Strands of Genius: August 12th

Curated by @rosiesiman + @faris.

the word: this week we started to wrap up a couple of big projects, began planning the next few months movements, hosted a west LDN Beersphere, filmed some interviews about the future present for the upcoming show The Day Before Tomorrow, and went Back to the Future. Strands is brought to you by 2 Daves, 4 episodes of Veronica Mars, 2 Deloreans, 1.5 Marvel movies, 6 wings, some pints and a pulled pork taco. 

• Since hearing Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass," we haven't been able to get it out of our heads. And this cover by Chasin' Crazy is the best we've heard. (Full disclosure: Rosie's dad manages the band, but our love for them isn't paid for!)
   
• Like Meghan, Faris is mostly about [drum and] bass. Music makes you feel, feelings change behavior. New research suggests heavy bass notes make you feel more powerful, which can make you more likely to volunteer for challenging situations.  
   
• Curious about DMT but not one to do drugs yourself? Vice gives you the skinny on the "illegal, psychedelic, tryptamine compound found in the human body and at least 60 species of plants worldwide." We're not even sure how to describe the rest of this article...
   
• Guardians of the Galaxy is great but don't take our word for it, just watch this clip of leading man Chris Pratt dropping a verse of Forgot About Dre. 
   
• A longread on the future of iced coffee, or really, cold brewed coffee, or more specifically, Blue Bottle coffee. Warning: It's hard to read this without craving coffee.
   
• Your brain uses as much energy when you aren't thinking at all as when you are thinking hard. Only recently have neuroscientists discovered that this is because your brain switches into the Default Mode [or task negative] Network, where it files memories, daydreams and creates non obvious combinations. So make sure to NOT constantly activate your attention with endless social media if you need an idea. 
   
• Speaking of ideas, Dave Birss kindly gave us a copy of his book A User's Guide to the Creative Mind - a lovely little book full of idea pumps. [You can get the first bit with a tweet.] 
   
• Much to our families chagrin, we are not contemplating little ones at this point. But for those tech-savy people who are, AwesomeBabyNames.com gives you names based on available domain names. Hopefully this aids the decision process instead of leading it ;)
   
• Pubs are closing all over the UK because economy because loopholes. So get out and support your local or you might lose it. 
   
• The news, as John Oliver so aptly puts it, continues to be terrible in lots of ways. So here are some beautiful photos of Tiny People Lost in The Majesty of Nature.