Sergio Parra

As explained Daniel E. Lieberman, paleoanthropologist at Harvard University, in his book The history of the human bodyIn the United States, medical care for a cardiovascular patient costs an additional $18,000 per year.

Therefore, if just 25 % more of the population were convinced to get fit, it would save $58 billion a year on cardiovascular disease care alone. Roughly double the annual research budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH): that is, It's better to prevent.

The power of prevention

Prevention, then, seems to be a much more intelligent aspiration, for which we must all fight with greater effort, at least more than simply putting all our eggs in the basket. the care or resolution of medical problems.

In Xataka Science

If you walk an average of 4,400 steps a day, mortality from any cause decreases

Prevention is not becoming obsessed with exercise or diets. Much less entrust yourself to the paleo diet, which is in any way a pseudoscientific construct: there is no ideal and exemplary way of life for hunter-gatherers. There is not even the idea of a paleo diet, because this should be a set of diets very different from each other, as Lieberman points out:

By way of analogy, trying to understand what the human body is adapted to by looking only at hunter-gatherers would be like trying to understand the result of a football game by looking only at a fragment of the second half.

In Xataka Science

This was the first time that someone demonstrated the relationship between exercise and health thanks to a London bus

The most effective prevention would simply happen, according to This studio of The Lancet, by eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, not smoking, exercising moderately and not drinking alcohol excessively. Doing this is enough to reduce cardiovascular disease rates by 50 %.

For this reason, precisely, develop non-fattening food It would not solve one problem but it would amplify others, and it is smarter to be safe than sorry, as I explain in the following video:

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If 25% more of the US population got in shape, they would save $58 billion in medical expenses

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Xataka Science

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Sergio Parra

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According to A study, lWomen are less likely to say yes to an image of a man holding a cat. That's the conclusion of a completely counterintuitive study (don't women like cats?) from Colorado State University. The study surveyed a total of 708 women between the ages of 18 and 24 in an online experiment.

The thing is, according to the authors, that men who held cats were seen as less masculine, more neurotic, pleasant and open, and less friendly. That is, it is likely that the findings are the result of deep-rooted cultural stereotypes about dog and cat owners.

Lack of masculinity

In the study, when a group of women were shown the cat-free image of one of the subjects, the women's 38% said they were likely or very likely to date him occasionally, while the women's 37% said they would consider a relationship. would be with him.

But an image of the same man holding a cat got the respondents thinking, and those numbers were reduced to 33% for each category. Meanwhile, the proportion of women who said they would never consider getting involved with him increased from 9% to 14%.

In comparison, positive ratings for the second subject did not decrease significantly when he was photographed with a cat, but women were more likely to rule him out as a potential partner.

In Xataka Science

If you squint, your cat will like you better: no joke

When photographed alone, 40% respondents said it would be unlikely or certain that they would not go out with him occasionally. But it increased to the 45% when a cat joined it. Similarly, 41% said he would be unlikely to be considered for a relationship, but 45% said the same thing when they saw him with the mascot.

Thinness

Everything seems like stereotypes, according to the authors, just as happens with that of a woman with cats, which is culturally associated with a woman with mental problems (the crazy cat lady):

In Xataka Science

Cat emotions aren't that difficult to interpret, but women do it better than men

Cat owners did not differ from others in their symptoms of depression, anxiety, or their experiences in close relationships. Our findings, therefore, do not fit the notion that cat owners are more depressed, anxious or lonely.

Mutatis mutandis, the photographs of thin women They also tend to be more successful among the male market because that image carries cultural stereotypes, in addition to pressing the button on the handicap principle (sexual selection traits act as signals of ostentation, showing the ability to afford to waste a resource simply for the sake of waste), whether suggesting that being thin is something exclusive as it is, for men, drive a car-dick:

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To attract women you should keep your cat away from your profile photo

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Sergio Parra

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The frequency of emotional contact is associated with physical and psychological well-being, and those who are deprived of it suffer from depression, anxiety and a host of other illnesses.

However, There are people who resist physical contact with other people, even with the close ones. These people also report more psychological problems than the general population.

Because?

Perhaps this is because, without knowing it, those who have little physical ability deprive themselves of precisely the benefits of that contact. But it could also be that physical contact has the opposite effect on them, increasing psychological discomfort instead of alleviating it, and that is why they try to avoid it as much as they can without ever succeeding.

This is the topic that the psychologist from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) Anik Debrot and his colleagues explored in a study they recently published.

To explore these questions, the researchers conducted three separate studies. The first was a survey of more than 1,600 people who were in an intimate relationship. Questions about attachment style, well-being, and touch behaviors, including types (petting, hugging, kissing, etc.) and frequency (ranging from never to four or more times a day).

The results showed, as expected, that people who touched their partners more frequently They also reported higher levels of well-being. Furthermore, as expected, those with a contact-avoidant attachment style generally reported less frequent physical contact with their partner and They also exhibited lower levels of well-being.

In Xataka Science

Why are we relieved when the surface of what hurts us is caressed?

However, some people with avoidant attachment reported touching their partner frequently, and these people enjoyed similar levels of well-being as others who reported frequent physical contact.

This latter finding suggests that people with an avoidant attachment style may benefit from intimate contact just as others do, and in any case it certainly does not harm them. However, we should always be careful when interpreting self-report data like these.

In Xataka Science

If your parents divorced when you were children, you could have lower levels of oxytocin and a greater need for love

To further explore the connection between avoidant attachment and the benefits of touch, Debrot and her colleagues invited 66 couples to visit their lab. Couples individually responded to surveys about attachment style, well-being, and touch similar to those in the first study. They were then asked to participate in a series of conversations with each other about times when they had made a sacrifice for their partner or felt great love for their partner. These conversations were recorded and subsequently observers counted the number of times they touched each other. Participants also indicated their level of positive feeling before and after each conversation.

The results of this second study were similar to those of the first. But a new finding was that a high frequency of physical touch during a difficult conversation didn't necessarily increase positive feelings right away. Rather, researchers speculate that it is the general pattern of touching in the relationship. leading to higher levels of overall well-being.

In Xataka Science

Holding hands: a way to reduce pain in the other

The third investigation was a 28-day diary study consisting of 98 couples who reported attachment style on the first day and then noted positive mood and contact behaviors daily thereafter. The results confirmed the findings of the two previous studies, but also provided new information about the impact of attachment style on the couple. That is, not only did those individuals with an avoidant attachment style report lower levels of positive mood, so did their partners.

However, people with avoidant attachment who were receptive to their partner's touch advances generally reported higher levels of positive mood. This clearly indicates that physical contact is beneficial even for those who tend to recoil when their loved ones try to touch them. Therefore, Debrot and her colleagues suggest that therapists develop techniques to help those with an avoidant attachment style. to overcome your aversion to non-sexual physical contact.

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People who avoid contact are unhappier, but because they need more contact or the contact itself bothers them?

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Sergio Parra

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A recent study suggests that, in certain countries, people censor more information than portrays low-status groups unfavorably (women, blacks, Muslims) than identical information that portrays high status groups (men, whites, Christians) unfavorably.

The study was conducted with four samples from three countries (adults from the United States and three college-age samples from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hungary) and three domains of group differences.

Discrimination

These “double standards” in censorship preferences fwere more pronounced among political liberals, although moderates and conservatives (especially college-aged moderates and conservatives) showed similar (although weaker and less consistent) patterns.

In Xataka Science

You only have to say 7 words to be classified according to your social class, ethnicity, gender and age

These results are consistent with a growing body of work that challenges the conventional wisdom that people have biases and double standards that harm low-status groups and reinforce existing hierarchies. In modern Western societies, at least in recent years, the opposite could happen.

In modern Western societies, at least in recent years, group-based biases in information evaluations appear to be designed to help low-status groups and eliminate or possibly even reverse existing hierarchies.

In Xataka Science

Women have published fewer studies on the pandemic and the search for parity in the citations of scientific studies

The problem is that perhaps we decompensate other groups or we have already done so and we are not yet aware of it: that is, we have begun to discriminate against the groups that We have popularly considered that they are not discriminated against.

For this reason, we must put aside our hunches and base our discriminations on the most objective data possible, and also on statistics. And remember, by fire, the following words as if they were a Robocop directive:

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People are more likely to censor information that portrays low-status or discriminated groups unfavorably.

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Sergio Parra

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As a result of an international scientific collaboration, the Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS) of the NAOC (National Astronomical Observatories of China) and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) have conceived a truly gigantic map of the universe.

It digitally extends over 10 trillion pixels and contains around 2 billion objects. Astronomical observations reveal that the universe is expanding and appears to be accelerating.

10 billion pixels

To create this monster map, nearly 200 researchers from NAOC and DESI looked at galaxies and analyzed the data together over the past six years.

Now, DESI will carry out a five-year mission to obtain the redshifts of millions of galaxies and build the largest 3D universe. In this way the mystery of dark energy is intended to be solved: the matter that drives the expansion of the universe.

In Xataka Science

The first photograph of Dark Matter

Of all the matter in the visible universe, only one 4% is normal matter, like the stuff from which all the things we know are made. A 23% is made of dark (invisible) matter, which physicists sense exists but don't know what it is. The remaining 73%, that is, almost all the matter in the universe, is dark energy, which is also invisible.

The Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS) and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) International cooperation project team jointly released the new two-dimensional sky map, paving the way for the upcoming new generation cosmological redshifts survey. (photo/BASS) pic.twitter.com/5oiCYrC6Qp

— China Science (@ChinaScience) January 14, 2021

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This new 2D map of the universe is gigantic and has around 2 billion objects

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Sergio Parra

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In a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois, we had already been given clues about How the face could reveal political orientation: specifically, the ugliest people They tend to be progressive, the most beautiful, conservative.

Now a study that has just been published goes further and, thanks to an algorithm, achieves a degree of precision when it comes to guessing whether the person is conservative or liberal that even surpasses that of long questionnaires.

facial recognition

Depending on our ideology, we will lean slightly more towards more group empathy (taking care of our own) and less general (caring as a symbol, even if that means taking less care of our own). Both positions have their pros and cons..

In Xataka Science

Necessary VS unrealistic: the difference between left and right in politics

What seems to contradict our intuition is that these political trends have a reflection in our face (which forces us to ask ourselves what came first, the chicken or the egg: we vote like this because we have a certain face or we get a certain face because we vote like that.

The degree of success of this algorithm, be that as it may, It's from 72 %.

In the study, a facial recognition algorithm was used on images of 1,085,795 people to predict their political orientation by comparing their similarity to the faces of other liberals and conservatives. Political orientation was correctly classified on the 72%, and accuracy was similar across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and across diverse settings (Facebook and dating websites).

The greatest predictive power was provided head orientation (58%), followed by emotional expression (57%). Liberals tended to look at the camera more directly, were more likely to express surprise, and less likely to express disgust. Facial hair and glasses predicted political orientation with minimal accuracy (51-52%).

In future studies, a more detailed analysis could be obtained by exploring the links between political orientation and facial features extracted from images taken in a standardized environment while monitoring facial hair, grooming, facial expression and head orientation.

If you want to know more about this study and its implications, I explain it to you in the following video:

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This new algorithm guesses if you are conservative or liberal with an accuracy of 72 %

was originally published in

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Sergio Parra

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A little bit of capsaicin, the active component of hot peppers (Capsicum), may be a secret ingredient for more stable and efficient perovskite solar cells.

This is what a new study carried out by Chinese and Swedish researchers suggests.

Polycrystalline solar cells

While metal halide perovskite semiconductors represent a promising component for next-generation solar cell technologies, they are plagued by nonradiative recombination, an undesirable electron-level process that reduces efficiency and increases heat losses. Researchers looked for an additive to mitigate these effects.

Because of the burning sensation it produces in the mouth, capsaicin is commonly used in food products to make them spicier. But the study also suggests that spraying capsaicin on the precursor of methylammonium lead triiodide perovskite (MAPbI3) during the manufacturing process leads to a higher abundance of electrons to conduct current on the surface of the semiconductor.

This addition of capsaicin resulted in MAPbI3 polycrystalline solar cells with the most efficient charge transport: Control devices showed an energy conversion efficiency of only 19.1%, devices containing capsaicin had an efficiency of 21.88%.

In Xataka Science

How do you measure the spiciness of a food? Scoville test and Gillet method

The improved solar cells also showed improved stability, maintaining more than 90% of their initial efficiency after 800 hours of storage in ambient air.

Capsaicin also greatly reduced the defect density of the perovskite film, increasing the electron density by an order of magnitude and increasing charge transport.

In Xataka Science

Farmer Accidentally Creates World's Hottest Chili Pepper

While capsaicin may provide a low-cost and widely available additive for the future development of highly efficient perovskite solar cells, The stability of the material must be further refined before it is ready for commercial applications.

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The active component in hot peppers can increase the performance of solar cells

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Sergio Parra

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Several cities, including Austin, Texas, and New York, have considered banning fast food restaurants near schools, but Can we know if this strategy would be effective?

This studio investigates the effect of fast food availability on childhood weight outcomes by gender, race, and location.

No observable effects

The researchers used the body mass index of the Arkansas students, collected from 2004 to 2010, and compared it to home and school addresses through annual school records. The home address was used to geocode the location of the student residences.

Fast food restaurants were identified in the route between the children's homes and their schools. Fast food restaurants included major hamburger chains and drive-through restaurants (e.g. McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's), dairy stores with large fast food menus (e.g. Dairy Queen), take-out pizza establishments , taco places (e.g. Taco Bell), sandwich places (e.g. Subway, Quiznos), and fried chicken restaurants (e.g. KFC, Chick-Fil-A). The researchers excluded specialty stores such as ice cream shops that do not sell other fast foods (e.g., Baskin-Robbins), coffee shops (e.g., Starbucks), and donut shops (e.g., Krispy Kream).

In Xataka Science

Fast food has another negative thing: the PFAS in its packaging

Using a mean radius of 1.6 km to define exposure near home and school, the mean total exposure level was 3.34 restaurants. He 45.2% of children have at least one fast food restaurant located 800 meters from their school.

But the researchers concluded that changes in exposure had no effect on BMI score.

In Xataka Science

This is the image of the recommended calories that you should consume in a fast food

For example, increasing exposure to fast food at three restaurants moving from fourth to tenth grade increased the mean change in BMI by 0.003, less than one percent (0.7%) of the standard deviation.

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The availability of fast food restaurants between children's homes and their schools does not affect children's weight

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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Procrastination, the tendency to postpone our duties, is a widespread evil, especially at a time when there are so many distractions and temptations in the form of leisure.

But among students it is something almost inherent, even among those who study a doctorate: all students They spend about a third of their waking hours in amusements that they themselves describe as a form of procrastination.

Leisure before exams

On average, Students dedicate more than eight hours to leisure activities during the two days before the exams, and their inability to properly manage time is one of their main concerns, as they themselves confess, and one of the reasons for abandoning their studies.

In Xataka Science

What is procrastination and why do we tend to it?

This trend exists regardless of the level of education being taken, as explained Piers Steel in his book Procrastination: Why we put off until tomorrow what we can do today:

It is one of the main reasons why most candidates for a doctorate degree leave the corresponding studies before having obtained it. After your name will appear the letters ABD (acronym in English for "everything but the thesis").

In Xataka Science

Animals can also procrastinate just like humans do.

This tendency to postpone homework because we don't feel like it, because there are more interesting things to do or because we simply feel immense laziness is so powerful that it boycotts even the most carefully established plans and throws away the effort accumulated over years. even though it doesn't make any sense:

Incredible as it may seem, after having achieved admission to very competitive academic programs, after having taken all the doctoral courses, after having perhaps compiled the data for the thesis, when they only need to write and defend it, at least half , never completes the process despite the immense investment of time and the considerable reward it would bring them (on average, 30 percent more salary).

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Procrastination among students: 33 % of all their time is dedicated to procrastinating

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Sergio Parra

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Eighty years of life expectancy means living around 30,000 days. 30,000 days are 1,000 months. On average, you'll live at least three-quarters of every day of your life with few critical health problems, which is a relief.

But you will also experience, gain or lose all of these things.

You will work the 10% of your life

In Xataka Science

There are four types of tears besides sadness and they are all positive

1. Your heart will beat 2.8 billion times (75 times per minute, 4,500 times per hour, 108,000 times per day)
2. You will spend an average of 3.5 years eating without leaving the table. If you eat a balanced diet, you will devour about 7,300 eggs and 160 kg of chocolate.
3. You will walk an average of 22,000 kilometers. You will almost go around the world.
4. You will blink 415 billion times.
5. You will lose 19 kg of skin from scratching.
6. You will expel 40,000 liters of urine.
7. Dislodging about 4,400 kg of excrement in six months.
8. Your eyes will release 80 liters of tears. Most of your tears will be secreted solely and exclusively to keep your eyes moist (daily, enough tears are produced to fill 3 sewing thimbles).
9. Your hair will grow 950 kilometers.
10. You will work almost 3,000 days, that is, 8 years. The 10 % of your life.
11. You will speak for a total of 12 years with around 2,000 different people. With some you will end up kissing for a total of 2 weeks.
12. And the best thing of all is that you are more than likely to experience all of this, or at least now it is more likely than ever before in history: not long ago, in 1966, when the Beatles recorded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, from 31 % it went to 2.5 %: only 2 out of every 100 people did not reach the age of majority. In 2009, less than 1 % died before turning 16. And the survivors, who are almost all, had a 87 % probability of reaching age 64 (and a 92 % if you were a woman).

In Xataka Science

In 2030, the United States will have the worst life expectancy

Yes, we are all going to die someday (unless medical science manages to find the key to eternal life). dWe have about 30,000 days (or 1,000 months), especially if you live in Europe or North America. Take advantage of them.

And if you feel that you lack time, that the day does not last you, Maybe it's not so much that you're busier now or that you work more., but your time is worth more than before, as you can see in the following video:

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If you live 80 years you will shed 80 liters of tears and other figures about what you will live and experience

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Sergio Parra

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