Creativity

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, July 7-13, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

And, once again, it’s time to get your mental corn popping!

Michele Adelman reports on how Ford cuts have unleashed a crisis of conservation. Now Toronto

Physics Girl visits the first gravitational wave detector—LIGO. Stellar

SciShow Space looks at how a tank of water could change physics forever (AKA looking for evidence of a GUT).

Robin McKie: everyone’s going back to the moon. But why? The Guardian

Anne Collins Goodyear: long before Armstrong and Aldrin, artists were stoking dreams of space travel. The Conversation

The secret language of trees – Camille Defrenne and Suzanne Simard. Ted.ed

Erin Biba says, in the real world, Simba’s mom would run the pride. National Geographic

Sara Barnes: photographer spends years taking poignant portraits of animals on the brink of extinction. Beautiful. My Modern Met

And that was thoughty Thursday. I hope you found something to spark your next great work 🙂

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

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, June 30-July 6, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s time to get your mental corn popping 🙂

Sabrina Imbler covers the forgotten trans history of the wild west for Atlas Obscura.

Nicole Cliffe interviews Alanis Morissette on being pregnant at 45, childbirth, post-partum depression, and #metoo. You might be surprised, but I like Alanis Morissette. I’ve been a fan since she was on “You can’t do that on television.” I’ve only really liked her music since Jagged Little Pill, but, ya know, I was never into the pop princesses. And Alanis wasn’t either. She didn’t want to follow that path. I’m glad she didn’t. Self

SciShow Psych explores whether you can learn emotional intelligence.

Kris Newby recounts one family’s journey to a diagnosis of Lyme disease. It felt like the flu. It took ten doctors, a year, and $60,000 to find out the truth. Vox

It’s okay to be smart looks at what it takes to create a world-sized telescope to see a black hole.

This is just something cool: ceramic skulls for your fire pit or fireplace. Can You Actually

Michael Greshko reports that these capuchin monkeys are 3,000 years into their own “stone age.” National Geographic

The White Wolf Pack shares a sweet video of raven courtship. Have I ever told you that corvids rock my world?

Haley Weiss: dogs’ eyes have changed since humans befriended them. It might be argued that dogs domesticated us 😉 The Atlantic

Thanks for stopping by.

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

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, June 23-29, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

Happy Independence Day to my friends south of the border! Take some time to feed your brain and get your mental corn popping!

IndependenceDay

Robin Hammond presents Stonewall at 50: stories of resistance and resilience. National Geographic

Mia Jensen interviews Cathy Mulroy about her career as a woman miner and her upcoming memoir. The Sudbury Star

Ahem. Yeah, I shared one of the cited articles (the BBC one) a couple of weeks ago. Here is the awesome debunking of that study on how technology influences the human skeleton and all the reportage it received. I am duly reminded that correlation is not causation. Thank you, SciShow. Seriously.

Simon Makin: better memory through electrical brain ripples. Scientific American

SciShow Psych discovers that alcohol may enhance your creativity in some respects, but not others.

Joyce Cohen: for those with hearing impairments, restaurant noise isn’t just an irritation. It’s discrimination. The Washington Post

Brene Brown talks to Oprah Winfrey about the six types of people who don’t deserve to hold space for you.

Jill Paider lists 20 sublime retreats you need to visit for creative inspiration. Dwell

Bryan Bender: a new moon race is on. Is China already ahead? Politico

SciShow answers the question, what makes soft things soft?

Dr. Suzanne Hoffmann and Professor Manfred Gahr have discovered that the brains of birds synchronize when they sing together. How did the do it? With transmitters weighing 1 gram that recorded the brain waves of the birds. Max Planck Gesellschaft

Katarzyna Nowak reveals the daunting task of wildlife crimefighters in the Alaska-Yukon wilderness. National Geographic

John Nova Lomax reports on the flight of the Texas fireflies. Texas Monthly

And that was thoughty Thursday.

This weekend, I’ll be assembling my next chapter update for June 2019. Until then, be well!

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, June 16-22, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

Here we are with some inspirational, research-y goodness to get your mental corn popping!

Lindsay Holiday reviews the lives and reigns of the gay kings and queen of England.

Anna Silman: every girl I knew was on it. Why some women are questioning hormonal birth control. I stopped birth control in my mid twenties because it was messing with my mental health. My spouse could see it clearly. The few times I’ve had to use it since, usually for some form of menstrual intervention, I’ve turned into a basket case. So support women listening to their own bodies and minds. The Cut

Olga Khazan explores a breakthrough in the mystery of why women get so many autoimmune diseases. The point was made by a commenter, however, that many of these autoimmune diseases develop before puberty. Can they explain that? The Atlantic

Anna Bianca Roach: her death made headlines. We should learn from her life, instead. The Washington Post

Karen Russell writes a letter of recommendation about superstitions. The New York Times Magazine

Open Culture reveals that Leonardo da Vinci’s huge notebook collections, the Forster Codex, are now digitized in high resolution so you can explore them online.

Ryan F. Mandelbaum reports on a Norwegian town that wants to abolish time. Gizmodo

Meilan Solly reports that a perfectly preserved, 32,000-year-old wolf head was found in Siberian permafrost, and what wildlife biologists are learning from it. The Smithsonian Magazine

Nathan Rott: going “zero carbon” is all the rage but will it stop climate change? NPR

Michael Greshko wonders, what is the summer solstice? National Geographic

Maria Popova reveals the mesmerizing microscopy of trees—they look like lovely crochet patterns! BrainPickings

Chris R. Morgan says, the best streaming service is the National Film Board of Canada 🙂 The Outline

SciShow looks at the origin of butts 🙂

Kaitlyn Schwalje reports that we finally have the answer to how many squirrels there are in NYC’s Central Park. But who was asking the question? National Geographic

Joe paints butterfly wings with CRISPR. It’s okay to be smart

And that was thoughty Thursday.

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

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, June 9-15, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

A good mix of inspirational, research-y, and learning stuff this week.

Patti Neighmond: can you reshape your brain’s response to pain? NPR

Zaria Gorvett explores how modern life is transforming the human skeleton. BBC

Mike MacEacheran looks at what unicorns mean to Scottish identity. BBC

Johny Pitts’ Afropean captures the experience of black women in Europe. Refinery29

Phoebe Wood debunks eight myths about bisexuals/pansexuals (and their representation) in honour of Pride Month.

Cara Anna reports that Botswana decriminalized gay sex in a landmark case. “More than two dozen countries in sub-Saharan Africa have laws criminalizing gay sex, often holdovers from colonial times.” AP

ASAP Science wants to find out what would happen if we burned all our garbage.

Andrew Freedman writes a special report on our plastic planet. Axios

Rachel Love Nuwer considers the planet’s other imperiled elephants. In his book, Giants of the Monsoon Forest, Jacob Shell explores the ancient, mutually beneficial alliance between Asian elephants and their human neighbors. UnDark

Because tardigrades. Thomas Boothby, TED-Ed.

I hope something here got your mental corn popping.

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

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, June 2-8, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

A fairly substantial batch of thoughty links to get your mental corn popping this week.

The BBC shares the latest in the Sudan crisis: the African Union suspends Sudan’s membership.

Richard Nieva reports that YouTube will ban supremacist and hoax videos in tougher hate speech policy. CNet

Denise Brodey: how one billion disabled people hit the business radar. Forbes

Liza Gross wonders, can efforts to bottle MDMA’s magic transform psychiatry? The Verge

Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall say that work-life balance is a myth. Here’s what they recommend instead. Time

Knvul Sheikh: creative types reserve a special corner of the brain for dreaming big. Scientific American

Matt Reynolds: the natural genius of ants is helping us build better algorithms. Wired

Verge Science tries to decipher ratspeak with DeepSqueak.

Robert Macfarlane takes us into the invisible city beneath Paris. The New Yorker

Franchesca Street takes us on a tour of abandoned sacred places around the world. CNN

The BBC reports on the long-lost Lewis Chessman found in Edinburgh family’s drawer.

Mara Johnson-Groh looks at how art advances astronomy. UnDark

SciShow Space news introduces us to the forbidden planet and new ways to produce oxygen in space.

Andrew Zaleski: urban forests are dying, but Baltimore shows us how to bring them back. Popular Science

Emma Stevens sings “Blackbird” in Mi’kmaq (yes, even Sir Paul himself made a thing about this performance).

Thanks for stopping by and, until next tipsday, be well, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, May 26-June 1, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

Here’s a solid mix of video and articles to get your mental corn popping.

Ben Lindbergh celebrates UC Berkeley’s SETI@home’s 20th anniversary. The Ringer

Greg Nichols reports on technology in development: a robotic trauma centre in a backpack could be MASH for millennials. ZDNet

Arriana Mcylmore: these black women gamers teamed up to take on the worst online trolls. Fast Company

Kati Morton has a chat about what bothers her about self-care.

ASAP Science talks about sleep hygiene and shares a technique that may help you fall asleep in two minutes (!)

Jenna Birch explains what leads you to burnout—and how to recover from it—according to your Myers-Briggs type. Well and Good

SciShow Psych delves into what the statistics are really saying about teens and screen time.

SciShow news looks at how an AI was trained to predict the effects of non-coding DNA and how these effects could be linked to autism spectrum disorder.

The Walrus dedicates an issue to death. It’s amazing. So much good here. Really. You’ll want to read it all.

Nick Summers: science has brought back the scent of a long-dead flower, sort of. Engadget

Tom Allan looks at the wildlife haven Chernobyl became after people left. The Guardian

Tim MacWelch lists 11 gross animals you can eat in a survival situation. Includes cooking recommendations, too … Popular Science

Ian Sample says that exploding stars could have been the reason we started walking on two legs. The Guardian

David Grimm shares the research of Maren Huck, who clipped cameras to the collars of 16 cats and let them do their thing. Science

This made me laugh. So. Hard. Dogs trying to catch treats, mid-air. The Awesome Daily

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found something to take away with you 🙂

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

ThoughtyThursday2019

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, May 19-25, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s time to get your mental corn popping!

Jon Hamilton: how the brain shapes pain and links ouch with emotion. NPR

Eric Barker shares FBI behaviourist Robin Dreeke’s seven tips to get people to like you. The Ladders

SciShow Space news considers Pluto’s ocean and MU 69 (the snowman-looking asteroid New Horizons passed in January).

 

Eddie King says that learning Morse code is still a valuable skill, even in the 21st century. Quartz

Nicole Javorsky tells the tale of how David Romero is bringing new life to Frank Lloyd Wright’s lost designs. CityLab

‘Cause Imogen. Telemiscommunications

 

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

thoughtythursday2016

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, May 12-18, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

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

Marina shares the dark saga of Katie Bouman (the woman who rendered the final image of the black hole). April 15, 2019 The Atlantic

Anne Harrington tells the tale of psychiatry, racism, and the birth of “Sesame Street.” UNDark

Milt Estrow recounts the many, many theories about Leonardo da Vinci. The Atlantic

Czerne Reid show us the “lost” book of exquisite botanical drawings rediscovered after 190 years. Women in STEM connection: the author/illustrator was Anne Wollstonecraft. National Geographic

Allison C. Meier: designing the butterfly-friendly city. CityLab

SciSchow says the bee-pocalypse is … fake.

 

Laura Tenenbaum blows the lid off three plastic recycling myths. I thought I was a good environmental citizen. Turns out we’ve all been lied to. Forbes

It’s okay to be smart takes a look—ha!—at where your eye colour really comes from.

 

SciShow news reports that we’re one step closer to understanding aging (and other effects of oxidative stress).

 

I hope something here has given you inspiration or research tools for a new creative project.

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

thoughtythursday2016

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, May 5-11, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

Here is your video-free thoughty Thursday. It’s time to get your mental corn popping!

Mike Crawley reports on more Ford cuts: Ontario Telemedicine Network lays off 44 staff. CBC

Some good news: Parliament passes Charlie Angus’ motion to establish a national suicide prevention action plan. Kate Rutherford for the CBC.

Ben Lindburg interviews David Deutsch and Scott Aaronson about the plausibility of the time travel in Avengers: Endgame. The Ringer

Roy Scranton shares how lessons from a genocide can prepare humanity for the climate apocalypse. MIT Technology Review

Scott Rosenburg explains what Apple, Facebook, and Google really mean when they talk about “privacy.” Axios

Jared Lindzon reveals that 75% of staff at this successful IT company are on the autism spectrum. Fast Company

Emily Esfahani Smith: these deaf entrepreneurs are launching a tiny home retreat and they hope their hearing visitors leave enlightened. The Washington Post

Audubon’s Bird Note invites you to fall in love with the crow’s mating coos.

I hope you found something to spark your next creative project.

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

thoughtythursday2016