“[M]oss is perhaps Wabi-sabi‘s standard bearer[.]” Wabi-sabi is a Japanese aesthetic that values imperfections. Embodied within the concept is a sense of humility that’s exuded in the asymmetrical, the impermanent, and the imperfect. Perhaps this can explain Japanese people’s sudden obsession with the plant, as moss perfectly fits into the Wabi-sabi aesthetic; it grows without rhyme or reason and is often overshadowed by bigger, grander flora. Read full article here
Oddities
The Curious Case of the Ancient Brain
In 2008, archaeologists examining the University of York discovered something strange: the decapitated head of an Iron Age man and his very shrivelled but very much intact brain. How a centuries-old brain was preserved is still unknown, but research suggests that it could have been because of brain diseases like dementia. The Yorkshire man’s brain’s proteins were bunched up together, much like how dementia causes brain proteins to bunch up into plaques. This bunching up, or aggregation, could continue even after death, turning regions of the brain into hard masses. Read full article here
Merv
September 30, 2022
