Tag: others

Why Are Some People Mosquito Magnets And Others Unbothered? Metabolism, Body Odor, Mindset?
IN OTHER NEWS, VIDEO REELS

Why Are Some People Mosquito Magnets And Others Unbothered? Metabolism, Body Odor, Mindset?

It’s rare to attend an outdoor party in warm weather without hearing people complain about mosquitoes. They swat away, sit in campfire smoke, cover up with blankets and eventually just give up and go indoors. On the other end of the spectrum, there are plenty of people who don’t seem bothered by mosquitoes in the slightest. As a medical entomologist who’s worked with mosquitoes for more than 40 years, I’m often asked why some people seem to be mosquito magnets while others are oblivious to these blood-feeding pests buzzing all around them. Most mosquito species, along with a host of other arthropods – including ticks, fleas, bedbugs, blackflies, horseflies and biting midges – require the protein in blood to develop a batch of eggs. Only the female mosquito feeds on blood. Males feed on...
Mimicking The Accents Of Others In Conversation – Why We Do It
CULTURE, TOP FOUR

Mimicking The Accents Of Others In Conversation – Why We Do It

Have you ever caught yourself talking a little bit differently after listening to someone with a distinctive way of speaking? Perhaps you’ll pepper in a couple of y’all’s after spending the weekend with your Texan mother-in-law. Or you might drop a few R’s after binge-watching a British period drama on Netflix. Linguists call this phenomenon “linguistic convergence,” and it’s something you’ve likely done at some point, even if the shifts were so subtle you didn’t notice. People tend to converge toward the language they observe around them, whether it’s copying word choices, mirroring sentence structures or mimicking pronunciations. But as a doctoral student in linguistics, I wanted to know more about how readily this behavior occurs: Would people converge based on evidence as flimsy as...
As Many Others Remain Shackled By The Easily Abused Legal Arrangement – Britney Spears Gets Free Of Father’s Conservatorship
CELEBRITY NEWS

As Many Others Remain Shackled By The Easily Abused Legal Arrangement – Britney Spears Gets Free Of Father’s Conservatorship

Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia Britney Spears finally got her wish: A judge suspended her dad as conservator, about two and a half months after she told the court that he was ruining her life. During the Sept. 29, 2021, hearing, Spears’ lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, described Jamie Spears as a “cruel, toxic and abusive man” and cited a recent report in The New York Times that he established an intense surveillance apparatus to monitor and control his daughter. Earlier, Britney Spears claimed her father even prevented her from having a baby. Whether or not the conservatorship is ended entirely won’t be decided until November. To terminate a conservatorship, California law simply requires the filing of a petition demonstrating that it is no longer required. Spears’ case is unusual: Conse...
5 Necessities For Leaders To Get Others To Follow!
SELF

5 Necessities For Leaders To Get Others To Follow!

Although, one will only become an effective, meaningful leader, if/ when, others are ready, willing, and able, to follow him, few individuals, holding positions of leadership, rarely, providing any prevailing reasons, for achieving this! Only, when one's stakeholders (past, present/ current, and potential ones), believe, strongly - enough, in their leaders, are they, willing to become, more committed, involved, and, hopefully, some of them, might, go - on, to trying to be a leader, themselves! After, over four decades, of involvement, in, nearly, everything, related to effectively leading, from identifying and qualifying, to training, developing, and consulting to thousands of actual, and/ or, potential leaders, to serving, as a leader, on several occasions, I believe, there are, at least,...
Some Types Are Better Than Others – But Too Much Sitting Is Bad For You
HEALTH & WELLNESS

Some Types Are Better Than Others – But Too Much Sitting Is Bad For You

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a number of new behaviours into daily routines, like physical distancing, mask-wearing and hand sanitizing. Meanwhile, many old behaviours such as attending events, eating out and seeing friends have been put on hold. However, one old behaviour that has persisted, and has arguably been amplified due to COVID-19, is sitting — and it is not surprising to see why. Whether sitting during transportation, work, screen time or even meals, everyday environments and activities are tailored nearly exclusively to prolonged sitting. As such, sedentary behaviours, like sitting, make up the vast majority of our waking day. Pre-COVID-19 estimates place the average Canadian adult’s sedentary behaviour at around 9.5 hours per day. Current daily sedentary time is likel...
Survivors, First Responders And Millions Of Others Are Left With Emotional And Mental Scars By Mass Shootings
HEALTH & WELLNESS, SOCIETY

Survivors, First Responders And Millions Of Others Are Left With Emotional And Mental Scars By Mass Shootings

The deadly shootings of eight people in Atlanta on March 16 and 10 people in Boulder, Colorado, on March 22 brought heartache and grief to the families and friends of the victims. These events also take a toll on others, including those who witnessed the shooting, first responders, people who were nearby – and even those who heard about the shooting in the media. I am a trauma and anxiety researcher and clinician, and I know that the effects of such violence reach millions. While the immediate survivors are most affected, the rest of society suffers, too. First, the immediate survivors Like other animals, we humans get stressed or terrified when exposed to a dangerous event. The extent of that stress or fear can vary. Survivors of a shooting may want to avoid the neighborhood where the s...
Highlighting The Debate Between Hardliners On Abortion And Others In The Church: Catholic Opinions On Johnson & Johnson Vaccine
POLITICS

Highlighting The Debate Between Hardliners On Abortion And Others In The Church: Catholic Opinions On Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

Questions about whether the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is morally acceptable to observant Catholics due to concerns over use of fetal stem cells in its development have brought the deep divisions within the Catholic Church into public view. On Feb. 26, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans released a statement saying that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is “morally compromised as it uses the abortion-derived cell line in development and production of the vaccine as well as the testing.” Four days later, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the national body of Catholic bishops, stated, “if one has the ability to choose a vaccine, Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccines should be chosen over Johnson & Johnson’s.” A few days later, Kevin Rhoades, one of the bish...
If They Know Many Others Are Already Doing It People Become Less Likely To Contribute To A Virtual Public Good Like Wikipedia Or Waze
BUSINESS

If They Know Many Others Are Already Doing It People Become Less Likely To Contribute To A Virtual Public Good Like Wikipedia Or Waze

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea While people tend to contribute more to a virtual public good if they see others doing the same, this effect reverses if they become aware too many people are participating, according to research that I conducted over the summer. Public goods are things that many people share. They can be physical, such as highways, clean air and blood banks, or virtual, like a free online encyclopedia or mobile traffic app. Combining methods from geography, urban planning and big-data analysis, my co-authors and I studied millions of postings by users of a mobile navigation app called Waze, in which users voluntarily post traffic-related updates and road conditions in real time. All users of the app benefit as more of them f...
Some Bees Are Born Curious Others Are Single Minded – How The Hive Picks Which Flowers To Feast On
SCIENCE

Some Bees Are Born Curious Others Are Single Minded – How The Hive Picks Which Flowers To Feast On

When you try to pick a restaurant with a group of friends, how do you decide? Your curious friend wants to try the new place, while your focused friend wants to go to the old faithful. One friend is insistent, while the other is more quiet. Ultimately, the focused vocal friend convinces the group by saying, “I am telling you, this is the best place. It’s a sure thing – we gotta go!” Just like people, honey bees vary in how they seek out food and communicate where to go. As a biologist, I study collective behavior, especially how groups make decisions. My colleagues and I have discovered some individual bees are seemingly born with a predetermined foraging style – they can be either focused foragers or curious foragers. Having different approaches to collecting food turns out to be advanta...
Sick of Black Friday? Help others Buy Nothing
SELF

Sick of Black Friday? Help others Buy Nothing

In 1992, the Seinfeld episode “The Pitch” featured this conversation between the main characters: JERRY: And it’s about nothing? GEORGE: Everybody’s doing something, we’ll do nothing. JERRY: So, we go into NBC, we tell them we’ve got an idea for a show about nothing. A show about nothing may seem ludicrous, but what about a Black Friday that involves making no purchases? Yet, the Buy Nothing Project, founded in 2013, is a contrasting movement in an era when Black Friday is viewed as a day to buy everything. The Facebook-anchored project focuses on sharing existing items with others as a way to: ‒ Get to know neighbors and others within a community. ‒ Keep unwanted items from ending up in a landfill. ‒ Meet specific needs of others. ‒ Provide gently used or new items that can be given a...