💡 The Unseen Deep-Sea Legacy of Whaling

What’s popular this week in Nautilus. [View in browser](| [Join Nautilus]( EDITORS' CHOICE Together with Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here.]( This Sunday, read the latest and most popular stories from Nautilus—plus your free story of the day below [READ NAUTILUS]( [ENVIRONMENT]( [The Unseen Deep-Sea Legacy of Whaling]( It’s not just whales who were decimated, but the creatures who live where they fall. BY SARAH DEWEERDT First come the sleeper sharks and the rattails and the hagfish, scruffily named scavengers of the sea, along with amphipods and crabs who pluck delicately at bits of flesh. [Continue reading →]( Illustrator Spotlight [ARTS]( [Scientists and Artists as Storytelling Teams]( A conversation with artist and naturalist Zoe Keller. BY THE NAUTILUS MARKETING TEAM Zoe Keller is an artist on a mission to capture the beauty of biodiversity before it’s too late. [Continue reading →]( PARTNERSHIP The Best Way to Watch the Solar Eclipse As a discerning Nautilus reader, you probably know not to look directly at the sun during a solar eclipse. The best way to experience the Great North American Solar Eclipse on April 8th is with [a pair of ISO-certified solar eclipse glasses](, courtesy of Warby Parker. Starting April 1, swing by any Warby Parker store to snag a free pair. Not near a store? No problem. Nautilus is giving away 10 gift sets of Warby Parker solar eclipse glasses (each gift set contains 4 pairs of eclipse glasses). Head over to [Instagram]( to enter to win so you (and three friends!) can experience this celestial spectacle. [ENTER HERE]( WE ARE CURIOUS TO KNOW... Which three tracks best exemplify your overall taste in music? Let us know! Reply to this newsletter with your response, briefly explaining your choice, and we’ll reveal the top answers. (This question was inspired by [“How Different Instruments Shape the Music We Love.”](). Top Answers to Our Previous Question (On Whether Falling Birth Rates Will Be a Bigger Problem Than Overpopulation) • I don't think that lower birth rates are a problem. The human race is crowding out most other species, with the way it is expanding its territory. We do this indiscriminately, and are causing declines everywhere. Perhaps this planet needs less humans. After all, every species on this planet has a purpose, and we are making ours the cause of the planet's decline. – Daniel S. • Population decline is a bigger problem than overpopulation. The latter has been constantly answered by technology. Humans as a whole become dumber when there are fewer of us around to sharpen one another. – Daniel V. • No, the planet is already overpopulated, in terms of carbon footprints and resource extraction. Human-caused climate change has reached alarming levels, and may even be unstoppable at this point. Animal and plant extinctions due to habitat change and disappearance are ever-increasing. Fewer people will never be a problem. Ecosystems flourished when there were only small tribes scattered around the globe. – Denise D. • Are 8 billion heads (2024) better than 1 billion (1800)? Absolutely, judging by the tremendous progress we have made economically, technologically, scientifically, and even morally (abolishing slavery, advancing feminism, etc.). Will 6 billion heads (2100) be worse than 8 billion (2024)? Not necessarily, if we can leverage many more of the 6 billion through much better education, nutrition, etc. Population size is not destiny; population quality is. – Sam L-W. Popular This Week [MICROBIOLOGY]( [The Speediest Creatures on Earth]( How tiny one-celled protists pull off their strange and marvelous feats. BY KRISTEN FRENCH [Continue reading →]( [PSYCHOLOGY]( [Why We Keep Playing the Lottery]( Blind to the mathematical odds, we fall to the marketing gods. BY ADAM PIORE [Continue reading →]( The latest from Nautilus [ZOOLOGY]( [He Closed the Gap Between Humans and Apes]( Frans de Waal saw animal behavior with fresh eyes and forever enriched our understanding of primates. BY LUCY COOKE [Continue reading →]( [ARTS]( [How Different Instruments Shape the Music We Love]( The timbre of a violin or a sitar can affect how dissonant music sounds to us. BY ELENA RENKEN [Continue reading →]( From Their Phones to Your Frame Who needs social media? Friends and family can share photos to your [Aura Digital Picture Frame]( from anywhere to keep you updated. [BUY ON AMAZON]( Your free story this Sunday! [HEALTH]( [These Clumps of Undigested Food Used to Be Medicinal Charms]( Folks got it into their heads that bezoars were a powerful antidote against any poison. BY CHRIS DRUDGE When you get right down to it, a body like ours is basically a bony scaffold that a strange collection of organs, interconnected by a complex entanglement of piping, hangs on. [Continue reading for free→]( P.S. Elizabeth I, the Queen of England starting in 1558, died on this day in 1603, marking the end of her reign. Among her crown jewels, she counted a bezoar stone set in a silver ring. A bezoar is an object that forms inside animals around small rock fragments lodged in the digestive tract. “Over time, these bits of rock are coated with concentric layers of calcium and magnesium phosphate minerals derived from the contents of an animal’s gut—akin to how a pearl is formed—and worn smooth by peristalsis, the ordered contractions and relaxations of digestive tract muscles,” wrote Chris Drudge. [“The very word ‘bezoar’ was used to refer to the pale beige color of several of her clothes. Things got pretty ornate.”]( Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher Thanks for reading. [Tell us](mailto:brian.gallagher@nautil.us?subject=&body=) your thoughts on today’s note. Plus, if you find our content valuable, consider [becoming a member]( to support our work, and inspire a friend to sign up for [the Nautilus newsletter](. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2024 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? [Unsubscribe](