2023’s Most Beautiful Science, Our Bias Against AI Art, Which Practice Makes Perfect?, and More

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]( [COMMUNICATION]( [The Most Beautiful Science of the Year]( These are a few of our favorite things from 2023. BY NAUTILUS EDITORS As editors our eyes are glued to the page all day, focused on one story, sometimes one tricky passage, and often, when it comes to writing headlines, one word! [Continue reading →]( [Art Pieces Exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach for Sale]( The auction has ended, but you still have the chance to own two pieces that were featured at Art Basel Miami Beach 2023. - Gayil Nalls' olfactory art piece, [World Sensorium: OCEAN](, exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach, is available for purchase in a limited first edition of 75. This olfactory artwork was created on behalf of terrestrial and aquatic plants to catalyze critical ocean protection. - To celebrate the interconnection between space and ocean, we have limited edition prints of Nicole Stott's [THE WAVE]( available for purchase. This piece is the first watercolor painted in space aboard the ISS in 2009. Proceeds from the sale of these art pieces will benefit both the Space for Art Foundation and Mobilize for the Ocean. [VIEW FULL ART AT SEA CATALOG]( WE ARE CURIOUS TO KNOW... Do you find it more concerning or exciting to witness deepfake technology become more and more convincing? 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 [“Stop Worrying About Deepfakes.”]() Top Answer to Our Previous Question (On Feeling the Presence of Someone Who Wasn’t There) - On a pitch-black, freezing night with a hard nor'easter blowing fiercely, my car stalled on a flooded road. I got out and started wading through water, which came over the tops of my knee-high boots. Then the ground dropped out from under me. I was floundering, water over my head, and I realized it was the open foundation of a house that had been recently moved. But I could see nothing, and had no sense of direction. Then I heard my mother's voice. I knew she was with me (she was still alive back then). "This way,” she said. “Over here," guiding me to the edge of the foundation. Somehow, I managed to pull myself out, and I continued walking, finding shelter even as my hair was freezing on my head. Now I have a scientific explanation for my mother's "presence," but it isn't as comforting as the thought that she actually saved me.– Denise D. Popular This Week [TECHNOLOGY]( [Stop Worrying About Deepfakes]( Where many see the death of reality on the internet, this hacker-turned-Notre Dame professor sees communion. BY ANNE STRAINCHAMPS [Continue reading →]( [PSYCHOLOGY]( [Not All Practice Makes Perfect]( Moving from naive to purposeful practice can dramatically increase performance. BY ANDERS ERICSSON & ROBERT POOL [Continue reading →]( The latest from Nautilus [ARTS]( [We’re Biased Against AI-Made Art]( And that could be a good thing. BY DEENA MOUSA [Continue reading →]( [PALEONTOLOGY]( [A Day in the Life of a Fossil Preparator]( Recreating the past requires as much art and craft as science. BY CAITLIN DONAHUE WYLIE [Continue reading →]( [“Far from caging us, the stories we tell about ourselves can set us free.”]( [Adam Piore wrote about the power of adopting the hero’s journey in your own life.]( From The Porthole—short sharp looks at science [PSYCHOLOGY]( [Your Brain Wants a Linear Story]( Artists may jumble time for dramatic effect. But your unconscious is always putting the narrative in order. BY AJDINA HALILOVIC Tom smiles uncertainly at Summer. [Continue reading→]( Your free story this Sunday! [TECHNOLOGY]( [The Selfish Dataome]( Does the data we produce serve us, or vice versa? BY CALEB SCHARF You’ve heard the argument before: Genes are the permanent aristocracy of evolution, looking after themselves as fleshy hosts come and go. [Continue reading for free→]( Is it time for you to dive into the language of data? Learn the world’s most in-demand data science and AI skills with [DataCamp](. For novices and seasoned experts alike, you can join over 2 million learners who are improving their skills in data science, machine learning, data visualization, data engineering, and cloud computing. EXCLUSIVE MEMBER CONTENT | [Explore Memberships→]( [Adventure Is Calling]( A call to adventure. A wise mentor. A transformational quest. These are all elements of the iconic “hero’s journey”—a narrative trope so pervasive, that our brains seem hardwired to respond to it. In Nautilus Issue 53, writer Adam Piore takes us on a quest of our own that explores the transformative power of seeing your life as a hero’s journey. Heed the call to adventure and [subscribe to Nautilus today](. [JOIN NOW]( P.S. The 19th-century physicist and mathematician James Joule was born on this day in 1818. The joule—the unit of energy in the metric system—is named after him. Writing about the energetic burden information can entail, Caleb Scharf used the example of William Shakespeare. “It’s possible that altogether the simple act of human arms raising and lowering copies of Shakespeare’s writings has expended [well over 4 trillion Joules of energy](,” Scharf wrote. “That’s equivalent to combusting several hundred thousand kilograms of coal.” 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](