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This story reminded me of something John Cavil said on Battlestar Gallactica:

I don’t want to be human. I want to see gamma rays, I want to hear X-rays, and I want to smell dark matter. Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can’t even express these things properly, because I have to — I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid, limiting spoken language, but I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws, and feel the solar wind of a supernova flowing over me. I’m a machine, and I can know much more, I could experience so much more, but I’m trapped in this absurd body.

From the article:

She’s also a tetrachromat, which means that she has more receptors in her eyes to absorb color. The difference lies in Antico's cones, structures in the eyes that are calibrated to absorb particular wavelengths of light and transmit them to the brain. The average person has three cones, which enables him to see about one million colors. But Antico has four cones, so her eyes are capable of picking up dimensions and nuances of color—an estimated 100 million of them—that the average person cannot. “It’s shocking to me how little color people are seeing,” she said.

The rule that human beings seem to follow is to engage the brain only when all else fails – and usually not even then.

David Hull, Science and Selection: Essays on Biological Evolution and the Philosophy of Science

Reshared post from Dustin Wyatt

Vox has a nice article on how much weight to give different types of health studies.

There are literally thousands of ways to design a study. When a news story suggests, "A new scientific study has found…" or a celebrity doctor begins a sentence with, "Studies show…", you need to ask, "What kind of studies?" Because "studies" are not equally reliable, they all have different limitations, and they should not be acted on in the same manner — or even acted on at all. Here's a quick guide to understanding study design that will help you navigate the often bewildering world of health research.

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It's not uncommon for me to hear the exhortation to not eat processed foods.  Of course, when pressed on the why, most people delve into pseudoscience or end up admitting they're just parroting something they read.

Well here's some science!

The emulsifiers in question are carboxymethycellulose and polysorbate-80; especially in Europe and North America, they are commonly used in processed foods (mayo, ketchup, numerous sauces, ice cream, gluten-free products, fat-free products and many others) and other common products (toothpaste, detergents etc). The study conducted on mice showed that even in low concentrations, these substances drastically affect the gut bacteria which seems to lead to obesity as well as a number of gut-related problems.

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Why is short-sightedness on the rise?  Too much time indoors!

After studying more than 4,000 children at Sydney primary and secondary schools for three years, they found that children who spent less time outside were at greater risk of developing myopia.

Like why did you go steal Tesla’s E? Like you’re some sort of fascist army marching across the alphabet, some sort of Sesame Street robber?