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)

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)