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Galley copies of my wife’s book arrived yesterday! So good. “Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves,” by nicolatwilley—out June 25 from penguinpress—on what happens to our food between farm and table. Preorder here: bookshop.org/a/4369/9780735…

A set of maps depicting Osage County oil and gas resources, made by N. Wood Bass et al. of the USGS, published in 1942. Interesting to see in light of David Grann’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” (and its recent adaptation). pubs.usgs.gov/publication/b9…

A “trend of ‘burglary tourism‘ from South America... Once in the country, police say, they plan heist sprees and fence the loot,” targeting “homes often connected to open spaces, hiking trails and canyons.” #burglarsguide latimes.com/california/sto…

“To umarell is to take an interest in the built environment”—where an “umarell” is a slightly comical, usually retired man who pauses to watch construction sites. Stoked to be a judge for the inaugural 2024 World Umarelling Championship! Rules here: scopeofwork.net/il-campionato-…

Randomly stumbled on these images—by early 20th-c. photographer Sergeĭ Mikhaĭlovich Prokudin-Gorskiĭ, color-composited by none other than Blaise Agüera (@blaiseaguera.bsky.social)—while putting together a new post. Click through for books, ambient music, quantum navigation, and more! endnotes.cc/p/quantum-navi…

Industrial cheese caves, ice houses, Ragnarök... If you're in LA on July 2nd, stop by North Figueroa Bookshop for stories behind nicolatwilley's superb new book FROSTBITE—how refrigeration changed our food, cities, landscapes, bodies, and more. Drinks to follow! northfigbookshop.com/event/#calenda…

“When ants have been exposed to a pathogen, they change the way they build their nests in order to reduce the risk of an epidemic.” We discussed this in “Until Proven Safe” (untilprovensafe.com)—animal architecture can exhibit quarantine protocols. newscientist.com/article/244732…

Thanks to Arnoldia: The Nature of Trees for including my review of “Landscapes of Retreat” by Rosetta S. Elkin, on the environmental, political, and—Elkin argues—therapeutic implications of “retreat.” Not online, but the journal, published by Harvard’s arboretum, is here: arboretum.harvard.edu/arnoldia/

Was randomly looking at mega-mansions in Los Angeles and found this detail—the owner invented a new financial product derived from the same math he previously used to send robotic spacecraft to Mars and Venus. (Right pic is the house.)

Awesome feature by my wife, nicolatwilley, in this week's The New Yorker on the quest to design “a substitute for blood that could be produced at will, stored for eternity, and given to anyone.” Includes both DARPA and a cameo by architect Christopher Wren. newyorker.com/magazine/2025/…