💉 7 things I learned last week
Hey folks! From millions of lives saved by vaccines to the mathematics of rivers, here are some fascinating things I learned last week.
Since 1974, vaccination has averted 154 million deaths, including 146 million among children under five.
AI-assisted grant proposals may have an advantage. At the US National Institutes of Health, proposals with more signs of AI use were more likely to receive funding, even though their ideas tended to be less original and closer to research that had already been funded.
Tickling seems to work much the same across cultures. The same parts of the body tend to be ticklish among people from China, the Netherlands and Greece. In a survey of 448 people, more than 95% had tickled someone or been tickled themselves. But we seem to enjoy it less as we grow up: 42% liked being tickled as children, compared with 35% as adults. More than a quarter of adults found it unpleasant.
Honey and fruit may have played a major role in the evolution of our large brains. They provided glucose, the brain’s main fuel, at a time when its energy needs were rapidly increasing.
Rivers around the world follow the same mathematical pattern: the larger the area they drain, the longer they tend to be. The rule was discovered in 1957 and still holds across very different landscapes.
Companies are publishing far more sustainability data than a decade ago, but that does not mean they are getting greener. Between 2014 and 2023, the number of reported indicators rose by 52%. Direct emissions fell, while emissions from supply chains and other indirect sources increased more than fivefold.
Employees who repeatedly consume negative news during the workday are more likely to keep thinking about what they have read, making it harder to stay engaged with their work. The effect appears to be particularly relevant for younger adults aged 18–35, among whom doomscrolling is increasingly common.
What I’ve been reading
Hannah Ritchie: “Corn and wheat yields and production are down slightly from last year, but are the second-highest on record. Rice production looks similar, but yields may be on track for a record. Soybean production and yields are looking at a record year.”
Alec Luhn: “Europe needs to manage woodlands more intensively. That will mean more fuel breaks, sustainable logging and potentially restrictions on new houses in the forest. It will also mean more fire, however, such as prescribed burns.”
Sam Matey-Coste: “Driverless taxi fleet of Waymo remains substantially safer than human drivers. A new study found that per vehicle mile travelled, Waymo’s current deployments across Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Austin are involved in a whopping 68% fewer crashes than human drivers.”
And that’s it for today! Thanks for reading! If you enjoy the newsletter, share it with a friend or ten. And if you really enjoyed it, consider upgrading to a paid subscription: it helps support my work and means a lot.
Elia Kabanov is a science writer covering the past, present and future of technology (@metkere).
Cover art: Elia Kabanov feat. DALL-E.