A list of good reads
- As the world obsessively pops weight-loss pills, health journalist Julia Belluz in New York Times (splainer gift link) questions the public discourse that frames obesity as a disease.
- The Hindu looks at why Indian publishers are hesitant to publish short stories, despite a roster of authors who have mastered the literary form.
- Vox breaks down the extremely messy and confusing fight over who should profit from animal DNA—with a focus on ‘biopiracy’.
- Wall Street Journal (splainer gift link) has a fascinating read about how paediatricians created the fatal peanut allergy epidemic in the US.
- CNN has a warning about “last-chance tourism”—trips to the world’s fast-disappearing glaciers that are turning lethal.
- Anu Atluru in Working Theorys pens a must-read essay on why code (software) has lost out to taste (design) in Silicon Valley. Hint: think Apple, Tesla and AirBnb. (H/t subscriber Nirmal Bhansali)
- Vikram Doctor in Scroll looks at how Indian food united South Africans and helped in the fight against apartheid.
- BBC News has a cool feature on a German Jewish woman—Gerda Philipsborn—who helped two Indian men build Jamia Millia University.
- One person’s tidy is another’s chaos. The Guardian looks at the cult of storage and asks: Is clutter such a bad thing?
- Washington Post (splainer gift link) measures the environmental costs of ChatGPT—one email at a time.
