French inventor Franky Zapata has made the first-ever successful Channel crossing on a jet-powered flyboard. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49225001

Under the right conditions, DNA can last for thousands of years. RNA, on the other hand, degrades much more quickly and was thought impossible to recover in older samples. But now researchers have isolated and sequenced the RNA of a 14,000-year-old wolf found frozen in the Siberian permafrost. https://newatlas.com/pleistocene-wolf-rna-sequenced/60831

You can now play the original Diablo in a web browser https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/296021-you-can-now-play-the-original-diablo-in-a-web-browser

"As NASA turns its focus toward Mars, he recently completed a report identifying all the tasks interplanetary explorers must be ready for—many of which NASA hadn’t yet considered." https://www.sapiens.org/technology/nasa-anthropologist/

8 crime writers who wrote other forms of literature, including literary novels, memoirs, and even works of history. https://crimereads.com/when-crime-authors-write-non-crime-books/

Bad News Game →

Drop all ethics and become an unscrupulous media magnate. https://getbadnews.com/#intro

Most of us have heard that we should be hitting 10,000 steps a day to keep healthy and fit. But the research behind this target might surprise you.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190723-10000-steps-a-day-the-right-amount

Dr. William’s Pink Pills were manufactured by Williams Medicine Company, the trading arm of G. T. Fulford & Company, and marketed as “The Queen’s Gift” to the people, “an iron rich tonic for the blood and nerves to treat anaemia, clinical depression, poor appetite and lack of energy.” https://www.messynessychic.com/2019/08/02/a-brief-compendium-of-medical-quackery/

High avocado prices have forced some taquerias to substitute squash in their guac recipes.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/jul/24/faux-guacamole-raises-alarm-for-taco-lovers-as-avocado-prices-soar

A team of scientists report new insights into how the metastatic spread of melanoma is assisted by nearby fat cells. Doesn't mean obesity enhances the metastatic potential of skin cancers but it does point to new drugs that can stop the spread of melanoma. https://newatlas.com/melanoma-skin-cancer-metastatic-spread-fat-cells/60744/

A doctor explains how our brains can trick us into making bad choices - and how to fight back. https://www.vox.com/2019/7/23/20702987/brain-psychology-making-hard-decisions

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has discovered 21 planets outside our solar system and captured data on other interesting events occurring in the southern sky during its first year of science. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-s-tess-mission-completes-first-year-of-survey-turns-to-northern-sky

Woodstock 50 was called off two weeks before it was due to start. https://variety.com/2019/music/news/woodstock-50-off-dead-1203286874/

On a Monday in September 1949, scores of women showed up at the Sazerac Bar, dressed to the nines, and demanded New Orleans’ namesake drink in its eponymous bar - until then open only to men.
https://wine4food.com/featured/storming-of-the-sazerac

>> Researchers found that a “vast majority” of their respondents believed they were poorer, relative to others, than they actually were.
(To my own surprise, I was pretty spot-on.)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/01/upshot/are-you-rich.html

Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-july-2019/chelsea-westminster-hospital-arts-research/

The popularity of theater-going has been in decline for close to 20 years. This year, per capita movie ticket sales in the United States and Canada are likely to fall below 3.45, nearly 35% less than in 2002 (or 1.75 fewer tickets per person per year). https://redef.com/original/the-absurdities-of-franchise-fatigue-and-sequelitis-or-what-is-happening-to-the-box-office

NASA fed moon dust to cockroaches. The scientists also exposed birds, fish, and rodents to lunar samples to test whether the Apollo astronauts brought back any nasty space diseases. https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/29/us/nasa-lunar-samples-testing-scn-trnd/index.html

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords: Tips for working with a co-bot https://www.hpe.com/us/en/insights/articles/what-its-like-to-work-with-a-robot-1907.html

An Essential History Immortalized in the Archive of Ebony and Jet https://hyperallergic.com/511122/ebony-and-jet-archive-sale/