The News Not Noise Letter: News That Doesn’t Suck
A big win for people who do the housework. Plus: is the key to working out all in your gut? And the curious case of the sheep archaeologists.
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We want to acknowledge that there is big news today. Government regulators took over Silicon Valley Bank, and it’s caused a lot of concern and scary headlines. Here’s our Instagram post breaking down what’s happening and why you shouldn’t panic. Please read the comments too—many people added helpful information.
Here’s some news that doesn’t suck:
Bills, Bills, Bills: Here’s yet another thing the Spanish seem to do better. A Spanish court ordered a man to pay his ex-wife over 200,000 euros (roughly $218,300) to compensate for 25 years of unpaid domestic labor. In other words, she’ll now earn the minimum wage rate for the housework she did throughout their marriage. (Honestly, still not great, but better than the alternative.) Here’s the backstory: The woman stayed home and raised the couple’s two daughters while the man went out and built a gym business that reportedly earned him enough to buy a multi-million dollar home. Under their original divorce terms, the wife would have been entitled to nothing—zero—leaving her and their daughters without any financial security. The woman’s lawyer contended that her husband made it impossible for her to develop skills or to make any kind of a living during their marriage. The woman will now receive payment for years of the work she did to care for her home and family plus child support. Her lawyer told the press this “ruling represents the labor of all the women in the shadows.” Seems Europe is ahead of the US in recognizing how the burden of unpaid labor (housework, childcare, cooking, etc.) falls unfairly on women. To read about innovative ways to divide up household labor, check out Eve Rodsky’s book Fair Play
Big Cats in Unlikely Places: We’ve got a lot of cat news we’re gonna roll up into one item here. Researchers found evidence of previously-unknown cat life on Mount Everest. They discovered at least two (funny-looking) Pallas’s cats (example pictured above), an elusive, fluffy, grumpy-looking wild cat species, living on the mountain. Though thousands of people visit Sagarmatha National Park, which contains Everest, every year, this is the first time anyone has spotted proof of the rare Pallas’s cat there. The researchers published their findings in the journal Cat News (the existence of which feels like its own news that doesn’t suck).
The photo above is from the home of a family in San Manuel, Arizona. They woke up to find that a bobcat had snuck into their home overnight, probably through the unlocked doggie door, and made itself comfortable in their dog’s bed. The bobcat escaped before Arizona Game & Fish Department officers arrived, and no people or animals were harmed in the incident. No word yet on the bobcat’s Airbnb review of its overnight stay.
And finally Cocaine Bear may have met its match in Cincinnati’s Cocaine Cat. An illegally-owned serval, a wild cat native to Sub-Saharan Africa, escaped its owner’s vehicle when the driver was pulled over in January, then ran wildly through the streets of Cincinnati for a night. The cat was rescued, though he broke his leg in the chase, and when he was brought in for veterinary care, they found he had cocaine in his system. According to a member of the Cincinnati Animal CARE shelter, which took care of the serval when he was found, "Given the nature of his capture, we cannot currently say if this was intentional or environmental.” But Cocaine Cat, who is actually named Amiry, is getting a happy ending: he is now doing “very well” living at Cincinnati Zoo with experienced caretakers, who are looking to place him legally and permanently in the zoo’s Cat Ambassador Program where, presumably, there is no environmental cocaine.
Women & Well-Being: Wednesday was International Women’s Day, so we thought we’d ask, which countries have the highest rate of gender equity? If you guessed they’re Scandinavian, you’re correct: the 2022 Global Gender Gap Report from the World Economic Forum revealed that Iceland has the highest degree of gender equity in the world, closely followed by Norway and Sweden. What you may not have guessed: a new global study in the journal PLOS Global Public Health found that countries with greater gender equality also have higher life expectancies for both women and men. Researchers compared data from 156 countries, with each country rated for gender equity using a “modified global gender gap index” based on a World Economic Forum (WEF) model developed between 2010-2021. For every 10% increase in gender equality according to this index, researchers found an associated increase in life expectancy of 4.3 months for women and 3.5 months for men. It just goes to show, making life better for women makes life better for everyone. (And in case you were wondering, the countries with the worst scores for gender equity in 2022 were the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, and in last place, Afghanistan.)
A Gut Instinct: Have you struggled with that New Year’s resolution to hit the gym more often? The culprit might be in your gut. In recent years, scientists have discovered that the human microbiome, the complex system of bacteria and other microbes that live in our guts, has a profound impact on much more than our digestion. Now, scientists have found that gut ecology can impact motivation to exercise. How does this work? Two studies on mice illustrate it well. One study by scientists at the University of California at Riverside focused on a group of mice that had been specially bred to enjoy running and which had developed a different gut ecology than normal lab mice. The researchers gave these mice broad-spectrum antibiotics which wiped out the majority of their gut flora. After taking these antibiotics, the mice didn’t show signs of sickness, but they chose to exercise on their running wheels far less frequently than before they took the antibiotics. When they did choose to run, the mice weren’t any slower than usual—they just chose to run less often. The microbiome changes impacted their motivation to exercise, not their speed or stamina. Another, larger study by researchers at Penn and other institutions found that when mice exercised, certain chemicals were released in their guts that stimulated the nerves in their “gut-brain axis” and triggered the release of more dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is strongly associated with reward and motivation, so the more the mice exercised, the more their guts told their brains to feel good. However, mice which had specific key strains of bacteria in their gut experienced greater feelings of reward from exercise. Scientists don’t know yet exactly which strains would produce the same effect in humans, so we don’t have a miracle probiotic to recommend. However, exercise itself creates a healthier microbiome, so think of it as a feedback loop. The more you exercise, the easier it becomes to find motivation.
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