Quick Links for Saturday, August 26

› Finished Michio Kaku’s Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything (✭✭✭✫✫)

Photographer captures rare rainbow contrails pumping out of an airplane.

Researchers treat depression by reversing brain signals traveling the wrong way. “Powerful magnetic pulses applied to the scalp to stimulate the brain can bring fast relief to many severely depressed patients for whom standard treatments have failed. Yet it’s been a mystery exactly how this changes the brain to dissipate depression. Now, scientists have found that the treatment works by reversing the direction of abnormal brain signals. The findings also suggest that backward streams of neural activity between key areas of the brain could be used as a biomarker to help diagnose depression.”

What’s the Earth’s core made of? This article goes deep.

What’s the world’s oldest language? Determining the oldest language involves deciphering inscriptions and tracing linguistic evolution. Sumerian, Akkadian, and Egyptian are said to be the oldest written languages. Among the oldest living languages are Hebrew, Arabic, and Chinese, though the age of Sanskrit and Tamil's age remains disputed.