Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days
For nearly 20 years, Tim Friede allowed some of the most lethal snakes in the world to bite him so he could build up an immunity that could one day be developed into a universal antivenom. This extraordinary and painful quest, undertaken by a window cleaner with no formal scientific training in the basement of his Wisconsin home, nearly killed 58-year-old Friede, almost cost him his leg and his fingers, and at one point put him into a coma. But as the climate crisis results in more humans and snakes coming into contact with each other, his efforts are poised to help others. “People said I was crazy, of course. Some people tried to stop me,” he told Oliver Milman in this remarkable interview
Despite the practical struggles, and the increased difficulty they bring to headbanging, many more of the genre’s biggest stars are choosing to wear freaky facial disguises. In this insightful article, Matt Mills looked behind their masks and asked whether the musicians are hiding behind them – or revealing their true nature?
As part of our ongoing Well actually series, a former US military psychologist talked to Jo Livingstone about moral injury – a unique kind of stress that can be experienced when someone is forced to act in ways or to witness actions that contradict their most deeply held convictions. In this fascinating interview, Michael Valdovinos explained how moral distress frequently presents as sadness or feeling like a bad person.
