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STRANGE? SCARY? A MYTH?

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we explore the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, learn an opioid fighter also might crush long COVID, enter a town run by women ... and find the happiest places in the world.

Five Grumman TBF-1 Avengers

COURTESY NATIONAL ARCHIVES

Yes, five U.S. military planes on a routine mission did disappear in a patch of the Atlantic nearly eight decades ago.

No, UFOs were not involved. And no, the legendary Bermuda Triangle didn’t suck them down. The seas carry many mysteries, but the idea of a mysterious triangle spurring tragedy may not be one of them.

HERE’S THE REAL STORY

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A map of the Bermuda Triange

PHOTOGRAPH BY GIANCARLO COSTA/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

A cursed triangle? A 1650 map of the Caribbean shows the Bermuda Triangle bounded by Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. At top, this squadron used the same type of aircraft that went down in the Bermuda Triangle in 1945. Read more.

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

a large snapping turtle named Chonkosaurus

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEY SANTORE

Chicago’s massive snapping turtle, is internet-famous. But Chonkosaurus (above) is part of a bigger tale.

While Rome was falling, these powers were on the rise

Lyme disease is spreading fast—but a vaccine may be on the way

Taking collagen supplements is unlikely to improve your health. Here’s why

Does a life-saving opioid treatment help on long COVID, too? Here’s what we know

Where do people live the longest? What do they have in common? What can we learn?

Did early humans interbreed with a ‘ghost’ population?

Who invented the marathon? It’s not as ancient as you think

Photosynthesis is still a mystery—but science is revealing unknown steps

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

people pick crops

PHOTOGRAPH BY LUISA DÖRR

Who runs the world (girls): A village in Brazil is known to be “dominated by women,” where they “regularly send their men into exile.” How much of these claims are true? (Above, residents harvest crops.)

RUN BY ’AMAZONS’?

PHOTO OF THE DAY

a prosthetic hand holding an e-dermis patch

PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK THIESSEN

Our sense of touch: Physical touch—human’s most primal connection to one another—is being replicated by scientists. The biggest benefit: Those who’ve lost limbs and nerve endings can, finally, feel again. (Above, a prosthetic hands hold an e-dermis patch, which helps turn contact with another surface into a sensation the brain interprets as touch.)

WHERE IN THE WORLD?

a volcano in Costa Rica

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT HARDING, AURORA

Happiness: When experts talk about the happiest places in the world, this usually placid country often comes to mind. Where are we? (Hint: This volcano, above, towers above fertile lowlands.)

A. Thailand
B. Finland
C. Denmark
D. Costa Rica

FIND THE ANSWER HERE

We asked, you answered: Thanks to readers who responded to our newsletter Monday, about a late-blooming Japanese shogun, with your favorite late-bloomers. David Ritchie from Portland State University suggested Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Buckminster Fuller, and Ulysses S. Grant. We’ll add Yayoi Kusama, the artist whose popularity keeps growing in her 90s.

Today’s soundtrack: Babatchai, Serge Beynaud

This newsletter has been curated and edited by Jen Tse, Hannah Farrow, and David Beard. Want to say hello? We'd love to hear from you: [email protected]. Thanks for reading!

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