time anyway. But you kids have better start adapting. As Dylan said, “Look out kid, you’re gonna get hit.” – Obeah M. • Very sympathetic to the human extinction movement. I have -1 to the power of infinity confidence that we as a species can accomplish anything, evil or good, collectively. Maybe if we are forced to take psychedelics… – Wendy L. • Every doomsday prediction has failed to come to pass because they underestimate the creativity, flexibility, curiosity, and imagination of human beings. It’s coded in our DNA to not only survive, but to thrive. It’s no wonder that people don’t take climate change seriously when scientists make ridiculous prognostications about imminent disaster. Science is getting a bad reputation because of this behavior, and this is how it has become politicized. – Catherine O. QUOTE OF THE DAY “When I asked them whether concern about the environment or other risks was likely to affect their decisions about having families, they looked at me as if I were a pitiable doomer—no, not really.” [The New Yorker’s Rivka Galchen spoke to students attending a course at the University of Chicago called, Are We Doomed?]( Your free story this Tuesday! MATH In Mathematics, Mistakes Aren’t What They Used to Be Computers can’t invent, but they’re changing the field anyway. BY SIOBHAN ROBERTS Vladimir Voevodsky had no sooner sat himself down at the sparkling table, set for a dinner party at the illustrious Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, than he overturned his empty wine glass, flipping bowl over stem and standing the glass on its rim—a signal to waiters that he would not be imbibing. [Continue reading for free→]( A Meditative Hike Through Forest Ecology There are singers, there are singer/songwriters, and then there are singer/songwriter/arborists. Or at least there’s one—Anna Mernieks, frontwoman of the folk rock band Beams. Anna put both her hypnotic voice and her Forest Conservation Science degree to good use reading Elena Kazamia’s [story]( “How Much Carbon Can a Tree Really Store?” about the future of forests as carbon sinks. You can now [watch]( and [listen]( as Anna takes you on a meditative journey through the science of forest ecology, backed by Beam’s songs “We Are Blood” and “The Thing Is” from their aptly titled album Requiem for a Planet. [WATCH]( [LISTEN]( P.S. The late Russian-American mathematician Vladimir Voevodsky was born on this day in 1966. He was careful to distinguish the various ways computers should or shouldn’t be put to use in math. “Lots of people don’t understand the difference between using computers for calculation, for computer-generated proofs, and for computer-assisted proofs,” he told Siobhan Roberts. “The computer-generated proofs are the proofs which teach us very little. And there is a correct perception that if we go toward computer-generated proofs then we lose all the good that there is in mathematics—[mathematics as a spiritual discipline](, mathematics as something which helps to form a pure mind.” Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher Thanks for reading.[Tell us](mailto:brian.gallagher@nautil.us?subject=&body=) your thoughts on today’s note. Plus, if you find our content valuable, consider [becoming a member]( to support our work, and inspire a friend to sign up for [the Nautilus newsletter](. [Facebook]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2024 NautilusNext, All rights reserved.You were subscribed to the newsletter from [nautil.us](. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext360 W 36th Street, 7S,New York, NY 10018 Don't want to hear from us anymore? [Unsubscribe](