💡 The Odds That Aliens Exist Just Got Worse

The latest from Nautilus, the best things we learned this week, and your question of the day. [View in Browser]( | [Join Nautilus]( Did a friend forward this? [Sign up here]( Together with: Hello Nautilus readers, and thanks for joining us. Today we find the odds that aliens exist just got worse. Plus, Ray Kurzweil is still living in Utopia, and Brandon Keim hears the wild donkey bray. Also, some of the best things we learned this week—dogs’ self-recognition, slipping seafloors, and more. The sporting moment I’ll never forget was when the Lakers’ Derek Fisher made a game-winning, buzzer-beating shot in the 2004 playoffs against the Spurs with only 0.4 seconds on the clock. I involuntarily leaped off the coach in as much disbelief as delight. Check out your question today (on hypothetical goals) and free story (on “paradigm shift”’s coiner) below. Hope you dig the new look! — Brian Gallagher The latest from Nautilus The Odds That Aliens Exist Just Got Worse How geology resolves the Fermi paradox. [Continue Reading](→ Ray Kurzweil Still Lives in Utopia The futurist doubles down on the Singularity in his latest book. [Continue Reading](→ I Heard the Wild Donkey Bray On the trail of a new understanding of invasive species. [Continue Reading](→ Don’t limit your curiosity. Enjoy unlimited ad-free Nautilus stories every month for less than $5/month. [Join now]( This Toilet Paper Just Might Save the Planet Every day, 27,000 trees are destroyed for toilet paper. That’s far too many, so this brand created luxury 3-ply from bamboo. It feels like regular high-end toilet paper, but doesn’t harm trees. Why bamboo? Not only does it grow 3 feet every 24 hours - it’s the fastest growing plant in the world! - but its short fibers are perfect for creating soft toilet tissue you can feel good about. Nautilus readers get 30% off their 1st shipment for the next 24 hours. Use code NAUT30. [Try Bamboo]( *Thank you for supporting our sponsors. The best things we learned today • Dogs, who don’t recognize themselves in mirrors, do recognize their own scents. [Read on Nautilus→]( • Wells donkeys dig in the desert become miniature oases in the parched landscape. [Read on Nautilus→]( • Seafloor that slips down into Earth’s interior carries water back into the mantle, which lowers the melting temperature of mantle rock, giving rise to unusual magmas that create the continental crust, which is rich in phosphorus, critical to life. [Read on Nautilus→]( • Magic mushrooms desynchronize the human brain. [Read on Nature→]( • Circadian rhythms influence the outcome of experiments—yet the time-of-day is rarely reported in scientific research. [Read on PNAS→]( WE ARE CURIOUS TO KNOW... If you could live 1,000 years, what are five things that you would make sure to accomplish? Let us know! Reply to this newsletter with a brief explanation of your response, and we’ll reveal the top answers in a future newsletter. This question was inspired by “[Ray Kurzweil Still Lives in Utopia](.” Top answers to our previous question: On What Made a Sports Event You Watched Unforgettable • I was at a college football game. One of the players broke both bones in one of his shins. His foot was at an awful angle. The home team players held the player from the opposite team down so he would not further injure himself, and then visited him in the hospital once he had been treated. – Sue C. • I once witnessed an errant shot on goal careen into the forehead of a young man sitting very close. He immediately stood up with his friend and was escorted out. The rest of the game we were ducking and dodging any shot that came close to leaving the ice in our direction. But the most memorable thing was, on leaving the stadium, we saw the two fans waiting for a bus to take them home! – Maryann S. • My folks were Milwaukee Braves fans and attended many games. I didn’t get to go very often. But Eddie Mathews was my heartthrob. Going to the stadium with my folks and their enthusiastic, devoted friends left a lifelong imprint—the joy of watching and supporting a great team, a shared love of a sport, and for me, having a crush on a wonderful, revered athlete. – Bonnie B. • Most memorable to me was watching Secretariat beat his opponents by 31 lengths! – Karen C. • In 1964, by transistor radio, I religiously followed the St. Louis Cardinals’ entire come-from-behind season for the NL Pennant, and their thrilling underdog World Series win over the Yankees. When they lost the 1985 World Series in a horrible, ugly way, with ejections, I was humiliated—and then mad at myself for feeling that way. Why am I embarrassed? It's mere entertainment to me now. – Steven J. QUOTE OF THE DAY “Nanorobots keeping us all healthy forever on our techno-quest for meaning? Sounds exciting on paper!” — Nick Hilden glimpses one possible future in Ray Kurzweil’s latest book. [Read on Nautilus→]( Calling All Stargazers With its advanced mirror system, the [Sky-Watcher Classic Dobsonian]( Telescope produces crisp, clear images The New York Times called “awe-inspiring.” Get yours today. [Buy on Amazon]( Today’s unlocked free story SOCIOLOGY Thomas Kuhn Threw an Ashtray at Me Why Errol Morris is still outraged by the famous philosopher of science. BY STEVE PAULSON [Continue reading]( P.S. The American philosopher of science and historian Thomas Kuhn was born on this day in 1922. He was the author of the 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, which gave the world the term “paradigm shift.” One of his students, Errol Morris (who is now an acclaimed documentary filmmaker), wrote an essay challenging Kuhn’s ideas, and [Kuhn wrote 30 pages in response, surpassing the length of Morris’ paper](. As a professor, Kuhn was “supremely judgmental and arrogant,” Morris said, someone who “espoused beliefs that I found appalling, pernicious.” Thanks for reading! We appreciate your support. What did you think of today's note? Inspire a friend to sign up for the Nautilus newsletter. Copyright © 2024 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from [nautil.us](. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext 3112 Windsor Rd, Ste A-391 Austin, TX, 78703 Don't want to hear from us anymore? [Unsubscribe](