💡 The Top Science News

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 the unexpected music of a coral reef. Plus, in the news: How can there be evidence of a tradition going back 12,000 years, and how much is life satisfaction just a matter of personality? And more. Check out today’s question (on your wardrobe) and free story (on Larry David and game theory) below. Is 2024 half over already? Time keeps on slippin’... —Brian Gallagher The latest from Nautilus ENVIRONMENT The Unexpected Music of a Coral Reef Listen to the carnival of sound that is a healthy reef. BY GIULIANA VOMERO Today, I’m going to be your DJ and guide you through a different kind of playlist: a fantasia of sound that tells a story about the ocean. [Keep on reading]( DISCOVERIES The Top Science News This Week Neurons Shape Their Own Futures Brain cells may require more computing power than we thought. [PNAS→]( Reminders About Getting Shots Boosts Vaccination Rates But a “megastudy” shows that offering people free rides to vaccination sites doesn’t. [Nature→]( The Link Between Our Personality and Life Satisfaction Scientists can predict how happy you are with your life just based on your personality score. [Journal of Personality and Social Psychology→]( A Landscape of Consciousness “My purpose here must be humble: collect and categorize, not assess and adjudicate. Seek insights, not answers.” [Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology→]( This “Extremotolerant” Desert Moss Could Be Heading for Mars Super resistant to gamma ray radiation, and able to withstand extremely dry and freezing conditions, Syntrichia caninervis is a promising pioneer plant for colonizing extraterrestrial environments. [The Innovation→]( 12,000 Years of Ritual Practice Archaeologists discover evidence of 500 generations of Australian cultural tradition in a cave. [Nature Human Behavior→]( The Rubik’s Cube Turns 50 Mathematicians and hobbyists have had a half-century of fun exploring the 43 billion billion permutations of Erno Rubik’s creation. [The New York Times→]( The Only Two “Arrows of Time” We Have Don’t Match Our thermodynamic arrow of time explains why the entropy of any isolated system always increases. But it can’t explain what we perceive. [Big Think→]( The Electric Car That’s a Thrill to Drive Who said being environmentally responsible can’t be fun? The 2024 [Toyota Prius Prime]( delivers powerful torque in a new futuristic design that’s an absolute thrill to drive. The [Prius Prime]( is a plug-in hybrid that can travel up to 44 miles without switching to its combustion engine. After that, it charges the battery pack by recycling energy from the brakes. Explore Toyota today to find the [Prius Prime]( that’s right for you and experience the electrifying thrill of the best hybrid plug-in on the market. [Explore Now]( WE ARE CURIOUS TO KNOW... What is the oldest article of clothing you still regularly wear? 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 “[Spacewalk suits are decades old. NASA just canceled plans for new ones due](.”) Top Answers to Our Previous Question(On Your Most Gratifying Experience with a Doctor) • I was working as a registered nurse with this hotshot doctor who dismissed what I was saying about another doctor, in Chicago, a specialist who treated a young man who had his hand severed in a farm machine. The doctor attached an artificial hand, and the young man was able to tie his shoelace when he got out of surgery. It was in the papers. “Well, how absurd,” the hotshot was telling me. “That can’t be done now, much less 50 years ago.” So I got hold of that Chicago hand surgeon, who had pioneered that artificial hand, and asked if he’d educate this dismissive doctor I had to work with in Denver. He did. That was gratifying. – Leslie A. • The most gratifying experience with a physician I’ve had was with a gentleman who treated my body as if it were a mystery novel, asking unexpected and unnerving questions, taking notes on paper, and making eye contact. In these days of physicians with eyes on their screens, I felt seen. – Debbi B. Your free story this Tuesday! EVOLUTION Larry David and the Game Theory of Anonymous Donations What your generosity signals about you. BY BRIAN GALLAGHER [Continue reading for free→]( Keep on Rocking in the Free Will The punk band Cermony is best known for their constantly evolving sound, making dramatically different choices from album to album. “Just going into a room with the guys in Ceremony, we end up producing sounds in a way that I can never explain,” frontman Ross Farrar told Crack magazine in 2015. That’s why Farrar was the perfect choice to read Jim Davies’ story “Do We Have Free Will? Maybe It Doesn’t Matter” about whether our decisions are truly our own (or even decisions). You can now [watch]( or [listen]( as Farrar takes you on a journey through your inner mind on [YouTube]( or [Spotify](. The choice is yours. (Or is it?) [WATCH]( [LISTEN]( P.S. The comedian and actor Larry David was born on this day in 1947. In his show Curb Your Enthusiasm, he plays a fictional version of himself, and in one episode, “The Anonymous Donor,” [the antics underscore the game theory of how cooperation evolved among humans](. David attends a ceremony to celebrate his public donation to an environmental cause, but little does he know that the actor Ted Danson, his arch-frenemy, also donated money, but anonymously. “Now it looks like I just did mine for the credit as opposed to Mr. Wonderful Anonymous,” David tells his wife, Cheryl. David feels upstaged, as if his public donation has been transformed from a generous gesture to an egotistical one. 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](. 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