💡 The Stealthy Assassin Robberfly

The latest from Nautilus, the best things we learned today, and more. [View in Browser]( | [Join Nautilus]( Did a friend forward this? Sign up here Together with Hello there Nautilus readers, and thanks for stopping by. Today we pay our respects to the dodo, which scientists and laypeople alike have unfairly maligned as inept and unfit. Plus, we marvel at the stealthy habits of the assassin robberfly that kills with a gruesome tactic. Also, some of the best things we learned today—what solar farms are replacing, the “McMansion effect,” and more. I learned from your responses to our last question, on Alice in Wonderland syndrome, that even some physicians among our readers hadn’t heard of it, which tracks with how underreported the condition has apparently been. I’ve never experienced any of the symptoms myself, though I was happy to have finally watched the old animated film recently, thanks to my 5-year-old daughter who happened to suggest it on a Friday night. She had fun imagining what it would be like to outgrow our house (“My fingers would be too big to use the TV remote!”). Check out today’s question (on feeling misunderstood) and free story (on the romance that changed social science) below. Have a lovely day! — Brian Gallagher The latest from Nautilus How History Did the Dodo Wrong Who are you calling inept and unfit? [Continue Reading→]( The Stealthy Assassin Robberfly Don’t underestimate this slender predator from the British grasslands. [Continue Reading→]( Don’t limit your curiosity. Enjoy unlimited ad-free Nautilus stories every month for less than $5/month. [Join now]( Exploring the World of Contemporary Collage [Collé]( is a weekly email that highlights the most forward-thinking, technically innovative, and idiosyncratic collage artists of today. Join the community of readers on our [free newsletter]( delivered every Wednesday. Get introduced to artists and read about their work in the words of our expert curators and the artists themselves. [Join the community]( *Thank you for supporting our sponsors. The best things we learned today - Stupidity didn’t doom the dodo bird—more likely its way of life was thrown off balance by invasive pests (rats and pigs) humans introduced into its habitat. [Read on Nautilus→]( - Over 60 percent of the land area used for solar farms comes from former cropland. [Read on Science News→]( - “Assassin flies” typically seize their prey mid-flight and inject paralyzing neurotoxins—then, they liquify their victims’ insides, and suck them in. [Read on Nautilus→]( - Many homeowners who watch as new houses, larger than their own, get built around them, become less satisfied with their own, and tend to take on debt to enlarge their residences to match nearby “McMansions.” [Read on Journal of Public Economics→]( - No-go theorems tell you that under clear and natural assumptions, certain things can’t happen. But sometimes the most interesting science comes from questioning those assumptions. [Read on Nautilus→]( WE ARE CURIOUS TO KNOW... What is your most memorable experience of feeling misunderstood? 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 “How History Did the Dodo Wrong.” [Read on Nautilus→]( Top answer to our previous question: On Experiences Like Alice in Wonderland Syndrome Since I was a child, I’ve experienced objects shrinking, including myself. My friends have heard me say that I “hallucinate all the time” and forgive my idiosyncrasies. My dad had told me about an aunt of his who had hallucinations and was told that she was crazy to a tragic end. Once I realized that I was likely to get a similar diagnosis, I stopped telling medical professionals about my experiences. Recently, I was diagnosed with ocular migraines, wherein the hallucinations have added light shows. I don’t have the headaches that normally accompany migraines, just the entertaining—and sometimes disturbing—auras. My brain scan was “normal,” and the ophthalmologist simply pronounced, “It’s not your eyes.” I’ve had the condition so long that it doesn’t really disturb me. With the wisdom of age, I work around. – Valencia B. A Museum in Your Inbox Sign up for [Art Class]( and discover a new work of art every day! Don't miss our inaugural edition, arriving to inboxes soon. [Sign up]( Today’s unlocked free story ANTHROPOLOGY Gender Is What You Make of It Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and the relationship that changed social science. BY CHARLES KING In July 1925, Margaret Mead, a doctoral student at Columbia University, set off on a cross-country train journey with a young faculty member, Ruth Benedict. [Continue reading]( P.S. The American anthropologist and folklorist Ruth Benedict died on this day in 1948. Her books Patterns of Culture, published in 1934, and The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, an empathetic analysis of Japanese society published right after World War II, remain signposts in the history of the social sciences. To do anthropology well, Benedict thought, [you had to alienate yourself from everything familiar](, to take a slow train toward another way of seeing reality. “The payoff was a liberating and original way of viewing your own society, denuded of its specialness and its constraints,” wrote the author Charles King. “And if you had always felt somehow out of kilter in your own culture—an ‘abnormal’ or a ‘deviant,’ an ‘invert’ or a ‘mixed type,’ as Benedict would later put it in her writings—you might come to understand why your own life had been such a struggle.” 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](