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Science and Technology links (August 10th 2019
- A short (less than one hour) online lesson improved grades among weaker students. The lesson taught the growth mindset: that intellectual abilities can be developed.
- The chip maker AMD, has released a processor (EPYC 7742) which has 32-billion transistors and 64 cores.
- According to a recent study, we tend to see women as victims and men as perpetrator. Managers are perceived as less moral and fair when they fire a group of female (versus male) employees. Female victims are expected to experience more pain from an ambiguous joke.
- Blue zones are regions in the world where people claim to live longer. Newman questions the validity of these zones in an article entitled Supercentenarians and the oldest-old are concentrated into regions with no birth certificates and short lifespans. The most likely explanation for these zones is that you find more centenarians in regions where it is easiest to lie about one’s own age.
- Young men spend more time than ever playing video games. It is also true young men in the West work fewer hours. Yet video games are not to blame for the reduced work.
- There is a massive overproduction of coffee beans, leading to falling prices.
- In most cases, electric fans are a good way to mitigate heat-related illnesses, despite contrary government advice. Don’t be shy and use a fan when it is too hot! It is safe and it cools you down.
- McDonald’s admitted that its paper straws cannot be recycled at this time, contrary to its plastic straws.
- Bilingual people are much more resilient to dementia (like Alzheimer’s) than monolingual people, suffering from dementia four years later on average.
- In mice, we can stimulate hair growth using prescription drugs rapamycin and metformin. These drugs are often viewed as anti-aging drugs.
- A single season of collegiate football (without injury) leads to a reduction in brain integrity.
- Playing video games (but not taking piano lessons) increases grey matter volume in the brain.
- Building one wind turbine requires 900 tons of steel, 2,500 tons of concrete and 45 tons of plastic. Much of which is produced with coal power. Moreover, most solar panels are built in China using coal power.