This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has five segments. Here are bits of each of them:
- On the other hand — It is maybe the most politically insightful psychology study published in the past 60 years. And it is maybe not. The study in question is “State resident handedness, ideology, and political party preference: U.S. presidential election outcomes over the past 60 years“….
- In solitary splendor — One’s personality can shine forth when one is alone rather than with companions. That is the big reveal in a study called “Temperament behaviours in individually tested sheep are not related to behaviours expressed in the presence of conspecifics“….
- When nothing is good — James Hodges writes: “In response to your segment on doctors waiting for patients to get better by themselves: it is absolutely totally a part of our job. “I am a paediatrician. We take doing nothing very seriously. ‘Cat-like observation and masterful inactivity’ is a firmly held mantra in our world. We often admit patients for viral illnesses for which there is no treatment. We watch, we support, and the child gets better….
- As fresh as onions — Dimple Devi and her colleagues have devised a way to use onions to prolong the freshness of milk….
- Carry on carrying — Perusing Feedback’s growing list of trivial superpowers, Ken Taylor poses a question about his own ability: “Here’s a trivial superpower I only just realised I had… the ability to carry lots of glass containers. As a teenager, I delivered milk and could manage six full pint bottles of milk and 10 empties. As an adult…