What can one conclude from playing music for a few stressed cats? A new study suggests the answer: “Evaluation of Music Therapy to Reduce Stress in Hospitalized Cats,” Juliane Eg Paz, Fernanda Va da Costa, Luciana N Nunes, Eduardo R Monteiro, and Jenifer Jung, Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, epub 2021. The authors, at […]
A new era dawns, perhaps, in how humans try and perhaps succeed in gently handling squishy marine animals. A new study gives details. “Ultra-gentle soft robotic fingers induce minimal transcriptomic response in a fragile marine animal,” Michael Tessler, Mercer R. Brugler, John A. Burns, Nina R. Sinatra, Daniel M. Vogt, Anand Varma, Madelyne Xiao, Robert […]
“The objective . . .” of a 2018 research project from the Fashion Business School, London College of Fashion, and Dr Chris Gummer at Cider Solutions Ltd., Chilworth, UK, was “ . . . to assess the frequency and magnitude of combing forces on individual hairs against a hypothesis that fibres on a consumer’s head […]
Psychology researchers : are you looking for a novel way to illicit an acute stress response in your experimental participants? If so, a new paper in the journal Computers in Human Behavior (Volume 99, October 2019, Pages 76-85) may provide ideas. A research team from the University of Bath and Bournemouth University, UK, have devised […]
When it comes to sporting activities, the psycho-emotional state of the players can have a profound effect on their performance. What positive steps can be taken to enhance it? A number of strategies are currently available : “[…] various ways and their combinations based on physiological reflexes are applied: breath holdings, relaxation of facial muscles, […]
Artists of all kinds often tend to cluster together (think Montmartre etc.) bringing the benefits of collaboration, interaction and inspiration. But what if there are just too many? For composers, in Paris or Vienna for example, there could be competition for limited resources such as concert halls. In other words they might incur high stress […]
Ethnomusicologist Dr. Verna Gillis (previously an assistant professor at Brooklyn College and Carnegie Mellon University, US), has just recently been granted a US design patent for her ‘Ball’. (Jan. 7th, 2014) More accurately named as the Kick Butt Ball™, which is described as “… a novel spin on a stress ball, with one side shaped […]
You may find it stressful to contemplate this study about attractiveness: “Facial attractiveness is related to women’s cortisol and body fat, but not with immune responsiveness,” Markus J. Rantala [pictured here, below], Vinet Coetzee, Fhionna R. Moore, Ilona Skrinda, Sanita Kecko, Tatjana Krama, Inese Kivleniece and Indrikis Krams, Biology Letters, epub May 22, 2013. The […]
Lively, if not entirely cheerful, debate can be provoked by mentioning this study done by a researcher at the Meat Industry Research Institute of New Zealand: “Effect of Stress-Related Changes in Sheepmeat Ultimate pH on Cooked Odor and Flavor,” T.J. Braggins, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 1996, 44 (8), pp 2352–2360: “In this study […]
SciCurious essays a look—perhaps a deeper and more gleeful look than ever has been looked—at Charles Seim’s classic “Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown”. Seim [pictured below] is the very same Seim who is a decorated bridge designer. BONUS: The birth of “Stress Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown” BONUS: Deborah Henson-Conant‘s five-movement orchestral work “Stress […]