Matilda's Lab
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab
@matildaslab.bsky.social
66 followers 55 following 840 posts
Science nerd Dad who engages his kids with science through music, drawing and writing by making it fun.
Sharing my content too help others share their own journeys of discovery.
https://linktr.ee/chrismacalister
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matildaslab.bsky.social
I strongly suspect that studies in other countries would find similar results.
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
#sciencenews
Music: Popular song lyrics have become more negative since 1973
Over the past 50 years the lyrics of popular songs in the USA have become simpler, more negative, and contain more stress-related words, according to an analysis published in Scientific Reports.
www.eurekalert.org
December 15, 2025 at 12:49 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
We've hit the top 10 on day 15 of the advent calendar.
It may not be as controversial as the God question, but some people do get rather passionate about the status of Pluto.
matildaslab.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/w...
#scicomm #adventcalendar #pluto
December 15, 2025 at 9:24 AM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Day 14 of the advent calendar brings us to the verge of the top 10 posts. Just missing out on the final countdown is an ancient and rare off-shoot on the shark family tree.
#scicomm #sharks #adventcalendar
matildaslab.wordpress.com/2020/11/13/f...
December 14, 2025 at 9:13 AM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Day 11 of the Matilda's Lab advent calendar has a tale for you today. Or should that be, no tail?
matildaslab.wordpress.com/2016/04/24/w...
#scicomm #adventcalendar
December 13, 2025 at 1:32 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Here's the other science news stories I didn't get around to sharing this week.
They include: a back to front microscope, probiotic & prebiotic farming, using astronomy to cross check ancient historical records, how cells remember and how we stress more about buying shared things.
#sciencenews
December 13, 2025 at 9:00 AM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Research shows certain psychological disorders are associated with greater empathy, creativity, resilience and more
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
#sciencenews
Does mental illness have a silver lining? New paper says yes
A new review paper points to the positive qualities, including empathy, creativity and resilience, that often accompany psychological disorders. By recognizing them, the authors argue, we can decrease...
www.eurekalert.org
December 12, 2025 at 10:47 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
It's newsletter time. This week we stagger towards Christmas. We have monster stars, canine community building, an online emotion contagion, and what science says your Hogwarts house says about you.
open.substack.com/pub/matildas...
Matilda's Lab Newsletter #101
This week we stagger towards Christmas. We have monster stars, canine community building, an online emotion contagion, and what science says your Hogwarts house says about you.
open.substack.com
December 12, 2025 at 2:03 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Day 12 of the advent calendar brings the 13th most viewed post of the year. Unlucky for some. Definitely for featured fish. I used to have some in my aquarium when I made this. RIP 😞
matildaslab.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/n...
#scicomm #adventcalendar
December 12, 2025 at 1:42 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Day 11 of the Matilda's Lab advent calendar has a tale for you today. Or should that be, no tail?
matildaslab.wordpress.com/2016/04/24/w...
#scicomm #adventcalendar
December 11, 2025 at 10:33 AM
matildaslab.bsky.social
In amongst all the advent calendar stuff, there's always time for a new blog post.
The next instalment of the History of Science is out, all about the domestication of horses.
How do you get an animal that you want to eat to trust you?
matildaslab.wordpress.com/2025/12/10/h...
#scicomm
Horse Domestication
Dogs may be our oldest companions, but it’s hard to imagine how humanity could ever have developed to the extent that we have without the aid of horses. Whilst the industrial revolution has r…
matildaslab.wordpress.com
December 10, 2025 at 10:29 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Welcome to day 10 of the Matilda's Lab advent calendar. If sharks make you feel unconformable, then you may be following the wrong account. Also, here's one that can walk on land!
matildaslab.wordpress.com/2020/08/28/e...
#sharks #adventcalendar
December 10, 2025 at 4:41 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
It was believed that T. rex used to go through a dramatic change in body shape when adolescents matured. Now it seems that this isn't the case and we've actually been seeing a different species:

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

#sciencenews #trex #scicomm
Return of the short (tyrant) king: A new paper by Dinosaur Institute researcher shows Nanotyrannus was not a juvenile T. Rex
For decades, paleontologists argued over the lone skull used to establish the distinct species Nanotyrannus. Was it truly a separate species or simply a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex? A new paper publish...
www.eurekalert.org
December 10, 2025 at 7:08 AM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Here a new way that our dogs are good for us. They influence our microbiome to improve our mental health.
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
#sciencenews #scicomm #dogs
Family dogs boost adolescent mental health through the microbiome
It’s no surprise that dogs benefit people’s mental health. In a paper publishing in the Cell Press journal iScience on December 3,&nb...
www.eurekalert.org
December 9, 2025 at 10:35 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Finally, The Jaws effect is wearing off.
Hopefully people are starting to appreciate what magnificent creatures sharks really are.

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

#sciencenews #sharks
‘Jaws’ impact may be wearing off as shark perceptions soften
Teeth. Ocean. Predator. These are the three most common words used to describe sharks, according to a new global survey published in Wildlife Research, eliciting 1000 different text responses.
www.eurekalert.org
December 9, 2025 at 12:17 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
It's day 9 of the Matilda's Lab advent calendar, and today we have the closest thing that nature has produced to a shark crossed with a unicorn.
matildaslab.wordpress.com/2021/04/09/s...
#scicomm #extinctanimals #adventcalendar
December 9, 2025 at 8:53 AM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Dishonest AI chatbots are more persuasive
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
#sciencenews
AI chatbots can effectively sway voters – in either direction
A short interaction with a chatbot can meaningfully shift a voter’s opinion about a presidential candidate or proposed policy in either direction, new Cornell University research finds.
www.eurekalert.org
December 8, 2025 at 6:21 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Day 8 of the Matilda's Lab advent calendar, and we've come across the most controversial of subjects.
matildaslab.wordpress.com/2018/05/25/d...
#scicomm #adventcalendar
December 8, 2025 at 12:50 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Beauty is in the eye of the lazy
Things that are pleasing to the eye are less taxing for the brain to process.

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

#sciencenews
Beauty linked with metabolic costs of perceiving images
Humans may find images that take less energy to process aesthetically pleasing, suggesting that our attraction to beauty is at least partially an energy conservation strategy. 
www.eurekalert.org
December 8, 2025 at 9:15 AM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Are we finally on the verge of a quantum gravity breakthrough? By treating metrics of relativity in a more quantum way, new predictions are being made, but are they right?
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
#sciencenews
A new approach links quantum physics and gravitation
TU Wien researchers have uncovered a quantum twist to the paths particles take through spacetime — one that could finally reveal which theory of quantum gravity fits nature. Their new “q-d...
www.eurekalert.org
December 7, 2025 at 7:33 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Day 7 of the Matilda's Lab advent calendar, and they don't come much bigger than this.
matildaslab.wordpress.com/2020/05/17/w...
#scicomm #infographic #whaleshark #adventcalendar
December 7, 2025 at 9:51 AM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Day 6 of the Matilda's Lab advent calendar is very "hands-on".
matildaslab.wordpress.com/2020/09/10/w...
#scicomm #adventcalendar
December 6, 2025 at 2:17 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
This was a new one for me. Some mice sing. Like whales, they appear to do so to communicate over longer distances.
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
#sciencenews
Singing mice speak volumes
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Assistant Professor Arkarup Banerjee and colleagues find that Alston’s singing mice use the same brain region to produce songs an...
www.eurekalert.org
December 6, 2025 at 9:39 AM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Day 5 of the advent calendar reveals a post that would be more at home, and indeed was written for, Halloween.
matildaslab.wordpress.com/2023/10/31/w...
#scicomm #werewolves #adventcalendar
December 5, 2025 at 1:02 PM
matildaslab.bsky.social
The more that we learn, the more obvious it becomes that it is not all just in the head.
Depression linked to the immune system
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
#sciencenews
Depression is not only a disease of the mind. KAIST discovers the immune-brain connection​
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by a lowered mood and loss of interest, contributing not only to difficulties in academic and professional life but also as a major cause of suicide in...
www.eurekalert.org
December 5, 2025 at 7:38 AM
matildaslab.bsky.social
Cooperative brain synchronisation. Why new ideas are so hard?
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
#sciencenews
Collaborating minds think alike, processing information in similar ways in a shared task
Whether great minds think alike is up for debate, but the collaborating minds of two people working on a shared task process information alike, according to a study published November 25th in the open...
www.eurekalert.org
December 4, 2025 at 10:21 PM