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Stories that challenge conventional wisdom

old bound books on vintage wooden background
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HBD Hermione and Arya

Inverse Daily: Dinosaurs, aliens, Covid-19, and exercise

Four stories that challenge conventional thinking are in this edition of Inverse Daily, the daily Inverse newsletter. This is an adapted version of the newsletter presented for the web.

Welcome to Inverse Daily. I’m Nick Lucchesi, editor-in-chief. Today, I’ve selected four stories that I think come close to challenging conventional wisdom — or at least traditional thinking.

  • Maybe we should not look for aliens.
  • Maybe the thin bones needed for flight in birds are not as important as we thought.
  • Maybe young people are more susceptible to getting Covid-19 than we thought.
  • And maybe histamine blockers — meant to help you fight seasonal sniffles — can actually negate a benefit we seek from exercise.

Let’s get into it below. I’m glad you’re here.

This is an adapted version of the Inverse Daily newsletter for April 15, 2021. Subscribe for free and earn rewards for reading every day in your inbox.

This 3D rendering shows a Dorygnathus, an extinct pterosaur that flew in the Jurassic-era skies. It had sharp teeth that it used to seize fish. Here, a gray one sits on a rock by the water with its lunch.

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Scientists discover the secret to gigantic pterosaur flight Pterosaurs' extremely long necks seem to be too fragile to capture large prey, but a new finding shows the unique vertebrae structure that made it possible, writes Bryan Lawver:

Pterosaurs — massive, winged reptiles more closely related to birds than modern lizards — are some of the strangest animals known to science.

Pterosaurs of the Azhdarchidae family (known as azhdarchids) had necks longer than those of giraffes.

Before now it was unclear how the thin bones required for flight could support the weight of their heads, especially when they were capturing prey.

Read the full story and see more images.

Three more:

  1. The asteroid that killed dinosaurs caused the birth of something great
  2. Newfound oldest primate ancestor watched the dinosaurs die
  3. What did dinosaurs look like? An unlikely team is debunking old beliefs
Inverse

Why we're seeing more young people with severe Covid-19 Experts tell Inverse’s Katie MacBride the attitudes and habits, vaccination tiers, and more transmissible variants all contribute to more cases of young adult hospitalizations:

Aren’t young people supposed to be less likely to have serious cases of Covid-19? Aren’t we vaccinating more people, which means cases should be going down? Does this have anything to do with the variants?

“It’s premature to declare a victory,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, announced in early April. “We’re seeing more and more young people get into serious trouble, namely severe disease, requiring hospitalization and occasionally even tragic deaths in quite young people.”

The answer to all three questions is yes.

Read our new feature story.

Three more:

  1. The Covid-19 info hub from Inverse
  2. One personality trait can help you fight quarantine fatigue
  3. An unlikely combination of drugs may work together to fight Covid-19

Oh, hi.

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What if our search for aliens goes horribly wrong? We are inching closer in our hunt for extraterrestrial life, but some think we should pump the brakes, reports Passant Rabie:

As we inch closer in our search for extraterrestrial life that may exist on another planet, some are wary of making contact with alien civilizations, while others are welcoming of an interstellar teleconference.

“That’s why I think the chances are quite high that we may make contact with an alien civilization,” theoretical physicist Michio Kaku tells The Guardian in a recent interview. “There are some colleagues of mine that believe we should reach out to them. I think that’s a terrible idea.”

Therein lies the debate. To use the slang of text messaging, do we leave aliens on read?

Read the full story.

Three more:

  1. 6 extreme creatures that hint aliens are out there
  2. Most pristine comet ever found may reveal the secrets of alien star systems
  3. Perseverance is getting ready to hunt for ancient aliens on Mars

The weird connection between exercise and antihistamines Blocking one process in your body can dampen the benefits of exercise, writes Sophie Putka:

You might not associate an allergy attack or seasonal sniffles with a weekly workout — but a chemical in the body ties them together in one unexpected way, suggests new research.

New research has found that people given histamine blockers missed out on the long-term benefits of exercise after completing a workout regimen.

Read the full story.

Three more:

  1. Why LSD may be as good for you as yoga
  2. Covid-19 masks and exercise: What scientists say is safe
  3. Why coffee before a workout could help your body

That wraps up this Thursday edition of Inverse Daily. I would like to thank you for reading so loyally! You can follow me on Twitter at @nicklucchesi, where I share some of my favorite stories from Inverse every day.

One more thing... Happy birthday to Arya and Hermione:

Two actresses who inhabit so much of what we think about when we envision on-screen fantasy stories share a birthday today. Maisie Williams, who played Arya Stark on the HBO series Game of Thrones, and Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, each mark the passage of another year today. (Watson turns 31; Williams 24.)

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