Men sort themselves within status hierarchies. Some people might assume that men at the top of these hierarchies are more likely to have more sexual partners. Although this assumption might be true for other fields, heavy metal guitar playing is not one of them.

A psychological study published in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences found that male metal guitarists who spent more time practicing generally had a greater desire for casual sex than those who spent less time practicing. But, PsyPost reports they were not more successful than lower-skilled players at achieving those sexual goals. The researchers hope to expand the study in the future to include professional heavy metal guitarists.

-via Marginal Revolution | Photo: Rob Faulkner

We previously wrote about the case of Randy Gardner and his attempt at breaking the world record for longest time without sleep, at the time, which was held by a Honolulu DJ who hadn't slept for 260 hours straight. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Gardner's record.

Years ago, he revealed something interesting after achieving all that. In 2017, he shared with NPR how he developed insomnia as an adult ten years before. It hasn't been confirmed whether he still suffers from it today, but he did quip that it must have been some kind of "karmic payback" for what he put himself through 60 years prior.

For all it's worth, Gardner did think about quitting midway through or, at least, he hinted at it in the video above, but since he and his friends had already garnered so much attention from media, he just resolved to power through the whole experiment and broke the record with 264 hours of no sleep.

Furthermore, the record was actually broken in the same year that Gardner achieved his, but Gardner's experiment has been the most well-documented case of it. The last time that a Guinness world record was awarded for sleep deprivation was in 1986, and afterward, in 1997, the GWR stopped as it posed a risk on those who attempted to break the record.

(Video credit: Guinness World Records/Youtube)

Dark matter has been a tricky subject to broach over the past few decades, and according to the video above, some have taken to calling it "bunk science", but Sabine Hossenfelder does clarify that the original idea for dark matter was decent in order to explain the huge amount of data being detected that couldn't be explained by anything else at the time.

However, as technology improved and telescopes became more precise, the data that they gathered also increased in precision, and when juxtaposed with the theory of dark matter, it just didn't fit. So proponents of dark matter tried to make the theory fit the data but that reduced its explanatory power.

Now, there are two competing models of cosmology, dark matter and modified gravity. And although there are cases in which one model is preferred over the other, modified gravity seems to fit the data better and dark matter has become too complicated that it makes it difficult to get at a good conclusion with it.

In any case, the video above is a fun watch. It gives an overview of the theory of dark matter, and explores the progress of the theory over the years, and why it has received more criticism in recent times.

(Video credit: Sabine Hossenfelder/Youtube)

You might have heard the expression 'listening to your body' before, as a means of determining the limits that you can reach when exerting pressure or effort with respect to your physical capacity.

We sometimes go beyond our physical limits in the hopes of achieving a goal as quickly as we possibly can, or simply because we think that we can produce more results by exerting more effort, much like the adage 'no pain, no gain'. At times, we tend to ignore, for example, hunger and the signals that our body sends because we want to discipline ourselves in order to achieve our fitness goals.

But there is now a growing interest in what these signals actually mean, and how they work in the context of brain-body integration. Scientists and researchers have now placed quite a considerable amount of attention to this dynamic, which is called interoception, defined as the process of sensing internal bodily signals that give us an idea of our current physical and mental state or condition.

In The Conversation's weekly podcast above, Gemma Ware, executive producer for the show, interviewed neuroscientist Sarah Garfinkel from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University College London to learn more about interoception and how it works, and how we can use the knowledge of it to better take care of ourselves, both physically and mentally.

For example, Garfinkel's focus in her work is helping people with autism, particularly in regulating anxiety. People on the spectrum generally have difficulty in identifying sensations of hunger, satiety, and anxiety, so they are unable to course-correct before it becomes unbearable.

With interoceptive training, people with autism were able to become more attuned to their internal bodily signals so that they can respond with the proper course of action to prevent their anxiety from getting worse, among other things.

One particular exercise you can do to check whether you are in tune with your body's internal signals is to count the number of heartbeats you make without any physical contact, similar to the one done in the podcast. Using an oximeter, you can check how you fared, and that will give you an idea of how interoceptive you are.

There are sensations that our body gives off and sometimes we don't understand why we're feeling such or from where they're originating, but being aware of them is one path toward maintaining our health, physically and mentally.

The quote mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, I think, perfectly summarizes the point of interoception, and it was by René Leriche, "Health is life lived in the silence of the organs."

(Video credit: The Conversation/Youtube)

Without many people noticing, the US has effectively gained more land over the course of the holidays, equivalent to the size of about an Egypt or two Californias. That's because the State Department announced on December 19, 2023, that they have defined the area of America's extended continental shelf (ECS). With it, the US added approximately 1 million sq. km. (roughly 386,000 sq. mi.) of seabed and subsoil.

Just to make things clear, the ECS is different from a country's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Territorial waters are defined as the portion of the waters that extend out to 12 nautical miles from a country's shoreline, on which a country has full sovereignty.

A country's EEZ means that they have economic jurisdiction over that part of the water, and thus they have the sole right to harvest, harness, or make use of the natural resources within that area. Meanwhile, the ECS only refers to the land mass under the water, and not any resources above it which is under the term EEZ.

The US ECS, as defined, currently consists of seven distinct maritime areas. As you can imagine, being bordered on different sides by at least three different bodies of water, there's much underwater ground that the US covers.

So, there's the Arctic ECS, the Atlantic ECS, the Pacific ECS, two different patches on the Gulf of Mexico, the Bering ECS, and the Mariana ECS. This is considered the largest addition to US land since the 1867 Alaska Purchase.

(Image credit: US State Department)

Some countries, like Denmark and Iceland, have a list of approved names you can give your baby. Some countries keep a list of names you can't give your baby. New Zealand has no such lists, but each name is judged on a case-by-case basis, and must be approved by the Department of Internal Affairs. The department has released a list of the rejected names of 2023, led by Prince. That named supplanted last year's top rejected name, King, but further down the list is Kiing and Kingkillah. New Zealand has a rule for rejecting titles for names, like Major, Bishop, Princess, Messiah, Judge, Captain, and Sovereign. See the list of names rejected by New Zealand authorities at Today. You have to wonder how they got two requests to name a child III3. Kiwi names used to be much more imaginative, as seen in this article from 2008.

Americans would laugh at such tame attempts. For evidence of the things we name our children, all you have to do is take a peek at the subreddit r/tragedeigh. Be warned that it's a serious time sink. -via Fark

(Image credit: jimieye)

Several Hop Shop brand gas stations in northern Kentucky have restrooms with mysterious buttons inside. A sign warns visitors not to push the button. But if the visitor gives into temptation and pushes the button, the restroom turns into a disco, complete with a mirror ball and music.

A marketing manager with the company that owns the chain came up with the idea and scrounged up the resources necessary to turn his vision into a reality. Now people drive to these Hop Shop locations for the sole purpose of visiting the restroom. The usually buy something on the way out.

-via Dave Barry

Butterflies are light and delicate and catch our eyes with an amazing variety of vivid colors as they flutter about. This is all due to some insanely complex and intricate systems that they've evolved. The way they fly through the air involves astonishing physics tricks. Their colors have different purposes, and come about through different schemes. Add those tricks to the weird way they transform from a caterpillar to something completely different, and you have to wonder why they didn't just take over the world while they're at it. The physiology of a butterfly is mind-blowing, but for some reason, we don't have as much respect for moths. Maybe that's because butterflies won't eat our winter coats. Moths are a lot like butterflies, but they fly at night, so we don't pay as much attention because we just don't see them as much. Anyway, you'll learn a lot from the latest episode of Ze Frank's True Facts series. There's a one-minute skippable ad at 7:14.

During NASA's Space Shuttle program, highly-trained NASA astronauts were supplemented by payload specialists, who were sent up to conduct experiments in microgravity. Their priority was the task they were assigned to do, and their space training was not as long nor as rigorous as that of career astronauts. In 1985, this presented a problem.

Physicist Taylor G. Wang was a payload specialist on the Challenger shuttle, mission STS-51-B. He designed the Drop Dynamics Module experiment, meant to study the physics of liquid drops in microgravity. Wang had been preparing for this experiment for years. But on the shuttle, the module did not activate. It was a serious setback, but Wang thought he could repair the module. He asked NASA for more time in orbit to fix the experiment. They said no. Growing despondent, Wang told Mission Control,

"Hey, if you guys don't give me a chance to repair my instrument, I'm not going back,"

That was quite a statement, and one situation NASA had never encountered before. What do you do? The mission commander and Ground Control spent hours talking to Wang, but to learn how the situation was resolved, you'll need to read the whole story at Ars Technica. You'll also learn about the steps NASA took in case that sort of situation were to come up again, which was rarely talked about at the space agency. -via Nag on the Lake

(Image credit: NASA)

Last January, I noticed something peculiar in my 2yo’s bedroom that - after a year of obsessive reporting - led me to a profound cosmic revelation about what’s even possible in our universe. A 🧵. pic.twitter.com/pHFStIdawh

— Latif Nasser (@latifnasser) January 26, 2024

Latif Nasser is a writer, radio show host, and dad. His child has a poster illustrating the solar system. Nasser noticed something odd about it: the illustration suggested that Venus has a moon named Zoozve.

This was news to Nasser, who didn't know that Venus has moons. NASA asserts that Venus has no moons and a web search for Zoozve returned no results in English. One of his friends, who works for NASA, insists that Venus has no moons. So Nasser contacted the illustrator, who says that he saw the moon on a list.

Nasser kept investigating. It turns out that a small asteroid (approximately the size of 160 Chester A. Arthurs) is in the vicinity of Venus. It's called 2002-VE, which the illustrator misread as Zoozve.

But Zoozve (let's keep using this name) is not, strictly speaking, a moon. It is a extremely rare object called a quasi-moon. Zoozve orbits both Venus and the Sun at the same time.

-via Virginia Postrel

pic.twitter.com/uIy4dqZlUv

— cat with confusing auras (@CatsIX) January 20, 2024

You look like you could use a laugh. Here's a video that will make everything all better. And now I've discovered a genre of internet video I can really get behind- a supercut of cats being goofballs, here set to Jacques Offenbach's "Can-Can"! Make sure the sound is on. This was posted by cat with confusing auras, and you might have to watch it twice as you'll surely miss something the first time around, because you're laughing. -via Everlasting Blort

The 'Dune 2' popcorn bucket is being seen very differently than how WB probably intended it to be interpreted.

See more ⬇️ https://t.co/R3aK5QHM4U

— TMZ (@TMZ) January 27, 2024

We live in the Age of Dune. The magnificent (yes, I'll stand by that description) David Lynch film from 1984 is returning to theaters. You can buy the beautifully presented miniseries from 2000 on DVD. Denis Villeneuve's second film in his treatment of the timeless story is coming to theaters in March.

Warner Bros. is, of course, heavily promoting the new film and offering promotional items. They include, TMZ reports, this popcorn bucket. I immediately recognized it as Shai-Hulud, known to offworlders as sandworms. But other people see a particular part of the human anatomy serving in place of the Maker's mouth.

-via Super Punch

In the 1960s, McDonald's began their quest to initiate children into a life of fast food when they introduced Ronald McDonald. In the '70s, they went all in by adding playgrounds to their outlets that they called PlayLand. The kids loved it, but the metal playground equipment wasn't all that safe. But McDonald's wasn't giving upon kids. The playgrounds moved inside gradually through the 1980s and '90s, when metal equipment was replaced by plastic that included tall tunnels, spiral slides, and ball pits. The new indoor playgrounds were called PlayPlaces. Parents loved the PlayPlaces, where they could eat in peace while their children burned off energy on the safe and modern playground equipment, away from stranger danger.

But the PlayPlaces had their own problems. If you've ever taken a good look at the structures, they were very hard to access for adults. My youngest once laughed at me from the top tube for twenty minutes because she didn't want to leave. McDonald's employees didn't want to climb up there to clean, either, and you can imagine what little children can leave behind in those small spaces. That was just one of the factors that rang the death knell for PlayPlaces, which you can read about at Mental Floss.

(Image credit: Sikalar)

Actor Dev Patel, who you know from Slumdog Millionaire and The Green Knight, is both director and star of Monkey Man. The film has been described as "John Wicke in Mumbai." If the trailer is at all representative, Monkey Man offers gun fights and street fights and fighting in the ring as well, Hindu deities and superheroes, social justice and revenge, sin and redemption, over-the-top yet realistic set pieces, and even a touch of comedy. Oh yeah, and some bangin' music. If I had to describe the trailer in one word, it would be "intense."   

If you need it, a bit of the plot is explained at the YouTube page. Monkey Man was originally supposed to premiere on Netflix, but after seeing it, producer Jordan Peele pushed for a theatrical release. I can understand that; this is going to be epic on the big screen. Monkey Man will hit theaters on April 5.

A couple of years ago, we told you about the Perth Museum, which, despite its name, is in Scotland. Perth, Scotland, to be exact. The museum will open on March 30 with an exhibit on Scotland's national animal, the unicorn.

This raises the question: why does Scotland have a national animal that doesn't live there and never has? Or anywhere else, for that matter? They could have chosen the Scottish wildcat, the Scottish terrier, or the wild haggis. But the designation wasn't put to a vote. King William I, or William the Lion, put the unicorn on his royal coat of arms in the 12th century. It was kept by later monarchs as a symbol of "purity and power." Today, the unicorn has many connotations, which the museum exhibit addresses. Read up on what the unicorn means to Scotland and see a preview of some of the museum exhibits at Smithsonian.   

(Image credit: Thomas Nugent)