Lawyer invents fake DUI trial to propose to attorney girlfriend
Amazon Will Pay $0 in Federal Taxes on $11.2 Billion Profits This tax-free break comes even though Amazon almost doubled its U.S. profits from $5.6 billion to $11.2 billion between 2017 and 2018.
Facebook lets you search for photos of your female friends, but not male mates
Why Tech Companies Hire So Many Economists
What happens to the natural world if all the insects disappear?
Happiness research: Long-term effects of life events are overestimated [PDF]
Scene categorization in the presence of a distractor (we presented composite images with a scene in the center and another scene in the periphery. The two channels conveyed different information, and the participants were asked to focus on one channel while ignoring the other.)
Silent Neurons: The Dark Matter of the Brain?
What 100 Years of Typing Research Can Tell Us
The alarm has been raised on so-called ‘driverless dilemmas’, in which autonomous vehicles will need to make ethical decisions on the road. We argue that these ideas are too contrived to be of practical use, represent an incorrect model of proper safe decision making, and should not be used to inform policy.
Forecasting the Impact of Connected and Automated Vehicles on Energy Use
Fortnite Is the Future, but Probably Not for the Reasons You Think
As HuffPost and BuzzFeed shed staff, has the digital content bubble burst?
The moral of this story is that going to the pub raises many interesting philosophical issues
Misophonia is when an everyday sound causes a strong emotional reaction, usually anger, anxiety or disgust [Thanks GG]
How 10,000 maggots eat a pizza in 2 hours
Increased Coldheartedness related to more pleasure and less guilt after bug grinding.
Detecting a Decline in Serial Homicide
Janice Guy at Higher Pictures, until March 9, 2019
The Neon Fruit Illusion (Observers will typically ascribe this colour change not to the lighting but to the objects themselves)
100 Years is an upcoming science fiction film written by John Malkovich and directed by Robert Rodriguez, due to be released on November 18, 2115
China germinates first seed on moon and Russian startup wants to put billboards in space
A robot dog has learned to run faster with machine learning
Giving algorithms a sense of uncertainty could make them more ethical
Consumption of sushi is a good predictor of insect acceptance.
researchers discover the brain cells that make pain unpleasant
Wipe your nose with the sullied tissue, and you’ll “get sick on your own terms.” A Mysterious Company Claims to Sell Sneeze-Filled Tissues for $80
Creative Ideas of Physicists and Writers Routinely Occur During Mind Wandering
We use a unique data set to show that financial market experts — institutional investors with portfolios averaging $573 million — exhibit costly, systematic biases. A striking finding emerges: while investors display clear skill in buying, their selling decisions underperform substantially.
Striped bodypainting protects against horseflies
What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper? (instead of reaching for a roll of toilet paper, an ancient Roman would often grab a tersorium — or, in my technical terms, a “toilet brush for your butt.”
Easter Island statues: mystery behind their location revealed
Mars — if it still had a magnetic field, atmosphere and water
toki- Process & WALK_short ver [Thanks Tim]
4 Copy Editors Killed In Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang Violence
Spiders Can Fly Hundreds of Miles Using Electricity
Swiss hotel chain offers a ‘social media sitter’ to handle your Instagram while you relax
How and when taking pictures undermines the enjoyment of experiences [Related: How the Intention to Share Can Undermine Enjoyment | PDF and How Taking Photos Increases Enjoyment of Experiences | PDF]
Delivery robot spontaneously bursts into flames
Person evaluation is strongly influenced by untrustworthy gossip
picking the ‘wrong’ name can make a huge difference to your sales figures (drug-naming study)
Forgetting in order to Remember Better (we find that the interference of informations limits the capacity of human memory, which is the “magic number seven”.)
Physics explains why time passes faster as you age
There is now a mental health clinic inside a Walmart Supercenter
Executing Someone Who Does Not Remember the Crime [Argument Session, US Supreme Court | audio]
Can a Corpse Give Birth? Why a dead woman was kept on life support against her wishes. [NY Times]
Google Has a Plan to Eliminate Mosquitoes Worldwide
Self-exciting Risk Modeling for Predicting Next Locations of Serial Crimes
A 30-Year Plan to Transform the Courts [audio] More: The Federalist Society has reached an unprecedented peak of power and influence. Having allies on the highest court of the land is just the top layer of the Federalist Society’s expanding sway. The next most important segment of the judiciary — the federal appeals courts — is also filling up with Federalist Society members: Twenty-five of the 30 appeals court judges Trump has appointed are or were members of the society. [Washington Post]
The choice of information structures must be subject to some limits, otherwise, of course, each agent would simply observe the entire state of the world. The Cost of Information
“Financial markets have significantly evolved over the past decade, driven by new technologies, and the market itself is becoming more difficult to anticipate as traditional participants are imperceptibly replaced by computerised models.” Hedge Funds Have Lost Their Rhythm
The Economic Limits of Bitcoin and the Blockchain
Clarence King—who was a renowned explorer, the first director of the United States Geological Survey, and one of the most famous Americans of the nineteenth century—conducted a secret double life in which he passed for black. [The Best Facts I Learned from Books in 2018 ]
The artist targeted five prominent New York museums that have rejected his work—the Metropolitan, Guggenheim, Museum of Modern art, New Museum, and Whitney—arguing that they are part of a cabal to eliminate competition in the art market.
Factory robot impales worker with 10 foot-long steel spikes after malfunction
Parrot uses owner’s Amazon Alexa to order shopping, play music
When faking your own death to get out of catering a wedding is not fraud
Child sex dolls seized by Canadian border agents
Boys experience their first ejaculation (thorarche) during adolescence + Thelarche is the onset of secondary (postnatal) breast development, usually occurring at the beginning of puberty in girls + Menarche
Can Humans Really Discriminate 1 Trillion Odors? (The paper’s extravagant claims are based on errors of mathematical logic.)
Physical activity in the evening does not cause sleep problems
Sleep selectively stabilizes contextual aspects of negative memories
The human brain needs to suppress obvious ideas in order to reach the most creative ones. A new study shows that brainwaves play a crucial role in inhibiting habitual thinking modes to pave the way to access more remote ideas.
The Business of Selling Your Location More: Facebook Filed A Patent To Calculate Your Future Location
These Portraits Were Made by AI: None of These People Exist
Advertisers place a single brown pixel on a bright background in a mobile ad. It looks like dust, so users try to wipe it off. That registers as a click, and the user is taken to the homepage. [52 things I learned in 2018]
Should I buy bitcoin (Nevada, New Hampshire, Rhode Island). Should I delete facebook (Washington). Should I cut my hair (Arizona, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio). The Most-Googled “Should I” Question State by State
There Are Now More Shows Streaming Than There Are on Broadcast or Cable
Marriott, like the other big hotel companies, owns very few of its own hotels these days. Marriott is actually a family of 30 hotel brands, many of them virtually indistinguishable. What’s the business logic?
NASA Research Reveals Saturn is Losing Its Rings at “Worst-Case-Scenario” Rate
New results suggest there is no methane on Mars, living organisms thus less likely
Planets with oxygen don’t necessarily have life
The Enfer (French for “Hell”) is a special department of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. It is a special collection of books and manuscripts of an erotic or pornographic character which, because of their rarity and value, may be seen only with authorization.
Polybius is an almost-certainly fictional arcade game. The original game allegedly was part of a government-run psychology experiment. [Thanks Darren!]
Poo found on every McDonald’s touchscreen tested
London bans junk food advertising on public transportation
Major dark web drug dealers have started to voluntarily ban the synthetic opioid fentanyl
When cryptocurrency issuers want positive coverage for their virtual coins, they buy it
It claims to be, in short, a next-generation lie detector. Polygraph tests are a $2 billion industry in the US and, despite their inaccuracy, are widely used to screen candidates for government jobs. Released in 2014 by Converus, a Mark Cuban–funded startup, EyeDetect is pitched by its makers as a faster, cheaper, and more accurate alternative to the notoriously unreliable polygraph.
Most women would be stunned to discover that the law does not consider a piece of their body to be their property, and they legally have almost no voice regarding the use of their own placentas [Placentophagy: A Women ’s Right to Her Placenta | PDF]
Harvard scientists found a potential key ingredient to the start of life on Earth [more]
Chemical industry giant 3M is waging an aggressive campaign to stave off new regulations and potentially billions of dollars in damages stemming from a contamination crisis that has fouled tens of millions of Americans’ drinking water. Inside a corporate giant’s fight to thwart a massive pollution tab
The placement of a period and no spaces between “G-20” and “in” resulted in an inadvertent hyperlink
Scientific communication in a post-truth society
After nine years, Uber isn’t within hailing distance of making money and continues to bleed more red ink than any start-up in history. By contrast, Facebook and Amazon were solidly cash-flow positive by their fifth year. Uber has never presented a case as to why it will ever be profitable, let alone earn an adequate return on capital.
There are about 4,256 human-made satellites orbiting the Earth, of which about 1,149 are still working. If Earth’s orbit is so crowded, why don’t we see space junk in photos of the Earth?
The first ever human vs. computer no-limit Texas hold ‘em competition took place from April 24-May 8, 2015 at River’s Casino in Pittsburgh, PA. In this article I present my thoughts on the competition design, agent architecture, and lessons learned. [PDF]
How did Choc, a quirky calligraphic typeface drawn by a French graphic designer in the 1950s, end up on storefronts everywhere? [NY Times]
Behind the scene: Charlie Chaplin roller-skating in a department store in Modern Time (1936)
Small Nuclear War Could Reverse Global Warming for Years
Emile Ratelband, 69, wants to change the date of birth on his passport from March 11, 1949 to March 11, 1969. He says he has had a check-up and is “biologically” 25 years younger than his date of birth claims.
Ellenstein, 57, donated sperm anonymously in his 20s and early 30s to make some extra cash. This past year, thanks to online tools, including DNA test kits, he discovered that he has at least 24 biological children.
we propose that instances of orgasmic dysfunction in many women may be a byproduct of an inability to find and/or retain high-quality male partners. Related: Women’s orgasm obstacles | PDF
Did the Victorians have faster reactions?
“How does it work?” vs. “What are the laws?” Two conceptions of psychological explanation [PDF]
Can hypnotic suggestibility measured online?
Hackers erase 6,500 sites from the Dark Web in one attack
Scott Galloway: Over the past decade, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have aggregated more economic value and influence than nearly any other commercial entity in history. The breakup of big tech should and will happen. [More: The Four — What to do (July 2017) + How the traditional rules of business don’t apply to the Big Four, September 2018 ]
Google Turns 20: How an Internet Search Engine Reshaped the Wolrd
A bra that falls off when you clap your hands (new patent)
New artists who show their work early in a relatively small network of 400 venues are all but guaranteed a successful art career, the study said. By contrast, artists who exhibit mainly in lower-level galleries and midtier institutions are likely to remain stuck in that orbit.
How I Accidentally Wound Up Running an Outlaw Biker
I Found the Best Burger Place in America. And Then I Killed It.
Saddam Hussein memorial plaque appears on London bench
Why 536 was ‘the worst year to be alive’
How the seven rules of Soviet disinformation are being used to create today’s fake news stories
Professional mermaids say ‘merverts’ are making their lives a hassle
Restaurant owner murders man, serves his remains to vegetarian diners
Woman who had sex with 20 ghosts is now engaged to a spirit
Canada installs Chinese underwater monitoring devices next to US nuclear submarine base
scientists developed a tool that seems remarkably accurate at judging written falsehoods
In a landmark study, 20 top US corporate lawyers with decades of experience in corporate law and contract review were pitted against an AI. Their task was to spot issues in five Non-Disclosure Agreements.
Emotions are frequently thought of as reactions to events in the world. However, many of our emotional experiences are of our own making, coming from thoughts and memories. These different origins mean that these endogenous emotions are more controllable than exogenous emotions.
Loneliness increases a person’s risk of dementia by 40 percent
Curiosity is associated with well-being
Study: Tetris is a great distraction for easing an anxious mind
Human saliva as a cleaning agent for dirty surfaces
Exploring the effect of microdosing psychedelics on creativity
Psychedelic psilocybin therapy for depression granted Breakthrough Therapy status by FDA
Tolaas also invented 1,500 “smell memory kits” — abstract odors that have never been smelled before. When you want to remember an event, you open the amulet and inhale, sealing the moment in your emotional core.
Swiss experiment with sound to make cheese tastier
The shopping mall would have been inconceivable without air conditioning, as would the deep-plan and glass-walled office block, as would computer servers. An inversion of nature: how air conditioning created the modern city
Why Do Mosquitoes Bite Some People More Than Others? (Blood type, metabolism, exercise, shirt color, drinking beer…)
a special fifth state of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC)
20 “Rules for History of Philosophy”
NYC Municipal Archives Collections
What happened to the Sphinx’s nose?
Map of Roman Air Bases in 2nd Century AD and US governors by eye color and if you’re asked to “put your hands up” and have trouble identifying the situation
Sex doll rental company will make a replica of your dead lover
Man run over by lawn mower while trying to kill son with chainsaw
Assessing the calorific significance of episodes of human cannibalism in the Palaeolithic (This paper presents a nutritional template that offers a proxy calorie value for the human body)
How to Order a Beer — Cultural Differences in the Use of Conventional Gestures for Numbers
Toilet Flushing System Bursting Prompts Massive Recall
Kansas City police looking for stolen inflatable human colon
some down-for-anything fans have also reported post-slushy poop that ranges from blue to green
The Secretive Business of Facial-Recognition Software in Retail Stores
Do women’s preferences for masculine voices shift across the ovulatory cycle?
A “Need for Chaos” and the Sharing of Hostile Political Rumors in Advanced Democracies
we often forget about the fact that the frontal lobes – the most developed part of the brain – are at the same time our greatest weakness, exposed to the action of damaging factors in our evolving environment. Is depression the cost of evolution? The Evolutionary Theory of Depression
Scientists Create Artificial Wood That Is Water- and Fire-Resistant
Interviews with elederly people (1929)
Shredding Banksy’s the Girl and Balloon - The Director’s Cut
Seeking advice lowers mortality risk
This paper compares mortality between Gold and Silver medalists in Olympic Track and Field to study how achievement influences health. Contrary to conventional wisdom, winners die over one year earlier than losers.
Zurich crematorium starts to trade precious metals filtered from people’s ashes
Music training does not enhance non-music cognitive skills or academic achievement
Why Determinism in Physics Has No Implications for Free Will
Sixteen healthy volunteers without gastrointestinal disease and normal faecal calprotectin baseline values ingested their own blood twice, either by drinking or via nasogastric tube. Ingestion of blood resulted in an increase in faecal calprotectin-positive tests.
All participants were engaged in a steady heterosexual relationship. Women reported a masturbation frequency of about once per two weeks. Men reported a masturbation frequency of about twice per week. PDF
Three scholars spent 10 months writing 20 hoax papers
A new mathematical model suggests that signs of extraterrestrial intelligence could be common
Scientists Use DNA to Expose the World’s Top 3 Illegal Ivory Cartels
Effects of the replacement of wheat flour with cricket powder on the characteristics of muffins
History of art paintings through the lens of entropy and complexity
Who was in on Banksy’s ’self-destruct’ art stunt? [previously: Banksy’s Girl With Balloon (2006) self-destructed at the end of a Sotheby’s auction]
Sex doll brothel raided by police, closed down
She thought she had candles to burn during a power outage — but it was dynamite
Japan starts space elevator experiments
Amazon has patented a system that would put workers in a cage, on top of a robot
The Secret Drug Pricing System Middlemen Use to Rake in Millions
Stab Wound to the Chest Masquerading as Impalement by Rose Bush
The report — which surveyed more than 11,000 researchers worldwide — also finds a growing “reviewer fatigue.” Finding peer reviewers is becoming harder, even as the overall volume of publications rises globally
People’s interpretation of new evidence is often biased by their previous choices
People overestimate the size of their nose
How is experience transformed into memory?
The Mystery of People Who Speak Dozens of Languages
Computer vision researchers have uncovered a world of visual signals hiding in our midst, including subtle motions that betray what’s being said and faint images of what’s around a corner (with a recording of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” reconstructed from the minuscule vibrations of an empty chip bag as viewed through a soundproof window)
Did scientists discover a new shape?
Where former Lehman Brothers employees are today
Meet the Worshipers Who Believe They’re Aliens in Human Form
This note discusses the gap in intellectual property protections for the fashion industry
trends in the diffusion of misinformation on Facebook and Twitter between Jan- uary 2015 and July 2018 [PDF]
Are New York’s free FREE LinkNYC internet kiosks tracking your movements?
“The Most Unwanted Song” is a song created by artists Komar and Melamid and composer Dave Soldier in 1997. The song was designed to incorporate lyrical and musical elements that were annoying to most people, as determined by a public opinion survey.
How Technology is Hijacking Your Mind — from a Magician and Google Design Ethicist [Thanks Tim]
The 20 Books Travelers Are Always Leaving Behind at Their Hotels
We only eat fruit, and haven’t brushed our teeth in two years
Air Guitarists Compete At World Championships
For $450, This Japanese Company Will Quit Your Job For You
Google and Mastercard Cut a Secret Ad Deal to Track Retail Sales
The present research examined ‘creepiness,’ a commonly referenced but little understood construct
relation between the gray matter volume of the amygdala and procrastination
Evaluating the replicability of social science experiments in Nature and Science between 2010 and 2015 [PDF]
I argue that the object that is universally lost in all break-ups is a person with certain intrinsic qualities, who is in a relationship characterised by certain shared activities and recognized as romantic. That means that, at least in romantic terminations, the beloved and the relationship are not independent objects of grief. The Break-Up Check: Exploring Romantic Love through Relationship Terminations. [last week: How to Recover from Romantic Heartbreak + previously: The scientific study of heartbreak is extremely new, with nearly all articles on the matter appearing in the last 10-15 years]
Pet Phone: Using Apologies to Enhance User-Smartphone Attachment [PDF]
Pink for Girls, Red for Boys, and Blue for Both Genders: Colour Preferences in Children and Adults
How Two Thieves Stole Thousands of Prints From University Libraries
Any contact with water whatsoever – even her own sweat – leaves Rachel with a painful, swollen and intensely itchy rash which can last for several hours The woman who is allergic to water
People are having trouble telling the difference between real videos and the deepfake videos
