Category Archives: Science

Embrace stress — it’s good for you

BBC Capital – Influencers

Stressed-out, overwhelmed and doing too much?

Join the club.

These complaints are common among busy, go-getter professionals. And it’s that stress that’s killing us, right? But what if we’re approaching it all wrong and it’s really all about our perception of stress and what we believe that’s holding us back?

That’s the take of some LinkedIn Influencers this week. Here’s what two of them had to say.

Kelly McGonigal, department of psychology, Stanford University

“For years… I told people that stress makes you sick; that it increases your risk of everything from the common cold to heart disease, depression, and addiction; and that it kills brain cells, damages your DNA, and makes you age faster,” wrote McGonigal in her post Forget What You’ve Heard About Stress… It’s Actually Good for You. Read more »

What Sleep Deprivation Does to Your Brain, in One Stunning Infographic

Why computer translation sucks

Chimps Would Cook if Given the Chance, Research Says

Chimpanzees have the cognitive ability to cook, according to new research, if only someone would give them ovens.

It’s not that the animals are ready to go head-to-head with Gordon Ramsay, but scientists from Harvard and Yale found that chimps have the patience and foresight to resist eating raw food and to place it in a device meant to appear, at least to the chimps, to cook it. Read more »

Scientists discover why cheese have holes, and it is not CO2

Holes that form in cheeses such as emmental caused by hay particles in milk and not CO2 released by bacteria, say experts

Mice are not the culprit either.
Mice are not the culprit either. Photograph: Chris Warbey

After about a century of research, scientists in Switzerland have finally solved the mystery of the holes in Swiss cheese.

Despite what you may have been told as a child, the holes are not caused by mice nibbling away inside cheese wheels.

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