On Wednesday, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy began a 15-hour filibuster. Speaking for so long can do weird things to our brains

Abstracts: The Brain on Filibusters, Lighting up Sidewalks, and More

• On Wednesday, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy began a 15-hour filibuster. Speaking for so long can do weird things to our brains — according to psychologists, it’s a little bit like torture. (Wired)

Central Park

Soon, sidewalks and park paths may be able to create their own artificial light, cutting back electricity. (Visual by Steven Manon/Wikimedia Commons)

• Cities’ sidewalks and park paths could soon glow at night, thanks to phosphorescent cement. (Scientific American)

• In Northern California, West Nile virus is arriving sooner and faster than expected. Sacramento Country already had 47 dead birds test positive for the disease. (Sacramento Bee)

• A team of researchers came up with an algorithm to explain the activity of ISIS-sympathizers online, which may eventually help predict future attacks. (New York Times)

• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Arctic this week to see the impact of climate change first-hand. (Associated Press)

• The mating strategies of the side-blotched lizard mimic a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. (Forbes)

• Gravitational waves can seem abstract, but for astrophysicists, their discovery could usher in a new era of astronomy. (Vox)

• Whether or not Zika causes microcephaly was a big debate among scientists, but one researcher’s model helped prove it. (Slate)

• And finally, tight budgets might not be the only thing holding biomedical researcher back. (Nautilus)

Ian Evans is a science and nature writer living in the Boston area. He earned a bachelors in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and recently completed a master's degree in Science Journalism at Boston University. Ian is an intern at Undark Magazine for the summer of 2016, where his primary focus will be on nature, environmental science and ecology.