SPONSORED BY  | | | | October 31, 2023: You are the hero in your own tale, how we're saving the California Condors from avian flu and what to do about nuclear waste. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | People who frame their own life as a hero's journey find more meaning in it, according to new research. When people start to see their own lives as heroic quests they report less depression and can cope better with life's challenges, write researchers Ben Rogers, Kurt Gray and Mike Christian. They identified seven elements in legends and everyday life that make up a hero's quest: a lead protagonist, a shift of circumstances, a quest, a challenge, allies, a personal transformation and a resulting legacy.
What they found: The researchers collected life stories from more than 1,200 people, including online participants and a group of middle-age adults in Chicago. People who had more hero's journey elements in their life stories reported more meaning in life, more flourishing and less depression. These "heroic" people (men and women were equally likely to see their life as a hero's journey) reported a clearer sense of themselves than other participants did and more new adventures, strong goals, good friends, and so on.
The follow-up: In their next study of 1,700 participants, Rogers, Gray and Christian asked individuals to "restory" their life tale, identifying the seven elements of the hero's journey and connecting them together into a coherent narrative. Those who reframed their own stories reported more meaning in their lives, higher well-being and more resilience; these participants saw obstacles more positively and dealt with them more creatively. | | | The many steps of a "hero's journey," a narrative blueprint described by mythologist Joseph Campbell, can be abridged to seven key elements. | | | This past spring, avian influenza had killed 21 California Condors of the flock that soars over Arizona and Utah (and makes up about half of the total population of Condors, which was 561 strong at the beginning of the year). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service worked with the FDA to acquire and test a vaccine against bird flu. Twenty-one Condors in captivity were fully vaccinated as of August 25, and 60 percent showed antibodies against the disease, which should offer some protection. The FWS is working on a plan to protect all Condors (even those in the wild) before spring migration starts.
Why this matters: In Europe a highly pathogenic strain of avian flu became epidemic in numerous species of wild birds by 2021, and the strain reached the U.S. the following year. By now that strain has likely killed millions of wild birds, experts estimate. Condors are particularly vulnerable to avian influenza because they interact with each other quite a bit–living in extended family groups and kin networks.
What the experts say: "I think it's a lot easier to combat the avian flu issue because it's much more straightforward," says Jonathan Hall, a wildlife ecologist at Eastern Michigan University. "The ongoing threats that condors face, really primarily because of the way that the environment has changed over the last 500 years on this continent due to colonization—that's a much harder issue to address." | | | • "Pepper X" is officially the hottest pepper in the world, coming in at 2.693 million Scoville heat units. Here's how its creator bred the tongue bomb (and spent six hours recovering from eating it). | 10 min listen | | | • Nuclear waste is piling up, and finding a way to store it safely has been locked in debate for decades. To make progress and identify suitable storage sites, "our hazardous waste and clean water laws must have full authority over radioactivity and nuclear waste facilities so that EPA—and the states—can assert direct regulatory authority," writes Geoffrey H. Fettus, former director of the nuclear program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. | 6 min read | | | SPONSORED CONTENT BY THE TEMPLETON WORLD CHARITY FOUNDATION | Discover the Science of How Humans and Our World Thrive | Can science provide solutions for a flourishing world? The 2nd annual Global Flourishing Conference will examine the future of AI, dissect the science of love and loneliness, and how humans use creative expression to thrive, and more. Register today for your opportunity to learn from global experts in flourishing. | | | Humans have a predilection for storytelling. Ancient cave-paintings, mythological heroes and biblical parables have filled our minds for millennia. It turns out there is a strong evolutionary and psychological purpose to stories. And stories are the underpinning of journalism, so they have a special meaning for me. | Thank you for reading the stories in Today in Science. I write this newsletter for you, so please let me know how you like it: newsletters@sciam.com. Until tomorrow! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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