Tim @philmcclure@mastodon.cloud
Great! Big! Pointy teeth!
Joined Aug 2018
Just thinking about a bright light is enough to change the size of our pupils, even if there isn’t anything real for our eyes to react to, finds a new study in PNAS.
Analysis of medicinal cannabinoids and their impact on six mental health disorders -- combining 83 studies including 3,000 people -- suggests that the use of cannabinoids for mental health conditions cannot be justified based on the current evidence.
The brain tunes itself to a point where it is as excitable as it can be without tipping into disorder, suggests a new study in rats. This criticality hypothesis asserts that the brain is poised on the fine line between quiescence and chaos. At exactly this line, information processing is maximized.
Rebellious music genres such as rap, punk and heavy metal do not appear to be linked to maladaptive personality traits, but conservative music such as country and gospel were weakly linked to traits that capture neurotic, hostile, and eccentric tendencies.
Is sugar toxic?
"We found that the subjects who consumed high fructose corn syrup had increased blood levels of LDL cholesterol and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease. [...] Within two weeks."
The Myth of Multitasking
"Research tells us that the brain doesn’t really do tasks simultaneously, as we thought it might."
"rather than saving time, it costs time, it’s less efficient, we make more mistakes, and over time it can be energy sapping."
People who believe in conspiracy theories are also more likely to believe in pseudoscience and paranormal phenomena, according to new research, which indicate that some people appear to have a general susceptibility to believing unsubstantiated claims. http://bit.ly/2Yvm7kc
Declines in vocabulary among American adults within levels of educational attainment, 1974–2016. Even as IQ's have increased, vocabulary, particularly among those with higher education, has decreased since the 1970s.
Study: https://www.fda.gov/media/124351/download (page 26)
* Impossible Foods dismissed these statistically significant effects as “non-adverse” or as having “no toxicological relevance”
* The company’s conclusion of safety is unsound, due to the short duration of the feeding study and the small number of animals used. Only a longer-term study with a larger number of animals can clarify the significance of the worrying effects seen
* A nonprofit group is collecting data from people who believe they have had an adverse reaction to the burger.
Rat Feeding Study Suggests the Impossible Burger May Not Be Safe to Eat
* The Impossible Burger is a plant-based burger, the key ingredient of which is a protein called soy leghemoglobin (SLH), derived from genetically modified (GM) yeast
* A rat feeding study commissioned by the manufacturer Impossible Foods found that rats fed SLH developed unexplained weight gain and changes in the blood that can indicate the onset of inflammation or kidney disease, as well as possible signs of anemia
How people want to feel determines whether others can influence their emotions. When a person wanted to stay calm, they remained relatively unfazed by angry people, suggesting that people have more control over how their emotions get influenced than previously realized.
High trait self-control fails to buffer against stress if a person has to deal with multiple stressors at once. Even the strongest willpower will fail under mounting pressure.
"We must be careful not to believe things simply because we want them to be true. No one can fool you as easily as you can fool yourself!" - Richard Feynman
Researchers at Washington State University have developed a method that can convert plastic waste — including plastic bags, milk cartons and water bottles — into diesel and jet fuel. this could be an environmental game changer. Some 8 million tons of plastic end up in the world’s oceans every year. http://bit.ly/2KFdhNv
A high-fiber diet and increased frequency of bowel movements are associated
with greater, rather than lower, prevalence of diverticulosis. http://bit.ly/30nWrb8
TIL: Humans glow in the dark.
Ultra-sensitive cameras reveal that our bodies emit tiny amounts of light that are too weak for the human eye to detect.
Great! Big! Pointy teeth!
Joined Aug 2018
