Weekend Reads 6/15/19

Oldest evidence of cannabis smoking found in ancient Chinese cemetery

Although cannabis has turned up at other sites, from Western China to the Altai Mountains in Siberia, archaeologists have never found such direct indications that ancient people were lighting it up. Elsewhere, cannabis plants buried with the dead may be a sign that people ate parts of the plant for a similar effect (although brownies wouldn’t be invented for millennia). But without doing a similar chemical analysis on human remains from those graves, archaeologists can’t say for sure.

You’re never too old to boost your metabolism. Here’s how

Contrary to popular belief, metabolism does not necessarily slow with age. “There is really no specific relationship between age and metabolism,” Lutfi says.

However, as we age, many indirect factors come into play. People in their 20s, 30s and 40s tend to be more active, he says, and, generally, people become more sedentary as they get older.

Every Day at 5:00, Japan Tests Its Disaster Warning System With Folk Tunes

For the tests, to avoid unduly jangling nerves, most towns play soothing 30- to 60-second melodies from Japanese folk tunes. A common choice of melody is “Yuyake Koyake,” a folk song popular among schoolchildren. One town, the mountain hamlet of Kanna-machi in Japan’s central Gunma Prefecture, has adopted the “Colonel Bogey March” from The Bridge on the River Kwai as its chime—a curious choice considering the film largely takes place in a Japanese forced labor camp for British POWs.

The problem with Biden’s plan to push China on climate

While the Paris targets now seem like they might not be up to the task, the fact that China has kept its word and the U.S. is withdrawing from the agreement has not been lost on the Chinese. An editorial from state-run media outlet Global Times questioned why China should be making concessions on fossil-fuel use while the U.S. was scrapping its promises: “How can China, still underdeveloped, give away a chunk of room for development, just to nourish those Western countries that are already rich?”