A new experimental vaccine takes aim at one of tuberculosis’s most stubborn defenses: the ability of bacteria to persist despite treatment. Source: Johns Hopkins Scientists Develop Nasal DNA Vaccine for Tuberculosis Very cool.

Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: […] The post Your Weekly Horoscope – ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny appeared first on Good News Network.

Snakes are not for everyone, but those who love them enough to keep them as pets tend to know a lot about them. Most snake owners do thorough research on the type of snake they want before purchasing. So imagine one snake lover’s surprise when her Texas rat snake had a bizarre reaction to a YouTuber. Taylor Dean recently turned to social media for help figuring out what was happening with her snake. She noticed something peculiar while watching YouTuber Markiplier (real name Mark Fischbach): Tofu, her Texas rat snake, would become visibly annoyed at the sight of his face on her computer screen. Photo credit: Canva – Woman baffled by pet snake's 'passionate hatred' towards YouTuber Markiplier Dean has been conducting mini experiments to determine whether her snake reacts to all YouTubers who use a corner reaction camera, or just Markiplier. Time and again, Tofu reacted aggressively only to him. Given her knowledge of snake eyesight and facial recognition, Dean grew more confused. “The reason this was so intriguing is because snakes don’t typically have the ability to discern and recognize different faces, so I’ll forever be confused over how a hatred can be so strong that it can transcend everything I’ve ever learned about snakes,” she wrote in the caption of her Instagram Reel. Mark Fischbach, aka Markiplier. Photo credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr According to Animal Club, snakes don’t recognize people by sight. Instead, they rely on scent and movement. The organization also notes that rat snakes are generally easygoing—like Tofu, when he’s not forced to see Markiplier’s face. This isn’t a passing dislike. Tofu is openly hostile toward Markiplier any time he appears, no matter where his face shows up. Luckily for the YouTuber, his real face has never been anywhere near Tofu. When the rat snake spots him, its attention shifts, its noodle-like body stiffens, and it strikes the screen. According to Dean, rat snakes have normal eyesight, but because they aren’t known to distinguish faces, she isn’t sure what Tofu is picking up on. View this post on Instagram In her experiment, she watched multiple other YouTubers who also use a corner reaction camera. Tofu showed no interest, slithering along and minding his own business. That is, until she switched back to Markiplier. Tofu clearly hates the guy, and his specific reaction may actually warrant further study. While it may seem like this Texas rat snake can distinguish between faces, science suggests they aren’t supposed to be able to do that. To confirm that Tofu was indeed reacting to Markiplier’s face, and not something in the background, Dean took the experiment IRL. She printed color photos of the YouTuber and attached them to a crafting stick. Tofu was neither fooled nor amused. Every time his owner brought the photo close, he recoiled, nearly folding himself into a knot to get away. It seemed that if she hadn’t been holding the stick, he would have struck, just as he did at the laptop screen. Photo credit: Canva – Woman baffled by pet snake's 'passionate hatred' towards YouTuber Markiplier Dean assured viewers that the snake is not experiencing stress, but instead shows a “passionate hatred” toward Markiplier. In the video, she said she had seen enough to conclude that Tofu recognizes and hates the YouTuber. Tofu will be safe from any further exposure to Markiplier content. People in the comments found Tofu’s hatred of Markiplier amusing, while others offered theories about his reaction. “What’s most hilarious to me is this is unironically possibly rewriting what is known about snakes,” a commenter wrote. One commenter joked that the snake might be a bit prejudiced, writing, “Imma say it again, you might need to show other Asian/wasian people to rule out racism.” A woman holds a white snake. Photo credit: Canva Another commenter wrote, “Markiplier’s continued silence on Tofu’s damning accusations is very telling… what did you do to Tofu, Markiplier? The people deserve the TRUTH!” One commenter noted that snake science might never be the same, writing, “I love how Tofu’s hatred is cutting-edge snake science.” This commenter shared a theory they came across on Tumblr: “Saw a theory on tumblr that, long story short, Tofu has seen you respond to jumpscares in his videos and thinks Mark, Personally, is a threat to you. Like crows recognizing the faces of people that have wronged their flock. Tofu doesn’t understand that humans like to be a little scared for fun and he’s trying to protect you.” The post Woman baffled by pet snake’s ‘passionate hatred’ toward YouTuber Markiplier appeared first on Upworthy.

When you think of mesh shirts and fishnet stockings, you might picture a goth, punk, or other brands of night club fashion. Most wouldn’t associate fishnet garments with hiking, skiing, or dogsledding. But as Michael Kristy from The Iron Snail Clothing Co. explains, fishnets are the underwear of choice for many. In particular, Norwegians who want to enjoy the great outdoors in all temperatures wear them. It may seem counterintuitive to wear something holey to stay warm, but there’s a reason it works better than most base layers. Kristy explains that Norwegians have been wearing fishnets under their clothes for over 100 years. And they’re not the only ones. The first people who summited Mt. Everest wore a fishnet layer under their clothing to stay warm. Mesh undergarments were popular around the 1950s, but they weren’t called fishnets. They were called “health vests” or “string vests” and they were touted as being “recommended by medical professionals.” What’s the big deal with mesh? It’s all about the air layer it creates. Wearing it under clothing serves as both an insulating layer and a moisture wicking layer. View this post on Instagram “It really helps regulate your overall body temperature and makes you feel a lot more comfortable when you don’t have wet, clammy clothes sticking to you at all times,” says Kristy. The Norwegian company Brynje manufactures mesh under layers and claims they are four to six times warmer than other base layers. So under other clothing, the fishnet fabric keeps you warmer. But conversely, if you get too hot, stripping down to only the mesh layer will quickly cool you down. In addition to plenty of punk/goth approvals, the comments included corroboration from Norwegians and others who have first-hand experience with the magic of mesh base layers: “Norwegian here, and proud wearer of «netting» as we call it in the military!” “Can confirm, most Norwegians (and neighbours) that do outdoors stuff use ullnetting/woolnet. It’s basically a cheatcode for staying warm, so I have a ton of these. The words fishnets or health/stringvests is never used. You can find very old farmers that use the word healthvest/helsetrøye, mostly people just call them ullnetting or netting if talking to outdoors people.” “I’m a veteran. I did training with the Norwegian army on a base north of Norway. I had so many layers and was constantly freezing my ass off. I noticed the Norwegian army guys had these fishnets as their first layer. And asked em why they all had that. He told me it was to keep them warm. Luckily i have not been in that kind of cold since. But getting those fishnet layers has been on my mind since.” Fishnet leggings add a surprising amount of warmth as an underlayer. Photo credit: Canva “Our guide on a glacier tour in Norway had these and told me about them, so I decided to give them a go for a recent vacation to go figure skating on wild ice in northern Sweden. I wore these nets under a merino wool baselayer and a thick Norwegian wool sweater (plus an outer synthetic hard shell to keep out the wind) and it was fantastic. Spent all day outdoors at -20°C combining intense workouts with picnic breaks and never got cold thanks to my base layer always being dry. 11/10 would recommend, I haven’t shut up about these since then.” “Yeah, it’s absolutely true too. I’m an avid outdoorsmen, so I’ve watched lots of tests on this. Fishnets outperform even the best wool base layers in absolutely every single category except for odor. Unless we’re talking niche applications there’s nothing better than the fishnets.” “I’ve been wearing mesh shirts under my normal clothes for about a year now—and without knowing this was exactly what they were used for, I found it helped me keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Imagine my surprise when this video teaches me I’ve been continuing a longstanding Norwegian tradition as a necessity for working in a warehouse (and for punk fashion lol).” With as many advancements as we’ve made, sometimes the traditional methods still work best. You can follow The Iron Snail on YouTube for more fun clothing facts. The post Man explains the counterintuitive reason Norwegians love fishnet underwear appeared first on Upworthy.

It’s a challenge every parent faces: striking that precarious balance between providing for their kids while still fostering independence. In today’s world, previous generations‘ struggles are a thing of the past, making that balance even harder to strike.  One parent recently found themselves at a loss with this predicament. They took to Reddit to see if they should “manufacture hardship” for their kids. In their post, they explained how they and their husband grew up “poor,” but managed to create a “very comfortable upper-middle-class life.” Because they freelance, they’re able to be a completely “engaged” parent as well—always there for “school pick-ups and getting driven around to extracurriculars.” A mom driving her two children. Photo credit: Canva And while the OP’s kids don’t act spoiled with material things, they noticeably lack a “capacity for dealing with even slight inconveniences.” From getting picked up five minutes later than their normal time, to minor switches to dinner plans, to non-VIP experiences at theme parks, this parent noted “attitudes” and “unregulated frustrations.” “If they ever face a college essay question about overcoming adversity, I don’t think they would even be able to answer it,” they wrote.   Why kids today aren’t as resilient In an article for Psychology Today, Nancy Colier LCSW, Rev. noted the rise of “helicopter parenting” and living life via a curated social media algorithm makes unregulated kids a common dilemma. Both, she argues, are symptoms of a modern culture that “conditions us to believe that life should be how we want it to be, that we shouldn’t have to struggle, and that our children shouldn’t have to, either.” A child with his head in his hand. Photo credit: Canva She goes on to say that “we don’t do our kids any favors” when we erase any trace of character building discomfort, and instead, “we create people who are dissatisfied and unhappy, and ultimately, are unable to deal with real life.” However,  Dr. Kate Renshaw, Director at Play and Filial Therapy, argues that “the real issue isn’t that children’s lives are too easy, it’s that they’re too tightly managed.” Furthermore, she tells Upworthy that “manufacturing hardship” can cause more harm than good. “Hardship without a consistent trusting relationship is confusing and stressful,” she says. “The neuroscience is clear: a child’s nervous system needs a co-regulatory anchor—a safe adult—to process difficulty in a way that builds resilience rather than artificially add to states of dysregulation.” This is why she suggests encouraging “unstructured, child-led play” where frustration tolerance can “naturally develop.” This can look like a stuck Play-Doh lid, navigating friendship decisions about gameplay, or outdoor play where the natural elements cannot be controlled by adults. Hands holding a Play-Doh house. Photo credit: Canva Suffice it to say, if even experts can’t agree on which approach is best, there isn’t exactly a one-size-fits-all solution. Even in the Reddit comments, some agreed that the parent should introduce some friction, while others said the attitude might go away on its own. So at the very least, maybe parents in this situation can give themselves a little grace.  The post Mom wonders if she should ‘manufacture hardship’ for her kids to build resilience. Other parents sound off. appeared first on Upworthy.