Weekend Reads 5/12/18

The incredibly frustrating reason there’s no Lyme disease vaccine

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a vaccine called LYMErix was sold to prevent between 76 and 92 percent of infections. Hundreds of thousands of people got it — until vaccine fear knocked it off the market.

Russian cuckoos are taking over Alaska

The cuckoo babies usually hatch first, then proceed to murder rightful nestlings and chuck eggs out of the nest. Birds that haven’t evolved to detect cuckoos will take care of their solo youngster, devoting all of their time and attention to it.

Hurricane Harvey was fueled by record heat in the Gulf of Mexico

When Harvey entered the Gulf of Mexico, it encountered record ocean heat energy (top graph in the image below). That wasn’t just random chance—average sea surface temperatures have increased about 0.6°C since 1960 (lower graph below). Global warming obviously includes warming seawater, which means greater ocean heat energy.

Pope Francis warns of two false paths to holiness

While Gnostics take pride in their knowledge, Pelagians take pride in their personal efforts. Gnostics stress the intellect, while Pelagians stress the will.