Who created these life-saving inventions? Plus, the best diet in the world; the sudden fall of Earth’s ’wickedest city’

Who created these life-saving inventions? Plus, the best diet…

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DID ONE OF THESE INVENTIONS SAVE YOUR LIFE?

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we meet the little-known inventors behind life-saving creations, see how nature sunk wickedness, scooter along with these Indonesian riders … and listen to experts assert this is the best diet of all. Plus, can scientists create hurricane-resistant homes?

PHOTOGRAPH BY MAGGIE STEBER, VII/REDUX

A fire breaks out. You’re on an upper floor of a building. A metal fire escape rolls out from the exterior. You rush down the steps to safety.

But who thought up that life-saving invention? Or created the hypodermic syringe, or kept you from food poisoning? And how did they do that?

That’s a topic of a new Nat Geo book, and we have the answers right here. (Pictured above, another avatar—the pioneering urban activist and planner Jane Jacobs.)

THANK THESE PEOPLE

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STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

DELAWARE ART MUSEUM/HOWARD PYLE COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN

How the ‘wickedest city on Earth’ was sunk by an earthquake (Above, a band of pirates divides up their loot)

What gives the Mediterranean diet such life-extending power?

This bird survived Maui’s fires—but it could soon vanish

Cougars are ambushing and killing wolves—and no one knows why

How Mary became the most powerful woman in the world

How does a dog or cat learn to read human emotion?

Is yodeling really so hard to love, or is it just misunderstood?

These pirates left the Caribbean behind—and stole the biggest booty ever

The sordid history of the Pledge of Allegiance

This 9,000-year-old necklace is remarkable. Who wore it is even more surprising.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

NSF-NHERI WALL OF WIND, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY, MIAMI, FLORIDA

Incoming Idalia: Florida is preparing for its first hurricane of the season, which will make landfall during a supermoon, causing higher tides than normal. Across the state, scientists are thinking through ways on how to minimize storms’ impact—especially as climate change threatens to make them worse. (Above, a shed blasts apart in a Florida university’s wind tunnel in a quest to make storm-resistant homes.)

STORM SIMULATION

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY MUHAMMAD FADLI

Beep beep: Neo, a scooterist from a small town in Indonesia, traveled over 3,000 miles on his handcrafted Vespa (above). In this country, scooters aren’t just a mode of transportation, they’re a form of self expression. See more of these rebel riders.

REBEL RIDERS

ONE GREAT STORY

PHOTOGRAPH BY ERIKA LARSEN

Long were the days: Derby Lane in St. Petersburg, Florida, was America’s oldest operating greyhound racetrack—but in December 2020, it closed for good. Voters in the state effectively ended the sport when they opted to ban betting on dog races because of concerns about mistreatment of the animals. What became of the dogs? (Above, greyhounds thunder around the sandy oval at the racetrack.)

DERBY NO MORE?

Today’s soundtrack: Carmen, Olivia Dean

Thanks for reading our newsletter! It was edited and curated by Jen Tse, Hannah Farrow, Nancy San Martín, and David Beard. We’d love to hear from you: david.beard@natgeo.com. Keep shining!

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An Irish odyssey, Rocky Mountain road trip, Georgia on your mind

RJ Hamster

Who created these life-saving inventions? Plus, the best diet in the world; the sudden fall of Earth’s ’wickedest city’

Who created these life-saving inventions? Plus, the best diet…

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