The temperature has been turned all the way up for Wimbledon this year — and we’re not just referring to the heat wave. The London Grand Slam tournament, which begins today, will feature the Williams sisters playing there together for the first time since 2016 (when, for the record, they won the doubles title). Venus and Serena will play doubles again, and Serena, newly back from retirement, accepted a wild card spot for women’s singles as well. Here’s everything you need to know about the tournament.
That headline sounds a bit bizarre, we know, but it’s true. Among pigeons’ many talents is providing an extra set of eyes for doctors looking for signs of cancer in medical scans. In 2015, researchers enlisted the unlikely medical assistants to identify breast cancer in mammograms to help prevent imaging misses. Now, another team of scientists has recruited the birds yet again to train AI to help do the same. In a study published earlier this year, researchers trained six pigeons to watch CT scan videos and spot lung nodules, a type of growth that could be a sign of cancer. After the birds learned to spot the lung nodules, they also started recognizing emphysema and ground-glass nodules — both problems they hadn’t even been trained on. Here’s where AI comes in: The researchers are now trying to channel the pigeon’s keen visual system, which works similarly to the human’s unconscious visual system, to develop medical AI tools that can double, triple, and quadruple check scans. They noted that the pigeon-inspired method will by no means replace radiologists, but rather help ensure scans are understood as thoroughly as possible. Thanks in advance, pigeons!
Together With Tangle
If You’ve Started Tuning Out Political News, This Newsletter Is for You
Political news is exhausting. Most people don’t stop paying attention because they don’t care. They stop because they don’t know who to trust. That’s exactly why Tangle was built. Every weekday, Tangle breaks down one major story with perspectives from the left, right, and center, so you can understand what happened without spending hours sorting through bias and outrage. More than 500,000 readers across the political spectrum rely on Tangle because it’s independent, fact-driven, and refreshingly nuanced. Best of all, it’s completely free.
Scintillating Children’s Book Goes Viral on TikTok, 4 Decades After It Came Out
Barnes & Noble
Long before TikTok (and even smartphones, for that matter), a group of English professors at the University of Colorado published The Weighty Word Book. The 1985 children’s book introduces little ones to hefty vocabulary words, such as scintillate, felicity, and vacillate, through imaginative stories and illustrations. The authors were told the book wasn’t considered marketable at the time, so they self-published the story and it eventually went out of print — that was until it fortuitously made the rounds on TikTok this year. “My nephew called me, and he burst out laughing. He says, ‘You’re a TikTok sensation,’” co-author Elissa Guralnick told CBS News. Last month, a video went viral of a user sharing that he was looking for the children’s book that had changed his life. And just like that, within a week, the story sold more than it had in nearly two decades. Sales are just the cherry on top (or lagniappe, in the spirit of big words), Guralnick said: “We didn’t write The Weighty Word Book to make money. We wrote The Weighty Word Book because it was fun for us, and it turned out to be fun for the children who read it. And that’s where the joy is.”
Humanity
Chicago Area Program Fosters Safer Interactions Between Police and Those With Autism
Cook County Sheriff’s Office
As autism spectrum disorder is becoming more diagnosed and better understood, a new program in Cook County, Illinois, is hoping to translate that understanding into safer and more respectful interactions between police officers and community members. Called the “Blue Envelope Program,” the thoughtful initiative provides a free, bright blue envelope for individuals with autism and other communication differences to store important documents (like vehicle registration and proof of insurance), as well as a card stating “Driver Is on the Autism Spectrum” in bold, capitalized letters. Instructions for the officer are also listed on one side of the card, such as “allow driver extra time to respond” and “speak clearly.” And on the other side are simple guidelines for the individual to follow if they’re pulled over during a traffic stop or other encounter. The hope is that a few small reminders will go a long way to de-escalate what can be a stress-inducing situation for everyone. “We believe the Blue Envelope Program will strengthen trust, enhance safety for everyone involved, and ensure that all residents are treated with dignity, respect, and care,” Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart said in a statement. The program started in Connecticut in 2020, and variations have since been implemented in many other jurisdictions, including areas of California, Washington, Colorado, Texas, and Florida.
In Other News
An ambitious “BioVault” project is in the works to archive the living cells of about 2,300 endangered species (read more)
For the first time, researchers fully deciphered a closed Herculaneum scroll damaged by Mount Vesuvius (read more)
A Norman Rockwell painting that once hung in the White House is now on public display (read more)
Construction crews spotted remains of a centuries-old shipwreck near a future offshore wind farm in the U.K. (read more)
“Turtle tunnels” are helping endangered reptiles bypass traffic risks in Maine(read more)
Inspiring Story
Puppies for the win
Last week, the U.S. men’s national soccer team got a much-needed paws from the pressures of the World Cup thanks to a surprise visit from three adorable rescue dogs. The nonprofit Wags and Walks brought Bud, Bloom, and Dew Drop to the team’s training camp to promote pet adoption. Already, two of the three pups have been adopted and there are talks for another puppy session soon. See the pups.
Photo of the Day
Gardens of Golden Gate Park
Wistful for the scent of rotting meat? That’s the pitch for going to visit the “corpse flower,” lovingly named Scarlet, that bloomed last week in San Francisco’s Gardens of Golden Gate Park. Scarlet only blooms for two days every three to five years, so flower lovers came out in droves for the fleeting (and smelly) event, even prompting the garden to sell after-hours tickets. For those curious about the rare phenomenon, you can watch a timelapse of 2018’s bloom — sans stink.
Experts Didn’t Expect This From the Horizon IX Hearing Device
Audiologists prescribed Horizon IX for clearer hearing, but didn’t expect patients to think more clearly too. Research from Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and the NIH found that when hearing clarity improves, so does memory and focus. Horizon IX’s dual-processing AI separates speech from background noise, so your brain isn’t working overtime. That’s why it’s trusted by over 670,000 people. Claim your 45-day, no-risk trial today.
