tisiwoota

1. People Are Better at Shopping for Strangers than Friends (”The Science Behind Bad Gift-Giving”)

2. Narcissists Accept Criticism Better From People Like Themselves
“The researchers found that narcissists who thought there was a similarity between them and their partner showed no tendency to deliver aggressive levels of noises to that person, even when they had been criticized by them. But narcissists who hadn’t been told they shared a birthday or a rare fingerprint type with their partners and who had been criticized by them were much more likely than others to select painful high-decibel noise levels.”

3. Researchers Discover Pain Perception Gene
“A mutation in the gene knocks out all perception of injury, raising hopes of developing novel drugs that would abolish pain by blocking the gene’s function.”

4. Virtual Reality Fosters False Memories As the article briefly notes, this may raise questions about the implications for people trained by VR.

5. Fashion Fallout: The True Cost of Cashmere
“China’s enormous herds of cashmere-producing goats have led to a drop in the price of sweaters. But they also have helped graze Chinese grasslands down to a barren moonscape, unleashing some of the heaviest dust storms on record and fueling a plume of pollution heavy enough to reach skies over the U.S.

Asian dust already accounted for 40 percent of the worst dust days in the Western U.S. in 2001, according to a recent study. Despite efforts to reduce emissions, a top Chinese environmental official warned last year that air pollution could quadruple within 15 years because of the rapid rise in private cars and energy use in China. More Chinese pollution will make it harder and more expensive for cities such as L.A. to meet strict federal air standards.”

1. Eastern vs. Western Perceptions of Consequences Four interesting studies.

2. A Society Where Older Gals are Sexier Chimpanzee females get more and more male attention as they age. One main reason is that the species does not go through menopause, so females are fertile for 90% of their lives. Also, how could you not read an article that includes the line: “Anything less than total sluttishness could be deemed juvenile-endangerment.”

3. FREE PIG If You Take My Last Name. Kristian von Hornsleth, a Danish artist, has offered Ugandan villagers aid in the form of a pig or goat if they take on his name as a commentary “on the hypocrisies of society” and western aid. The project is called: “The Village Project Uganda: We Want to Help You but We Want to Own You”.

Hornsleth has mounted the resulting photographs in an exhibition in Copenhagen, depicting villagers showing their “identity cards” in the red, yellow and black of Uganda’s flag and each with the name “Hornsleth”. . . . Local press reported that Uganda’s immigration department had rejected passport applications for over 100 Hornsleths wanting to go to Denmark to view the exhibition.

4. Selecting FOR disabled embryos?! Short, deaf, and other disabled parents want their children to be like them.

5. Mood Makes Food Taste Different.