Cool stuff that’s too small for a big article
Just like it says, Popcorn Shorts is about the kind of things we think are really interesting, but don’t really need a large article to explain them. From the sublime to the ridiculous, check in here for crunchy bits of info you’ll love to munch.
Fish Buttholes May Be The Reason We Now Have Fingers, Study Finds
(from Michelle Starr on ScienceAlert) The headline IS the story on this one; the article is just detail. “The reason we humans have fingers today may all be thanks to a fish’s clacker. New research into the origins of digit formation shows that the DNA switch controlling finger and toe development got its humble start regulating the formation of fish cloacas, 380 million years ago. It’s a beautiful illustration of nature’s “waste not, want not” ethos in action: Why build new genetic tools from scratch when existing ones can be repurposed for the job?…”
(If you came here because you’re wondering how we got a pic of a fish’s butt when fishes don’t have butts, that’s an entirely different story. That’s a picture of a starfish that went viral for its imitation glutes. Story is here.)
Dealing with “bad faith’ actors
Game Theory, the analysis of human behavior based on competitive strategy, has a critical assumption… all players are “Good Actors” in that they all try to win, but only by staying within the rules of the Game. Unfortunately, not all players in the Game of Life are Good Actors. Some are Bad Actors… people who cheat, lie, steal, or otherwise break the rules of the game for their own selfish ends. Our story this month on “The Veil of Ignorance” raises a solid question… how does a Good Actor deal with a bad actor? This article attempts to grapple with the problem, but spoiler- they don’t come up with a very tidy or satisfying conclusion. Useful read anyway!
If you like The Onion, you’ll love The Needling
“Masked ICE Agents Infiltrate Portland Emergency Naked Bike Ride Protest” was the headline that catfished us in to The Needling, a fake news newspaper out of Seattle that’s lining up to be stiff competition for The Onion. (The Onion sold out to Big Fake News anyway, so they aren’t what they once were.) Though they bill themselves as “Seattle’s only Real fake news”, The Needling brings you stories made up about the whole Northwest. Several stories this month centered around the ICE protests in Portland, though one wonders how to write something more surreal than the situation on the ground. When the Real News only brings angst, maybe it’s time to turn to the Fake News for a smile… we suggest you start with The Needling.
The planet has entered a ‘new reality’ as it hits its first climate tipping point, landmark report finds
(Laura Paddison on CNN, Oct 2025) “The planet is grappling with a “new reality” as it reaches the first in a series of catastrophic and potentially irreversible climate tipping points: the widespread death of coral reefs, according to a landmark report produced by 160 scientists across the world. As humans burn fossil fuels and ratchet up temperatures, it’s already driving more severe heat waves, floods, droughts, and wildfires. But there are even bigger impacts on the horizon. Climate change may also be pushing Earth’s crucial systems — from the Amazon rainforest to polar ice sheets — so far out of balance they collapse, sending catastrophic ripples across the planet… Warm water corals are the first, according to report…”
