shit I learned today

Semantic satiation (also semantic saturation) is a psychological phenomenon in which repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener, who then perceives the speech as repeated meaningless sounds.

Mirroring (or subconsciously imitating your conversation partner’s facial expressions, speech patterns, gestures, and even breathing patterns) allows for empathy and stronger connections.

In a small trial using CAR-T therapy—which reprograms the DNA of immune cells to attack tumors—every patient responded to their treatment.

New Yorkers consume less than half the energy of the average American.

Reasons why Americans smile more frequently and enthusiastically than the rest of the world:

Portugal produces about half of the world’s cork; one-third of the world’s cork oak is located there.

“By substituting concrete and steel with wood from sustainably managed forests, the building industry could curb up to 31% of global carbon emissions, according to research1 by Chad Oliver, a forest ecologist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. In time, such a shift could help humanity to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere, potentially reversing the course of climate change.”

Feedback and self-assessment (metacognition) are key to effective practice and learning.

“Research from the Netherlands and the US just published in the journal Current Biology suggests that looking at intensely stripy things causes an increase in gamma oscillations in the brain, which are associated with headaches and seizures.” 

Studies have shown that people think more freely and abstractly in rooms with high ceilings; people under low ceilings tend to focus on specifics. 

Quiet environments activate the focused mode attention circuits in the prefrontal cortex, making them ideal to concentrate in. Background noise allows the brain to go into diffuse mode, which facilitates creativity and conceptual understanding.