toilets in space

Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, Oct 24-30, 2021

/ Melanie Marttila

And … this will be the last thought Thursday until December 9th! Get your mental corn popping 🙂

The media and the missing; ‘Missing White Woman Syndrome’ explained | Khadija Mbowe

Tanya Talaga reveals that Canada has not truly released all residential school records. The Globe and Mail

Martha Troian: a Cree family’s canoe is returned, after sitting in a University of Saskatchewan storage room for years. Maclean’s

Haley Ott reports that UK women are being drugged by needles in nightclubs. It’s the evolution of the roofie, folks. CBS News

Mari Yamaguchi: Japan’s Princess Mako relinquishes royal status to marry commoner. Associated Press

Public Health Sudbury and District issues covid-19 order as region becomes a hot spot. And we were doing so well … CBC

Sarah Larson reveals Brené Brown’s empire of emotion. The New Yorker

Dopamine isn’t just a happy chemical. SciShow Psych

William Deresiewicz: human history gets a rewrite. The Atlantic

GM to install 4,000 electric car charging stations across Canada. CBC

Ben Turner: scientists capture images of bizarre “electron ice” for the first time. Space.com

Tariq Malik reports that the Sun fires off major solar flare from Earth-facing sunspot. Space.com

An alternative to dark matter? SciShow Space

Jackie Wattles reveals that the alarm that went off on SpaceX’s all-tourist spaceflight was … the toilet. Toilet humour in SPACE #FTW! CNN

Olivia Box explains why the belowground ecosystem matters. JSTOR Daily

Suzanne Simard, author of Finding the Mother Tree, heads up The Mother Tree Project.

Kelli Bender reports on very good doggo Bear, who saved koalas during the Australian wildfires, and was honoured with an award. People

Mary Jo DiLonardo announces that dozens of bison released on Sioux tribal lands in South Dakota. Treehugger

Squil-le-he-le Raynell Morris and Tah-Mahs Ellie Kinley: one stolen whale, the web of life, and our collective healing. Grist

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

I’ll pop in on the weekend for my first mini-update.

Until then, 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 11-17, 2020

/ Melanie Marttila

We’re heading toward the weekend. Fortify yourself for the final stretch and get your mental corn popping.

BLM and pandemic-related items grouped for your convenience.

Grace Hauck wonders whether you’re celebrating Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and then makes the case for the 14 States honoring Native American history and culture. USA Today

Renée Gokey shares five ways to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Just because the day is past doesn’t mean you can’t keep celebrating. The Smithsonian Magazine

Reed Abelson and Abby Goodnough explain what would happen if the Supreme Court ends Obamacare (AKA the Affordable Care Act). Most of these negative outcomes will disproportionately affect marginalized populations. The New York Times

Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux, Nathaniel Rakich and Likhitha Butchireddygari explain why it’s so rare for police officers to face legal consequences for their misconduct. FiveThirtyEight

David Lammy: climate justice cannot happen without racial justice. TED

Juan Michael Porter II writes about racism and profiling on Katahdin: “We didn’t expect to see you.” Outdoors

Emily Cataneo provides a brief history of the women’s KKK. JSTOR Daily

Jess Romeo: the Taínos refused to grow food and the Spanish starved. Environmental racism in colonial times and its lasting effects. JSTOR Daily

Jedediah Purdy: environmentalism’s racist history. The New Yorker

Doha Madani reports that Johnson & Johnson pauses clinical trials for covid-19 vaccine due to participant’s illness. NBC News

Helen Branswell and Ed Silverman present seven looming questions about the rollout of a covid-19 vaccine. Stat

Ed Cara reports that an international WHO trial finds no benefit from remdesivir and other drugs in treating covid-19. Gizmodo

Jessica Wong: as school boards blend in-person and virtual classes, criticism emerges for the hybrid model. CBC

Jenny G. Zhang: coronavirus panic buys into racist ideas of how Chinese people eat. Eater

Olga Khazan explains how to tell if socializing indoors is safe. The Atlantic

Bob Berman says to watch the skies for Mars—it won’t be this close and bright again until 2035. The Farmer’s Almanac

Tour of asteroid Bennu. NASA Goddard

Marina Koren announces that NASA has finally made a toilet for women. The Atlantic

Livia Gershon: fossilized footprints found in New Mexico track traveler with toddler in tow. The Smithsonian Magazine

Emily Zarka: the origins of the zombie from Haiti to the US. Monstrum | PBS Storied

Ernie Smith explains why the plastic packaging you hate so much is still here. Vice

Ed Stoddard: the chinchillas and the gold mine. UnDark

Emma Stoye shares her favorite science-related photos of the month, including a covid-sniffing spaniel named Floki. Nature

Thank you for visiting and I hope you took 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.