💡 A Crystal Forest, Beautiful Bacteria, Microbial Cities, and More

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 popping in. Today we are impressed by the accidental form that arose from an experiment in crystal growing. Plus, we revisit stories that showcase the natural beauty of the micro world: the fractal-like arrangements of microbial communities, and the city-like layouts bacterial colonies manifest. Also, some of the best things we learned—a bizarre comb jelly ability, Emily Dickinson’s herbarium, and more. Be sure to check out today’s free story (on learning from Dune) below. See you later! — Brian Gallagher The latest from Nautilus A Crystal Forest A scientist’s failed experiment yields a contest-winning photo. [Continue Reading→]( More on Micro beauty • When bacteria are beautiful. [Read on Nautilus→]( • Through the microscope, bacterial communities look like bustling cities. [Read on Nautilus→]( Don’t limit your curiosity. Enjoy unlimited ad-free Nautilus stories every month for less than $5/month. [Join now]( Not Your Grandpa’s Hearing Device What happens when you combine German engineering with the world’s most trusted name in hearing care? The [biggest breakthrough in hearing technology]( in more than a decade. Introducing the Horizon hearing aid. Join over 400,000 people hearing better than ever. [Find out if you qualify for a 45-day no-risk trial of the award-winning Horizon IX hearing devices!]( [Learn more]( *Any scientific claims made in advertising content are not researched, verified, or endorsed by Nautilus. Thank you for supporting our sponsors. The best things we learned today • Emily Dickinson’s first book wasn’t a volume of poetry but a bound collection of 424 New England-area wildflowers she had procured, arranged, and annotated herself. [Read on Nautilus→]( • Ctenophora, invertebrate sea creatures known as comb jellies, have the rare ability to merge their bodies—two of them don’t even need to be related to unite into one organism. [Read on The New York Times→]( • Humans often mistake artifacts our ancestors have created for naturally occurring objects—a stone tool can look like any other rock. [Read on Nautilus→]( • The odds of living past 100 years in the 21st century aren’t high—they’re unlikely to go above 15 and 5 percent, for females and males, respectively. [Read on Nature Aging→]( • If a comet or asteroid passes by a planet at a certain distance, the gravity it “feels” across its body can differ from one spot to another, which can cause it to shatter and sometimes become a planetary ring. [Read on Nautilus→]( “The germ of consciousness and feeling comes from giving a damn about yourself in this world.” Neuroscientist Kingson Man talks to science writer George Musser about what separates life from non-life. [Read on Nautilus→]( Not Your Grandpa’s Hearing Device [Horizon hearing aids]( combine powerful German technology with a design so small, many users say people can’t even tell you’re wearing it. [Learn more]( Today’s unlocked free story TECHNOLOGY To Save California, Read “Dune” Survival on a fictional desert planet has a lesson for the drought-stricken state. BY ANDREW LEONARD Fifty years ago science-fiction author Frank Herbert seized the imagination of readers with his portrayal of a planet on which it never rained. In the novel Dune, the scarcest resource is water, so much so that the mere act of shedding a tear or spitting on the floor takes on weighty cultural significance. [Continue reading]( P.S. The American science-fiction author and journalist Frank Herbert was born on this day in 1920. He’s the creator of the epic space series Dune, which has recently been adapted to film (again—the first adaptation came in 1984). Herbert was inspired to pen Dune by a reporting assignment in 1957 for a story about a government project to “control spreading sand dunes with European beach grasses on the coast of Oregon,” noted science writer Andrew Leonard. The project “fed my interest in [how we inflict ourselves upon our planet](,” Herbert later wrote. “I could begin to see the shape of a global problem, no part of it separated from any other—social ecology, political ecology, economic ecology.” It was Herbert’s aspiration that Dune (its similarity to the sound of “doom” was intentional) would become an “ecological awareness handbook.” 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](