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A NATIVE AMERICAN SECRET, REVEALED

Monday, August 7, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we uncover buried Indigenous secrets, marvel at a shark that fought off a deep-sea squid, learn how Viagra got its name ... and ask: Can you really sweat out toxins?

Wisconsin Historical Society maritime archaeologists Tamara Thomsen, left, and Caitlin Zant, right, and archaeologist Amy Rosebrough, second from right, carefully remove sediment from the canoe after it arrived at the State Archive Preservation Facility in Madison. Wisconsin Historical Society maritime archaeologists recovered a 3,000-year-old dugout canoe from Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin, on Sept. 22, 2022.

PHOTOGRAPH BY DEAN WITTER, WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY

America often studies its settlement west as the adventurous creation of something from nothing. But the settlers plowed over thousands of burial mounds and communities, erasing centuries of Native American history.

However, in the ponds and lakes of the region, millennia-old artifacts are turning up where the farmers did not plow, opening up a new history (a recovered 3,000-year-old canoe, above). Remnants of an ancient Indigenous metropolis may sit underneath a lake in Wisconsin’s capital. What else awaits under the waters of the nation’s heartland?

A WHOLE NEW WORLD

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STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

The crew of a U.S. Coast Guard seaplane noticed too late that Salty the cat had snuck on board with her kittens in 1945.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY NATIONAL ARCHIVES

The most adorable U.S. Navy recruits. Yes, they are cats, and there is a long history. (Two above on seaplane)

Heart attacks are rising in young people. Here's what to know.

Can you sweat out toxins? Here’s what we know.

This book vanished when Anne Boleyn was executed. Now it reveals her secrets.

Harvard stole 50 medieval skulls of Icelanders. The nation wants them back.

Can you spot these hidden animals?

How did Viagra become ‘Viagra’? Through this fascinating process

Activists call it rescue. Farms call it stealing. What is open rescue?

Today, it’s a massive volcano on Mars—but it may have once been an island

Twins can become ‘unidentical’—and more fascinating twin facts

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

A seven-foot-long oceanic whitetip shark carries golf ball-size suction marks, likely left by a squid's tentacles. Several large squid species dwell in the deep Pacific, including the giant squid.

PHOTOGRAPH BY DERON VERBECK

Clash of the titans: Epic tussles between deep-diving sperm whales and giant squid are fodder for fantastic tales. But proof that such encounters actually happen did not exist—until now.

Photographer Deron Verbeck managed to snap photographs that revealed definitive battle scars on a seven-foot oceanic whitetip shark off Hawaii’s Kona coast. The tentacles of the massive cephalopod left golf ball-size suction marks on the skin of the shark (as seen above.)

Verbeck did not realize what he had captured with his lens four years ago until he zoomed in on the dots on his computer and saw a series of large suction rings on the shark.

“I was like, holy crap!” says Verbeck.

BATTLE OF THE DEEP

WHAT IN THE WORLD?

Hammerhead worms are an invasive species largely known to originate from Asia, but are likely now spreading within the U.S. by hiding in the damp soil of potted plants.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MATT BERTONE

What is this thing? It has multiple eyes, boasts the common name hammerhead, can split itself in two, grow to over a foot long ... AND it can be found in your backyard. Oh, and it’s toxic. What is it?

A. A snake
B. A hammerhead eel
C. A flatworm
D. None of the above

CLICK FOR THE ANSWER

ONE GREAT STORY

A convoy of pickups packed with Nigeriens and other Africans begins a three-day trek from Agadez, Niger, through the Sahara to Libya. Many migrants intend to work there; others hope to reach Europe.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PASCAL MAITRE

Haloed by extremism: The African nation of Niger held on while many of its neighbors became hotbeds of Islamic extremism and endured military coups. On July 27, the military toppled an elected president in this nation, where thousands of French and U.S. troops are stationed. Writing for Nat Geo, Robert Draper described the nation as long being “haloed” by instability, (Pictured above, the start of a trek across the Sahara.)

A KEYSTONE NATION IN TROUBLE

Today’s soundtrack: 6's to 9's, Big Wild (ft. Rationale)

Thanks for reading today’s newsletter! It was curated and edited by Jen Tse, Nancy San Martín, Hannah Farrow, and David Beard. Want to let us know your thoughts? Send away: [email protected].

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