Have people gotten meaner? Plus, feral hogs and UFOs

Thursday, July 27, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we question if people have gotten crueler, steer clear of feral pigs spreading disease, finally figure out the history of the Feast of Seven Fishes … and dive into the government’s UFO investigations.

FLEUR-DE-LYS GALLERY, LONDON/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

Your colleague gets a lashing at the office and you find yourself grinning. Then on the way home, a speeding driver in a sports car gets pulled over and that makes you snicker. There’s a name for that emotion—schadenfreude: feeling pleasure at other people’s misfortune (like the above painting with friars laughing at another’s spill).

If you’ve felt like people are getting crueler, you may be right—with social media and responses to the pandemic playing a role. What does this mean for society?

WHAT’S TRIGGERING CRUEL JOY?

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STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

COMPOSITE PHOTOGRAPH BY JENNIFER EMERLING

House lawmakers held a UFO hearing yesterday. Here’s what we know from decades of government investigations. Related: The legend of Area 51 (Above, UFO believers look for suspicious spacecraft in Arizona)

Something in our galaxy is flashing every 20 minutes—but what?

Omega-3s are more critical for your health than we thought

What is the Feast of Seven Fishes?

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is teeming with life

DNA study deepens mystery of lake full of skeletons

Probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics. What’s the difference?

Was Napoleon Bonaparte an enlightened leader or tyrant?

These are the 10 best U.S. national parks to see wildlife

Why do whales beach themselves? We’re partially to blame.

WHAT IN THE WORLD?

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, PHOTO ARK

Keep your distance: If you’re bitten by a venomous snake (like a copperhead snake above), how should you treat the wound?

A. Suck out the venom
B. Restrict blood flow
C. Keep calm and still

CLICK FOR THE ANSWER

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY YAEL MARTÍNEZ

Look closely: When photographer and Nat Geo Explorer Yael Martínez asked her please to gaze directly into his camera, Mexican Indigenous immigrant María José Prudente (above) was at the Brooklyn church she uses as a recording studio where she broadcasts a program in her native Mixtec language.

Later, Martínez altered each photograph with multiple pinpricks, creating speckles of luminosity. “They emanate light,” he says, adding that the artistic “intervention” also serves as a symbol of resilience. See more stories from The Past Is Presentproject.

ILLUMINATING LIVES

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROLF NUSSBAUMER, NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY

It’s only getting worse: Above, a feral hog drinks from a pond in Texas. It’s one of the nation’s six million feral pigs that are destroying crops and preying on endangered species. But the most serious threat they pose is to human health.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO US?

Today’s soundtrack: Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinéad O’Connor, R.I.P.

We hope this newsletter brightened your Thursday! It was curated and edited by David Beard, Hannah Farrow, Nancy San Martín, and Jen Tse.

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Have people gotten meaner? Plus, feral hogs and UFOs

Have people gotten meaner? Plus, feral hogs and UFOs

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