💡 The Best Things We Learned Today

The latest from Nautilus, the best things we learned, and more. [View in Browser]( | [Join Nautilus]( Did a friend forward this? Sign up here Together with: Hello Nautilus readers, and thanks for stopping by. Today we look for clues about an ancient culture—in a dictionary. Also, the social wisdom of fish, the immune cells in your nose, and more. To answer our most recent question, my most memorable wildlife encounter was quite recent. I was jogging through the woods—and came face-to-face with a deer just a few feet away. I stopped, she stopped, and we just stared at each other for a moment, and then quietly went our respective ways. Check out today’s question on communication and the free story on 19th-century scientists who tripped for knowledge, below. Enjoy your day! — Liz Greene The latest from Nautilus Excavating a Language at the End of the World How an old dictionary is revealing new perspectives on an Indigenous culture. [Continue Reading→]( When Logic Beats Imagination Sometimes picturing things in your mind is counterproductive. [Continue Reading→]( The Wisdom of Fish Schools How animals—including us—outsource decision-making to a network. [Continue Reading→]( Don’t limit your curiosity. Enjoy unlimited ad-free Nautilus stories every month for less than $5/month. [Join now]( Get to Sleep Faster with Blue Light Blocking Glasses If you’re having trouble sleeping, most experts recommend you reduce your screen time before bed. That’s because even low-intensity blue light—like the kind we get from all the screens in our lives—can disrupt your circadian clock and keep you awake for longer. With [TIJN Blue Light Blocking Glasses]( you can filter out the blue wavelengths messing with your internal clock and get to sleep faster. [Pick up a pair and rest easy.]( [Buy on Amazon]( *Thank you for supporting our sponsors. The best things we learned today - The Indigenous Yaghan people, who traditionally lived in Tierra del Fuego, have many different words for the sea, including tāralömbi for when the water is perfectly calm and čilamaii for the swells along the coast. [Read on Nautilus→]( - The nose contains long-lasting immune cells, which identify and remember pathogens, providing the first line of defense against viruses and bacteria—and potentially a new way to inoculate against disease. [Read on Nature→]( - Between 2 and 5 percent of all people have no mental imagery at all. [Read on Nautilus→]( - If Thwaites Glacier, in Antarctica, were to collapse totally (it’s losing mass quickly already), global sea levels would rapidly rise by about 2 feet, estimate researchers. [Read on The New York Times→]( - Some fish rely on sophisticated decision-making when weighing wether a threat is real or not. [Read on Nautilus→]( WE ARE CURIOUS TO KNOW... Have you communicated meaningfully with someone who doesn’t speak your language? Send us your answer! Reply to this newsletter with a brief explanation of your response, and we’ll reveal the top answers in a future newsletter. This question was inspired by “Excavating a Language at the End of the World.” [Read on Nautilus→]( Top answers to our previous question: On Wildlife Encounters - When my son was a baby, we took a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. We stopped by the gorilla enclosure, and I was holding my son in my arms. From within the enclosure, I felt eyes on me. A female gorilla was looking right at me. She had her baby in her arms. I went to my knees and looked in her eyes. She looked back at me, then looked at my son, then at her baby, and back into my eyes. She was expressing a kinship with me in that look. — Gretchen B. - I was driving through Yellowstone Park and spied a stream off to my left. I parked, and as I walked down toward it, I heard twigs snapping behind me. I turned to see what it was and a large group of elk must have had the same idea about the stream. I stood next to a tree and they passed me by, unconcerned by my presence. — Sue B. - One evening, walking up my driveway after getting the mail, I noticed something moving above me. I looked up and saw what can only be described as a river of dragonflies silently passing about 20 feet overhead. The river was about 20-30 feet wide and seemed endless. I stood transfixed, called my wife to come out and was later joined by a neighbor who saw me standing there. We watched this for at least 30 minutes. — Eric Z. Take an Ethereal Trip Through the Cosmos You can now [watch]( or [listen]( to indie folk rocker Marissa Nadler read “A Cosmic Glitch in Gravity” on [YouTube]( or [Spotify](. [Watch]( [Listen]( Today’s unlocked free story HISTORY The 19th-Century Trippers Who Probed the Mind In the age of self-experiment, scientists took mind-altering drugs to test the limits of subjectivity. BY MIKE JAY Nullius in Verba—Nothing on authority. In 1660, on the eve of its founding, The Royal Society of London took this defiant Latin phrase as its motto. [Continue reading]( P.S. Joseph Priestley first isolated oxygen on August 1, 1774. The English chemist is also credited with the discovery of nitrous oxide in 1772. Some scientists of the day were more than happy to test out its effects on humans: “[I feel like the sound of a harp](,” one participant reported. Thanks for reading! What did you think of today's note? Inspire a friend to [sign up for the Nautilus newsletter](. Copyright © 2024 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from [nautil.us](. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext 3112 Windsor Rd, Ste A-391 Austin, TX, 78703 Don't want to hear from us anymore? [Unsubscribe](