Colin Wright

A cartoonist's review of AI art This is a comic about AI art.

A cartoonist's review of AI art

On Self-Promotion W&S is a weekly newsletter about reading, writing, and publishing by author Colin Wright.

On Self-Promotion

How to Turn Anxiety Into Adventure The secret is to turn your feeling of dread into the excitement of opportunity.

How to Turn Anxiety Into Adventure

Teenager with hyperthymesia exhibits extraordinary mental time travel abilities Scientists in France have documented the case of a teenager with extraordinary autobiographical memory. She can vividly reexperience past events and imagine future ones in detail, highlighting a rare form of mental time travel and emotional memory organization.

Teenager with hyperthymesia exhibits extraordinary mental time travel abilities

‘Don’t Think, Just Solve’ Max Park is a longtime speedcubing world record holder — for the 3x3x3 cube, his best official time is 3.13 seconds. Let's show you how he does it.

‘Don’t Think, Just Solve’

God Dog BLACK RUSSIAN TERRIER, read the chyron on Madison Square Garden’s GardenVision video display. Beneath: THEIR ONLY COLOR IS BLACK.

God Dog

Are You There, God? It's Me, Celibate. Jennifer Stewart's West Texas college was known for its commitment to conservatism and its high concentration of STDs.

Are You There, God? It's Me, Celibate.

The Case of the Poisoned Cheesecake A Russian woman on the run. A Ukrainian salon worker. And a killer dessert. This is the wildest true crime tale you’ll read all year.

The Case of the Poisoned Cheesecake

American Hindenburg In the early days of flight, airships were hailed as the future of war. Then disaster struck the USS Akron.

American Hindenburg

The ROI of exercise The math on why exercise is a good deal.

The ROI of exercise

Querying W&S is a weekly newsletter about reading, writing, and publishing by author Colin Wright.

Querying

You can try to like stuff it offers lessons on your nature

You can try to like stuff

The day Return became Enter A deep dive into the convoluted and fascinating story of one of the most important keys on the keyboard

The day Return became Enter

How the ‘myth of Phineas Gage’ affects brain injury survivors The misunderstood story of Phineas Gage shows that we need a new way of understanding the experiences of brain injury survivors

How the ‘myth of Phineas Gage’ affects brain injury survivors

important to remember that apocalypse is a fantasy that absolves you of your responsibilities

What's This Now? What’s This Now?

What's This Now?

Wrong Colin Wright :)

Fashion models reckon with AI models and digital clones after controversial ad appears in Vogue As more brands experiment with AI models and digital clones, fashion workers are wrestling with how to stay relevant in a field that's already fiercely competitive.

Fashion models reckon with AI models and digital clones after controversial ad appears in Vogue

Where are all the trillion dollar biotechs? Of the many trends people chase in biotech, the only one that proves sure and consistent is declining returns. Even after adjusting for inflation, the number of new drugs approved per $1 billion of R&D spending has halved approximately every nine years since 1950. Deloitte’s forecast R&a

Where are all the trillion dollar biotechs?

Empires decline all the time, for all kinds of reasons, but our present moment will be remembered in history books for the sheer volume of *voluntary & pointless self-imposed damage*. We're systematically dismantling what made us great, for no reason! Genuinely, with no rationale! It's wild.

Unmasking the Sea Star Killer After a decade of carnage, we finally know what’s devastating sea stars along North America’s West Coast. Does that mean scientists can save them?

Unmasking the Sea Star Killer

30 minutes with a stranger Watch hundreds of strangers talk for 30 minutes, and track how their moods change

30 minutes with a stranger

Museum of Color From ochre to lapis lazuli, Stephanie Krzywonos opens a door into the entangled histories of our most iconic pigments, revealing how colors hold stories of both lightness and darkness.

Museum of Color

The Colors of the World, Seen From the International Space Station Auroras, moonsets, the Milky Way, and more in recent photographs from ISS crew members in orbit. Take a look at @TheAtlPhoto:

The Colors of the World, Seen From the International Space Station

The Woman Who Perfected Flower Painting The 17th-century painter Rachel Ruysch was once more famous than Vermeer.

The Woman Who Perfected Flower Painting

Gas found in space could help repair damage to Old Masters, say researchers Conservators discovered that lead white on these important works was deteriorating at an “alarming” rate. Could oxygen from the Earth's orbit be the solution?

Gas found in space could help repair damage to Old Masters, say researchers

How the Black Death reshaped English Unearthing the causes of the Great Vowel Shift

How the Black Death reshaped English

The Pleasure of Patterns in Art The interplay between repetition and variation is central to how we perceive structure, rhythm, and depth across mediums.

The Pleasure of Patterns in Art

The hidden calculations that determine whether you will cry We think of tears as an overflow of emotion, but an evolutionary lens shows they’re a rational form of social signalling

The hidden calculations that determine whether you will cry

Seabirds only poop while flying, researchers observe On Japan's desert islands, researchers uncovered a peculiar bathroom ritual among seabirds. Reporting in Current Biology, the team found that streaked shearwaters (Calonectris leucomelas) poop while flying—not while floating on water—and they do so every 4 to 10 minutes. This habit may help the birds stay clean and fertilize the ocean below.

Seabirds only poop while flying, researchers observe