Cat’s been out of the bag for a while: I’d rather be operating a switchboard than a megaphone these days.

To that end: I’ve been hosting more Zoom calls for my Patreon crew to hang out together, build community, and talk about their creative and adventurous projects on the regular. It turns out it’s extremely nice to do!

This month we’ve got a real treat: Patron Josh Horton will be giving a presentation about his journey around Cape Horn aboard the Dutch tall ship Oosterschelde. Josh joined up as part of Darwin200, an audacious voyage that’s been tracing the original path of HMS Beagle since 2023. They’re doing amazing work, and I’m really looking forward to getting a peek aboard.

The call happens Monday, May 12th at 11am Pacific Time. You can find the Zoom link and everything here. Can’t wait!

When Charles Darwin first saw a Venus flytrap, he was fascinated. The British naturalist was a pioneer in the scientific study of the carnivorous plant, perhaps the most famous one in the world. Seeing it move so quickly made it seem like an animal. The researcher even thought that there must be some plant equivalent to muscles and nerves. More than a century later, the Venus flytrap continues to challenge scientists’ ideas about plant movement. Now, a team of physicists and biologists have show that the secret to its snapping jaws lies in its capability of modifying the mechanical properties of its cellular walls almost instantaneously, a change that sets off the closure of the leaf around its prey.

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