Good morning, core seekers!

Today: LeBron Ken dolls, mouse brain maps (5.4 kilometers of tangled neurons! ), and a heart-stopping tale of captivity and escape. Let's ride through some stories that'll make you blink twice, scratch your head, and maybe even say, "Whoa, no way."

• First-time reader? Join 16 K+ curious readers in our community.
• Please don't keep us a secret: Tell your friends (copy URL here)
• I always welcome your feedback here, or just hit reply.

🚨 Be the First to Know:

• US-Russia prisoner swap frees woman jailed over £39 donation to Ukraine.
• More than 300 student visas revoked as government expands deportation.
• Six UN schools in East Jerusalem are closed after raids by Israel.

Inside (Y)our Mind

One cubic millimeter of mouse brain—about the size of a grain of sand—was mapped, capturing 84,000 neurons, half a billion synapses, and a whopping 5.4km of wiring. That's right: 5.4 kilometers of neural highways packed into a tiny speck.

​

It's like a "Google Maps" for brain cells, highlighting how neurons connect, converse, and sometimes gossip about The Matrix (which the mouse literally watched). We're learning mind-blowing stuff about how we see, diseases, and even consciousness. This is just one slice of the mouse brain. Imagine when we scale up to humans.

Locked Away

I feel like I'm reading a grim fairy tale when I hear this story: In a tiny room, he was locked in by his stepmother and father for two decades, starved, never allowed outside, and forced to dispose of his waste through a window. He's now 32.

​

His means of escape? With a pocket lighter and a bottle of hand sanitizer, he set his prison on fire, hoping to be rescued. Firefighters found him weighing just 68 pounds; he said he hadn't left that house since he was 12. In this harrowing case, so many cries for help went unheard.

LeBarbie

Sounds like the King just took another crown—this time in Barbie Land. Mattel's first pro-athlete, Ken doll​, is spot-on, featuring LeBron's Ohio roots, #23, signature "We Are Family" tee, and "I Promise" wristband. Plus, the doll's an inch taller than your average Ken, which is only fair since you're nearly seven feet tall.

​

LeBron's verdict? He calls it "dope," but jokes the little guy could use some leg day. Mini LeBron, priced at $75, is a piece of collectible history. Hey, even legends start somewhere, right?

💬 Beyond the Core

Trains Always Win: The semi-truck split in half after it crossed the railroad track and hit a train.

Indigo-go-go! Here's how different colors can boost your productivity.

My Moon: Investigates wildlife camera with a curious chimpanzee.

📸 Lens to Life

​In pictures, Studio 54, New York's most famous disco club.

🧮 Core Count: 1,600,000

The percentage of synthetic tire rubber in ocean microplastics.

🗓️ Flashback:

1407 - Lama Deshin Shekpa visited the Ming Dynasty capital of Nanjing and received the title of Great Treasure Prince of Dharma.

1516 - Venice compels Jews to live in a specific area, establishing the first Jewish ghetto.

1815 - In the Dutch East Indies, Mount Tambora erupts, causing a global volcanic winter and killing around 71,000 people.

1958 - Big Ben, a 13.76-tonne bell, is recast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.

1970 - Paul McCartney officially announces the breakup of The Beatles in a press release promoting his solo album.

1972 - The US, USSR, and 70 other nations agreed to ban biological weapons at the Biological Weapons Convention.

1998 - The British and Irish governments signed the Good Friday Agreement (Belfast Agreement) for Northern Ireland.

Before you go...

I hope you enjoyed this newsletter. Before moving on, would you consider supporting my work as we prepare for a pivotal, uncertain year?

I rely on readers like you—yes, you! It takes a few dollars a month to keep The Core going.

I'm glad we could get together here. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!

​Fatih Taskiran​
​Founder & Chief Daydreamer at The Core​

​​​​​​​

​

113 Cherry St #92768, New York, New York 100034

​Update your profile · Unsubscribe​