5SR - April 22, 2024

Hitha on orphan crops, how brains change during menstruation, and Tree Paine

A quick refresher - I’m Hitha Palepu, the founder of

#5SmartReads

. If you’d like to connect with me elsewhere, I’m most active on Instagram and write a weekly newsletter about smart, random things (check out the most recent issue).

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Behind the Curtain: Speaker Johnson's historic road-to-Kyiv conversion (Axios)

“In an era of tribal politics and congressional dysfunction, the country witnessed a rare triumph of consequential bipartisanship. If you're a fan of both sides working together to do hard things, this was it…

…The intelligence was so eye-opening to Johnson that he soon begged colleagues to go to the secure government chamber to see it themselves, the N.Y. Times reported.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine slipped from the main news coverage in recent months, but Ukraine’s need of military aid has only increased. And the way this aid was finally passed by the House is straight out of an episode of The West Wing.

There’s a lot to be depressed about in politics today. But this is a rare spark of hope that gives me some comfort in the hard decisions to come before this Congress.

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The PR ‘Mastermind’ Behind Taylor Swift’s World Dominance (The Daily Beast)

I understand the Swiftie phenomenon. But where are my fellow Tree Paine-heads at? Because that woman is nothing short of epic.

And this article is the most satisfyingly detailed feature of Paine and celebrity PR in general - the more carefree and effortlessly likable a celebrity, the more their publicist is working around the clock (and is damn good at it).

If you’re an avid Swiftie, there’s nothing new in this piece. But if you’re a casual Swift fan and a pop culture student like me, I think you’ll find this article to be a fascinating - if unrevealing - read.

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I shared a week’s workouts/dinners/outfits over on

With Hitha

, my lifestyle newsletter. I hope it’s helpful as you plan your own meals, movement practices, and what to wear this week!

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For The First Time, Scientists Show Structural, Brain-Wide Changes During Menstruation (Science Alert)

In “news you’re not surprised but feel validated by,” I give you MRI data of how brains change during menstruation (it’s not peer reviewed yet, but the paper is extremely comprehensive and detailed).

There’s one observed change (the rise of 17beta-estradiol and luteinizing hormone just before ovulation) that translates to observable changes (faster information transfer, in this case). But the other changes lend itself to further study to studying menstruation’s impact on the body and learning more about women’s health as a whole (which we are still just scratching the surface of).

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Is it dumb to quit something I worked hard to get?

There’s a narrative about success in that it’s a singular endgame, and once you have it, you need to stick with it in some capacity.

And nothing could be further from the truth. And until I read

Emily McDowell

’s essay, I didn’t quite realize how deep this false narrative was rooted in my own definition of success and achievement. And to be introduced with the option of “completion” when it comes to achieving a goal is freeing.

“Declaring something complete also means actively calling back your energy from that thing, which allows you to choose to re-allocate that energy somewhere else.”

This essay is so freeing and healing. I hope this helps you as much as it helped me.

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What are 'orphan crops'? And why is there a new campaign to get them adopted? (NPR)

I have a new nerd obsession, and it’s orphan crops.

“Enoch Achigan-Dako, a plant breeder in Benin, says he saw his continent's botanical riches more than a decade ago when he worked on a survey of Africa's traditional crops.

"Vegetables alone, there are more than one thousand species used by people," Achigan-Dako says. "Fruits, there are more than 450 species used."

These crops get so little attention, though, they're sometimes called orphan crops. "There were no resources associated with promoting those crops," says Achigan-Dako. A plant breeder was more likely to get funding to work on crops that are widely grown around the world, like corn or wheat.”

There’s a early, concerted effort to revive some of these orphan crops and invest in breeding varieties to improve yield and improve nutritional yield, and to generally offer more plant-based food that isn’t wheat, rice, or corn.

It's early days for reviving orphan crops, but I hope this emerging sector gets the investment and attention it deserves.