Nothing Truly Connects

We’re above an endless plateau of cirrus. Look at that wisp of crescent moon nailed to this impossibly saturated blue sky. The moon out at noon. Proof, and more proof, that I’m being watched.

The wolf ponders the caribou and presidium of both frogs and finches.

All creation conceptually pressed together like dried flukes onto grainy pilgrims carrying the resolve of photochemical interventionists.

Two photorealists connect and diverge as the narrative’s historical, artistic and scientific linearities are placed upon one another with enlightening translucence. But nothing truly connects.

Through the fog and supervolcanic water vapor saturating the stratosphere we see finches, cane toads, and poison dart aristocracies working wing by haunch at their various outposts across the world.

It’s all visible from this height. And this must suffice.

What I’m Reading:

Taurine — a common ingredient in energy drinks — might not be as closely linked to ageing as previous research has suggested. A study in 2023 suggested levels of the amino acid declined in people, mice and rhesus monkeys as they aged. A new study found that isn’t so. In fact, in all groups they studied, except male mice, natural taurine levels increased with age. “Taurine levels were not decreasing [with age] and are not related to any abnormality that they could see in this very good longitudinal study,” says geneticist Nir Barzilai.

— Humberto Basilio / “Taurine doesn’t boost lifespan after all” / Nature