What Makes a Narcissist?

The latest from Nautilus, and this week’s Facts So Romantic. [View in browser](| [Join Nautilus]( Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here.]( This Thursday, read the latest stories from Nautilus—and this week’s Facts So Romantic below [ZOOLOGY]( [Beaches Are Blankets of Fish Poop]( You really can see the marine ecosystem in a grain of sand. BY JOE ROMAN The Kumulipo, the Native Hawaiian creation chant, says the world began with a single coral polyp. [Continue reading→]( The latest from Nautilus [TECHNOLOGY]( [Creative AIs Depend on Creative Humans]( In the near future, it may be the other way around. BY NICK HILDEN [Continue reading→]( [MICROBIOLOGY]( [Cells Across the Body Talk to Each Other About Aging]( When mitochondria stop communicating, the biological clock starts winding down. BY VIVIANE CALLIER[Continue reading→]( [PSYCHOLOGY]( [What Makes a Narcissist?]( Ambition is not the problem. BY KRISTEN FRENCH [Continue reading→]( [ASTRONOMY]( [A Wild Idea to Solve the Mysteries of Black Holes]( Could quantum mechanics hold the key? BY PAUL M. SUTTER[Continue reading→]( WE'RE CURIOUS TO KNOW... What personality trait do you want more of, and which do you want less of? 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 [“What Makes a Narcissist?”]([)]( FACTS SO ROMANTIC The 5 Best Things We Learned Today A green humphead parrotfish can poop 10,000 pounds of sand annually. [Nautilus→]( For someone to be diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder, they don’t necessarily need to engage in grandiose fantasizing. [Nautilus→]( On average, a liter of bottled water contains around 240,000 detectable plastic fragments—10 to 100 times greater than previous estimates. [Nautilus→]( Being in a poor-quality relationship predicts earlier death. [Nature Reviews Psychology→]( A black hole 1.6 million times the mass of our sun arose just 400 million years after the dawn of the universe. [NPR→]( [“When you spread out on a beach in Hawaii, you’re lying in animal waste.”]( [Joe Roman offers us a new perspective on enjoying a sandy shore—and much more—in his book Eat, Poop, Die.]( From The Porthole—short sharp looks at science [ENVIRONMENT]( [There’s Even Plastic in Clouds]( Five new places scientists have uncovered plastics. BY KATHARINE GAMMON On the top of Mount Everest, in the Mariana Trench, in the human placenta, and babies’ feces: Plastics are everywhere. [Continue reading→]( Your free story this Thursday! [ARTS]( [Not Merely the Finest TV Documentary Series Ever Made]( A reflection on Jacob Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man. BY DAVID DEUTSCH A range of dark hilltops appears against a dawn sky. [Continue reading for free→]( It’s Time to Break Our Addiction to Plastics Plastic products are easy to make and hard to get rid of. When they do break down they become microplastics and leach harmful chemicals into our environment and our bodies. To help break our addiction to plastic products, [One5C]( has published the definitive guide to plastics and plastic pollution. Check it out today to start your journey to becoming plastic-free. [READ IT HERE]( P.S. The mathematician and philosopher Jacob Bronowski was born on this day in 1908. He once narrated a show called The Ascent of Man. The quantum physicist David Deutsch wrote about why he thinks it’s [“not merely the finest TV documentary series ever made.”]( The opening expresses a paradox, and when a narrator does so, “it should be regarded as a promise to explain something amazing,” wrote Deutsch. “Bronowski, in this historic 13-part television documentary, delivered on his promises.” 🎥 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](