Bacteria are controlling your mind

More evidence that we are "superorganisms" of many creatures working together and against each other. Bruce German predicted this years ago. The study is pretty basic - they aren't showing that bacteria are responsible for Mozart's musical genius - but it provides proof of concept. There's a good plain-language write up here.

This is cool

The plant above is called La Llareta. It's a bush with millions of tiny, tightly-packed leaves. It's in Chile's Atacama desert, and it's more than 2,000 years old. Rachel Sussman is photographing the oldest living things in the world. It's interesting to see the type of things that have had the fortitude, or adaptability, or luck to survive from one epoch into a very different time.