Helping others makes us feel good (so that a kind of Gordian knot appears in which it is difficult to establish whether we are altruistic or selfish), but in addition, Being altruistic makes us feel less alone, more connected with others.

Something that has even been proven with widowed women.

Loneliness and connection

The experience of helping others reduces the activity of the brain's stress and threat centers, including the amygdala, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and anterior insula.

In Xataka Science

In the long term, being selfish would be more important to your happiness than being supportive, according to this study

Likewise, an increase in activity is detected in areas of the brain associated with attention and rewards (the septal area and the striatum).

In other words: helping others seems to increase the feeling of well-being, but it alsoIt's an antidote to the pain of loneliness and disconnection. This was particularly tested with the loneliness rates of widows and married women in a study from 2017 with a sample of almost 6,000 Americans.

In Xataka Science

Altruists flirt more than non-altruists, but also than excessively altruists

Naturally, widowed women generally felt lonelier than married women, but there was an exception, as explained Vivek H Murthy in his book Together. The power of human connection:

Widows who voluntarily participated in some service activity, for an average of two or more hours per week, did not feel more alone than those whose husbands were still alive. Helping others effectively eliminated the loneliness derived from loss.

This undoubtedly adds a layer of complexity to the definition of altruism and selfishness. Because if we feel good I feel altruistic, Aren't we selfish? You can delve a little deeper into the sociological jungle of these kinds of issues in the following video:

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The news

The power of altruism: helping others makes us feel less alone (especially if we are widows)

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

.

He Insectothopter It was an artificial dragonfly capable of flying up to 200 meters. It was designed by Vought Corp Advanced Technology Center, in Dallas, United States, for the CIA.

The project was started in the early 1970s and closed sometime after 1974. It was hand painted to look as much like a dragonfly as possible.

Espionage project

In Full Cold War, an option was sought to spy on the enemy without raising suspicions. After discarding the idea of a mechanical bumblebee, CIA engineers created a prototype dragonfly. Nicknamed the Insectothopter, it was the first insect-sized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Under ideal conditions, it had a range of 200 meters and a flight time of 60 seconds.

It was hoped that field agents would be able to pilot this flying insect to approach targets and will use eye reflectors to focus a laser microphone (which detected sound from the distortion of the reflected ray).

The Insectothopter's propulsion system was based on a miniature fluid oscillator, which moved the wings up and down to imitate the flight of a real dragonfly.

Following the example of nature, the CIA engineers were right to choose the dragonfly. Dragonflies are agile trapeze artists, capable of floating, gliding and even flying backwards. They can rotate 180 degrees in three flaps. The Insectothopter's body of 6 centimeters long and with a wingspan of 9 cm was within the range of the actual dimensions of a dragonfly.

Furthermore, dragonflies are native to all continents except Antarctica, so their presence would not be striking.

However, the insect robot proved to be too fragile to be used, as even the slightest breezes would knock it over.

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The news

The first robotic flying insect was developed in the 1970s, but it was too fragile

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

.