Your parents and grandparents tried to tell you how to be happy, but those proverbial nuggets of wisdom sounded much too simple to you, so you didn't listen. But science stepped in to observe and measure the effects of certain behaviors on the sense of well-being or happiness they inspire. Kurzgesagt brings us some of those scientific studies, and the results show that ancient wisdom, no matter how trite it sounded to you, had it right. Count your blessings. Stop focusing on yourself and look to help someone else. Look at the bright side. Science says so.
"You can't have Christmas without Star Trek, right?"
Truer words were never spoken, Mr. Ahern.
Martin Ahern of Moncton, New Brunswick gradually built up his annual Christmas light display. It's become his hobby. All year, he prepares his precisely engineered lighting arrangements. Most recently, he's launched a 16-foot scale model of the Enterprise NCC-1701, no bloody A, B, C, or D. It's made of wood and duct tape, but flimsier craft had made it into interstellar space.
-via Geekologie | Image: Global News Canada
Chris Long of Reno, Nevada received a bone marrow transplant. Four years later, his colleagues at the Sheriff's Office tested his DNA to find out of the transplant had affected his DNA. If a transplant could alter DNA evidence, it could impact their criminal investigations.
The result was shocking: the sperm in Long's semen contained no trace of his own DNA. It all belonged to his donor, a German man. The New York Times explains what happened:
Mr. Long had become a chimera, the technical term for the rare person with two sets of DNA. The word takes its name from a fire-breathing creature in Greek mythology composed of lion, goat and serpent parts. Doctors and forensic scientists have long known that certain medical procedures turn people into chimeras, but where exactly a donor’s DNA shows up — beyond blood — has rarely been studied with criminal applications in mind.
Brittany Chilton, a criminologist, found that chimera DNA had confused other criminal investigators in the past:
And it has misled them, Ms. Chilton learned once she began to research chimerism. In 2004, investigators in Alaska uploaded a DNA profile extracted from semen to a criminal DNA database. It matched a potential suspect. But there was a problem: The man had been in prison at the time of the assault. It turned out that he had received a bone marrow transplant. The donor, his brother, was eventually convicted.
Abirami Chidambaram, who presented the Alaska case in 2005, when she worked for the Alaska State Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory in Anchorage, said she had heard about another disconcerting scenario since then. It involved police investigators who were skeptical of a sexual assault victim’s account because she said there had been one attacker, though DNA analysis showed two. Eventually the police determined that the second profile had come from her bone marrow donor.
To go gluten-free or not to go gluten-free, that is the question… on the minds of many Americans today who are avoiding gluten for many different reasons. Gluten-free products cater mainly towards people with Celiac disease, a medical condition that is characterized by having a severe allergy to gluten. But it’s also become an increasingly popular option for even those without the disease who are seeking a healthier diet or lifestyle.
Gluten is basically protein in wheat products and it can be difficult to digest for people, possibly worsening or causing health issues.
Whether or not you avoid gluten is a personal preference. Some people simply avoid it because they follow health experts who recommend cutting it out (which is totally fine). If you don't think you have any issues with it and aren't concerned, you don't have to follow a trend simply because other people do. And if the evidence above concerns you, then taking out gluten is a simple way to avoid the health risks some claim are associated with it.
So, why hop on the bandwagon? Here are top reasons for why people avoid it and the effects it can have on your health, according to nutrition science and health professionals.
-via CNet
Photo: Ray Piedra / Pexels
How do you make close-up shots of tiny things look larger-than-life? You’ll be amazed to find that macro photography is an accessible hobby that does not necessarily require expensive equipment or a far-off destination to get the best shots with what you already have. We’re given useful tips on how to enhance macro photo quality and how you can apply these even when using your mobile phone to capture small subjects, like the insects in your backyard.
Here’s a summary in 7 key points:
- Get a macro lens for your phone
- Find your subject: Insects and flowers work best
- Shoot in manual mode
- Use burst shooting
- Get the focus right, even without focus stacking
- Bring in some extra lighting
- Edit for impact
Find the full article here.
-via CNet
Photo: Aris Ioakimidis / Pexels
In October of this year, when the World Health Organization declared that polio’s type 3 strain had been eradicated, the world was able to have a sigh of relief, as it became a slightly better place. Both the type 3 and type 2 strains have been eradicated and no longer exist outside of highly secure laboratories, with the type 1 remaining the only strain at large. Thanks to the thousands of people who have worked hard for this to happen, the two strains will no longer cause paralysis and death.
While it was once just a dream, permanently ending diseases has been within our power since 1980, when smallpox was eradicated after an intense campaign. This victory has saved roughly 200 million people who would otherwise have succumbed to the disease since then.
But other attempts to rid the world of diseases have not gone as smoothly. Doctors have been working on ending polio for 31 years, initially hoping it would be completely gone by 2000. Now, due to difficulties tracking the disease, the target eradication date for the remaining type 1 strain is 2023. Another pathogen nearing eradication is a parasite known as Guinea worm, but again, problems have complicated that campaign, and others as well.
So what was it about smallpox that made it so much simpler to eradicate? What makes an organism eradicable in the first place?
More about this topic over at Quanta Magazine.
(Image Credit: Pixabay)
Cinnamon, hot cocoa, and nutmeg. Those are some of the usual scents you can smell in houses during the holiday season. Enter the smell of fried chicken.
Okay, so maybe it’s not the most traditional of festive, wintery scents but there’s no denying that the smell of seasoned and breaded chicken cooking in a vat of oil is ridiculously good, and terrible for you. Like all things during this time of year! So I think it only makes sense that we embrace this as a staple smell alongside apple cider and sugar cookies.
There is good news for people who love the smell of fried chicken: KFC is back with its firelog that smells like fried chicken!
Imagine the disappointment of your family once they see that you’re not really cooking chicken. Nevertheless, it is a good scent worthy of filling up your home. What do you think?
(Image Credit: FunnyOrDie)
English is an age old language with some very odd words that are rarely used today. Do you think Londoners will know what words like "tittynope" mean?
Psychologist Dr. Logan Jones says that while social media ‘detoxes’ can be helpful in some cases, it’s more important to explore why you need to take a break in the first place.
"On a deeper level, these social media companies know exactly what they are doing [from] a neurological perspective. What they're doing is called intermittent reinforcement -- it's what casinos do too with slot machines. And it's the same with swiping on Tinder or checking your Instagram. The addiction is the reward pathway, it's a dopamine hit," Jones said.
So, instead of quitting Facebook or Instagram cold-turkey, try lessening your social media intake bit-by-bit. For example, Jones suggests “turning off notifications, turning off vibrate, and using a feature on your phone that monitors how much time you spend on social apps.”
"Addiction is anything you do to escape a feeling that has a life-damaging consequence. So a lot of people will turn to social media to escape a feeling of boredom, loneliness, wasting time -- whatever feeling they want to escape. The life-damaging consequences of social media addiction are that you are not present and as engaged with life," Jones said.
These evaluation questions can guide you in your self-assessment.
It’s also helpful to replace your social media addiction with positive habits, like reading, exercising, or meeting up with friends in real life. But don’t be discouraged and give up if you feel the urge to check your phone for Facebook updates 3 seconds after you pick up a book. It takes at least 3 weeks or 21 days for new habits to fully form, according to Jones.
In summary, social media is like a drug, so it’s best to take your recovery efforts one step at a time. Understand where the problem of your social media addiction comes from by assessing your own motives and then find new healthy habits to replace your addiction. But don’t forget to be patient with yourself, we are all a work in progress.
Finally, always consult a health professional first regarding any questions or issues you have, these tips are no substitute for medical advice.
You can find out more about positive reinforcement and building better social media habits here.
Photo: ROBIN WORRALL / Unsplash
This Christmas season, we could all use some practical tips to minimize stress in our homes. Cat owners know how difficult it is to keep a cat off a Christmas tree. And thanks to the Internet, life-changing remedies to mundane challenges are just a click away. Nick Douglas, seeing this problem, compiled answers from various Reddit users about how we can best manage cats on Christmas. Douglas, writing for LifeHacker, says,
Cats love Christmas trees. A lot of them love messing with the tree, even climbing it. They’ll knock off the ornaments, make needles fall, and even topple the tree. I looked through Reddit, where every user owns two hundred cats, digging through years of posts for the best advice on keeping cats from ruining Christmas trees or hurting themselves.
Discover those Holiday Hacks here.
Photo: Valentina Sotnikova / Unsplash
Lost in translation? It’s always useful to have a reliable translation app on-hand, especially for travelers in a foreign country where you don’t know how to speak the local language.
Breaking the age-old language barrier has never been easier as it is today in the Digital Age. Many a faux pas has been avoided by taking a moment to be quick to hear and slow to speak. Still, learning from experience is the fun part and we’ve got hundreds of foreign language tools and resources available at our fingertips!
Lifewire gives us the 6 best translation apps for iPhone and Android users. Here, they consider the pros and cons of amazing features like quick and alternate translations, text-to-speech, phrasebooks, camera translation, conversation translation, and many more.
Photo: mohamed hassan / pxhere
Who says you can’t have fun while working? With the help of these viral shortcuts, what normally takes you several clicks and scrolls could be done in a matter of nanoseconds. Try out these Microsoft Excel hacks or bookmark this cheat sheet to save yourself valuable time and effort, whether at home or in the workplace.
Here just a few:
- Shift+Space: Select an entire row
- Ctrl+Space: Select an entire column
- Alt+Semicolon: Select visible cells
- Ctrl+Plus: Insert new row or column above or to the left of selected row or column
- Ctrl+Minus: Delete selected row or column
- Alt+Plus: Calculate the sum of selected cells
- Ctrl+N: Open new workbook
- Ctrl+S: Save current workbook
- F4: Repeat last action
- Ctrl+Up/Down Arrow: Move to the first or last cell in a column
- Ctrl+X: Cut data in selected cell(s)
- Ctrl+9: Hide selected rows
- Ctrl+0: Hide selected columns
- Ctrl+T: Create table
- Shift+Arrow key: Add one cell to selection
- Ctrl+Period: Move active cell clockwise
Find out more here.
-via Mental Floss
Photo: EsaRiutta via Needpix
What’s a fun way to make your online chat conversations more interesting? Here’s one: create your own personalized emoji!
Emoji Maker gives you a simple interface for customizing your favorite emoji templates to create a brand new one. You can build on a blank template and add as many layers as you want or use the randomizer tool for a surprise.
The only downside for now is that you cannot add it to an emoji keyboard, but you can download it as a png file and easily send it as a sticker.
-via LifeHacker
(Image Credit: Emoji Maker)
"Good photos come from experience; experience comes from bad photos," says Nigel Danson, a landscape photographer with over 150k subscribers on his YouTube channel where he gives tips and techniques for landscape photography.
In his recent video, he analyzes some of his “bad” photos and gives 5 points to consider in order to tell whether a shot is good or bad (I have added explanatory questions to go along with them):
Balance - Do the various elements in your photo complement one another?
Flow - Is there a simple and easy-to-follow direction for the viewer’s eyes?
Attention - Which details stand-out and are being emphasized?
Simplicity - Can your viewer understand what’s going on in the photo?
Distractions - Is there too much going on at one time in the photo?
Danson discusses what makes a photo a good one at 8:11.
These tips are just a guide and he cautions that,
It’s a good idea to get other people’s feedback, but then you’ve got to treat it with care; if you just take everyone’s feedback, then everyone’s gonna have something different and you’ll end up with nothing.
So, get feedback from other people but remember to stay true to your vision for each image because it’s easy to get lost in the woods.
-via Shutterbug.
Photo: Kaique Rocha / Pexels
“Electric Night” photographed by Ivan Pedretti was featured on Wednesday’s ‘Astronomy Picture of the Day’ on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration website with the caption:
It may appear, at first, like the Galaxy is producing the lightning, but really it's the Earth. The featured nighttime landscape was taken from a southern tip of the Italian Island of Sardinia in early June. The foreground rocks and shrubs are near the famous Capo Spartivento Lighthouse, and the camera is pointed south toward Algeria in Africa.
In the distance, across the Mediterranean Sea, a thunderstorm is threatening, with several electric lightning strokes caught together during this 25-second wide-angle exposure.
Much farther in the distance, strewn about the sky, are hundreds of stars in the neighborhood of our Sun in the Milky Way Galaxy. Farthest away, and slanting down from the upper left, are billions of stars that together compose the central band of our Milky Way.
NASA selects a different photo of the cosmos each day. Here's the latest one!
-via News18
Photo: Ivan Pedretti
