💡 Lithium, the Elemental Rebel

The latest from Nautilus, this week’s Facts So Romantic, your question of the day, and free story. [View in browser](| [Join Nautilus]( Together with Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here.]( This Thursday, read the latest stories from the Rebel Issue in Nautilus and this week’s Facts So Romantic—plus, your question of the day and free story below [ASTRONOMY]( [Lithium, the Elemental Rebel]( What a missing element can teach us about the universe. BY PAUL M. SUTTER Inside every rechargeable battery—in electric cars and phones and robot vacuums—lurks a cosmic mystery. [Continue reading→]( The latest from Nautilus’ Rebel Issue [MICROBIOLOGY]( [The Bacteria That Revolutionized the World]( How cyanobacteria killed one climate and created our habitable Earth. BY ELENA KAZAMIA [Continue reading→]( [COMMUNICATION]( [Viva la Library!]( Rebel against The Algorithm. Get a library card. BY CHARLES DIGGES [Continue reading→]( Rediscovering Our Planet and Our Relationship With It Our planet is complicated. Earth’s beautifully complex network of natural systems support our lives, and it’s up to us to maintain their balance. That’s why at the [Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University](, more than 850 scientists and scholars are listening and working to build a healthier relationship with our world and its infinite complexities. From healthier oceans, to climate action, to strengthening institutions, the ASU Global Futures Laboratory strives to make our planet more livable for everyone. To find out more, visit the link below. [Learn More]( FACTS SO ROMANTIC The 5 Best Things We Learned Today Roughly 25 percent of all the lithium in the universe originated in the first few minutes of the Big Bang. [Nautilus→]( It’s a wonder cyanobacteria survived their own oxygen. Essentially, they were setting themselves on fire. [Nautilus→]( Barry Marshall swallowed a sickness-inducing cupful of Helicobacter pylori bacteria to prove that they, and not lifestyle issues such as smoking and stress, caused stomach ulcers. [Nautilus→]( Electrons can join together in something like a crystal, without the need to coalesce around atoms. [Phys.org→]( The moon is receding from Earth by about 1.5 inches each year—about the rate at which human fingernails grow. [The New York Times→]( The Simplest Solution to Home Security The [SimpliSafe Home Security System]( is ready to go right out of the box—no wiring or drilling required. It’s also [30% off now](. [SHOP AMAZON]( WE'RE CURIOUS TO KNOW... What is the most rebellious thing you’ve ever done? 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 [“The Rebel Issue.”]([)]( Top Answers to Our Previous Question(On What Has Been Your Most Memorable Trip to a Library) • My most memorable trip was actually last week at the Main San Antonio Public Library. I first saw this utterly amazing glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly and then spent a lovely two hours at a poetry reading. I’m still in awe of all the wonderful creative minds I was exposed to that day! – Linda B. • One summer, in 1970, shortly before I was scheduled to depart for Thailand, during my stay with the U. S. Army, I took a trip down the East Coast, and made a stop in D.C. I visited all the places one would visit, and one of the stops was the Library of Congress. I've never seen so many books and documents in one place in my life, before or since then! It was an awesome experience, to say the least. The card catalog itself could be a small library. – Daniel S. QUOTE OF THE DAY [“I find that instantaneous access to a gluttonous buffet of information has done something to the way I think—and it might not be good.”]( [Charles Digges writes about the virtues of the public library in a time when they seem obsolete.]( Your free story this Thursday! [GEOSCIENCE]( [The Volcano That Shrouded the Earth and Gave Birth to a Monster]( Three years of darkness and cold spawned crime, poverty, and a literary masterpiece. BY GILLEN D’ARCY WOOD Two hundred years ago, the greatest eruption in Earth’s recorded history took place. [Continue reading for free→]( Step into the Void “Somewhere across the plain of imminence, shouting into the void …” That’s singer Nate Hardy from the second track of Microwave’s latest album Let’s Start Degeneracy. Voids—of the emotional sort—are a recurring theme across the album from the cheekily self-described “adult mid-tempo psychedelic contemporary rock band from Atlanta, GA.” It’s fitting then, that Nate has chosen to read [this story]( from one of our most prolific contributors, theoretical cosmologist Paul M. Sutter. Sutter tells us, “This story about voids is deeply personal to me, as voids have always struck a chord with me and been the focus of my scientific research. But there's so much more to the concept of nothingness than just their physical manifestation, and it's beautiful to hear echoes of that search in Nate's narration.” You can now [watch]( or listen to Hardy read Sutter’s story “Why We Need to Study Nothing.” [WATCH]( [LISTEN]( P.S. The eruption of Mount Tambora, located on Sumbawa Island in the East Indies, killed at least 10,000 islanders on this day in 1815. “By [shooting its contents into the stratosphere with biblical force](, Tambora ensured its volcanic gasses reached sufficient height to disable the seasonal rhythms of the global climate system, throwing human communities worldwide into chaos,” wrote Gillen D’Arcy Wood. “The sun-dimming stratospheric aerosols produced by Tambora’s eruption in 1815 spawned the most devastating, sustained period of extreme weather seen on our planet in perhaps thousands of years.” 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](. 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