Happy Hump Day!

History offers unexpected lessons about living together. In 17th-century West Africa, a trading town mixed faiths and languages without the rigid boundaries we assume are natural. Today's parents face opposite pressures, investigated for letting capable children ride buses alone despite data showing independence builds resilience better than constant supervision. Meanwhile, an ultrarunner who summits Everest casually explains how exposing yourself to suffering since childhood expands what bodies can endure. And four decades ago, Cold War scientists sent pregnant rats to space, discovering microgravity makes labor twice as hard and rewires fetal development.

Happy Reading,

Brett

In 17th-century Cacheu, a Portuguese trading post in what's now Guinea-Bissau, religious diversity wasn't just tolerated but woven into daily life. Crispina Peres, a powerful mixed-heritage trader, consulted both Catholic priests and West African healers without contradiction. Women dominated commerce while men traveled for trade. Residents spoke multiple languages, attended each other's funerals regardless of faith, and shared in Islamic, Catholic, Jewish, and Indigenous spiritual practices. The town thrived on this pluralism until Portuguese imperial authorities arrested Peres in 1665 for heresy, attempting to impose rigid religious boundaries that residents had never observed. Her Inquisition trial reveals how forcing hard categories between people served colonial control rather than safety. Cacheu's multifaith coexistence, where participation in diverse traditions strengthened community bonds, offers historical proof that rigid nationalism is neither inevitable nor ancient. Before the 19th century, shared lives across religious and ethnic lines were normal in multiethnic empires worldwide.

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Kílian Jornet runs up mountains for a living, holding speed records on Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn, summiting Everest twice in one week without oxygen. Last fall, the 38-year-old ultramarathoner climbed 72 Western peaks while cycling 2,500 miles between them in just over a month. Raised in a Pyrenees mountain lodge, Jornet learned to navigate forests blindfolded as a child, developing what he calls masochistic tendencies for suffering. He once stopped eating for a week until passing out midrun. His secret: viewing physical limits as movable through exposure rather than protection. Bodies adapt when stressed repeatedly since childhood. After witnessing his mentor die in a 2012 cornice collapse, Jornet took greater risks to test whether he should have died instead, numbing grief with uncharacteristic drinking. Now with three young children and a trail-runner wife, he's reconsidering his high risk tolerance, prioritizing their need for a father over summit fever.

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During the Cold War, American scientist Jeffrey Alberts flew to Moscow to collaborate with Soviet researchers on an unprecedented experiment: sending pregnant rats into space aboard Kosmos 1514. Despite political tensions and Reagan cutting relations after a downed airliner, the 1983 mission succeeded. The rats gave birth to live pups, proving mammalian pregnancy could survive microgravity. Yet the research revealed troubling complications. Freed from gravity, pregnant rats rolled constantly along cage walls and ceilings, weakening core muscles needed for labor. Their pups showed impaired balance and spatial orientation for days after birth. Later NASA shuttle experiments confirmed space makes labor significantly harder, requiring twice as many contractions. As Musk and Bezos race to colonize Mars, this decades-old rat data remains our only empirical evidence about pregnancy beyond Earth. The findings warn that space will reshape human evolution unpredictably, altering how fetuses develop, mothers give birth, and children grow into adults who may never adapt back to Earth.

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Vancouver father Adrian Crook let his four children, ages six to ten, ride the bus to school alone after years of accompanying them. Child services investigated him for neglect, citing guidelines requiring adult supervision for kids under ten. Yet statistics show bus travel is four times safer than cars, the leading child killer in Canada. Research increasingly supports childhood independence: kids allowed to roam play longer, develop better executive function, and show less anxiety than supervised peers. Risky play acts as natural exposure therapy, building resilience through manageable challenges. Playground deaths remain vanishingly rare, stranger abductions occur at one-in-14-million odds. Still, parents face social judgment and self-doubt when granting autonomy. After three years and $70,000 in legal fees, Crook won his appeal. His five children are now confident, independent young adults. The verdict: effective parenting means raising kids who don't need you.

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The internet gives you everything and helps you understand nothing. The Lunch Break Reads Weekend Edition solves that problem. Every week we pick one theme that actually matters and build you a curated reading list that goes deep instead of wide. Underground book markets. Deep-sea mining's geopolitical consequences. The kind of stuff that makes you dangerous at dinner parties.

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