New hypothesis suggests dark matter wiped out the dinosaurs. A mind-blowing new paper suggests that dark matter could have triggered not just the extinction of the dinosaurs, but all other mass extinctions on the planet too.
And, bear with us here because we know it sounds kind of far-fetched, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Publishing in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Michael Rampino, a geoscientist at New York University in the US, explains that mass extinctions occur roughly ever 26 million to 30 million years on Earth - around the same time our Solar System passes through the disc of the Milky Way. In the past, researchers have noticed this association, and suggested that perhaps clouds of dust and gas, and possibly even dark matter, in the Milky Way’s plane might be somehow shaking comets off their orbits and causing them to slam into Earth, triggering these mass extinctions.
According to his hypothesis, dark matter could trigger all kinds of problems on Earth. As Perkins explains in Science: Source: Science. Iconic Psychiatrist Carl Jung on Human Personality in Rare BBC Interview. Facebook Now Allows Users to Pick an Account Heir. By Robert Montenegro We've talked before in this space about the messy legal situation that surrounds the social media profiles and digital content of the recently deceased.
As quickly as personalized digital content sprang into being, the law was always going to be a few steps behind. As Brittny Mejia writes in the LA Times, Facebook has made it easier to get your ducks in a row should tragedy befall you: "The social networking site Thursday introduced a feature in the U.S. that allows people to essentially will their accounts to a family member or friend who can manage their account when they die. Once an account is memorialized, the "legacy contact" can write a post on behalf of the deceased, respond to new friend requests and update the profile picture and cover photo.
The Facebook product team explained how they felt they could provide more support to those suffering from loss. Different Personalities Experience Time Differently. By Orion Jones Updated May 13, 2015 Type-A and type-B personalities experience time differently, according to a study that looked at why some people arrive habitually late to appointments.
When small differences in how time is measured internally add up over many minutes, personality helps explain why some individuals tend to be more punctual than others. "It's estimated that the US loses $90 billion each year as a result of people running late. " In the study, conducted by Dr. For Learning, Pencil-and-Paper Beats Laptops. By Orion Jones Taking notes by hand helps students learn more and it's up to teachers to impose anti-screen policies in the classroom as a pedagogical tool.
Supported by a scientific study explaining how paper-and-pencil better facilitates knowledge acquisition and critical thinking, Professor of English at Emory University Mark Bauerlein has banned screens in his classroom. The Future of Furniture is Paper and Tape. By Teodora Zareva What is the future of furniture?
Paper and tape. Big Think - Emily Brontë (1818-1848) was an English... Big Think - Derek Walcott (b. 1930) is a St. Lucian poet... Power and Money Explain Many Mental Disorders. By Orion Jones Gross abundance of money and power, or the extreme lack of both, lie at the root of many mental disorders, according to a group of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.
The relationship between money, power, and our wellbeing is formed by our association of self-worth with the possession, or paucity, of authority and currency. The researchers' conclusions are based on an experiment in which 612 participants were asked to rate their "their social status, propensity toward manic, depressive or anxious symptoms, drive to achieve power, comfort with leadership and degree of pride, among other measures.
" "People prone to depression or anxiety reported feeling little sense of pride in their accomplishments and little sense of power. In contrast, people at risk for mania tended to report high levels of pride and an emphasis on the pursuit of power despite interpersonal costs. " Read more at Science Daily Photo credit: Shutterstock. Our First Nature Needs Second Natures. By Jag Bhalla It is in our first nature to need second natures.
We are born to acquire new habits which give us access to a behavioral toolkit that is nowhere in our genes. But this otherwise wise strategy means we often act without consciously thinking. After Fifty Hours a Week, Worker Productivity Flatlines. By Orion Jones Working longer hours eventually stops being helpful in terms of labor productivity, says a Stanford economist who found hard and fast limits on what an additional hour of work can achieve.
Professor John Pencavel recently examined what seems like an unusual data set: the production records from British armament factories during World War II. But because the stakes of the war were so high, achieving greater efficiency in munitions productions was a top goal and meticulous records on productivity were kept. Researchers at the time collected huge amounts of data that measured how worker productivity changed as individuals worked longer and longer hours. Procrastination Is a Strong Emotional Coping Mechanism. By Orion Jones Procrastination is more than simply spending time on Facebook before starting your work duties.
At a foundational, psychological level, putting off your responsibilities for what seems like innocent short-term pleasure is a powerful emotional coping mechanism, says Dr. Tim Pychyl, professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. How the Information Age Makes It Harder to Make Informed Choices About Risk (... By David Ropeik What a fantastic time we live in.
Information has never been more available. The opportunity to learn has never been greater. But against all the obvious benefits of greater knowledge, a danger lurks in the modern democratization of information. The Internet Age has made more knowledge more available in ways that play right into our cognitive instincts to learn, and think, less.
Emoticons Strongly Influence How We Respond to Written Communication. Big Think - New York, NY - Education Website. Marvin Minsky. Augusto Boal. Sumio Iljima. Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach. Henry David Thoreau. What Defines Your Identity? Not Your Memories But Your Moral Decisions. Absolute Trust in Our Senses: How to Build a System of Principles Without Rel... What would it take to create a system of principles that guide our behavior without a religious grounding? Lex Bayer, a non-profit organizer, and John Figdor, a chaplain, who both serve the Stanford University community, boldly attempt to find out in their book Atheist Mind, Humanist Heart. The two begin by establishing the assumptions such a system would require since, as they adroitly argue, overcoming philosohpical skepticism is not a realistic goal.
Mental_floss mobile. Star Trek - predicting the future. Introducing: This is Not a Conspiracy Theory. 10 Famous Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today. Here are the stories behind the nicknames of the NFL’s 32 teams—and what they were almost called. All photos via Getty Images. Getty Images The franchise began play in Chicago in 1898 before moving to St. Louis in 1960 and Arizona in 1988. Team owner Chris O’Brien purchased used and faded maroon jerseys from the University of Chicago in 1901 and dubbed the color of his squad’s new outfits “cardinal red.” Shortly after insurance executive Rankin Smith brought professional football to Atlanta, a local radio station sponsored a contest to name the team. Galileo on Using Your Head. Bertrand Russell on Fear.
Why Powerful People Find It Difficult to Empathize. What's the Latest? New studies suggest that people in powerful positions struggle to empathize with those who occupy more humble ranks. In one such study at the University of Illinois, researchers found that "among full-time employees of a public university, those who were higher in social class (as determined by level of education) were less able to accurately identify emotions in photographs of human faces than were co-workers who were lower in social class.
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum: God Loves Queer People. Artists' impressions of internal organs. The camera that captured the first millisecond of a nuclear bomb blast. To Colonize Another Planet, Send 40,000 Humans. What's the Latest? Any human population sent from Earth to colonize another planet--whether it be Mars, a moon of Jupiter, or a rock beyond our solar system--should number from 20,000 to 40,000 people. Brainstorming Doesn't Work: Try Brainwriting at Your Next Meeting. Explicit Consent and College Sex. Two decades after Antioch College, a small liberal arts college in Ohio, was ridiculed on "Saturday Night Live" for its policy of requiring students to obtain verbal consent from potential partners before initiating or escalating a sexual encounter, California has adopted a law requiring that all college campuses within its borders adopt similar measures.
Making Your Body Language Work For You. There’s a tendency to think of body language as an aspect of communication that gives us away – reveals our true meaning. We consider words more manageable, more under the control of cognition, whereas body language escapes or leaks. Often body language does function this way. Experimental Closed System Propulsion Engines For Spaceships. Well-Roundedness Keeps Geniuses From Becoming Madmen.