Sugar Pill Nation

Even when we know they’re “fake,” placebos can tame our emotional distress. Plus: animal sex determination is weirder than you think ; searching for the river of wind; and more. [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( Newsletter brought to you by: April 13, 2023   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Here’s the latest stories from Nautilus—and this week’s Facts So Romantic below [READ NAUTILUS](   [EVOLUTION]( [Animal Sex Determination Is Weirder Than You Think]( Parasites, weather, and luck can play a role in determining whether some animals are male or female. BY DANNA STAAF The once-unfathomable octopus has revealed some of its most intimate details to science—its brain, its genome, its secret cities. [Continue reading →]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](   [Caring for Your Mental Health Has Never Been Easier]( In addition to making you happier, therapy can [improve your health and longevity](. And getting help doesn’t have to be a hassle. [BetterHelp]( is the world’s largest online professional therapy platform. Getting started is easy—take a quiz and get matched to a provider in 48 hours. Nautilus readers can get $60 off their first month. [Sign up today]( and start prioritizing your mental well-being. [Try BetterHelp](   The Latest [PSYCHOLOGY]( [Sugar Pill Nation]( Even when we know they’re “fake,” placebos can tame our emotional distress. BY SHAYLA LOVE [Continue reading →]( [GEOSCIENCE]( [Searching for the River of Wind]( The jet stream is one of Earth’s defining features—but it wasn’t easy to find. BY ELLIOT RAPPAPORT [Continue reading →]( [ZOOLOGY]( [The Story of a Lonely Orca]( After 53 years in captivity, she has a chance at a better life. BY CATHERINE DENARDO [Continue reading →]( [GEOSCIENCE]( [Why Is Sea Level Rise Worse In Some Places?]( One question for Sönke Dangendorf, a coastal flooding researcher at Tulane University. BY KATHERINE HARMON COURAGE [Continue reading →](   FACTS SO ROMANTIC The Best Things We Learned Today [Eggs and sperm go]( way back, but not as far back as sex itself. [Nautilus→](   [In 1998, a group of climbers]( came upon the wreckage of a plane that had mysteriously disappeared melting slowly out of an Andean glacier. [Nautilus→](   [An ice sheet’s large mass]( attracts the water of the surrounding ocean, like the moon generates tides. [Nautilus→](   [Sham treatments can alleviate]( a range of clinical conditions—fatigue, chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, Parkinson’s disease. [Nautilus→](   [The killer whale Lolita]( performed twice a day, seven days a week, for 50 years. [Nautilus→](   [“That’s one of the mysteries of sex.”]( [Zoologist Judith Mank marvels at the evolution of sex determination across nature.](   More in Evolution [The Spiritual Materialist]( How transcendent feelings arise from the forces of Darwinian natural selection. BY ALAN LIGHTMAN [Continue reading →]( [Another Path to Intelligence]( Octopus brains are nothing like ours—yet we have much in common. BY JAMES BRIDLE [Continue reading →](   P.S. The theoretical physicist John Wheeler, who revolutionized physics and popularized the phrase “black hole,” died on this day in 2008. Amanda Gefter read his unpublished journals—Wheeler always had one at hand—and found they “reveal a stunning portrait of an obsessed thinker, ever-aware of his looming mortality, caught in a race against time to answer not a question, but the question: [‘How come existence?’”](   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   BECOME A SUBSCRIBER [Plants Are Perceptive]( Issue 48 of [Nautilus]( features “[What Plants Are Saying About Us](.” Amanda Gefter discovers that her houseplants are endowed with feelings and memories, shifting her thoughts on human perception. Also: We are all programmed to die; the void in the universe is alive; and more. [Get Nautilus in Print](   [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](.