1. Glasbadewanne im “Absteigequartier” von Oliver Elser für den Standard. Marvellous history: It’s the year 1898 and the Viennese architect Otto Wagner is at the height of his career. Just the right time to shock the Viennese public by putting his bachelor pad on public display (never mind that he’s a happily married man) — and the highlight is a bathtub of pure glass. A sight that dazzles even the often critical Adolf Loos.
  2. Adult ADHD Treatment Based on Combination of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) as Measured by Subjective and Objective Scales by Basiri et al. (2022). A new study (n = 80) found evidence that dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) together achieve better results than either in isolation. This is important, given almost 30% of ADHD adults do not respond to standard pharmaceuticals.
  3. Lose Weight the Slow and Incredibly Difficult Way by Randall Munroe for Nautilus. Munroe, of xkcd and What If? fame, tackles another reader question: “I want to lose 20 pounds. How much of the Earth’s mass would I have to “relocate” to space in order to achieve my goal?”
  4. AI for the Next Era by Reid Hoffman at Greylock Partners. Reid (partner at Greylock, LinkedIn co-founder) and Sam (CEO of OpenAI, previous president of YCombinator) discuss the latest developments in AI and current opportunities.
  5. The Most Commonly Neglected Movements And Muscles by Cameron Gill for Stronger By Science. The article highlights three commonly neglected movements that train those muscles missed by many programs: The serratus anterior and pectoralis minor (responsible for forward movement of the shoulder blade), the hip flexor muscles, and the hip abductor muscles.
  6. The Wizards of Mind Control by Laith Al-Shawaf for Nautilus. A brilliant excursion into the world of parasites, from birds using mafia-like structures to make others raise their offspring, to flatworms changing their host’s neurochemistry. “Neurochemical mind control is not just the stuff of science fiction. It’s a successful strategy that some parasites have turned into a finely tuned art.”
  7. Elon Musk Only Has “Yes” Men by Jonathan L. Fisher at Slate. Big news of the month was a look into Elon Musk’s phone messages, and they’re quite something. Long gone are the days where Musk is seen as a rather uncontroversial genius of tech, and the title of the article already provides a clue where things went wrong. Alex Kantrowitz provides a helpful rundown of the texts.
  8. The Afterlife Is in Our Heads by Kristen French for Nautilus. Science doesn’t support the belief that near-death experiences are anything but the workings of our brains, and the more we learn the more supernatural claims retreat. But it’s still not certain why these experiences happen — it may be a side-effect of the release of neuroregenerative substances, a strategy to reduce the risk of trauma, or just the way perceptions and emotions change when the brain itself undergoes stark changes.