"Ancillary Materials"

By Anna Rose Welch, Editorial & Community Director, Advancing RNA

And the Pulitzers for the most entertaining things to read go to…

• Have you ever felt something that you couldn’t describe, especially because there was no one single word to best describe that emotion? Well, now there’s a book of words for those “obscure sorrows” you may be feeling — and I desperately, desperately want it.
• This New York Times Magazine interactive story on the history of sushi in the U.S. began with “In the beginning, God did not create a sushi company.” And that was all it took to usher me through what is arguably one of the most fascinating stories about how one group of people “set out to build God’s Kingdom — and somehow ended up selling America’s raw fish.”
• I know I tell you on a biweekly basis that I want to change careers to become an art forger (or the secret agent that tracks them down), or someone who builds scales and weighs bears for a living in Finland. So, you likely won’t be surprised that I now would also like to move to Peru and become one of the “wild swimming women” of the "Las Truchas" (“The Trouts”) swimming group.
• Since you all have dedicated your lives to mastering some impressive and life-changing science, you’ll probably seriously appreciate this GQ story about a pianist who, through many misfortunes and illnesses, lost the use of both his hands. That is, until a set of $300 bionic gloves returned him to his rightful home on the piano bench.  
• Archaeologists digging through some ancient Roman ruins in Kent discovered some pretty cool things — the most important of which (to me) was the skeleton of what they believe used to be a domesticated house cat named Maxipus.   
• Speaking of pets, ditch the dogs and cats and guinea pigs and get thee to the adoption agency for this fuzzy dream boat. I’ll meet you there.  
• This writer has finally had enough, and I daresay we can all identify.