We Emit a Visible Light That Vanishes When We Die — An extraordinary experiment on mice and leaves from two different plant species has uncovered direct physical evidence of an eerie ‘biophoton’ phenomenon ceasing on death, suggesting all living things – including humans – could literally glow with health, until we don’t. […] A strong contender for the source of this radiation is the effect of various reactive oxygen species that living cells produce when troubled by stresses such as heat, poisons, pathogens, or lack of nutrients.

Someone who is waiting for what seems forever to cross a major intersection anxiously presses the pedestrian crossing button. Another person who is late for a job interview jumps into an elevator and presses the ‘close door’ button multiple times. However, the pedestrian crossing button and the elevator close door button are ‘placebo buttons’: they do not speed up or have any causal effect on the process. They give users an illusion of control. […] motor involvement, such as throwing the roulette ball, increased the illusion of control compared to merely observing someone else throwing the roulette ball. Participants who were presented with early wins (‘beginner’s luck’) in a coin-tossing experiment estimated their ability to guess the outcome higher. The illusion of control is the tendency for people to overestimate their ability to control events, for example, when someone feels a sense of control over outcomes that they demonstrably do not influence. It was named by U.S. psychologist Ellen Langer and is thought to influence gambling behavior and belief in the paranormal.

After a traumatic event like a divorce or the death of a loved one, some people may experience chest pain and shortness of breath — the result of a condition known colloquially as “broken heart syndrome.” The syndrome, which doctors formally call takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is thought to be triggered by physical or emotional stress, which releases bursts of stress hormones like adrenaline that prevent people’s hearts from contracting properly. Although broken heart syndrome is most common in women, men die from it at more than twice the rate.

Natural scenes are more compressible and less memorable than human-made scenes

Newborns (n = 70,000) who are deficient in vitamin D have a higher chance of developing mental disorders, such as autism, schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), researchers have found

Water consumption is associated with numerous health benefits including greater odds of achieving clinically meaningful weight loss and less weight gain over time

TikTok beauty influencer shot dead during live stream in Mexico

Christine Chubbuck shot herself in the head on July 15, 1974 , during WXLT-TV’s Suncoast Digest, after claiming that the network was about to present “an exclusive coverage of an attempted suicide”; it was confirmed after her death that she had added the quote in her script for the broadcast, making the action likely premeditated. She is The first person to die by suicide on a live television broadcast. Related: Inejirō Asanuma, a Japanese politician, leader of the Japan Socialist Party, was assassinated with a wakizashi, a traditional short sword, by far-right ultranationalist Otoya Yamaguchi while speaking in a televised political debate in Tokyo in 1960. His violent death was seen in graphic detail on national television by millions of Japanese, causing widespread public shock and outrage.

every day the same again | May 15th, 2025