Insects that skate on the ocean benefit from plastic junk | Not Exactly Rocket Science | Discover Magazine:

Another one from the “unintended consequences” pile…

There are only five species of sea skaters, all belonging to the Halobates group. Of all the millions of insect species, these five are the only ones to live out at sea. Now, Goldstein has discovered that one sea skater Halobates sericeus actually benefits from what most people would regard as an ecological disaster – the circling mass of plastic and debris known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

PLoS ONE: Public Street Lights Increase House Infestation by the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma dimidiata:

Artificial light has been known for a long time to attract many insect species, and therefore may contribute to the spread of different vector-borne diseases. Also, based on the collection of different species of triatomines with light traps, several authors have suggested that light might attract triatomines to houses, but the role of artificial light in house infestation has never been clearly demonstrated and quantified. Here we performed a spatial analysis of house infestation pattern by T. dimidiata in relation to the distribution of artificial light sources in three different villages from the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico. In all three villages, infested houses were significantly closer to public street light sources than non-infested houses (18.0±0.6 vs 22.6±0.4 m), and street lights rather than domestic lights were associated with house infestation.

From the “unintended consequences” department…

Ideas Illustrated » Blog Archive » Visualizing English Word Origins:

Some examples of English texts with each word or part-word coloured based on its language of origin. Interesting stuff!

Rats have best bite of rodent world:

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that mice and rats have evolved to gnaw with their front teeth and chew with their back teeth more successfully than rodents that ‘specialise’ in one or other of these biting mechanisms.

Well, that clears that up then.

A “Fast” Solution to Jet Lag – Patrick J. Skerrett – Health and Well-Being – Harvard Business Review:

New research points to another, possibly more effective, weapon in the fight against jet lag: fasting before and during a trip.

Oh good. A way to make long-distance travel even MORE unpleasant!

PLoS ONE: Airflow Dynamics of Coughing in Healthy Human Volunteers by Shadowgraph Imaging: An Aid to Aerosol Infection Control:

The qualitative high-speed video footage of these volunteers coughing into their sleeves demonstrates that although this method rarely completely blocks the cough airflow, it decelerates, splits and redirects the airflow, eventually reducing its propagation. The effectiveness of this intervention depends on optimum positioning of the arm over the nose and mouth during coughing, though unsightly stains on sleeves may make it unacceptable to some.

Glad I wasn’t in on that study. All that coughing!

PLoS ONE: The Risks We Dread: A Social Circle Account:

Fear of risks killing 100 people was higher than fear of risks killing 10 people, but there was no difference in fear of risks killing 100 or 1000 people (Experiments 1–4, 7–9). Also in support of the hypothesis, the median number of deaths that would cause maximum level of fear was 100 (Experiments 5 and 6).

Do I look bigger with my finger on a trigger? Yes, says study:

UCLA anthropologists asked hundreds of Americans to guess the size and muscularity of four men based solely on photographs of their hands holding a range of easily recognizable objects, including handguns.

The research, which publishes April 11 in the scholarly journal PLoS ONE, confirms what scrawny thugs have long known: Brandishing a weapon makes a man appear bigger and stronger than he would otherwise

Big Box Stores Linked To the Presence of Hate Groups – Neighborhoods – The Atlantic Cities:

Big box stores contribute to a kind of anonymous social experience. And in these anonymous settings, the strong social bonds that could inoculate a community against hate groups may disappear.

BBC News – US man survives shooting four-inch nail into his heart:

Dennis Hennis, a 52-year-old self-employed builder, was working on his neighbour’s roof when his nail gun jammed and he tried to clear it. The nail pierced the right side of his heart and he went into cardiac arrest. His surgeon credited Mr Hennis’ recovery to prompt medical attention and knowing that he should not remove the nail himself.

Study of the Day: Ambition May Bring Success, but Not Happiness – Hans Villarica – Health – The Atlantic:

Despite their many accomplishments in school and at work, go-getters tend to live somewhat shorter lives and are only slightly happier than their less-motivated peers.

Monkeys like Metallica:

The results were a little strange.  While most of the music had little or no effect on the cottontops—they tended to ignore just about everything played to them—Metallica tunes actually calmed them down.

Astronauts’ Eyeballs Are Deformed by Long Missions in Space – NYTimes.com:

Space squashes your eyeballs!

The Odd Link Between Commute Direction and Marital Satisfaction – Commute – The Atlantic Cities:

In both cases the researchers found a statistically significant link between the direction of the commute and the satisfaction of the marriage. The correlation held true even when other factors like length of marriage, number of children, and commute time were controlled. What’s more, the connection existed whether or not the couples left for work at the same time — in other words, whether or not man and wife might have chatted the whole way to work didn’t seem to make a difference

The mean-girl advice of What To Expect When You’re Expecting. – Slate Magazine:

The questions are incessantly negative, in the voice of an unbearably whiny caricature of a pregnant woman. The answers are deceptively milquetoast in their language, but almost always include some sort of mean-girl slight, slowly chipping away at your instincts and confidence.

The best present you can give a pregnant woman, especially a pregnant woman you like, is to remove all copies of this horrible book from her house.

Richer people break the law, take candy from children – Healthzone.ca:

Well-off people consistently cut off pedestrians or other vehicles while driving, took candy intended for children, cheated in a game or skirted the truth when interviewing a job candidate, said the study published on Monday.

“It’s remarkably consistent” as a pattern of behaviour, Stephane Coté of the Rotman School of Management, told the Star.