A New Kind of Language, Moon Plants, and Jell-O Salads

Can You Build a Language on Touch Alone? (The New Yorker)
by Andrew Leland
Frustrated with the limitations of ASL, some DeafBlind people have developed a communication method called Protactile. Like the first generation using any new language, they’re creating its grammar and application in complex and organic ways.

Can We Grow Plants on the Moon? (Ars Technica)
by John Timmer
If people are ever going to stay on the Moon for more than a few days, it would be really nice to be able to grow food there. A new experiment with lunar regolith suggests it’s possible—but not easy at all.

The Triumphs and Horrors of Jell-O Salads (Atlas Obscura)
by Diana Hubbell
Gelatin is slippery stuff. Over the centuries, aspics and Jell-O salads have represented aristocratic sophistication, childish simplicity, scientific triumph, and visceral horror. Today, American culture may have little respect for the stuff, but that could be changing as well.

Our Gentle Black Hole (Reuters)
by Will Dunham
The first images of the black hole in the center of our galaxy reveal swirls of frantic activity around the event horizon of the cosmic giant—and an oasis of relative calm at the center.

A History of Teaching Emotional Learning (CNN)
by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela
In some places, Social Emotional Learning has become a politicized issue. It’s not the first time that Americans have been divided over schools’ approaches to students’ moods and motivations.

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