Hello! The U.S. government may be shutdown but that won’t stop this newsletter. So here’s to a look at some other, unrelated things happening in the world this week.
This week I learned…
- Earth’s magnetic north pole is shifting away from Canada and towards Russia. This will impact ship, plane, and submarine navigation in the Arctic.
- Some plants use their flowers like ears to hear nearby pollinators. This allows them to make their nectar sweeter and more enticing.
- Newly discovered blue pigment in the teeth of a 12th century woman illuminates the forgotten history of female medieval manuscript scribes.
By the numbers…
- $6 million: The federal government’s outstanding water bill in D.C because of the shutdown. The utility, however, won’t be shutting off the White House’s water supply if it goes unpaid.
- $11.7 million: What the state of Louisiana paid for a new 515 acre plot of land to relocate a community 40-miles inland in an effort to escape sea level rise.
- 68.9 and 419.9: The new numbers assigned to two mileposts in Washington state in order to stop people repeatedly stealing them. The old numbers? 69 and 420.
- 32: How high the catchy children’s song “Baby Shark” climbed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week.
I’m listening to…
Chewy the whale’s song.
Meet “Chewy.” He was filmed by an #OceanX intern off the coast of #Niue in the #Pacific. Can you guess how he got his name? (Hint: 🎶 Sound ON 🎶) pic.twitter.com/z8A3wZZ6QJ
— OceanX (@oceanx) January 11, 2019
What I’m reading…
- “Fake milk”: why the dairy industry is boiling over plant-based milks — Umair Irfan for Vox
- How cartographers for the U.S. military inadvertently created a house of horrors in South Africa — Kashmir Hill for Gizmodo
- Exodus: The climate migration crisis — a series by The Weather Channel
ICYMI…
Remember the same-sex penguin couple that is raising a penguin chick? Well, their little chick just took its first swim. You can watch it here.
Kyla Mandel 