I have breast cancer, and I am going in for more surgery tomorrow. Awakening, by Joshua Lang in The Atlantic, may not have been the best choice for pre-op reading material, but it is a fascinating piece. Read at your own peril if you're planning on a trip to the O.R. any time soon. The tl;dr: tens of thousands of patients each year in the US slip out of anesthesia and regain wakeful consciousness during surgery. They can't alert anyone, and they suffer PTSD in high rates. What does it mean to be conscious? And how can this phenomenon be prevented?
Creepy long-read on the science of surgery patients who wake up during anesthesia
Scientists use yeast from body of Ötzi the Iceman to make "very very good" sourdough
Yeast survived for millenia inside a mummy, and can still be used to make bread. About 5300 years ago, a Tyrolean man died after being shot in the shoulder with… READ THE REST
Newly discovered fish species looks just like Big Bird's best friend, Mr. Snuffleupagus
It's surely no surprise that my favorite Sesame Street character is Aloysius Snuffleupagus, a.k.a. Mr. Snuffleupagus, a.k.a. Snuffy. I mean, it's not a secret that I'm a sucker for an… READ THE REST
Pigeons may navigate using magnetic cells in their liver
A study in the journal Science argues that homing pigeons may read Earth's magnetic field using iron-rich cells in their livers, rather than their beaks or eyes. Researchers wiped out… READ THE REST
Replace doomscrolling with smartscrolling—Headway lifetime subscriptions now just $70
Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. TL;DR: Learn in your free time with a Headway lifetime subscription, now $69.99 (reg. $299.95). Books are long… READ THE REST
Download videos from any streaming service and keep them forever with Keeprix for $95.99
Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. TL;DR: Save videos from Netflix, Disney Plus, YouTube, TikTok, and more to watch anytime you want with… READ THE REST
If you're paying a la carte for AI models, this $60 lifetime pass gets you ChatGPT, Claude & more
Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. TL;DR: ChatPlayground AI lets you compare GPT, Claude, Gemini, and more side-by-side in one tab—and lifetime access is… READ THE REST
