Animals that can count
bbc.comIn one experiment, researchers placed a chimpanzee in front of two sets of bowls that contained chocolate pieces. Each set had two bowls, and to receive their treats, the chimps had to select the set that had the largest combined number of chocolate pieces, in other words adding together the number of pieces in each individual bowl. They succeeded even on trials where one of the bowls in the "incorrect" set contained more chocolates than either individual bowl in the "correct" set.
Pascal Hertleif recommended this story.
Does listening to Mozart really boost your brainpower?
bbc.comThen it began to emerge that perhaps Mozart wasn’t so special after all. In 2010 a larger meta-analysis of a greater number of studies again found a positive effect, but that other kinds of music worked just as well. One study found that listening to Schubert was just as good, and so was hearing a passage read out aloud from a Stephen King novel. But only if you enjoyed it. So, perhaps enjoyment and engagement are key, rather than the exact notes you hear.
Estimated reading time: 3 min
Anke Gröner recommended this story.
Microsoft's Surface: Reactions
bbc.comIf there's one thing that Microsoft could learn from Apple, it is "announce and ship"
Estimated reading time: 3 min
Tim Ngwena recommended this story.
Crash tests: Not for dummies
bbc.comIf you've ever been lucky enough to walk away from a car accident without any serious injury then you may want to thank Hybrid III.
Estimated reading time: 7 min
Anke Gröner recommended this story.
Does life speed up as you age?
bbc.comAmerican biologist Robert B. Sothern has spent forty-five years seeing if he encounters a similar effect as he ages. Five times a day he records his temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and estimation of the passing of a minute. He never misses a day, even when he’s on holiday. His main research interest is in whether the timing of medical treatments can affect their efficacy, a theory about which most researchers remain sceptical, but his diligent self-study does tell us something extraordinary about time perception. As he has become older his time estimation has become less accurate and[…]
Estimated reading time: 1 min
Max Orgeldinger recommended this story.
Fake users hurt Facebook 'likes'
bbc.com"They were 13 to 17 years old, the profile names were highly suspicious, and when we dug deeper a number of these profiles were liking 3,000, 4,000, even 5,000 pages," he said. Mr Tinmouth pointed out a number of profiles which had names and details that appeared to be made up. Continue reading the main story Read and watch Rory's VirtualBagel experiment One, going by the name Agung Pratama Sevenfoldism, showed his date of birth as 1997 and said he had been a manager at Chevron in 2010.
Estimated reading time: 4 min
Paul Papadimitriou recommended this story.
Why your brain loves to tune out
bbc.comWith your eye fixed in position, keep your head still and soon you will experience the strangest thing. After a few seconds the world in front of you will fade away. As long as you are holding your eyeball perfectly still, you will very quickly discover that you can see nothing at all. Blink, or move your head, let go of your eye and the world will come back. What's going on?!
Estimated reading time: 3 min
Erik recommended this story.
The psychology of Tetris
bbc.comMany human games are basically ritualised tidying up. Snooker, or pool if you are non-British, is a good example. The first person makes a mess (the break) and then the players take turns in potting the balls into the pockets, in a vary particular order. Tetris adds a computer-powered engine to this basic scenario – not only must the player tidy up, but the computer keeps throwing extra blocks from the sky to add to the mess. It looks like a perfect example of a pointless exercise – a game that doesn't teach us anything useful, has no wider social or physical purpose, but which weirdly kee[…]
Estimated reading time: 3 min
Christoph Steinlehner recommended this story.
Does skipping breakfast make you put on weight?
bbc.comA review of studies conducted before 2004 found that on the whole breakfast-skippers do not consume more calories during the rest of the day to compensate. People who ate breakfast tended to have a diet that was more nutritionally balanced, but it wasn’t more calorific.
Estimated reading time: 3 min
Tibor Martini recommended this story.
