Buying life experiences to impress others removes happiness boost Buying life experiences to impress others removes happiness boost: “Why you buy is just as important as what you buy,” said Ryan Howell, assistant professor of psychology at San Francisco State University. “When people buy life experiences to impress others, it wipes out the well-being they […]

Effects of Chewing Menthol Gum on the Alertness of Healthy Volunteers and Those with an Upper Respiratory Tract Illness – Smith – 2012 – Stress and Health – Wiley Online Library Effects of Chewing Menthol Gum on the Alertness of Healthy Volunteers and Those with an Upper Respiratory Tract Illness – Smith – 2012 – […]

PLoS ONE: Globalization and Loss of Plant Knowledge: Challenging the Paradigm PLoS ONE: Globalization and Loss of Plant Knowledge: Challenging the Paradigm: The many effects of migration… interesting finding here that some knowledge was not lost. We compared one type of cultural knowledge about medicinal plants (number of plants reported to treat thirty common health […]

PLoS ONE: Movement Behavior of High-Heeled Walking: How Does the Nervous System Control the Ankle Joint during an Unstable Walking Condition? PLoS ONE: Movement Behavior of High-Heeled Walking: How Does the Nervous System Control the Ankle Joint during an Unstable Walking Condition?: From the “gosh, it’s good we have science to tell us these things” […]

Insects that skate on the ocean benefit from plastic junk | Not Exactly Rocket Science | Discover Magazine Insects that skate on the ocean benefit from plastic junk | Not Exactly Rocket Science | Discover Magazine: Another one from the “unintended consequences” pile… There are only five species of sea skaters, all belonging to the […]

PLoS ONE: Public Street Lights Increase House Infestation by the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma dimidiata PLoS ONE: Public Street Lights Increase House Infestation by the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma dimidiata: Artificial light has been known for a long time to attract many insect species, and therefore may contribute to the spread of different vector-borne diseases. […]

Monkeys like Metallica Monkeys like Metallica: The results were a little strange.  While most of the music had little or no effect on the cottontops—they tended to ignore just about everything played to them—Metallica tunes actually calmed them down. Astronauts’ Eyeballs Are Deformed by Long Missions in Space – NYTimes.com Astronauts’ Eyeballs Are Deformed by […]

The mean-girl advice of What To Expect When You’re Expecting. – Slate Magazine The mean-girl advice of What To Expect When You’re Expecting. – Slate Magazine: The questions are incessantly negative, in the voice of an unbearably whiny caricature of a pregnant woman. The answers are deceptively milquetoast in their language, but almost always include […]

Richer people break the law, take candy from children – Healthzone.ca Richer people break the law, take candy from children – Healthzone.ca: Well-off people consistently cut off pedestrians or other vehicles while driving, took candy intended for children, cheated in a game or skirted the truth when interviewing a job candidate, said the study published […]

(via Pictures: Shark Swallows Another Shark Whole) (via Pictures: Shark Swallows Another Shark Whole) Finding an optimal seating chart (PDF) Finding an optimal seating chart (PDF): We found that the most important assignment was to place guests who arrived as dates to the wedding at the same table. This was done by giving those guests […]

Men behaving nicely: Selfless acts by men increase when attractive women are nearby Men behaving nicely: Selfless acts by men increase when attractive women are nearby: For the second experiment, groups of males were formed. Males were asked to make a number of public donations. These increased when observed by an attractive female, where they […]

Me, 10am: I didn’t sleep well and I still have the headache I had last night and my nose is stuffy and I have cramps and a backache and I have skinless patches of psoriasis in spots where it’s very awkward not to have any skin and there’s a big pile of laundry and waaaaah, […]

Alice Bradley – Blog – On being an object, and then not being an object  Alice Bradley – Blog – On being an object, and then not being an object : There were other incidents, too; so many incidents. Every one underscored the message that I wasn’t safe, that I deserved whatever was coming to me, […]

BBC Nature – In pictures: How elephants cool off overnight BBC Nature – In pictures: How elephants cool off overnight: Scientists from the University of Guelph, Canada have used thermal imaging cameras to record how Asian elephants at the Busch Gardens zoological park in Florida, US handle the heat Answer: at night they use their […]