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Good morning! It's Sunday, Sept. 27, and welcome to our Sunday Edition. Today, we're exploring a hot topic in the medical world: the gut microbiome. Evidence suggests that trillions of microbes in our GI tract break down our food, train our immune system, affect our mood, and more.
After that, see highlights from the UN's General Debate this week (News in Context), who is funding the candidates in your local elections (Civics), a breakdown of how states contribute to the US GDP (Etc.), and much more.
📖 Our Sunday edition digs deep into the context and rabbit holes behind the news. We'll be back with our regular Daily Digest tomorrow through Saturday.
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The Ecosystem Inside You
Our bodies are covered in rich ecosystems invisible to the naked eye and inhabited by trillions of microscopic organisms that collectively make up the human microbiome (see video overview). Studies increasingly show that one of the most consequential microbiomes lies inside the digestive tract. Scientists hypothesize that the gut microbiome comes from bacterial colonization that slowly covers the body, inside and out, after birth.
> Visualize the different parts of the digestive tract. (More)
> See how the gut and the brain communicate through a bundle of nerves running from the brain to the digestive tract. (More, w/video)
This 30-foot-long tube—which includes the large and small intestines—may have as many as 100 trillion microbes that help break down food and perform other essential tasks, including producing hormones and neurotransmitters and training immune system cells.
> Trillions of bacteria, viruses, fungi, protists, and archaea live in our guts, producing a wide range of molecules, hormones, and more. (More)
> Farts are tiny status reports from our gut microbiome, with American adults typically passing gas more than 30 times daily. (More)
> Researchers generally group gut bacteria into six different categories. (More, w/visualization)
Finding ways to alter that composition and target specific microbes with future therapies is a key focus area as scientists learn about the microbiome's role in a wide range of mental and physical conditions, ranging from allergies to depression to autoimmune disorders.
> Rodents given gut microbes from depressed people may show depression-like symptoms. (More, w/video)
> Specific gut microbiome "fingerprints" are associated with cancer recurrence, with up to 94% accuracy. (More)
Discover more:
> Fecal transplants use processed donor stool to introduce healthy gut bacteria into a patient's intestines. (More)
> Some animals, including certain tropical ants, have little or no microbial populations in their gut. (More)
> Artificial sweeteners may disrupt gut health, throwing off the balance of beneficial bacteria and shifting the composition of the microbiome. (More)
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If You’ve Started Tuning Out Political News
… This newsletter is for you. Political news is exhausting. Most people don’t stop paying attention because they don’t care—they stop because they don’t know whom to trust. That’s exactly why we like Tangle.
In a world full of partisan opinions, clickbait, and endless hot takes, Tangle takes a different approach. Every weekday, they break down one major political story, then present the strongest arguments from the left, right, and center in a clear, 10-minute read.
The result? A 360-degree view of the day’s biggest story that helps you understand the facts, the context, and the best arguments from every perspective—so you can form your own opinion. Best of all, it’s completely free. Join more than 500,000 readers across the political spectrum who rely on Tangle for independent, fact-driven journalism.
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News in Context
1440 brings you the knowledge and context behind the week's stories:
World leaders gathered in New York City as the United Nations opened the General Debate of its 81st General Assembly. (More)
> Watch newsreel footage from the 1945 founding of the UN in San Francisco.
> The UN complex in NYC has a special international legal status and has its own postal service, fire department, and security forces.
An FDA advisory panel voted to endorse a blood test designed to detect up to 50 forms of cancer in people aged 50 or older. (More)
> Explore the most common types of cancer worldwide and the risk factors associated with them.
> Why larger animals like giraffes and elephants have lower cancer mortality rates.
A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump's ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House. (More)
> Take a tour of the White House press corps, which has existed in the building since the early 1900s.
> Polls show Americans think being informed is a priority for voting, but don't prioritize reading the news.
US News & World Report released its annual rankings of the nation's best universities. (More) (free w/email)
> This interactive tool provides regularly updated information on labor market outcomes of recent college graduates.
> Why college sticker prices can be misleading.
1440 Civics
According to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan campaign finance tracker, House and Senate candidates have raised over $2.5B during the current midterm election cycle.
> Explore who is funding the candidates in your local races, and how much they are giving. (More)
> Visualize the $14.7B spent by over 11,000 groups to influence the 2024 election cycle. (More)
... at least $1B of which came from donors nobody can identify, funneled to super PACs by shell companies and nonprofits. (More)
> See the top 10 individual donors from the 2024 presidential election and their political ideologies. (More)
Want more? Explore hundreds of our favorite Civics-related resources.
Would NATO Fight Russia?
NATO was built around a simple promise: An attack on one member is an attack on all. But that promise may be less straightforward than it sounds. 1440's Jeremy Cronig explains what would actually happen if Russia attacked a NATO country. Watch here or click below.
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Etcetera
A breakdown of every state's share of the entire US gross domestic product.
Dragonflies are the world's fastest-flying insect, reaching speeds of 36 miles per hour.
In the 1960s, reporters wrote an intentionally bad novel under a pseudonym that became a bestseller.
See the most iconic photos from four decades of Life magazine.
Not only are they cute, but black-tailed prairie dogs also play a pivotal role in North American grassland ecosystems.
Before it became the home of 24-hour prestige TV, HBO used to sign off each night. (w/video)
🫶 Humankind: Nashville singer-songwriter volunteers to rescue foxes, saving them from mange.
The pandemic contributed to a boom in supplements, even though some of the products don't work.
Explore the data behind every Major League Baseball player's success rate with the new tech-assisted challenge system.
After 9/11, The Onion stuck with satire, defying predictions of "the death of irony."
Sixteen types of artworks inspired by or evoking elements of different phobias.
Painting roofs white can help communities mitigate the effects of climate change, among other strategies.
Examine a web of circular investments among major AI industry players.
Historybook: Rosetta Stone is first deciphered (1822); First Black US senator Hiram Revels born (1827); Production of Ford Model T begins (1908); Legendary athlete Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias dies (1956); Actress Maggie Smith dies (2024).
"Practice, which some regard as a chore, should be approached as just about the most pleasant recreation ever devised."
— Babe Didrikson Zaharias
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