Toshiro Mifune As Detective Murakami In Stray Dog (1949) Dir. Akira Kurosawa

in love with these fragmented portions of a Sumerian lullaby

A man and woman wearing Mongolian (蒙古族) attire for a douyin trend. Ethnic Mongolians are one of 56 official ethnic groups in China.

Rabies is an incredibly lethal virus that kills more than 50,000 people globally each year. About 99% of those people who die from rabies were infected by the bite of a dog. This doesn’t mean that dogs are evil, or that they are disgusting, or that they should be eradicated from the planet to prevent the risk of disease transmission to humans. It does mean that we should do everything in our power to promote vaccination efforts, study disease transmission on a local and global scale, and find ways to prevent infected dogs from encountering and biting humans.

Okay, now are you ready to hear my biggest personal biology hot take?

This is pretty much how I feel about ticks carrying Borrelia burgdorferi (the bacteria that causes Lyme disease) and other arthropod disease vectors. Yes, these animals cause unbelievable suffering to humans by inadvertently transmitting disease, but that doesn’t mean they should be portrayed as evil or exterminated entirely from the environment. Ecologists have been speaking for years on how critical these species are within their established trophic webs, and how their removal could have devastating effects to many other organisms including humans. You can still be scared of or grossed out by these animals (very normal response to a potentially dangerous disease vector), but it’s important to understand that the best way for scientists to minimize the risk of these animals is NOT just eliminating them from the environment. No animal is evil or immoral for the ecological niche it fills, and encouraging a more nuanced understanding of these animals can arm us with better ways to minimize their negative impact to humans.

Mushroom hair pin

*The quote is from a poem by Song Dynasty poet 苏轼 (Su Shi), but with "old person" replaced by "man"

[eng by me]

While I'm promoting museum visits. The Morgan Library's exhibit on the women of Mesopotamia ends February 19. If I had the time, I'd fly to New York just to see it. If I had the time, I'd be there right now.

by the sea

so says the greek chorus

Phoenician Bowls from the Regolini-Galassi Tomb c. 700 BCE? Caere, Italy "The Regolini-Galassi tomb is one of the wealthiest Etruscan family tombs in Caere, an ancient city in Italy approximately 50–60 kilometres (31–37 mi) north-northwest of Rome. The tomb dates to between 680/675-650 BC. Based on the evidence of the tomb's architecture and its contents, it was built by a wealthy family of Caere. The grave goods included with the two decedents included bronze cauldrons and gold jewellery of Etruscan origin in the Oriental style." Source: Grifi, Luigi (1841) (in Italian) Monumenti di Cere antica spiegati colle osservanze del culto di Mitra

As Above, So Below by Daniele Valeriani.