Restaurants provide more than food and drink; they serve a social function, allowing friends to get together over a shared meal. Although as we age, ambient sound may make hearing one another increasingly difficult in this setting. Welcome to the Lombard Effect.
Other Science News
In 2002, a scuba diver ran out of air deep inside an undersea cave near the Island of Šolta, in Croatia. To avoid a gruesome drowning death, he supposedly stabbed himself in the chest. Did it really happen?
Obesity is complex!
Disregarding competence for more diverse views
Disneyland’s E-tickets
Are our cars spying on us?
Swearing – defined as speaking “specific, negatively charged, and often emotionally loaded terms” – violates our norms of both the sacred and profane. While polite society often reflects on swearing’s negatives, it turns out that there are some health benefits for the sender (but not the receiver).
The American Council on Science and Health recently held its fall meeting of the Board of Trustees, which oversees ACSH’s governance and provides me with great counsel. It is quite a distinguished group. I want to take a moment to introduce our newest trustees, Drs. Nan Hayworth and Mike (Mick) Hitchcock.
Banning menthol heats up.
Is it a conspiracy? A ten-point checklist
Debunking pumpkins – say it ain’t so!
The Decline and Fall of Eating together
What’s the deal with near-death experiences
Giving back “tainted” money can be more complex than it seems
In the rush to make medical records transparent, have we only succeeded in making them more opaque?
Last week, the media notified us that airplane seats were being downsized. This is at a time when, for a variety of reasons, we are all upsizing. Here are a few fun facts, including a few the media left out.
Science invites – and it's based on – skepticism. In the case of Changizi et al. versus the U.S. Surgeon General et al., government overreach and science skepticism collide.
Precocious puberty may not be about endocrine disrupters at all
File this report on baseball under “perfection is the enemy of good.”
We all work for Elon Musk when we Tweet
The McRib is Back, is that Good?
Welcome to another edition of The J-Man Chronicles where we can guarantee that you'll never find anything the slightest bit useful, but quite possibly amusing and probably offensive. Today it's the Penis Drawing Plane and how not to get a leg extension.
The Fungus among us
Standup comedy as an evolutionary advantage
The GOAT pays it forward one more time, Ali and Parkinson’s
Did Garlic Protect Rasputin?