It turns out having fun and bonding with your coworkers by playing video games, can increase productivity inside the office, researchers from Brigham Young University (BYU) found out in their study.

...newly-formed work teams experienced a 20 percent increase in productivity on subsequent tasks after playing video games together for just 45 minutes. The study, published in AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, adds to a growing body of literature finding positive outcomes of team video gaming.

“To see that big of a jump — especially for the amount of time they played — was a little shocking,” said co-author and BYU associate professor Greg Anderson. “Companies are spending thousands and thousands of dollars on team-building activities, and I’m thinking, go buy an Xbox.”

The only downside to this research, as the researchers pointed out, is that this experiment was conducted to newly-formed teams on which members knew nothing about each other.

(Image Credit: Gabe Mayberry / BYU Photo)

Originating from the word “senpai” (which means “senior” in the Japanese language), the word “paisen” is a slang term for senpai. It is made by switching the two syllables.

McDonald’s Japan rebranded their bacon and potato pie, and there came the Bacon Potato PieSen.

Despite your sen-pie’s crusty outer layer, he has a warm, creamy centre made up of smoky bacon, creamy sauce and potato.

The Piesen will disappear around the middle of May, so let's hope he notices us before then!

Yum!

(Image Credit: McDonald’s Japan / Grape Japan)

Almost two weeks ago, the measles outbreak in New York became a public health emergency which mandates everyone in the city to get vaccinated. But the story stretches far back in 2018, from people visiting New York City who had been exposed to the disease.

Of course, recently the growing anti-vaxxer movement has been vehemently opposing MMR vaccination on the grounds that these vaccines can cause health complications, in particular the development of autism.

But the declaration from the NYC mayor brings to our attention the seriousness of the matter and why people should get vaccinated to prevent epidemics and more public health concerns from emerging.

More of this on NYU.

(Image credit: huntlh/Pixabay)

Have you experienced getting goosebumps from a certain part of the song that you’ve heard? It may be a certain pitch, a certain reverb, or a certain tune that would move you to tears or would make you laugh or would send shivers down your spine. This is emotional arousal through music. Through this study, the researchers proved that these chills were real, although this experience is won’t work for everyone.

In their research titled, “The Rewarding Aspects of Music Listening Are Related to Degree of Emotional Arousal,” Valorie N. Salimpoor and company stated that:

The intensity of pleasure experienced from music listening has lead some researchers to suggest that it may act upon the dopamine reward system of the brain, which is implicated in processing highly rewarding stimuli such as cocaine and amphetamines, food, and playing videogames. The assumption that music may also involve this system is largely based on brain imaging findings that have found increasing blood flow or oxygenation to striatal regions of the brain that are implicated in reward…

Assessment of emotional responses to music, particularly the ability for music to induce highly pleasurable feelings, has become a topic of interest to music researchers with practical implications for music composition, therapy, and marketing. The present data provide a direct link between emotions and pleasure in music listening, and reveal new avenues for research to examine whether strongly felt emotions can be rewarding in themselves in the absence of a physically tangible reward or a specific functional goal.

See more of this study at plos.org. 

Via Futility Closet

(Image Credit: Malte Wingen / Unsplash)

Parents have a difficult time raising up our children. Oftentimes, they tend to let anger and frustration get the best of them, and then they channel that anger and frustration to their very own kids. This leads the parents to shout at their kids and say hurtful words to them. This heavily affects the children mentally and emotionally, as some researches would say. This makes them more aggressive, and these children would have violent tendencies in the future. In other words, shouting is bad.

So is there an alternative to shouting? Hopefully, yes. Readers of Goats and Soda, NPR’s blog focused on health and “all sorts of development around the world”, submit over 300 tips and tricks on how to discipline the kids without having to shout at them. Some of these tips are busting out the “Woofie”, giving the kids “The Look”, and going into “Grandma Mode.”

Why don’t you give it a look?

(Image Credit: Malaka Gharib/ NPR)

The vet told my dad on the phone (??) that his dog had to be put down and he’d come to his house and do it. My dad dug the dog’s grave AND LET THE DOG WATCH. Then the vet came and checked the dog and said it was a false alarm. Oops! Dog’s fine! Everything about this is insane. pic.twitter.com/sFXKVDk5Vz

— Franklin Hardy (@franklinhardy) April 18, 2019

Franklin Hardy managed to pull us in several directions emotionally with one Tweet. First there was sadness, then horror, then relief, then laughter. Then, of course, there was curiosity. What kind of diagnosis did the dog mistakenly have? Is the dog alright? And how did the dog feel about this misadventure? This response may have pegged it best.

Dog:
TODAY WAS SO AWESOME WE DUG A BIG HOLE I DIDNT EVEN KNOW WE WERE BOTH INTO DIGGING HOLES WE HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON

— S.I. Rosenbaum (@sirosenbaum) April 18, 2019

You can read the entire Twitter thread here. -via Metafilter

In the 1830s, several people incependently figured out how to capture images permanently -which we call photography. Hippolyte Bayard did it in France, but got very little notice. Here's his story, including how he produced the first staged fake photo, in which he showed his own dead body. -via Digg

Given the booming popularity of rideshare electric scooter in many U.S. cities, you'd be forgiven if you think that motorized kick scooter is a relatively new invention. In actuality, they've been around for over a century:

The Online Bike Museum explains that the Autoped, the first mass-produced motorized scooter ride in the U.S., was “[e]ssentially an enlarged child’s scooter with an engine mounted over the front wheel.” Though some reports claimed it could reach speeds of 35 miles per hour, the steering column operated the clutch and brake, which the museum noted made the ride “unsteady” when it pushed 20 mph. Later, a battery-operated version of the Autoped was made available when the Everready Battery Company bought the outfit.

The concept of the scooter stretches back at least a century before to 1817 and Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun of Germany. After he debuted his early two-wheeled, human-powered ride, the velocipede concept was quickly spun off into bicycles, tricycles and kick scooters. Give or take a few decades, the transportation was being motorized, too, with rear treadle drives popping up in Scotland around the 1840s, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Come the turn of the 19th century, battery-powered machines were also entering into the fold; Ogden Bolton Jr. was issued a U.S. patent for his battery-powered bicycle in 1895.

But why didn't the motorized scooter of the early 19th century become popular?  The Smithsonian has the story behind the rise and fall of the world's first motor scooter.

(Image Credits: National Museum of American History)

We already have electric cars that run on batteries and thus help reduce the carbon footprint.

But now a new concept tries to step up the game by not only using hydrogen as a source of fuel, but also making the car like a mini power plant that can convert energy into electricity which will then be supplied to the power grid.

The concept comes from Esther Park Lee from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) who recently obtained her PhD on the subject.

A fuel cell car converts hydrogen into electricity, heat and clean water. The stationary hydrogen car can also supply that electricity to the power grid and thus act as a buffer in a sustainable energy system, because the supply of energy from renewable sources such as wind and sun fluctuates.

(Image credit: Spielvogel/Wikimedia Commons)

I remember years ago, when I was in high school, I would complain to myself, “How would this subject help me in my life? I won’t use this when I grow up.” I would later answer this question for myself, and my answer would be “because the school wants to hone your creativity and critical thinking.”

But don’t you wish that there was more in high school than just writing on the board solving math equations, like being taught how to cook, or how to replace a flat tire? Hopefully a school in Kentucky does just this. Bullitt Central High School hosts “adulting” classes such as “tax filing”, “meal prep”, “love letter writing”, and “resume writing”.

Read more on IcePop.

(Image Credit: wendywatson94 / Wikimedia Commons)

Every landlord has a tenant horror story, and every tenant has a landlord horror story. But while few people ever become landlords, almost everyone has had to live in someone else's house at one time or another. And the tenant-landlord relationship can get weird really fast.

Although some are definitely weirder than others.

See all 25 stories in Cracked's latest pictofacts list. 

A pair of floating robots are now headed to International Space Station as NASA sent them with whole bunch of other ISS supplies and experiments on a Cygnus spacecraft which launched on Wednesday. Their job is to aid ISS crew in their daily activities.

“Astrobee, NASA’s new free-flying robotic system, will help astronauts reduce time they spend on routine duties, leaving them to focus more on the things that only humans can do,” NASA explains. “Working autonomously or via remote control by astronauts, flight controllers or researchers on the ground, the robots are designed to complete tasks such as taking inventory, documenting experiments conducted by astronauts with their built-in cameras or working together to move cargo throughout the station.” 

See BGR for more | Description over at NASA

(Image Credits: BGR)

"Earth" by Lil Dicky is more than just a music video. It's a love letter to our planet. It features lush animation and appearances by all kinds of creatures we share the earth with, voiced by a cavalcade of celebrity singers:

Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Halsey, Zac Brown, Brendon Urie, Hailee Steinfeld, Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Adam Levine, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth, SIA, Miley Cyrus, Lil Jon, Rita Ora, Miguel, Katy Perry, Lil Yachty, Ed Sheeran, Meghan Trainor, Joel Embiid, Tory Lanez, John Legend, Backstreet Boys, Bad Bunny, Psy, Kris Wu

Contains NSFW language and adult subject matter. -via Tastefully Offensive

If you drive by the house at 3970 Spencer Street in Las Vegas, you might not think there's anything remarkable about it. But it's what you don't see that matters. And it can be yours for a mere $18 million! See, underneath the one-acre lot is a 15,000 square foot underground bunker. From the real estate listing:

Las Vegas Underground House! Its not just a house, its an subterranean 15,000sqft concrete & steel rectangular shaped doomsday bunker. The 5000 sqft House is built Inside this huge bunker & is finished with pool,spa,waterfall,trees,guest house,BBQ,fountain & 500 linear feet of floor to ceiling illuminated murals of landscapes of wide open spaces simulating day,dusk,dawn & night modes. All Furnishings & 1 year of caretaker & upkeep are included

It's got everything except windows, but to make up for that, there are nature scenes painted on the walls and colored lighting you can adjust for daytime and nighttime moods. It was built in 1978, with the original decor that will take you back to the Cold War era, overlaid with Las Vegas kitsch (think neon, pink, and astroturf).

Whether being underground in this home will keep you safe in the apocalypse would depend on the situation, though -it does use public utilities. See a gallery of pictures of this underground fantasyland at Old House Dreams. And more pictures here. -via Nag on the Lake

If you ever wondered how ancient civilizations moved large and heavy stone structures like the Moai statues on Easter Island, take a look at this project by Matter Studio:

Walking Assembly re-introduces the potentials of that ancient knowledge to better inform the transportation and assembly of future architectures.

Using the theory of weight and balance, the researchers wanted to create large-scale stone objects that could be moved, assembled, and disassembled — without cranes, heavy equipment, or much effort from humans at all.

By using variable density concrete, the center of mass of the object is calibrated precisely to control the stable, but easy motion of the elements.

Watch on Matter Design and see how two men moved gigantic structures by hand.

Via Curbed.

(Image Credits: Screenshot from Matter Studio)