BBC

Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, Jan 16-22, 2022

/ Melanie Marttila

Happy Friday eve! It’s time to get your mental corn popping in time for the weekend.

Janelle Salanga: realizing inequality in news goes a lot deeper than diversity numbers. Neiman Lab

Alexandra Martinez reports that Indigenous advocates in Florida say oil drilling at Big Cypress will destroy sacred sites. Prism

Duane Brayboy: two spirits, one heart, five genders. From the archives of Indian Country Today.

Özten Shebahkeget: exhibition of Buffy Saint-Marie’s digital art in Winnipeg reveals different side of iconic musician. CBC

Kalle Benallie announces that Dr. Chavez Lamar will be the first Native woman to lead Smithsonian American Indian museum. Indian Country Today

Iqaluit woman teaches Inuktitut online. CBC

The UN defines holocaust denial in new resolution. BBC

Lexi McMenamin: students walk out over covid in New York, Michigan, California, and Massachusetts. Teen Vogue

What omicron means for the future of the pandemic. SciShow

Monica Kidd reports that public health doctors have never been needed more—but the strain and burdens have never been clearer. The Toronto Star

Anna Turns explains how to clear dangerous pollutants out of your home. The Guardian

Kimi Waite says that Asian American studies is crucial for achieving climate solutions. Ms. Magazine

Why it took so long to launch the James Webb Space Telescope. SciShow Space

Olivia Box figures out what’s in an ice core? JSTOR Daily

Phoebe Weston says that if you love meat too much for veganuary, try regenuary. [To clarify, veganuary is going vegan for the month of January. Regenuary is opting into meat produced through regenerative farming for the first month of the year.] The Guardian

Discover khipu, the ancient Incan record and writing system made entirely of knots. Open Culture

Sarah Cascone: archaeologists have unearthed a 4,000-year-old board game. Now they just have to figure out the rules. Artnet News

Ashawnta Jackson considers creating the musical canon. JSTOR Daily

Ena Alvarado introduces us to Julian of Norwich, Anchoress and mystic. JSTOR Daily

Philip Hoare: seeing 1,000 glorious fin whales back from the brink of extinction is a rare glimmer of hope. The Guardian

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found something to inspire a future creative project.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, May 16-22, 2021

/ Melanie Marttila

Happy Friday eve! Get your mental corn popping in anticipation of a lovely weekend!

Laurel Wamsley: prosecutor says deputies were justified in their fatal shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. NPR

The University of Washington reveals that almost all kinds of air pollution affect people of color hardest. Futurity

Khari Johnson: Black and queer AI groups say they’ll spurn Google funding. Wired

Fedora Abu introduces us to Britain’s first Black aristocrats. BBC

Kim Tran shows you the Asian American activism you won’t see on Instagram. Refinery 29

Geeta Pandey reports that India’s holiest river Ganges is swollen with covid victims. BBC

You can’t prove everything is true. Veritasium

Yuliya Talmazan reveals that BBC’s Martin Bashir used “deceitful” methods to secure Princess Diana interview. NBC

The neuroscience of tongue-twisters. SciShow Psych

Randy Pascal: Alex Baumann adds voice to Laurentian pool discussion. The Sudbury Star

Kayla Barron joins NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission to space station. NASA

What the crater from the extinction of the dinosaurs taught us about Mars. SciShow Space

Sierra Garcia wonders what green hydrogen will mean for international relations. JSTOR Daily

Patrick Barkham introduces us to the farmers putting trees back into UK fields. The Guardian

Related: Olivia Box also touts silvopasture, or, why are there cows in the woods? JSTOR Daily

Karen Zamora explains how a fungus is making cicadas sex-crazy (side-effect, dismemberment). NPR

Richard Luscombe says that sharks use Earth’s magnetic field as guidance system. The Guardian

Thank you for taking the time to visit, and I hope you found something to inspire a future creative project.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Oct 4-10, 2020

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Welcome to thoughty Thursday, the curation that pops your mental corn 🙂

BLM-related posts and pandemic-related posts separated out for your convenience. Educating yourself is the least you can do.

Mako Fitts Ward examines the power of the intersectional protest image. JSTOR Daily

Jennifer Schuessler: Mellon Foundation to spend $250 million to reimagine monuments. The New York Times

Maya King hopes the Democrats don’t lose the battle over voter suppression. Politico

Kim Gallon: the Black press and disinformation on Facebook. JSTOR Daily

What is the QAnon conspiracy theory? CBS News

Janice Gassam Asare cites five reasons the “pipeline problem” is a myth. 2018. Again, these aren’t new issues. Forbes

John Paul Tasker reports on Annamie Paul’s historic election as the first Black [+Jewish+woman] leader of the Green Party [or any Canadian political party, for that matter]. CBC

Maan Alhmidi: teachers are concerned for their health and the quality of education as they deal with the challenges of the pandemic. The Globe and Mail

Kalyn Belsha says that teaching in-person and virtually at the same time is an instructional nightmare. ChalkBeat

How do pandemics end? BBC

Becky Little explains “mask slackers” and “deadly” spit: the 1918 flu campaigns to shame people into following the new rules. History

Sara Chodosh: it’s never been more important to get your flu shot. Popular Science

Lydia Wheeler: covid “long-haulers” ask who pays when sickness just won’t end. Bloomberg Law

Simi lists 30 signs of soul exhaustion. Medical News

What causes panic attacks and how can you prevent them? Cindy J. Aaronson TED-Ed

Nell GreenfieldBoyce and Madeline K. Sofia: the Nobels overwhelmingly go to white men—this year’s prize for medicine was no exception. NPR

Joel Achenbach reports that Andrea Ghez is among the winners of the Nobel Prize in physics for her work on black holes. The Washington Post

Dr. Becky delves into the work done to earn that Nobel.

Nell GreenfieldBoyce and Mark Katkov cover the Nobel Prize for Chemistry win for Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for their genome editing research. NPR

And … the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize goes to the World Food Program. Adela Suliman for NBC News.

Olivia Rosane shares a video of a meteoroid bouncing off Earth’s atmosphere. EcoWatch

Rory Sullivan and Sharon Braithwaite report that scientists have found intact brain cells in a man killed in Vesuvius eruption nearly 2,000 years ago. CNN

These 100-million-year-old microbes are still alive. (I think I shared an article on this a few weeks ago …) SciShow

Hedy Phillips: yep, just like humans, dogs can give blood. More than half my life ago, I worked in an emergency veterinarian clinic. They kept two blood donor cats on site and assessed surrendered or stray dogs (animal control was the next building over) for blood donor suitability. SugarPop

Thank you for visiting. I hope you found something to inspire your next creative project.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Sept 13-19, 2020

/ Melanie Marttila

Welcome to thoughty Thursday, the curation of random stuff intended to get your mental corn popping.

Nina Bahadur explains how Black doulas are fighting the maternal mortality crisis. CBS

Rashawn Ray interrogates what defunding the police means and does the idea have merit? Brookings

Evie Muir: racial gaslighting and microaggressions can’t be ignored any longer. Refinery 29

Margot Gage Witvliet: I’m a covid-19 long-hauler and an epidemiologist—here’s how it feels to have symptoms for months. (Included in the BLM section because there are elements of racial gaslighting at play.) The Conversation

How and when will we have a covid-19 vaccine? ASAP Science

Sarah Newey and Paul Nuki explain how the pandemic set global development back 25 years in 25 weeks. The Telegraph

Sophie Haigney: the pandemic is transforming how Americans use public libraries, parks, and streets—and it’s depriving vulnerable people of space when they need it most. Insider

Minda Zetlin shares five habits that will help you stay focused all day and Traci Stein explains why they work. (To help with covid brain.) Inc.

Why do we dream? Amy Adkins | TED-Ed

Nina Totenberg reports on the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, champion of gender equality, at 87. NPR

Hope Reese interviews Noam Chomsky about his new book: there’s reason for hope. JSTOR Daily

Nadia Drake: possible sign of life on Venus stirs heated debate. National Geographic

Jonathan Amos wonders, will private firms win the race to Venus? BBC

Dark matter is even stranger than we thought. SciShow Space

Ian Bogost: your phone wasn’t built for the apocalypse. The Atlantic

Rachel Lovell explains how nanoclay turns desert into farmland in the UAE. BBC

Enjoy some frissons musicale with this Pentatonix cover of Tears for Fears’ Mad World.

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you’re able to take away something to inspire your next creative project.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, May 17-23, 2020

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s thoughty Thursday! That means tomorrow is Friday. Welcome the weekend by getting your mental corn popping 🙂

Lauren Grush introduces us to the two NASA astronauts Space-X will launch into orbit. The Verge

SciShow Space explains how some stars are eaten from the inside.

Yohana Desta interviews Janelle Monáe: artist in residence. Vanity Fair

Michael Bond explains why humans totally freak out when they get lost. Wired

Leah Collins shows you how to make your own ink from foraged spring plants. CBC

Terry O’Reilly discusses the secret language of flowers in Victorian England. Listen to the whole episode 🙂 It’s fascinating. CBC’s “Under the Influence”

This is one documentary I needed to find: Judi Dench talking about trees is as brilliant as you’d think. Eeeee! Joy! It was posted to Facebook! BBC

Nell Greenfield Boyce: herd of fuzzy, green “glacier mice” baffles scientists. NPR

Becky Ferreira warns that trillions of cicadas are going to rule America. Bow, humans! Vice

The animals caught on these wild webcams are adorbs! CBC

Kate Bubacz: how Joel Sartore works to document species before they go extinct. Beautiful photos! Buzzfeed

Aleta Burchyski shares how she became a backyard birder (so you can become one, too). Outside

Physics Girl has some more at-home experiments for you to try.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you take away something to inspire your next creative project.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, May 10-16, 2020

/ Melanie Marttila

Here we are on Friday eve. You’ve almost made it through the week!

It’s time to reward yourself and get your mental corn popping.

Ashlyn Davis: this year’s Cannes and Sundance film festivals will stream online for free. Here’s how you can watch them. Secret LA

Jessica Tomberlin wonders, what is chronobiology? JSTOR Daily

Rachel Hahn wants you to meet Moms 4 Housing. Vogue

Andy Greenburg introduces you to Marcus Hutchins, the hacker who saved the internet. Wired

Dr. Emily Zarka looks into the urban legend of the slender man, a monster created on the internet. Monstrum

Katherine J. Wu explains how old math reveals new secrets about the monkeyflower. National Geographic

Over 500 beautiful manuscripts from the Islamic world now digitized and free for download. Open Culture

SciShow Space looks at how the alignments of the planets affect Earth.

L’Oreal Thompson Payton expounds on the art of saying “no.” Shondaland

Allison Miller: Joan of Arc, for fascists and feminists. JSTOR Daily

Sharon Blackie: the ancient practice of marrying the land. UpLift

29 things only people who collect pebbles will understand. And click through to hear the essay: cornerstones. BBC Radio 3

Lauren L. Hill reveals the founding mothers of professional surfing. gestalten

Maria Popova shares stunning 19th-century illustrations from the world’s first encyclopedia of the Great Barrier Reef. Brain Pickings

SciShow introduces us to the jellybot.

Ben Taub goes thirty-six thousand feet under the sea. The explorers who set one of the last meaningful records on earth. The New Yorker

Molly Glick: the Great Lakes are higher than they’ve ever been, and we’re not sure what will happen next. Popular Science

True facts about the batfish. Ze Frank

Morgan Olsen shares the Shedd Aquarium’s birthday party for Yaku, their oldest sea otter, replete with seafood cake. Otterly adorable! Time Out

If you’ve been seeing crows everywhere, this is what it means. The Minds Journal

Sara Barnes introduces us to the closest living relative to the dodo, the Nicobar pigeon. Beautiful! My Modern Met

Thank you for visiting and I hope you found something to inspire your next creative project.

Until next tipsday, stay safe and be well, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories 🙂

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Dec 15-21, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s Boxing Day! I got up early this morning to go shopping (my once annual spree) and am now ensconced for our family get together. Take some time to get your mental corn popping with these thought provoking (or just plain fun) links.

Juli Fraga wants to help you conquer your social anxiety over the holidays. NPR

Lisa Wood Shapiro recounts her quest for clean air. Wired

Andrea Romano explains how long you should take off work to feel productive again. Travel and Leisure

Matthew Gault: the best optical illusion of the year will mess with your head. Vice

Alexandra Ossola: can algae save the planet by changing the way we eat? Quartz

Jaymi Heimbuch shares macro photos of snowflakes that reveal impossibly perfect designs. Treehugger

PBS Space Time considers the validity of cosmological natural selection (i.e. that black holes create new universes).

The fuzzy origins of the giant panda. PBS Eons

Chris Baraniuk: corvids could be the smartest animals other than primates. BBC

Joshua Rapp Learn explains why birds sing to their eggs and how these songs might help their offspring survive climate change. Smithsonian Magazine

Find out all about Leonard, the mudskipper, with Ze Frank.

Thank you for taking time out of the holiday whirlwind to stop by and peruse the offerings.

Until next week, be well, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories 🙂

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Oct 13-19, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

And now, a small but intriguing set of links to get your mental corn popping.

Brown dwarfs are space’s strangely important oddballs. SciShow Space

NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir in all-woman spacewalk. BBC

Eve Conant shows us the best and worst countries to be a woman. National Geographic

The discovery of homo naledi changes the human story. It’s okay to be smart

Diana Beresford-Kroeger says trees hold the answers to many of life’s problems. The Globe and Mail

Jessica Stewart: the largest eagles in the world have talons bigger than bear claws. My Modern Met

Cecelia Rodriguez shares 20 outstanding wildlife photographer of the year 2019 images. Forbes

True Facts about the sand bubbler crab. Ze Frank

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you found something entertaining or interesting to fuel your next creative project.

Until next time, be well, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Sept 1-7, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

And now, it’s time to get your mental corn popping.

German Lopez: America’s problem with gun violence, explained. Vox

It’s okay to be smart debunks seven scientific myths.

Peter Coy explains why the periodic table is more important than ever before. Bloomberg

PBS Space Time considers whether Earth’s magnetic poles are flipping.

James Gallagher reports that scientists have identified the gene responsible for left-handedness—which also affects how the brain processes language. BBC

Josh Dzieza follows some storm chasers as they search the clouds for the key to climate change: thunderheads. The Verge

Jessica Stewart showcases the amazing winners of the 2019 bird photographer of the year contest. My Modern Met

Thank you for visiting. I hope you found something to inspire your next creative project.

Until next time, be well, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, July 28-Aug 3, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

And now, it’s time to get your mental corn popping.

‘They have become the new religion’: Esther Perel says we expect too much from relationships. “Out in the open” with Piya Chattopadhyay on CBC.

Why the trend of surveilling strangers online proves we are horrible. This ties in to the post I shared by Kim Fahner last week and why we should resist objectifying others for our amusement or sense of superiority. “Spark” with Nora Young on CBC.

Allie Volpe explains why kids invent imaginary friends. Guess us writers just never grew up 😉 The Atlantic

SciShow Psych looks at the differences between men and women who are diagnosed with ADHD.

Ethan Siegal: today is not 24 hours long. Forbes

Dr. Becky observes the cartwheel galaxy. Space is weird

The BBC reports on the discovery of a clay tablet on which the oldest extract of Homer’s Odyssey has been found. Struggled for a while over whether to post this in Tipsday or here on Thoughty Thursday, but the latter won out, because archeology.

Chris Dawson: North Bay unrolls its first accessible beach mat. The Northern Life

Jeffery DelViscio explains how a bionic hand helps amputees “feel” again. Scientific American

Martin Giles wonders, is AI the next big climate change threat? We have no idea. MIT Technology Review

Massive ice melt caused by heatwave over Greenland. CBC

Kent German explores the relationship between redwoods, birds, and microphones in the quest to save an endangered species. CNET

SciShow makes a dog Q&A compilation 🙂

Because tardigrades! Chubby, misunderstood, and not immortal. Journey into the microcosmos

Thanks for visiting and I hope you found some inspirational fuel for your next (or current) creative project.

Until tipsday, be well, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

ThoughtyThursday2019