| | | | | |  The Horsehead Nebula, imaged by the NIRCam instrument on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. ESA, NASA, CSA, STScI | | | The wackiest headlines from the week as they would appear in a Classifieds section. Careers PRIMATE PHARMACIST: A new study revealed that a wild orangutan chewed up medicinal leaves and applied the juice to a cut on its face, showcasing that humans aren't the only species that knows how to treat a wound with medicine. Even more impressive, a naked mole-rat was seen creating a makeshift pimple patch after a breakout. PEST CONTROL W/ CHARISMA: Beekeeper Matt Hilton became a local hero when he removed a colony of bees that decided to build a home on the Arizona Diamondbacks field, delaying a game by almost two hours. Hilton's bug spray earned him so much love from the crowd that he was chosen to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. SEEKING PRIVATE SUB CAPTAIN: The wealthy have yachts, but the ultrawealthy will soon have yachts that can disappear underwater at the first sign of trouble. An Austrian company said it's developing a 540-foot "submersible superyacht" that can stay underwater for about a month. Personal ISO PILFERED PUSHKINS: At least 170 rare first-edition books have disappeared (some likely stolen) from national libraries across Europe since 2022. Most of the books have been replaced by convincing fakes—only a real Gogol-head would be able to tell the difference. SERIOUS SAPS ONLY: Scientists developed a first-of-its-kind method to determine whether sap is low quality (aka "buddy sap") or syrup-grade. Currently, syrup producers have to boil sap down and run it through the entire syrup-making process to find out if it is OK for consumers or if they'd have to send it to a Denny's. For Sale $7,000 CHAIR: The new symbol of "making it" for rich millennial guys now seems to be a bank-busting Herman Miller Eames lounge chair. Convertible Mustangs and authentic katanas are so out. RETIRED SUPERCOMPUTER: Finally, a desktop that won't get hot when it's running The Sims. The US government is auctioning off a giant 5.34-petaflop supercomputer that in 2016 was the 20th most powerful computer in the world. The price has already hit $480,000.—MM | | | | | | And every minute counts. That's right—May 6 (tomorrow) is the final day of Way Day, aka Wayfair's biggest sale of the year. Take advantage of sitewide discounts, limited-time flash deals, and free shipping* on almost everything. You'll also save up to 80% on everything from faucets to furniture. Now's your chance to scoop up those household items that have been on your to-buy list for, oh, forever? The curtains for the living room, the wall art that brightens up the bathroom with a splash of color, the cozy new reading chair… And you can shop for it all just in time for summer. Outdoor furniture, anyone? Shop the Way Day sale. | | | | Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images Wonder what a Neanderthal actually looked like? Well, here you go. Archaeologists at the University of Cambridge recreated the face of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman from 200 skull fragments they found in a cave. As you can see, Neanderthals and humans (which share an ancestor) look quite similar, a surprise finding since Neanderthal skulls and human skulls have very different structures. It's impossible to know what this woman was thinking, but it probably had something to do with particle physics or the state of postmodernism: Relative to their smaller bodies, Neanderthal brains were just as large, and maybe even larger, than human brains. | | | Dexter's Laboratory/Warner Bros. Domestic Television via Giphy Here are some illuminating scientific discoveries from the week to help you live better and maybe even place more strategic bets on the NBA.  Creatine may counteract sleep deprivation. The dietary supplement all over your Instagram feed might one day help workers who have to do a lot on small amounts of sleep, like ER staff, first responders, and anyone sharing a house with a baby. In a recent study, researchers in Germany brought 15 participants to a laboratory on two separate nights and instructed them to perform cognitive tests every few hours on no sleep. During one visit, participants received a high dose of creatine; on the other, a placebo. The scientists found that three hours after the creatine dosage, cognitive performance improved for up to nine hours. Don't try this at home, though, as the amount used in the test was far higher than generally recommended.
 Time zones and tiredness affect NBA outcomes. A group that might be refreshing their feed for new creatine developments? Upcoming NBA Finals participants the Boston Celtics (yeah, we're calling it now). A study published in Chronobiology International analyzed more than 25,000 NBA games across 21 consecutive seasons and found that teams based in Pacific Time had a significantly higher win percentage when traveling to play a team in ET, rather than vice versa. When PT teams played at home against an ET team, they won 63.5% of the time. However, when an ET team played at home against a PT team, the win percentage dropped to 55%. The researchers concluded that players whose internal body clocks are synchronized with or behind the local time perform worse than athletes whose internal clocks are synched ahead of local time.
 Human noise shortens cricket lifespans. A three-year analysis of the impacts of human noise on cricket survival and reproduction found that crickets coming of age in areas with a sound level of 70 decibels (equivalent to a busy street or a washing machine) were 35% less likely to survive into adulthood than crickets who take Depeche Mode to heart and enjoy the silence. Because crickets communicate with each other through their songs, being unable to hear other crickets diminishes their life expectancy. When you're trying to sleep and bug noise is keeping you up, ask yourself, "AITA?"—HVL
| | | | | | Start off sweet. The secret recipe for a great day? Enjoying a sweet treat. Wendy's new Cinnabon Pull-Apart features bite-size pieces of warm, buttery, cinnamon-y dough goodness topped with irresistible Cinnabon cream cheese frosting. Taste that? That's the start of a delightful day. Order up from your local Wendy's. | | | | Fly View Productions/Getty Images If Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide were still running, it'd probably feature tips on how to deal with a teacher who busted you for staring at TikTok during algebra. Educators have long pushed back against distraction machines (aka phones), with 77% of schools banning them in the classroom as of 2020, according to a National Center for Education Statistics survey. But as evidenced by the vape clouds wafting from school bathrooms, making rules is the easy part. Schooltime still overlaps with screen time: 97% of students are on their phones during school hours, according to a study by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that informs parents about technology. While much of students' phone use might be at lunch or recess, teachers complain that kids aren't waiting for the bell to take a discreet peek at their screens. Though studies show that phones can aid learning when used for academic purposes, it doesn't take an educational psychologist to realize that nonstop scrolling isn't helping anyone ace exams. But there's ample research to support that notion: - An OECD study found that most students got distracted when peers used phones in class. It also showed that kids who spent less in-school time on their phones got better test scores.
- Another study by the National Institutes of Health suggested that phoneless kids in class felt like they had a better grasp of the material and experienced less anxiety.
- Girls' mental health improved markedly, and grades went up when phones were banned in school in a recent Norwegian Institute of Public Health analysis.
To end under-the-desk scrolling, several states are pushing forward with blanket bans on phones in classrooms. But there's no consensus on what an ideal learning environment looks like, so let's enter the anxious grownups group chat about the best way to create phone-less schools for the rising generation that's already making Gen Zers feel old. What to do with the phones? Some teachers are taking a preschool approach to the issue by introducing cubbies into their classrooms to store students' phones. Teachers who support this method say it eliminates the need to waste class time policing phone use. However, some Reddit posters who claim to be teachers say that the stow-away solution isn't always conflictless, as it often involves arguing with kids and cases of fake phones getting passed in. New York University social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who recently wrote a book blaming phones for surging youth mental health problems, believes more hardline measures are necessary, arguing that the only way to ensure a healthy learning environment is to confiscate phones at the start of the school day. He claims that returning phones between classes inhibits kids' in-person interactions in school and tempts them to binge all the content they missed during class. Many schools have taken that route, locking kids' phones away into the same magnetic pouches that you may have seen at a comedy show or a concert. Some school administrators told the Washington Post that the pouches have the welcome side effect of less cyberbullying via illicit videotaping and fewer group vaping sessions coordinated via chat. The adoption of the pouches might be a bummer for phone-addicted sixth graders, but it's been great for Yondr, the company that makes them: It told WaPo that it now supplies 2,000 schools, twice as many as in 2022. Calls to keep phones The biggest pushback to phoneless schools comes not from surly teens but from parents who worry about being unable to reach their children directly in case of an emergency or who value the convenience of keeping in touch with them at all times. Some administrators have responded by giving phone-rule exemptions to certain students, while others have assured parents that they can reach their kids via the school landline and pointed out that kids shouldn't be on their phones during an emergency situation anyway. Plus, a break from parents might be a good thing, as constant texting can lead to an unhealthy attachment, child psychologist Roni Cohen-Sandler told Stateline. Other parents say that phones help their kids cope with anxiety, and some phone ban critics note that students may use their phones for jobs and family obligations. Looking ahead...even if schools sort out the phone situation, they've got a lot of thinking to do about how to approach AI chatbots and other emerging tech.—SK | | | Do you have a recommendation you want to share with Brew readers? Submit your best rec here and it may be featured in next week's list.  Cook: Spicy Szechuan pork stir fry.
Eat: An app to track and share your favorite restaurants. Sit: The perfect spring accessory is a picnic backpack. Squeeze: Save your hands from citrus stings with a juicer. Watch: A workplace dramedy from the '90s with a star-studded cast. Charge: You might be thinking, "Do I really need a two-meter-long charging cord?" You do. $trategy sesh: So you'll need one eventually. Get a free strategy session with a CFP® professional to see if Domain Money's flat-fee plans are right for you.* *A message from our sponsor. | | | Ryan Lowry/Up It's a big world out there. In this section, we'll teleport you to an interesting location—and hopefully give you travel ideas in the process. There are several important things to consider when booking a stay for your vacation. - Is it close to a vibrant downtown area?
- Is there a continental breakfast?
- Can you train to be a mutant superhero?
Looking to build on the success of last summer's viral Barbie Malibu DreamHouse listing and remind travelers it can offer something not available at a hotel, Airbnb announced 11 experiential offerings this summer called Icons. The listings are a mix of lodgings in the same spirit as Barbie's residence that include: - An immersive escapade at the X-Men mansion in Westchester, NY
- A night in the clock room at Paris's Musée d'Orsay
- An uplifting experience in the house from Up that will be hoisted into the sky by a crane and won't (ideally) float away
The stays are affordable but tough to get. Some are free, like the Up house, and all are priced below $100 per person (it's $97 to pretend you're Professor X and wear Cerebro). The trick is being lucky enough to score a reservation. When the listing goes live, you can request to book and hope you receive one of Airbnb's few "golden tickets," a reference to that Johnny Depp movie where he made chocolate.—DL | | | Last week, we asked: If you had to eat only one meal for breakfast every single day for the rest of your life, what would it be? Here are our favorite responses: - "Five cherry tomatoes cut in half. Salted with a fancy salt. Cover in cottage cheese and sprinkle with black pepper."—Kristen from Atlanta, GA
- "Cap'n Crunch in a bowl of milk microwaved for about 25 seconds lessens the impact on the roof of your mouth."—Glenn from Seattle, WA
- "Loco Moco. If you have not had it, it will change your life."—Chris from Los Angeles, CA
- "The only correct answer is oatmeal. Nothing else makes sense from a time/cost efficiency standpoint. As someone who has the same thing for breakfast for 350+ days, people also greatly underestimate how redundant this will get, but you've just got to push through mentally."—Andrew from Chicago, IL
- "This 50-something kid in a big person's body would stick with his Froot Loops w/ Marshmallows. Goes without saying. A good sugar fix in the morning can't be beat! Heck, if I'm only going to eat this one meal every day for the rest of my life, I might even mix it up once in a while and use Mountain Dew instead of milk!"—Bob from Eden Prairie, MN
This week's question What's the worst piece of advice you've ever received? Matty's response to get the juices flowing: "A professor told me I would need a nice suit for my post-college work life. Maybe that applies to some careers, but when I wore a suit to my first marketing job out of college, everyone asked why I was dressed like a flight attendant." Share your response here. | | | | | | | | |  | |
No comments:
Post a Comment