Excellent and accurate review of Anna Burns’s Milkman

Over one hundred years ago researchers demonstrated that calorie restriction in rats increased lifespan, sometimes by as much as 50%. Since that time, the finding has been replicated and extended to primates. A few humans have taken up the diet but for most of us easy access to delicious food trumps willpower. A new paper in Science reviews the literature on calorie restriction and also offers some evidence that less restrictive regimes such as intermittent fasting may have similar effects.

Why the blue tongue? Things you should know about these common lizards

Faith: Drowning in a flood of conversation

It's best not to come in like a great tidal wave if you want to dwell in the joy of telling and listening.

Study: Does  Reading Fiction Increase Your Capacity For Empathy?

Psychologists have begun to explore this question by asking whether reading fiction improves people’s sensitivity to other people’s beliefs or emotions compared to either not reading or to reading nonfiction. A paper by David Dodell-Feder and Diana Tamir in the November 2018 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General looked across 14 studies using a technique called meta-analysis to determine whether there is reason to think that reading fiction improves social abilities.

What is great writing? Martin Amis on etiquette and arrogance Excellent and accurate review of Anna Burns’s Milkman, a strong and enduring work of fiction about Northern Ireland

From Kelly Crow at the WSJ:

New artists who show their work early in a relatively small network of 400 venues—like Gagosian Gallery or the Guggenheim Museum—are all but guaranteed a successful art career, the study said. By contrast, artists who exhibit mainly in lower-level galleries and midtier institutions are likely to remain stuck in that orbit.

interview about the painting

Smithsonian scholars pick their favorite books of the year.

Nick Bostrom has a new paper on the vulnerable world hypothesis (pdf).

Paul Romer on how to boost science (WSJ).