## Highlights ### id263940286 rockfish lifespans vary wildly > seemingly-similar species of rockfish have lifespans ranging "from a decade to a couple centuries". - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fr46tp6w83hkjnm27scjtc72) ### id263940360 darkling beetles can digest plastic > a line of beetles that can digest plastic. Darkling beetles (and their associated gut microbes) can already do this a little. Maybe if someone selectively bred them for this ability, they could do it better. Plastic is generally considered bad for the environment because it's "not biodegradable", but maybe everything is biodegradable if you have sufficiently advanced beetles. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fr46vp0eyka32wby0x5hyn36) ### id263941742 gametogenesis might allow same-sex couples to have biological children > Ivy Natal works on in vitro gametogenesis, the process of turning ordinary cells into gametes like egg cells. This would solve a lot of infertility problems, remove the need for difficult egg freezing cycles, and allow same-sex couples to have biological children; it would also allow some more exciting forms of embryo screening. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fr474xp10acj73fvq52s3gj6) ### id263942020 studying pathogens in water pipes is undervalued > **[Siddhartha Roy](https://www.siddhartharoy.org/), $25,000,** for citizen surveillance of pathogens in drinking water. Some pathogens, notably legionella, grow in water pipes. There's not a lot of scientific or legal structure for monitoring them, and this team wants to solve this by sending kits to volunteer citizens who will use them to test their tap water. This is useful for avoiding legionella outbreaks, but my reviewers were most impressed by its ability to scale to other things and raise citizen awareness of pathogen detection. Dr. Roy is a Virginia Tech research scientist who helped uncover the Flint water crisis. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fr478vtbbjbbkpw9r95pz40s) ### id264794168 gender equality impacts economic development > **[Alice Evans](https://www.draliceevans.com/), $60,000,** for sabbatical and travel to fund her research and associated book on "the Great Gender Divergence", ie why some countries developed gender equality norms while others didn't. A large body of research shows that gender equality, aside from its moral benefits, is also deeply important for economic development. Dr. Evans is an expert on the interaction of gender, history, and economics, whose work has been cited on BBC, Al Jazeera, and Sky News. She blogs [here](https://www.draliceevans.com/blog) and podcasts [here](https://www.draliceevans.com/).