“Before 1992, the names ‘Hillary’ and ‘Hilary’ had been increasing in popularity for several decades. After 1992, however, their popularity dropped suddenly 10-fold.” – explains Stefano Ghirlanda who is Professor of Psychology, Biology, and Anthropology, Brooklyn College, CUNY, and Founder and fellow, Centre for the Study of Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University. With this in mind, […]
Tag: babies
Human-Milk-Smell Perfume, for the Benefit of Babies
What might be done to encourage babies to accept products which don’t naturally smell of human milk? “[…] babies prefer the odor attributes of human milk compared to those of artificial infant formula or milk products based on milk compositions of animal origin such as cow’s milk etc.” The Fraunhofer Society (owner, amongst much more, […]
Measurement: Two of 30 babies will one day sing and dance, maybe
Infants are not famous for being skilled consumers or producers of music. This study suggests that that lack of fame is justified for 28 of 30 babies: “Precursors of Dancing and Singing to Music in Three- to Four-Months-Old Infants,” Shinya Fujii [pictured here], Hama Watanabe, Hiroki Oohashi, Masaya Hirashima, Daichi Nozaki, Gentaro Taga, PLoS ONE, 9(5), 2014, […]
Newborns Spit Up. Some Do it More than Others.
This new study explains that some newborns spit up more than others do: “Do Newborn Infants of Ethiopian Origin Spit Up More than Other Newborn Infants?” Vered Nir, Erez Nadir, Mulunesh Mekonen and Michael Feldman, Israeli Medical Association Journal, vol. 15, January 2013, pp. 9-12. The authors write: “Infants of Ethiopian origin spit up more […]
Study: Why my baby is less disgusting than yours
When a mother compares and contrasts the stench from her baby’s nappies with that from those of someone else’s baby, the question of disgust arises. The question drove a team of psychologists to do an experiment. Richard Stevenson and Trevor Case, of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and Betty Repacholi of the University of Washington in Seattle issued a report […]
Why babies tip over
On the heels, so to speak of the Ig Nobel Prize-winning study that explains why pregnant women don’t tip over comes another piece of a puzzle. A study by a different group tries to understand why babies do tip over: “A unifying model for timing of walking onset in humans and other mammals,” Garwicz M, […]