The Iceberg Cowboys Who Wrangle the Purest Water on Earth

My journey to meet the people herding frozen leviathans on the maritime frontier. Plus: behind the scenes with Juli Berwald; is artificial intelligence permanently inscrutable?; and more. [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( EDITORS’ CHOICE Newsletter brought to you by: January 29, 2023   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Here’s some of the latest and most popular stories from Nautilus—and this week’s Behind the Scenes with writer and ocean expert and [Juli Berwald]( below [READ NAUTILUS](   [GEOSCIENCE]( [The Iceberg Cowboys Who Wrangle the Purest Water on Earth]( My journey to meet the people herding frozen leviathans on the maritime frontier. BY MATTHEW BIRKHOLD For most of the year, Iceberg Alley is gray and cold. [Continue reading →]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](   [This Dog Fence Can Be Installed in 2 Minutes and Never Needs Maintenance]( According to renowned psychologists, [nature’s health benefits]( help relieve stress and restore focus—so why not enhance your dog’s well-being with more time outside? [SpotOn]( is a wireless fence that can be set up in minutes and managed in the palm of your hand with an easy-to-use app. Its patented True Location™ GPS technology offers the widest range of GPS coverage on the market, pulling location data from 25 to 30 satellites across four global systems. [Save 15% on your purchase]( with code NAUT15. [Experience Life Unleashed](   Popular This Week [ASTRONOMY]( [What Is Our Universe Expanding Into?]( One question for Paul Sutter, a theoretical cosmologist at Stony Brook University. BY BRIAN GALLAGHER [Continue reading →]( [ENVIRONMENT]( [The Mystery of the Healthy Coral Reef]( A reef off the coast of Honduras should be a disaster. Instead it’s thriving. BY JULI BERWALD [Continue reading →]( [COMMUNICATION]( [The Kekulé Problem]( Where did language come from? BY CORMAC MCCARTHY [Continue reading →]( [TECHNOLOGY]( [Is Artificial Intelligence Permanently Inscrutable?]( Despite new biology-like tools, some insist interpretation is impossible. BY AARON M. BORNSTEIN [Continue reading →](   [BEHIND THE SCENES]( [Juli Berwald Takes Us Behind “The Mystery of the Healthy Coral Reef”]( Juli Berwald is the author of two books about ocean life—Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone, and more recently Life on the Rocks: Building a Future for Coral Reefs. Yet she grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, “about as far from any ocean as you can be in the continental United States,” she told me in [our recent conversation](. What opened her eyes to the ocean’s wonders was a trip she took to Israel as a college student. She saw a sign on a wall: “Marine ecology course—one week in the Red Sea.” “I was like, ‘Sign me up!’” she said. After a five-hour bus ride, she disembarked and the teachers tossed snorkels and masks at her and the others as if to say: Go get in the water. “I was like, ‘I don’t know how!’ But you do it,” she said. “I put my head underwater. And I saw these coral reefs. The thought that went through my mind was: ‘How have I lived on this planet all these years and never knew that this existed?’ It literally blew my mind. That whole week was life-changing.” Later, after she felt that her academic path had run its course (she went on to study carbon dioxide uptake in the oceans using satellite imagery) she discovered a passion for writing about science. Life on the Rocks, [according]( to the The New Yorker, “spikes the normally glum discourse about ocean conservation with a measure of capitalist techno-optimism, arguing that a combination of marine science and smart business could yet bring salvation.” Her book inspired a reader from Honduras, Antal Börcsök, to contact her through her website, saying he knows of a “really crazy healthy coral reef” that she has to come check out. She told Antal, “There are no healthy coral reefs in the Caribbean. What are you talking about?” He replied, “My reef is different.” He wasn’t lying. When she visited Antal and his wife, Alejandra, in Tela Bay, to see the coral, she realized it was the healthiest coral reef she’d ever seen. “It reminded me of reefs I used to see, back when I first started looking at coral 30 years ago. Even healthier than that,” she said. “It’s just an insanely beautiful special place.” Berwald reports on Tela Bay in her [recent Nautilus story](, “The Mystery of the Healthy Coral Reef.” “It’s one of the most exciting pieces I’ve ever written,” Berwald said. We discussed, among other things, how she got at least one scientist interested in inspecting the coral’s thermotolerance to understand how it thrives in Tela. “We should have nothing in Tela,” Antal told her. “Everything that’s bad, we do in Tela.” [Watch here](. —Brian Gallagher, associate editor   [“Icebergs taste like water should taste.”]( [That’s what iceberg cowboy Ed Kean told Matthew Birkhold about the appeal of living to hunt bergs.](   More in Geoscience [The Great Forgetting]( Earth is losing its memory. BY SUMMER PRAETORIUS [Continue reading →]( [Why We Should Explore the Hottest Places in the Ocean]( Raquel Negrete-Aranda says studying the ocean’s “plumbing” can tell us a lot about life, both under and above the sea. BY REBECCA R. HELM [Continue reading →](   P.S. In a recent speech, Donald Trump dunked on electric vehicles, [calling]( them ridiculous and inefficient (while standing with a GOP governor who avidly supports them). In fact, electric motors are hyper efficient, turning as much as 96 percent of the energy they consume into useful work. Nevertheless, they won’t be ruling the road until at least 2050, Norman Mayersohn argued in 2013. The reason? [The combustion engine’s remarkable adaptability](.   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   BECOME A SUBSCRIBER [Share the Nautilus Experience This Lunar New Year]( As the Lunar New Year ushers in the Year of the Rabbit, [Nautilus]( would like to wish you health, happiness, and good fortune! A new beginning is the perfect time to get fresh perspectives, explore new ideas, and cultivate community. For the rest of the month, when you buy a subscription for yourself, you can [give a six-month digital subscription]( to a friend for free. Have a Happy Lunar New Year! [Subscribe Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2023 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? Click here to [unsubscribe](.