Animal spirits
Feedback鈥檚 heart is much warmed by the tale of a live-streamed hamster called Mr Goxx who has, , been trading a portfolio of cryptocurrencies by running round and round an 鈥渋ntention wheel鈥� and scurrying down one of two tunnels to determine whether to buy or sell.
Apparently, Mr Goxx has significantly outperformed the US S&P 500 stock index. Feedback isn鈥檛 surprised: after all, John Maynard Keynes coined the term 鈥渁nimal spirits鈥� to describe how humans arrive at financial decisions. At least the hamster provides a more wieldy predictor than the team of 10 reindeer who, as we reported earlier this year (9 January), were also outperforming the S&P.
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We would welcome immediate investigations of the market investment strategies of actual bulls and bears, if only for the challenge of the experimental design and possibly the subsequent spectator sport. Meanwhile, if anyone asks why we are reporting the hamster story a month late, it鈥檚 because we found it while shredding some of our extensive piles of paper for our own decision cage. Our hunch is that squirrels will have a strong instinct where to put our money.
Gettin鈥� jiggy wit it
Speaking of spectator sports, much time, money, energy and chemical know-how has flowed into elite athletes to enable them to squeeze out every last drop of additional performance. Feedback can only give kudos, and possibly medals, to Seung-Taek Lim at the Kangwon National University Olympic Studies Center in South Korea and their colleagues, who ran at this question from an entirely new angle.
In their new paper , they study the effect of giving elite competitors a good old jiggling about at a frequency of 30 hertz before they set off. The team found a significant improvement in sprint times.
We look forward to the staid warm-up routines of elite athletes taking on a distinctly more agitated air. Come to think of it, with the 100 metres lasting mere seconds, let鈥檚 make the warm-ups the main competitive event.
Cold hard stare
Many thanks for your responses on the mysterious yet understudied male inability to find objects in the fridge (9 October). In general, we agree that neuroscience has exploded the myth of differing female and male brains, but we are left wondering in this instance if there is a question to answer.
Graham Revill from Clachaig in Argyll and Bute, UK, goes so far as to say that in his home a cursory glance and cry of 鈥淚t鈥檚 been moved鈥� is known as a 鈥淏oy Look鈥�, while the subsequent efficient and successful search by a female member of the household is known as a 鈥淕irl Look鈥�. Simon Durk, meanwhile, speculates that the phenomenon is object-specific, being less pronounced in the case of, say, cold beer. He also points to a related effect, 鈥渕ore common among older males鈥�, of a sought item not turning up at the place it actually is until the third time of looking. Science: your services are called upon.
It is what it isn鈥檛
More metaphysical conundrums of Feedback鈥檚 favourite type as Adrian Smith points us to .
Meanwhile, David Pringle shares a screenshot of a page at the Australian government鈥檚 Department of Veterans鈥� Affairs website. 鈥淪orry, this page doesn鈥檛 exist鈥�, it says, adding by way of a footnote that this information was last updated on 23 September 2019. Underneath, David is invited to click yes or no to the question: 鈥淲as this page useful?鈥�
Quite possibly it was useful, David, at least until September 2019. Useful in much the same way that the blue heritage plaque Feedback sometimes passes on an otherwise undistinguished London railway bridge is useful. It reads simply: 鈥淭his plaque was installed 6th May 2010鈥�. Mind you, we think that one might be art.
Alien thinking
A colleague is startled to receive a press release with the subject line 鈥淢ars calls for credible net zero targets which are 鈥榝it for purpose'鈥�. Discounting, as is traditional, mundane terrestrial explanations for this phenomenon, it is clear that interplanetary pressure is building ahead of the crucial COP26 climate summit (see page 36). Perhaps the intervention would have carried more weight coming from Venus, where the deleterious consequences of a runaway greenhouse effect are all too plain.
Best buddies
Perusing the safety warnings for a new set of earbuds 鈥� 鈥渁s you do鈥� 鈥� Lindsay Wright from Rangiora in New Zealand was surprised to read the injunction to 鈥渘ot install the appliance in a confined space, such as a bookcase or built-in cabinet鈥�.
What disaster might befall the unwary isn鈥檛 elaborated upon. We much appreciate the concern you express for our well-being, Lindsay, constrained as we are in our stationery-cupboard quarters. If you don鈥檛 hear from us next week, either the earbuds got us or the squirrels turned nasty.
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