Vildolency, Blaccarra, and Blossomnia, mixed-media artworks (photographs of found-object sculptures with applied color and objects) by Thorsten Brinkmann, whose work was on view in December with Pablo’s Birthday, at the Untitled Art fair, in Miami © The artist. Courtesy Pablo’s Birthday, New York City
Witnessing cringeworthy moments improves the observer’s self-perception, elderly Britons perceive themselves as having less control over social-assistive robots if they are poor, and bed-wetting Turkish kindergartners experience shame and anxiety. In Japan, erectile function among young men was determined to be low by the first nationwide survey employing the internationally validated Erection Hardness Score. Italian scientists found that women whose orgasms are simultaneously clitorally and vaginally stimulated report the greatest intensity on the Orgasmometer scale. In Europe, conservatives are outbreeding progressives. Swedes may avoid chocolates that become “contaminated” through association with political parties they dislike, and Swedes with low resting heart rates are significantly less likely to commit suicide. Japanese drinkers who experience “Asian flush” report worse sleep. Researchers reported weaning a forty-six-year-old Tibetan woman with a history of “seeking instant gratification” off Ambien, noted the positive effects of ecstatic epilepsy, observed socially inappropriate non-obscene behavior in a quarter of Polish Tourette’s patients, synthesized fifty-three theoretical models of delusion, analyzed how Western Buddhist environmental activists’ cultivation of equanimity and understanding of impermanence affects their anxiety over climate change, and determined that neither men nor women find trolley problems funny.
In 2024, Mount Fuji was snowless until the latest autumn date on record. Pentoxifylline can mitigate the damage caused by subjecting stallions to scrotal heat stress, and aqueous extract of rosemary was found to improve the cryopreservation of Pantja-goat semen, whereas melatonin, which guards against delusion in elderly Chinese patients, does the same for Jamnapari-goat semen. A deep-learning model was trained to use facial expressions to gauge the pain of goats, which is presently measured only during castrations. Doctors in Germany suggested a way to waste less propofol. Skeletons recovered from Henry VIII’s flagship Mary Rose suggest that handedness affects collar-bone chemistry and fracture risk. The ability to stand on one’s non-dominant leg declines sharply with age.
Albatross struggle to find food in very stormy weather. Cool LED headlights are more disruptive to moth flight than warm ones. The smell of cat fur discourages rodents from eating wheat seeds at Buenos Aires chicken farms. Formerly imprisoned Coloradans reported exposure to wildfire smoke and raw sewage during their incarcerations. Brain scans corroborated the unpleasant psychoacoustic effects of Aztec death whistles. Zero-sum mindsets persist even in scenarios that objectively favor cooperation, dishonest people are likelier to spread infectious diseases, and prosocial women are likelier than prosocial men to have a best friend. Assamese tribesmen were found to identify with elephants through a sense of mutual loss, poverty, and uncertainty. Scientists suggested that human culture is superior to that of other animals because it can integrate limitless sequences of subgoals. The Pet Bereavement Questionnaire was adapted for use in China.
