History’s Five Best Body Part Stories

What’s popular this week in Nautilus. [View in browser](| [Join Nautilus]( EDITORS' CHOICE Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here.]( This Sunday, read the latest and most popular stories from Nautilus [READ NAUTILUS]( HEALTH [The Bittersweet Science]( Boxing is reputed to fight Parkinson’s Disease. I put on the gloves to find out. BY MARK MACNAMARA The notion of boxing as the “sweet science” is often thought to have been coined in 1956 by the great New Yorker writer A.J. Liebling. [Continue reading →]( [Cheers to Glenfiddich, Our Newest Partner 🥃]( [Glenfiddich]( and Nautilus have partnered to bring readers a unique experience of science and culture. Glenfiddich has refined its distilling process over 130 years to create a product of unmatched quality. [Join the Glenfiddich Collective]( to receive personalized content, exclusive invites to tastings and VIP events, and be the first to hear about limited releases, new collaborations, and the latest news. [SIGN UP HERE TODAY]( WE ARE CURIOUS TO KNOW... If you were to have (or do have) children, what would be (or is) an item you’d pass on to them that others might consider very weird? 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 [“History’s Five Best Body Part Stories.”]() Top Answers to Our Previous Question (On What You’d Tell Your Younger Self About Facing Uncertainty) - I would tell myself that my story was not written in stone, and that I would go from being bedridden at the time of diagnosis with Lupus at 40, to being able to climb out of despair and hopelessness, to literally being able to summit fourteener mountains in my home state of Colorado at the age of 50. – Cay L. - I would tell her to sit with it and feel out every corner of its ambiguous essence, because it, too, is subject to impermanence as a fleeting bloom. – Melanie F. Popular This Week [HISTORY]( [Tesla’s Pigeon]( An inventor, a bird, and a plan to connect all the minds in the world. BY AMANDA GEFTER [Continue reading →]( [GENETICS]( [It’s Time to Make Human-Chimp Hybrids]( The humanzee is both scientifically possible and morally defensible. BY DAVID P. BARASH [Continue reading →]( The latest from Nautilus [ZOOLOGY]( [Queen of the Mob]( Meerkats are famous for their teamwork, but it’s enforced by a matriarch with an iron fist. BY SARAH GILMAN [Continue reading →]( [HISTORY]( [History’s Five Best Body Part Stories]( Charles I’s neck bone, Queen Victoria’s armpit, and other fabulously gruesome medical tales. BY KRISTEN FRENCH [Continue reading →]( [“Exhaustion is healing. The idea is you survive Parkinson’s by thinking in terms of three-minute rounds.”]( [Mark MacNamara writes about his effort to fight his Parkinson’s by literally throwing punches.]( From The Porthole—short sharp looks at science [PSYCHOLOGY]( [My 3 Greatest Revelations]( The author on writing her new book, Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure. BY MAGGIE JACKSON I didn’t intend to write a book about uncertainty. [Continue reading→]( Your free story this Sunday! [HEALTH]( [Did Grief Give Him Parkinson’s?]( These identical twins led virtually identical lives—with one tragic exception. BY ROBIN MARANTZ HENIG Jack Gernsheimer met my car at the bottom of the lane. [Continue reading for free→]( EXCLUSIVE MEMBER CONTENT | [Explore Memberships→]( [A Gift as Unique as the Stories Inside]( You’ve experienced a slice of what Nautilus has to offer. Now there’s an elegant way to share your love of science with the people on your gift list. As thoughtfully curated as the Nautilus stories you love, the Holiday Gift Subscription Box will enrich the holiday season and continue to bring insightful science journalism through the new year. This gift should arrive before Christmas Day when you order by December 14th. [Give the Nautilus Holiday Gift Subscription Box]( P.S. The 19th-century English mathematician and writer Ada Lovelace, daughter of the poet Lord Byron, was born on this day in 1815. Considered the first computer programmer, she called mathematics a “poetical science.” Flynn Coleman noted how Lovelace realized that the Analytical Engine, an early calculating machine devised by Charles Babbage, “could be used to decode symbols and to make music, art, and graphics.” Her contributions, Coleman wrote, were [“astonishing.”]( 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, [browse our archive]( of past print issues, and inspire a friend to sign up for [the Nautilus newsletter](. [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? [Unsubscribe](