What Plants Are Saying About Us

Your brain is not the root of cognition. Plus: what nuclear war means for the ocean; what makes us bold; how will the universe evolve?; and this week’s Facts So Romantic [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( Newsletter brought to you by: March 9, 2023   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Here’s the latest stories from Nautilus—and this week’s Facts So Romantic below [READ NAUTILUS](   [ENVIRONMENT]( [What Plants Are Saying About Us]( Your brain is not the root of cognition. BY AMANDA GEFTER I was never into house plants until I bought one on a whim—a prayer plant, it was called, a lush, leafy thing with painterly green spots and ribs of bright red veins. [Continue reading →]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](   [Build Meaningful Morning Habits]( Morning [rituals combat anxiety](, boost confidence, and drive performance. Build a meaningful morning routine with [Organifi Green Juice](. One scoop contains 11 powerful superfoods that promote weight management, flush out toxins, and support cortisol balance. [Get 20% off plus a free S2S kit]( with the code nautilus20. [Experience Joyful Well-Being](   [ENVIRONMENT]( [What Nuclear War Means for the Ocean]( Nuclear winter is just the beginning. BY HALEY WEISS [Continue reading →]( [ZOOLOGY]( [What Makes Us Bold]( A parasite infection can make a leader of the pack—or a dead wolf. BY LINA ZELDOVICH [Continue reading →]( [PHYSICS]( [How Our Reality May Be a Sum of All Possible Realities]( Richard Feynman’s path integral is both a powerful prediction machine and a philosophy about how the world is. But physicists are still struggling to figure out how to use it, and what it means. BY CHARLIE WOOD [Continue reading →]( [ASTRONOMY]( [How Will the Universe Evolve?]( One question for Jillian Scudder, astrophysicist and author of “The Milky Way Smells of Rum & Raspberries.” BY BRIAN GALLAGHER [Continue reading →](   FACTS SO ROMANTIC The Best Things We Learned Today [Plants chat among themselves]( and other species using a lexicon of more than 1,700 “words.” [Nautilus→](   [A worst-case scenario]( nuclear war would bomb us back into an ice age. [Nautilus→](   [Parasites can affect]( our passions. [Nautilus→](   [The last time the Milky Way galaxy]( collided with anything major was around 9 to 11 billion years ago. [Nautilus→](   [Richard Feynman’s path]( integral formula makes mathematicians queasy. [Nautilus→](   [Language AIs can learn]( humanly possible and humanly impossible languages with equal facility. [The New York Times→](   [“]()[We should question whether neurons are needed for cognition at all.]([”]() [How the philosopher of science Paco Calvo opened his mind to what a mind could be.](   More in Environment [Is Earth Running Out of Freshwater?]( One question for Matthew Birkhold, author of “Chasing Icebergs: How Frozen Freshwater Can Save the Planet.” BY BRIAN GALLAGHER [Continue reading →]( [The Ancient Wisdom Stored in Trees]( What very old trees can teach us about life, death, and time. BY JARED FARMER [Continue reading →](   P.S. On this day in 1934, the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to reach outer space, was born. A statue honoring him, architect William Firebrace wrote, “stands on a 30-meter-high column on Leninsky Prospekt, his arms pulled back in the style of a classic Marvel superhero, as though about to leap upward toward the stratosphere.” Firebrace’s story explored the Soviet’s philosophy of space exploration, and explains [how the Moscow planetarium brought it to life](.   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   BECOME A SUBSCRIBER [The Most Awe-Inspiring Stories in Science]( [Nautilus]( is a different kind of science magazine. Science is brought to life through narrative storytelling, taking you into the depths of science to highlight today's most vital conversations. Enjoy the wonder and awe of science, distilled into captivating reads. [Subscribe to Nautilus Print + Digital]( today for only $89/year and save 50% annually. [Join Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2023 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from nautil.us. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext 360 W 36th Street, 7S, New York, NY 10018 Don't want to hear from us anymore? Click here to [unsubscribe](.