I wonder how much extra complexity a driveshaft crossing the articulation joint would introduce

Same here :) I always assumed the engine was just placed at the back for packaging reasons and somehow drove the middle axle

I'd be careful about calling the physical world eternal, since we don't actually know that

I think the timing aspect is especially interesting here. We tend to focus on making individual artificial neurons more sophisticated, but a lot of the interesting behavior might come from how the whole circuit evolves over time

Absolutely! Just look at the gastric mill circuits that have been studied for decades. Single-digit neuron counts and still has incredibly complex functionality.

The Fourth Crusade really does read like a chain of "well, since we're already here…" decisions escalating into one of history's biggest geopolitical disasters

It's funny how many "financial innovations" seem to start as emergency hacks

Though I suspect "scientists deploy parasols for coral" sounds a little too much like the reef is on vacation

Shading can buy corals time against heat and light stress, but it does nothing about the declining carbonate availability they need to keep building skeleton

Probably not a reef-scale solution, but as triage for nurseries and high-value colonies during heatwaves, this seems genuinely useful

The small intestine section was the most interesting part to me. It turns the whole thing from "regeneration causes cancer" into a much more annoying engineering problem: regeneration, cancer suppression, energy use, and the actual mechanical job of the organ are all coupled.