Herd mentality
SOME might be jumping over the moon, but other cows are natural pessimists, according to researchers at the University of British Columbia. Marina von Keyserlingk and her colleagues trained 22 calves in a pen kitted out with five feeding stations. At one end was a bottle containing a tasty slurp of milk, at the other, an empty one that also blew a disconcerting puff of air in the animal鈥檚 face. The team then moved the milk to one of the three middle stations.
Some calves approached for a drink, even when the milk was placed perilously close to the trick bottle. Others ignored all bottles not in the right place, wary of being blown a raspberry. Keyserlingk hopes the study will bolster the case for a more individualised approach to animal welfare down on the farm.
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For Feedback the take-home message from these cows is that when you鈥檙e feeling pessimistic, take a gamble: that glass of milk might turn out to be half-full.
鈥淎t Wallington Hall in Northumberland, the Comptons spotted a sign for 鈥淭he Stable Coffee Shop鈥�. They tell Feedback 鈥渋t鈥檚 good to know we won鈥檛 spill our cuppas鈥�.鈥�
Remember Sammy Jankis
STOP us if you鈥檝e heard this one. A team at Aalto University in Finland used the film Memento to probe how the brain organises memories. Twenty-five volunteers watched the 2000 thriller for the first time while inside an MRI scanner.
As you might know, the film unfolds in reverse, and key scenes overlap, allowing the audience to mentally assemble the narrative in chronological order. Janne Kauttonen and his colleagues used this movie device to identify the parts of the brain where recent memories help to make sense of what might happen next, a skill essential for navigating daily life (and following movie plots).
Rules of engagement
A MAN has . reports that Allan Candelore was aggrieved by the tiered pricing model for Tinder鈥檚 premium service, which costs $9.99 a month for those under 30 but $19.99 a month for everyone else.
Candelore appears to be in a long-term relationship with the litigation system. Identified by both Salon and as a men鈥檚 rights activist, Candelore previously used the same anti-discrimination laws to sue two different women-only networking events for excluding men, contesting that they 鈥渉ad the right to meet and mingle鈥� with the women there. Watch out when Candelore comes courting.
Scientific discipline
SCIENTIFIC papers with racy titles continue to light a spark in our inbox. Arthur de Jong writes: 鈥淢y PhD thesis adviser works on a set of genes collectively called SM genes. These regulate communication between neurons by controlling vesicle trafficking.鈥�
For a review on the topic, says Arthur, 鈥渉e opted for the title 鈥榁esicle trafficking: pleasure and pain from SM genes鈥�.鈥�
Tomorrow鈥檚 dirt, today
PREVIOUSLY Alan Fowler spotted a cleaning agent that promised 鈥�4D action鈥�, aided by 鈥渕agic and physics鈥�, that he assumed sent dirt into the future for someone else to deal with (3 February).
鈥淲ouldn鈥檛 projecting the dirt into the past be better, so it never needs to be cleaned again?鈥� says Tom Eggers. 鈥淥r would projecting it into the past result in cleaning it over and over again?鈥� Perhaps our descendants are using such a technique, Tom 鈥� it would certainly explain why we鈥檙e locked in an endless battle with dust.
Bonus feature
AN INFRARED thermometer purchased by Jamie Murley boasts an impressive feature for the digitally disconnected. 鈥淎im the thermometer outside the area of the internet,鈥� it tells him, then 鈥渟can up and down until you locate the hot spot.鈥�
First came love鈥�
WE HAVE discussed how young children maintain a popular belief that it is birthdays that cause ageing and not the other way around (6 January).
Virginia Trimble writes 鈥渁ged about four and a half, dressed in frilly white organza and dotted swiss, I attended the large, formal wedding of the daughter of the family across the street.鈥� Thus Virginia concluded it was the wedding ceremony that made it possible for a woman to have babies. What other examples of childhood theories do readers have?
Bathroom break
FOUR years ago, New 杏吧原创 discussed the old Lappish distance measure known in Finnish as poronkusema, or reindeer鈥檚 piss (22 March 2014). This is about 7.5 kilometres, and is the typical distance these animals are said to walk before stopping for a comfort break.
While learning about Vikings, reader Heikki Oja came across another obsolete measure of distance called 惫别肠办辞蝉箩枚. This Swedish word is the distance a Viking could row before stopping for a breather or handing over the oars to someone else.
And the length of 惫别肠办辞蝉箩枚? About 7.5 kilometres as the Viking paddles. Do we see here signs of a hidden universal law?
Double trouble
THE Nottingham Post informs Perry Bebbington that fire crews tackled two fires within an hour of each other, and 鈥渂oth blazes happened in Arnold and Bulwell鈥�. It must have been confusing, says Perry, 鈥渉aving two fires, both of which were in two different towns almost concurrently.鈥�
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