Susan Whittier, director of Columbia University’s Clinical Microbiology Lab said, “Water bottles and coffee mugs should be cleaned with soap and water at the end of each day. . .” She also recommends cleaning the mugs and bottles during the day, too. Source: Science of Us, November 27, 2018. Link. Keep the lid on as much as possible, to protect against the crumbling, moldy … [Read more...]
The invisible emotional burden of caring for a sick pet
Researchers are discovering the dynamics of overlooked or minimized impacts on animal owners with sick animals. “I wouldn’t equate pet caregiving with human, and certainly don’t want to minimize what family caregivers go through,” said lead author Mary Beth Spitznagel, a clinical neuropsychologist at Kent State University, “but we are seeing similar patterns in terms of a … [Read more...]
Go home from work now!
A new study in the European Heart Journal found that people who worked long hours were more likely to develop atrial fibrillation, a rapid-heartbeat condition that can lead to strokes and heart failure. Longer work hours were also associated with obesity, risky alcohol use, depression and anxiety. Source: Science of Us, July 21, 2017. Working too much can harm your health, … [Read more...]
Research examines prejudging clients’ ability to pay
Veterinarians and their team members are renown for “judging the size of a client’s pocketbook.” This skill is often associated as a reason for a lack of compliance to product recommendations as well as routine visits. But, a study recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology posits that the face alone might provide clues to someone’s social class, … [Read more...]
Why sitting at your computer all day can wipe you out
If you’re conscious, your brain demands your energy and lots of it. Using your brain takes real, honest, physical work — it’s just not visible to us the way using our muscles to exercise is. Source: Science of US, July 19, 2017. Because we’re more likely to get sick after period of heightened mental exertion, too, it’s important to treat mental fatigue with the same care … [Read more...]
Distinguish fact from fiction; call BS, BS
We decided to post this since there seems to be so much hype to sift through. We hope you’re not offended by the BS references. It can be hard to know what to do with the onslaught of fresh BS and when you can no longer distinguish fact from fiction. Source: Science of US, June 26, 2017. Inspired by two professors at the University of Washington, Science of Us talked to a … [Read more...]
Find the word that’s on the tip of your tongue
That term you’re searching for might be on the tip of your tongue, but most of the time, all you can do about it is stew until you either: a) have an epiphany, or b) use some nonsense word like whatchamacallit and move on. Source: Science of Us, June 12, 2017. Researchers refer to this “tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon” indicating it’s not quite as simple as just blanking out. … [Read more...]
A traumatic experience can reshape your microbiome
With so much effort to find alternatives to antibiotics, we wanted to share this article describing the brain-gut connection. A team of researchers recently found that our guts may harbor evidence of difficult life experiences many years after the fact, changing everything from how we digest food to how we process stress. Source: Science of US, June 1, 2017. Even more than … [Read more...]
How Facebook affects your happiness
The Journal of Epidemiology recently published a study that supports the growing pile of evidence to suggest that Facebook use may be linked to unhappiness. The result: Facebook use was significantly correlated with declines in overall well-being over the years, as well as the more specific categories of physical health, mental health and life satisfaction. But wait, there’s … [Read more...]
Your customized news feed could make you dumber
Much of the information you consume on the internet is filtered. For example, Google and Facebook have algorithms that attempt to figure out what things you like and are most likely to click on. This affects the sorts of search results and newsfeed items you see. If we’re only served up stuff we like, could it mean that the internet increasingly massages our ideological and … [Read more...]
Remake your commute time
The average American worker has a commute of 25 minutes each way. Psychology researchers recently explained the key to a pleasant commute isn’t just finding ways to fill the time. A better strategy is to change the way you think about the time. A commute can be something you have to endure, or it can be what the researchers call a “pocket of freedom.” Source: Science of Us, … [Read more...]
Stop apologizing for delayed email responses
“With email, we treat everything as if we’re in a hurry,” behavioral economist Dan Ariely explained. “There’s a huge difference between important and urgent.” Source: Science of US, April 18, 2017. How many people who email you are truly expecting an instant reply? Sometimes people make this clear, explicitly noting that they need an answer by the end of the day, or week, … [Read more...]
Depression now the leading cause of illness and disability worldwide
Failure to adequately address depression can lead to financial loss for families, employers and governments, notes the World Health Organization. Worldwide depression rates increased 18 percent between 2005 and 2015. Source: Science of US, March 30, 2017. Depression now affects more than 300 million people globally, but a stigma associated with the condition still exists, … [Read more...]
Test yourself: Define your sense of humor
Just for fun! Psychology researcher Rod Martin took a different tactic to measure humor, an amorphous, multifaceted concept, in a scientific way. Modeling his approach after recently developed tests to measure anxiety, he focused not on the jokes themselves, but on how respondents used humor in everyday life. The end result would become his signature work: the Humor Styles … [Read more...]
Feline microbiome prompts poop sampling
The title reads, “Scientists Really Want You to Send Them Your Cat’s Poop.” What? A team of researchers is trying to make your cat just a little less inscrutable — by studying its poop. The science project is called Kittybiome. Source: Science of US, March 24, 2017. Kittybiome researchers are “applying the techniques refined in humans to understand more about the cats and … [Read more...]
Take control of your inner control freak
Our AHD team monitors concerns about stress and depression in the veterinarian community. Stressors are often self-induced or expectation-centric. Cari Romm shares insights on the proverbial, “control freak,” primary controllers and secondary control. Some of you will find this worth the read. Source: Science of Us, March 3, 2017. There are ways to let those take-charge … [Read more...]
Get over phone anxiety
For some, answering or making a phone call requires a big effort. They rehearse what to say 1,000 times, dial with shaky hands and often get a panicky feeling in their chest when the ring rings. Digital tools we have now may help phone shy people avoid calls. But calls are still necessary. Hating the phone doesn’t necessarily mean a social anxiety condition, although the two … [Read more...]
Puppies like baby talk
A recent study of human voices suggests that puppies favor the higher pitch we use when talking to them. Source: Science of Us, January 11, 2017. While older dogs were equally responsive to high-pitched and normal recordings, younger ones seemed particularly engaged when they were listening to people baby-talk in their direction. Also see: The Bark, January 14, 2017, Dog … [Read more...]
Study confirms that many animals fart
Just for fun! As ridiculous as it sounds, scientists are studying flatulence, its causes and how to prevent it, especially in humans. Whether specific animals fart is apparently a question that zoo employees often receive from their youngest visitors. Therefore, a new hashtag is making the rounds through science Twitter: #DoesItFart. Source: Science of Us, January 11, … [Read more...]
Change your life – trust your future self
Have you broken one of your New Year’s resolutions yet? Being human is hard. We know the sorts of choices we ought to make, and we intend to make them, but we often don’t. The struggle seems to be between good and bad. According to an emerging model from the field of addiction studies, the struggle is between the future and the present. Source: Science of US, January 3, … [Read more...]
Why your mind has a mind of its own
Dr. Dan Siegel, clinical psychiatry professor at University of California–Los Angeles has spent much of his career investigating why “the mind has a mind of its own.” Much of the project of life, and the essence of well-being, Siegel argues, is to have a well-balanced brain and a harmonious mind. Source: Science of US, December 12, 2016. Siegel says that our relationships … [Read more...]
Take a deep breath through your nose
“Take a deep breath,” it seems, is a common piece of advice. Most of the time, a long, slow inhale-exhale is thought of as a tool for relaxation, a simple way to relax physically and psychologically. Researchers now believe the way you inhale and exhale may also influence the way you react to danger. Source: Science of Us, December 7, 2016. Together, the researchers argued, … [Read more...]
Here’s the best way to ask someone for a favor
Asking someone for a favor can be awkward. We tend to avoid direct contact by using an email or text. Unfortunately, impersonal contact is less likely to get you what you want. Source: Science of Us, December 9, 2016. Based on two experiments, it seems that asking for a favor is a choice between two situations, each with its own ups and downs: Make things comfortable and … [Read more...]
Humans and cats have a strange, complicated history
Alice Robb writes the humans’ relationship with cats is rife with paradox. There are an estimated 100 million pet cats in the U.S. and their ranks are growing. Cat culture flourishes online. The cat-less can get their fix at cat cafés opening across Asia, Europe and North America. The article features a Q & A session with journalist Abigail Tucker, author of The Lion in … [Read more...]
Office toxicity can overwhelm you
If you are always on the listening end of the venting during the ever-present office bitch sessions, these authors offer perspective. They speak to the emotional toil the toxic handlers experience and suggest reframing the discussion. Source: Science of Us, December 6, 2016. In a terribly unsurprising finding, their research suggests that people in these roles “frequently … [Read more...]
It’s OK to never wash your coffee mug
What? That was the first reaction to this headline. An interesting scientific take on those dirty, stained mugs that exist in nearly every office environment follows. Source: Science of US, November 3, 2016. It’s fine to never wash your mug, as long as you’re not sharing it with anybody else. Better than fine, in fact: It may actually be the most sanitary option. INSIGHTS: … [Read more...]
Being helpful at work can make you worse at your job
The title seems to fly in the face of logic. But University of Florida business professor Klodiana Lanaj recently outlined a major downside to this approach. Helping your colleagues is exhausting. In two recently published studies she and her colleagues discovered that helpfulness at work is something of a tightrope walk: It can boost your energy, but it can also leave you … [Read more...]
Debate sparks help for interruptions
Trying to have a conversation these days is a challenge. Interruptions seem constant. The recent presidential debate is a prime example. Interruptions are familiar behavior on sports and news panels, in the workplace and at home. The question is, how do you even talk to someone who won’t let you get a word in or finish a pair of sentences? Source: Science of US, September … [Read more...]
A wink is not just a wink
Not everyone can wink. Whether using an emoji or contorting your face to drop an eyelid, winks are one of the most wide-ranging, ambiguous behaviors there is. Bottom line, you can’t really control how your wink is interpreted. Source: Science of US, September 19, 2016. The most popular interpretations: The wink was meant as a way of communicating thanks, or it was a sign of … [Read more...]
How-to videos hack the way humans learn
According to Google, YouTube searches for the phrase “how to” grew 70 percent between 2014 and 2015. In the first half of last year alone, people in North America watched more than 100 million hours of how-to videos. In a recent issue of Nautilus, writer Tom Vanderbilt explained, “We are, in effect, simulating doing the task ourselves, warming up the same neurons that will be … [Read more...]