matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab
@matildaslab.bsky.social
67 followers 55 following 700 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
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 3h
Stress is a frequent response when we feel things are our of control. Attempting to claim any form of control over our situation, however spurious, can help us cope.
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#sciencenews
Feeling in control helps beat daily stress, researchers find
People may be more likely to resolve a problem if they feel they have more control over it, according to a new study from a team including researchers at Penn State. They also found that the relations...
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 13h
How much did it hurt, in dollars?
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#sciencenews
How much does it hurt? New research puts a price on pain to improve measurement
Asking people how much money they would accept to experience pain again can provide a more accurate and comparable measure of pain levels than the familiar 1–10 scale, according to an internatio...
www.eurekalert.org
matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 1d
Daydreaming is fuel for epiphanies
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#sciencenews
Daydreaming can lead to epiphanies, greater career purpose, WashU research finds
Recent research from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis indicates that people can increase their potential for experiencing work-related epiphanies by engaging in a playful typ...
www.eurekalert.org
matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 1d
Singing can be good for treating lung disease. It's not always about the drugs, and gradually, we're finding other ways to relieve ailments.
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##sciencenews
Specialised singing programmes can improve the symptoms and quality of life of people with lung disease
Singing can improve the quality of life of people with lung disease and help reduce their symptoms, according to a gold-standard randomised-controlled trial presented at the European Respiratory Socie...
www.eurekalert.org
matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 2d
I completed this wave of updates to the mammals. I've actually gone slightly outside the scope of mammals. Adding Dimetrodon now makes this a map of the synapsids.
The full map, which I'm now in the process of incorporating this into, is here: matildaslab.wordpress.com/map-of-life/
#sciart #mammals
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 4d
We are a social species, and being social is good for our health in many ways that we are still learning about. One effect of being social is that it keeps your brain young. 

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Lifetime of social ties may slow biological processes of aging
The cumulative effect of social advantages across a lifetime – from parental warmth in childhood to friendship, community engagement and religious support in adulthood – may slow the biolo...
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 5d
Dopamine fuels forgetfulness. Feel great whilst you forget, because forgetting is not always a bad thing.
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#sciencenews
Tiny worms reveal big secrets about memory
In a discovery that could reshape how we think about memory, researchers at Flinders University have found that forgetting is not just a glitch in the brain but is actually a finely tuned process, and...
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 6d
Living well keeps your brain young.
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#sciencenews
Healthy habits can make your brain age more slowly, study finds
Quality sleep, avoiding tobacco, social support and other healthy habits are linked to slower brain aging.
www.eurekalert.org
matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 6d
Termite fungal farming techniques discovered. How to keep harmful pest fungi at bay.
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Revealed: How fungus-farming termites protect gardens from invaders
Some termites form symbiotic relationships with fungus. When harmful fungi invade their carefully cultivated crops, these fungus-farming termites fight back with the precision of skilled gardeners, a ...
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 6d
Here's a map of mammals update. I'm close to finishing this batch of mammals before moving to a different area of the map of life. I've added Deltatherium, who lived alongside the dinosaurs.
See the full map (minus additional mammals) here: matildaslab.wordpress.com/map-of-life/
#sciart #mammals
matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 7d
Plasmids appear to have been key in the story of antibiotic resistance so far, hinting at a way to prevent more of it going forward.
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Capturing 100 years of antibiotic resistance evolution
Researchers have dived into the pre-antibiotic history of plasmids — one of bacteria’s tools of antimicrobial resistance — to understand how they have facilitated the spread of treat...
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 8d
Nitrogen is a problem. We use it to feed crops and then it pollutes our waters. Bacteria to the rescue, again. They can convert harmful nitrogen compounds back into atmospheric nitrogen, with no nasty byproducts.
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#sciencenews
Rivers’ hidden helpers: microbes that clean up nitrogen pollution across China
A new study has revealed how tiny microbes in rivers and wetlands across China help clean up excess nitrogen pollution, offering fresh insights into the health of freshwater ecosystems and the global ...
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 8d
Baby's make the world seem more dangerous. Parents, I welcome your own comments 😄
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#sciencenews #parenting
Caring for a baby makes the world seem more dangerous
New Cornell University research finds that caregiving heightens perceptions of threat in dangerous situations — a conclusion drawn from a first-of-its-kind study using virtual environments to ex...
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 9d
If you're looking to raise money for a good cause, you may save some time by prioritising non-pet owners. Especially dog owners.
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#sciencenews
Raising money for a charity? Don't bark up the wrong tree.
A new Dartmouth study finds that cat owners donate slightly more than dog owners, and also donate more often and more diversely. However, people without pets donate the most. The findings are publishe...
www.eurekalert.org
matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 9d
If I'm learning anything through keeping up with new publications, it's that people really love studying Taylor Swift. Most recently, we have a detailed breakdown of the evolution of her accent.
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#sciencenews #taylorswift
Tracking the evolution of Taylor Swift’s dialect
A pair of researchers from the University of Minnesota analyzed years of Taylor Swift’s recorded interviews to track how her dialect has evolved. Their results were published in J...
www.eurekalert.org
matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 10d
Our expectations of what we plan to focus on affect how we do it. This makes us more prone to missing the unexpected. 

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#sciencenews
UC Davis researchers look at how the brain prioritizes what we see
How we focus our attention before we even see an object matters. For example, when we look for something moving in the sky, our expectation would be very different if the object is a bird flying past ...
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 11d
Our political divides run deep. We will form opinions not based on content, but on context. The same message can trigger very different responses depending on who we think is delivering it.
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Research shows there are no easy fixes to political hatred
Reducing polarization and "partisan animosity"—the distrust and hatred of the other party—is remarkably difficult, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the Na...
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 12d
New data suggests that we spend nearly half of our time running on autopilot.
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Our actions are dictated by “autopilot”, not choice, finds new study
Habit, not conscious choice, drives most of our actions, according to new research from the University of Surrey, University of South Carolina and Central Queensland University. 
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 12d
It's a basic school experiment. Roots grow down, shoots grow up. In later years, we learn that auxin is the compound that controls this. But how? It seems that auxin thickens cell walls, which slows growth in specific areas.
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New research shows how plant roots bend and growth downward toward gravity
Scientists have uncovered how the plant hormone auxin helps roots bend and downwards towards gravity – a process called gravitropism - even after encountering obstacles in soil. 
www.eurekalert.org
matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 12d
So Friday, so newsletter!
This week we catch autumn. We learn that joyfulness both protects your brain and helps you to forget. There are gardening bugs, tight-fisted pet owners and flagrant political bias, plus marsupials.
open.substack.com/pub/matildas...
Matilda's Lab Newsletter #96
This week we catch autumn. We learn that joyfulness both protects your brain and helps you to forget. There are gardening bugs, tight-fisted pet owners and flagrant political bias, plus marsupials.
open.substack.com
matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 13d
When X assassinated Twitter, they abandoned fact checking and instead relied on community notes to flag dubious tweets. The funny thing is, this seems to work, with tweets carrying notes far less likely to go viral.
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#sciencenews
Community Notes help reduce the virality of false information on X, study finds
A University of Washington-led study of X found that posts with Community Notes attached were less prone to going viral and got less engagement. After getting a Community Note, on average, reposts dro...
www.eurekalert.org
matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 13d
With no prior training, dogs can infer how similar types of toys work, even when they don’t look alike.
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With no prior training, dogs can infer how similar types of toys work, even when they don’t look alike
As infants, humans naturally learn new words and their associations—like the fact that forks are related to bowls because both are used to consume food. In a study publishing in the Cell Press j...
www.eurekalert.org
matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 14d
It is easy to think poorly of others, but generally, we don't like to do dishonest things. Since the dawn of generative AI, people are now starting to delegate their dishonesty to language models.
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#sciencenews
Delegation to Artificial Intelligence can increase dishonest behavior
People are increasingly handing decisions over to AI systems. Already, AI manages investment portfolios, screens job candidates, recommends whom to hire and fire, and can fill out tax forms on people&...
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 14d
When communicating, know your audience. For those with knowledge on the subject, tell them why. For those unfamiliar, appeal to their emotions.
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#sciencenews
Study reveals how different messages motivate people to take conservation actions
New research finds that the types of messages shared can influence people’s willingness to change their behavior to prevent bird-window collisions.
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matildaslab.bsky.social
Matilda's Lab @matildaslab.bsky.social · 15d
Exercise helps weight loss. Not exactly breaking news. But how exercise helps weight loss was not so clear. In mice, exercise creates a compound that surpresses appetite.
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#sciencenews
New study sheds light on how exercise helps lose weight
Researchers provide new insights into how exercise helps lose weight. They discovered a mechanism by which the compound Lac-Phe, which is produced during exercise, reduces appetite in mice, leading to...
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