1. At the Bottom
Maria Tarnavskaya plunged to the "bottom" of Saint Petersburg, studying the lives and fates of Petersburg's homeless
2. Only in a gas mask and gloves. How the spiciest sauce in the world is made
Before popping a chicken leg in Atomic Kick Ass sauce into their mouths, patrons of the "Bindi" restaurant must sign a waiver releasing the establishment from liability for any potential consequences.
I love learning about spicy food, because I love eating it! But for reasons known to you, I don't risk it anymore.
3. THE TRIP PLANNERS
The unusual couple behind an online encyclopedia of psychoactive substances
A story about the creators of the famous Erowid website — an encyclopedia of psychoactive substances. As you know, one of my hobbies is knowing how the brain works, and how medicines and drugs affect it.
In this vein, it was enlightening to learn more about the history of the people who dedicated their lives to shedding light on this slippery topic. The information on the site is often so comprehensive and accurate that it's used by doctors, the police, and other officials — because thanks to the state's efforts, there are often no alternatives.
4. Self-control saps memory resources
Willpower, memory, and reasoning abilities in the brain compete for the exact same computational resources.
Simply put, if you held back and didn't eat that sweet, high-calorie pastry, your thinking will be noticeably worse. And not because “the brain needs sugar” (that's a harmful and confusing claim), but because the brain is already tired from trying to rein itself in.
5. Psychophysiologist Ilya Zakharov — on how your brain deceives you
The Village finds out how to train your gray matter, what makes RPG games useful, and how scientists can explain the existence of intuition, premonitions, and happy coincidences
About the brain again, but this time it's an actual scientist — and in Russian. Read it!