The Way of the Melon

Why do we bite our nails? By Tom Stafford

[…]Given this lack of prior scientific treatment, I feel free to speculate for myself. So, here is my theory on why people bite their nails, and how to treat it.

Let’s call it the ‘anti-theory’ theory. I propose that there is no special cause of nail biting – not breastfeeding, chronic anxiety or a lack of motherly love. The advantage of this move is that we don’t need to find a particular connection between me, Gordon, Jackie and Britney. Rather, I suggest, nail biting is just the result of a number of factors which – due to random variation – combine in some people to create a bad habit.

First off, there is the fact that putting your fingers in your mouth is an easy thing to do. It is one of the basic functions for feeding and grooming, and so it is controlled by some pretty fundamental brain circuitry, meaning it can quickly develop into an automatic reaction. Added to this, there is a ‘tidying up’ element to nail biting – keeping them short – which means in the short term at least it can be pleasurable, even if the bigger picture is that you end up tearing your fingers to shreds. This reward element, combined with the ease with which the behaviour can be carried out, means that it is easy for a habit to develop; apart from touching yourself in the genitals it is hard to think of a more immediate way to give yourself a small moment of pleasure, and biting your nails has the advantage of being OK at school. Once established, the habit can become routine – there are many situations in everyone’s daily life where you have both your hands and your mouth available to use.

Understanding nail-biting as a habit has a bleak message for a cure, unfortunately, since we know how hard bad habits can be to break. Most people, at least once per day, will lose concentration on not biting their nails.

Nail-biting, in my view, isn’t some revealing personality characteristic, nor a maladaptive echo of some useful evolutionary behaviour. It is the product of the shape of our bodies, how hand-to-mouth behaviour is built into (and rewarded in) our brains and the psychology of habit.

And, yes, I did bite my nails while writing this column. Sometimes even a good theory doesn’t help.

Mathematics and Traditional Cuisine

The mathematics of Pasta: A process analysis to find unity, formulas and ways to express structure mathematics of pasta shapes, by their mathematical and geometric properties. See more at: The Maths of Pasta by George L. Legendre.

Image: 

'Pasta By Design' - Created by a team of designers, ‘Pasta by Design’ book reveals the hidden mathematical beauty of pasta: its geometrical shapes and surfaces are explained by mathematical formulae, drawings and illustrations.

Animated gifs - From video: The traditional pasta making techniques used at Della Terra Pasta by Chris Becker [Video] - shared at here.

The Last Trace Of Humans On Earth Will Be The Holes We Dug

When most of us think of what humans will leave behind when we go, we imagine skeleton buildings or toxic landfills. But according to some geologists, the longest-lasting impact we’ll have on Earth is actually beneath our feet — in the form millions of tunnels, deep boreholes and mines.

In a new paper in Anthropocene, the geologist Jan Zalasiewicz looks at the incredible changes we’ve made to the Earth’s crust. […] Zalasiewicz argues that our tunnels, boreholes and mines may very well be permanent, only ceasing to exist when Earth itself ceases to exist.

I lay in bed on my computer as badparp sends me messages.

I accept them all.

Badparp roars a mighty smily as he filled my inbox with emoticons.