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THE BENEFITS
OF MUD

Saturday, January 21, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we see the architectural wonders made of mud, explore a possible alternative to opioids, celebrate Lunar New Year, search for circular economies … and determine if the redhead rumors are true.

A picture of a quarry with men and women working and smoke along the bottom

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MOISES SAMAN

You hear the pit before you see it, says photographer Moises Saman.

Inside, men tirelessly swinging rock-crushing hammers. Women haul loads of granite up steep walls. Children work beside them. Tires burn.

The insatiable need for concrete in Burkina Faso’s modern construction projects keep quarries like the Pissy Granite Mine (above) running. Now there's a growing call to return to traditional mud building techniques across the Middle East and North Africa—especially as temperatures rise.

Read the full story here.

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A picture of a city skyline where the houses are smooth, brown, and white. Two kids are in the foreground.

High-rises of mud: The city of Shibam in Yemen was built with the heat in mind. Nicknamed Manhattan of the Desert, the tall earthen buildings create shade and their white walls reflect sunlight. The city dates back to the 16th century.

A picture of a woman sitting in a hallway made of smooth earthen walls

Divine protection: The mud brick walls are more than six feet thick and insulate the Grand Mosque of BoboDioulasso in Burkina Faso. Walls made from concrete cinder blocks, on the other hand, allow heat to pass through freely.

A picture of a woman in front of a large mud brick structure

Returning to tradition: Salima Naji, a Moroccan architect and anthropologist, believes that her country has forgotten the benefits of mud buildings in the heat. “But we must remember, because we need it now more than ever,” she says. Read more.

STORIES WE'RE FOLLOWING

A picture of two yellow disks stacked on top of one another

PHOTOGRAPH BY REBECCA HALE

These yellow disks (above) prove there’s better way to toss used cooking oil Related: The massive ‘fatbergs’ filling the world's sewers

A new, non-addictive pain killer could replace opioids

California may experience an increasingly rare ’superbloom’

These siblings set aside their musical instruments... and discovered a planet

Invasive ants are a bigger threat than we thought

Preservation or pillage? How the Parthenon lost its marbles

Sunday is Lunar New Year. Here’s why it prompts the world’s largest human migration

A growing search for traces of the ancient Chola dynasty

Happy National Squirrel Day! Now to settle the debate: Are gray squirrels smarter than red squirrels?

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Two pictures of vibrant red and purple fungi

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAN VERMEER

Scary and beautiful: The new show The Last of Us has us thinking about fungi that can create zombies—which already exists, by the way. But during the pandemic, photographer Jan Vermeer also had fungi on the mind. Stuck at home in the Netherlands, he started photographing fungi that appeared in his neighborhood (like the fly agaric mushroom, left, and the Ramariopsis pulchella fungus, right).

DREAMLIKE FUNGI

PHOTO OF THE DAY

A picture of five houses with a waterfall in the background

PHOTOGRAPH BY LUCA LOCATELLI, @LUCALOCATELLIPHOTO

A world with no trash? Photographer Luca Locatelli was on assignment in Iceland to see what a waste-less world might look like. His work focused on “circular economies” that aim to use few new resources and recycle everything else. “Iceland is a place of balance between humans and nature,” says Locatelli of these houses near Gljúfrabúi waterfall.

Related: Is a world without trash possible?

LAST GLIMPSE

A photo red hair blowing in front of a face

PHOTOGRAPH BY KIKE CALVO, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Redheads forever: Certain cosmetic and DNA testing companies have proposed that redheads are going extinct. But geneticists would like to set the record straight: The rumor is false. Decades of research have revealed how redheads evolved—and why the trait is around to stay, Nat Geo reports.

Related: A Nat Geo photographer’s winding journey making portraits of redheads

Today’s soundtrack: La Bicicleta, Carlos Vives and Shakira

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Jen Tse, and Sydney Combs. Thanks to the Nat Geo French edition for the interview with Moises Saman—and to Beata Nas, Darren Smith, and Amy Kolczak. Amanda Williams-Bryant, Alec Egamov, Rita Spinks, and Jeremy Brandt-Vorel also contributed this week. Have an idea? We’d love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for reading!

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