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This week I wrote a longer form post, originally posted on Reddit. Here’s the direct link, and here’s the full text:

My biggest and most profound realisation…

It started when I stood outside and looked up at the night sky, and I could actually see the moon move across the sky inch by inch. I realised that we’re all part of a solar system – which means connected bodies that are moving together through the gigantic void of space.

I heard a rustle in a tree nearby and saw a possum on a branch (we have really cute ones here in Australia). I thought that a long, long time ago my ancestors would have filled a similar ecological niche. Looking at it felt a lot like I was looking directly at my ancestors.

I looked at my hands and realised that my nails are just a modern adaption of tough claws. All aspects of my body, from the power in my muscles to the detail of my eyesight were shaped by distant ancestors tens of thousands of generations ago, which helped them survive in their tough environment.

Stretching my legs and neck caused waves of sensation which I assume is blood flowing through them, which was an amazing feeling. I just wanted to spend the rest of my time meditating and doing yoga – just feeling the sinews and muscles of my body which is like my vessel in the cosmos.

But the most profound experience came when it all kind of stitched together into an emotional realisation of what we are.

A hairless species of ape – the result of millions of generations of evolution, on the side of a rock with a thin atmosphere, which is orbiting a gigantic nuclear fireball, which is just one of BILLIONS. The unlikelyness of us even existing. Of having created the incredible civilisation that we have. It’s like I felt the wonder of that reality coursing through my veins.

But also of how civilisation is on a knife’s edge through our ignorant destruction of nature. I cried (a lot) and wrote down what I could so that I could remember and understand it all the next day…

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Cosmos newsA quick look at news from the big picture

Psychedelic therapy continues to show promising results. A new study published in the prestigious Nature Medicine journal has called MDMA-assisted therapy a ‘potential breakthrough treatment’ for PTSD 🔗 Link

A new brain computer interface (BCI) technique has allowed a paralyzed patient to write sentences on a screen simply by thinking about handwriting the letters. He could average a speed of 73.8 words per minute, as fast as a professional typist. Advancements like this may be a precursor to mass market adoption of a general purpose BCI computer 🔗 Link


Weekly wonders

🦁 Animals A “battleship” armadillo in safety mode.
Posted by hominoid_in_NGC4594

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🦜 Birds Did you know bald eagles can swim? But not in the way you’d think a bird would swim.
Posted by MsRegressiveHate

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Slug and just a drop of water in an endless sea
Posted by Nihilist911

🐠 Underwater Life Rhincodon typus using its filter feeding strategy to create a vortex near the surface and have an easy dinner.
Posted by Hitzugy