Bullet Ant

Given its name because its sting can make a human feel like they have been shot, the sting from a bullet ant can last for 24 hours. The Schmidt Sting Pain index registers the bullet ant sting as the most severe, likening it unto fire-walking with a 3-inch rusty nail grinding into one's heel. The sting results in temporary paralysis of the hand and arm as well as uncontrollable shaking.

And that's why some South American tribes make men wear bullet ant gloves - up to 20 times - as a rite of passage.

Don't Gamble with Friends

MRI scans revealed higher activity in the brain's striatum, linked to rewards, when a gambler beat a friend in the lottery vs. when the gambler won alone (the medial prefrontal cortex, linked to social reasoning, showed similar patterns). Victorious group gamblers were also more likely to behave riskier in subsequent lottery trials. In other words, our brain values winning amongst others more than winning alone.

Researchers see an evolutionary correlation as strong incentives exist for high social rank, as dominant animals gain privileged access to limited resources and being alone induces risk-aversion because one bad gamble can be fatal especially without a social network.

Religion: Instinct vs. Reflection

Research sought to find out if trusting instinct over reflection affects the strength of religious conviction. Those relying on instinct to answer various questions were 1.5 times as likely to say they were convinced of God's existence vs. those relying on their analytical skills. Instinctual thinkers were also more likely to become more confident believers over their lifetimes, regardless of their upbringing vs. reflective thinkers becoming less certain.

Students and Incentives

Student performance in low-performing schools was tested against promises of financial and non-financial incentives for good grades. The results:

1. Size matters: Students were willing to work much harder at $80/hour, but not at $40/hour
2. Punishment > Reward: Rewards were most powerful if framed as losses, demonstrating our stronger attachment to what we possess
3. Non-financial incentives (e.g. trophies) worked best with youth
4. Immediacy is everything: Promises of future rewards was largely ineffective

Drooling Over Everything

Research finds that men salivate when seeing material objects when feeling powerless or if looking for mates. In other words, all types of desires may activate the same neurological reward systems.

In one trial, participants were tricked into feeling powerful or powerless, their drooling in response to money then tested. In another, photos of high-end sports cars replaced money and showed images of attractive potential dates who are drawn to luxury goods. The control group was told to imagine going to the barber shop.Money caused more salivation during a low-power state. Men in the car trial drooled more than those told to think of getting a haircut when shown images of sports cars.

The Twitter Algorithm

Research discovered a method to predict a tweet's popularity with 84% accuracy, allowing tweeters to maximize their content exposure pre-tweeting. The algorithm has 4 factors:

• The news source of the article: i.e. brand reflects trustworthiness
• The new category: Technology ranked 1st, Health 2nd, Fun Stuff 3rd (see full chart)
• Objective language = Emotional language: surprisingly, emotional rhetoric doesn't affect popularity ... so STOP WITH THE CAPS LOCKS!!!
• Mentioning celebrities, brands, etc

Research finds that infants can be trained to improve their concentration skills.

For 15 days, 11-month-old infants were trained to focus on images on a computer screen. In one lab, a butterfly appeared as long as the infant focused on the butterfly and ignored distractions. An infant control group watched TV. Infants cognitive abilities were tested with toys at the beginning and end of the trial. Trained infants could focus for longer periods, better shift their attention from one point to another, and spot more patterns and smaller changes while playing with toys.

Metallica and Mood Swings

Columbia University professor and psychiatrist Galina Mindlin believes that listening to songs with a certain number of beats per minute can trigger specific mental states (e.g. productivity, relaxation, etc). She argues that changing the type of music is a cheap - and no-side-effect - remedy to the ups and downs of life.

Metallica, according to Mindlin, can help relieve depression. Mindlin also noted one patient who was a B student who became an A student after switching the type of music she listened to when she studied. Also, fast-frequency music can help ADHD patients whose brains enter a dreamlike state when overwhelmed.

Heavy Metal and Intelligence

A study reveals that many intelligent teenagers - 1,000+ of the smartest 5% teenagers - listen to heavy metal to deal with the self-esteem issues, social awkwardness and, in some cases, family problems.

Participants said they liked the complex, and sometimes political, nature of heavy metal music.

Metallica and Monkeys

A study revealed that cottontop tamarins listened to a variety of music (Bach, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, etc.) but only calmed down when listening to Metallica.

Like in music, in human speech, changing the tone of one's voice, the rhythm, pitch or speed allows one to gauge the emotional state of the speaker. For example, we use long tones for calming a baby while using short tones to indicate seriousness. The study found that monkeys, "interpret rising and falling tones differently than humans."