The Threat of Extinction + Other Stories
Every week, we corral the best wellness stories from around the internet—just in time for your weekend bookmarking. This week: how humans are accelerating extinction, the case for legalizing psychedelic mushrooms, and why human uniqueness continues to puzzle researchers.
New Tools Could Help Pin Down the Cause of a Failing Memory
The Atlantic
A look at one man’s quest to understand the changes he felt happening to his brain. His journey sheds light on a new diagnostic approach: using computer software to identify neurodegenerative disorders.
Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an “Unprecedented” Pace
The New York Times
This week the United Nations issued a report that highlights the damage we’re doing to our planet. Climate change and other human-driven, environmental catastrophes are pushing over 1 million plant and animal species to the brink of extinction.
Denver Becomes 1st US City to Decriminalize Psychedelic Mushrooms
NPR
Colorado is pushing forward the national conversation about the use of psilocybin mushrooms. (You can read more about the science of psychedelics here.)
The Mystery of Human Uniqueness
Nautilus
If our biology is so similar to chimpanzees’ why do we act and live so differently? It’s a fascinating question that scientists have been trying to pinpoint the answer to. “Whatever makes us different,” writes Gary Marcus, “is built on the bedrock of a billion years of common ancestry.”