Under the Influence


How did enlightenment thinkers distinguish between ‘drugs’ and ‘medicines’? And how should we? ‘…[T]he same novel sensory effects that made substances such as tobacco, opium and cannabis desirable to global consumers also made them fascinating for the earliest experimental scientists. But what did those drugs mean – for them, and for us? How did our modern binary between ‘illicit drug’ and ‘valuable medicine’ come into being?’ – Benjamin Breen (Aeon).


Watch freaky oarfish frolic in the Sea of Cortez


‘Oarfish are freaky sea dragons. …[T]he fish usually live far down in the ocean — at depths up to 3000 feet. It’s relatively rare to catch them at a depth where humans have easy access. In this video, you can see tourists with a Shedd Aquarium travel program interacting with a couple of 15-feet-long oarfish in the Sea of Cortez. Definitely stick around to about 1:40 in the video, where you get some stunning underwater close ups of the oarfish.’ (Boing Boing).

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Is This the Happiest Photo Ever Made?
