"Ancillary Materials"

By Anna Rose Welch, Editorial & Community Director, Advancing RNA

I have traveled to the edges of the Internet and emerged with 6 cool things I just couldn’t pass up. Only one of these will be truly dangerous for your productivity at work — I’ll leave you to figure out which one that might be. You’re welcome.  

• As the owner and player of a 127-year-old violin (made by Gustave Bazin, France, 1894), I loved this CNN story about how the purchaser of a thrift-shop violin managed to track down the surviving family members of the violin’s previous owner. This winding narrative gave me some serious “The Red Violin” vibes, which is a great movie to add to your list if you love history and/or classical music and/or just movies.  
• Did you know that dung beetles navigate by starlight? They don’t get to where they’re going in such straight lines without some help — and they’re not the only animals/insects to turn to the stars for some direction. This article from the NYT digs into how animals — including seals and indigo buntings — rely on starlight for guidance. “Seal-o-scopes” are a thing, FYI.   
• Conde Nast Traveler has compiled a list of the “26 Most Adventurous Experiences Around the World.” Volcano boarding, anyone?  
• Speaking of volcanoes, we have to thank the high heat from Mt. Vesuvius for proving to us that A., the brain explodes from too much heat (i.e., 970 degrees Fahrenheit), and B., that a vitrified brain — as gruesome as it sounds — looks really cool. This Vice article profiles the discovery of a 2,000-year-old brain from a Roman cult member.  
• Heads-up, this is not a “light-lifting” read. But for an industry dedicated to analyzing the structure-as-function relationship of molecules (and what happens when that structure changes), this essay about anatomist and naturalist Dr. James Bell Pettigrew’s research on the spirals occurring in nature and the human body is elegant and fascinating.  
• Click here for joy.