Why you should care about biodiversity, the "psychedelics renaissance" that may be on the horizon, and more.

Vivian Le's reads

Why a literary magazine at the country's oldest public hospital is so important. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this fall, the Bellevue Literary Review was founded at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan in 2001 to connect the medical profession to the act of storytelling, according to its co-founder Danielle Ofri. Writing for NPR, Neda Ulaby explains the shared qualities of medicine and literature and how health care workers' writings during the pandemic can help them heal.

Startups bank on psychedelic treatments for mental health. Field Trip Health and several other startups have turned to ketamine, a psychedelic drug, to treat mental health conditions, such as PTSD and depression. This has led to hopes that other psychedelic drugs, such as MDMA and psilocybin, will be legalized and used for treatment. Writing for Vox's "Recode," Rebecca Heilweil explains how startups use these drugs to treat patients and why a "psychedelics renaissance" may be on the horizon.

Alyssa Nystrom's reads

Why you should care about biodiversity. The 15th United Nations biodiversity conference began Monday, outlining targets aimed at addressing a rapid international collapse of species and ecosystems that sustain life on earth and make the planet function—ensuring that we have oxygen in the air, and fertile soil. Writing for the New York Times, Catrin Einhorn emphasizes the importance of this global meeting that most people have probably never heard of.

A meteorite crashed into a woman's bedroom while she slept. Ruth Hamilton awoke to her dog barking—and soon heard "an explosion" that left debris all over her face—then she looked up to see a hole in her ceiling caused by what she later realized was a 2.8-pound meteorite the size of a large man's fist that barely missed her head. Writing for the New York Times, John Yoon and Vjosa Isai detail what happened after a meteorite crashed into this woman's house.