big ideas

How heat pumps became a Nordic success story.

This started as a response to the 1970s oil price shock and was further aided by a carbon tax introduced in 1990. “Sweden, Norway and Finland also have the coldest climates in Europe. In all three countries, there are now […]

thoughts of food

Gen Z has declared pickles are cool now.

“Centuries after European immigrants began selling the humble brined veg from their Lower East Side pushcarts, the younger generation has become obsessed with the deli sandwich’s best friend. Crunch the numbers at TikTok, and you’ll see — the hashtags #pickle […]

fun facts

Seeing natural selection in action, human edition.

“When the Black Death struck Europe in 1348, the bacterial infection killed large swaths of people across the continent, driving the strongest pulse of natural selection yet measured in humans, the new study found.” | learn more

under the microscope

New technique kills tumors with sound waves.

This is an incredible development and it’s already in human trials. “The new treatment is called “histotripsy,” and it noninvasively directs ultrasound waves so that the target tissue is mechanically destroyed — and with millimeter precision. This novel technique is […]

fun facts

No one can figure out how eels have sex.

“From Ancient Greece to the 20th century, Aristotle, Freud, and numerous other scholars were all looking for the same thing: eel testicles. Freshwater eels could be found in rivers across Europe, but no one had ever seen them mate and […]