Research in 90sec's

What would a megastudy tell us about what motivates us to exercise?

In this episode, I feature a megastudy led by Milkman and colleagues that included over 60,000 participants, and 53 motivational programs designed by 30 scientists from 15 universities. Their focus was on what motivates us to exercise. As it turns out, giving people a 9-cent bonus reward if they returned to the gym after missing a workout seemed to work best. While intriguing, without the megastudy approach, this finding might have remained hidden.

Full citation:

Milkman, K. L., Gromet, D., Ho, H., Kay, J. S., Lee, T. W., Pandiloski, P., ... & Duckworth, A. L. (2021). Megastudies improve the impact of applied behavioural science. Nature, 600(7889), 478-483.

How does creativity arise out of sleep?

In this episode, I feature a paper by Lacaux and colleagues who demonstrated how the brain activity common to the twilight zone between sleep and wakefulness ignites creative sparks.  At the end, Thomas Edison was onto something when he thought that napping while holding spheres in his hands would help him capture sleep-inspired ideas.

Full citation:

What’s the physics of a finger snap like in the Avengers movie?

In this episode, I feature a paper by Acharya and colleagues who uncovered the role of skin to skin friction behind how powerful the snap of a finger is. They found, for instance, that the snap of a finger is 20 times faster than the blink of an eye.

Full citation:

Acharya, R., Challita, E. J., Ilton, M., & Saad Bhamla, M. (2021). The ultrafast snap of a finger is mediated by skin friction. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 18(184), 20210672.

What if artificial intelligence machines became teammates rather than tools?

In this episode, I feature a paper by Seeber and colleagues who led an international collaboration to devise the kinds of questions that we will need answers for if we are to embrace AI as a productive teammate. Questions that will require considering implications beyond the technical to include philosophical and ethical issues.

Full citation:

Seeber, I., Bittner, E., Briggs, R. O., De Vreede, T., De Vreede, G. J., Elkins, A., ... & Söllner, M. (2020). Machines as teammates: A research agenda on AI in team collaboration. Information & management, 57(2), 103174.

What makes some people better huggers than others?

In this episode, I feature a paper by Dueren and colleagues who performed an in-depth evaluation of people’s hugging behaviour. They found that the best hugging experience results from 5-10 sec hugs and that criss-cross hugs are preferable. These findings have important implications for the advent of technology-driven autism therapy, such as social robots.

Full citation:

Dueren, A. L., Vafeiadou, A., Edgar, C., & Banissy, M. J. (2021). The influence of duration, arm crossing style, gender, and emotional closeness on hugging behaviour. Acta psychologica, 221, 103441.

How is it that medical education supervisors determine that a trainee needs to be failed?

In this episode, I feature a paper by Gingerich and colleagues. In previous work they identified the phase of disbelief that medical education supervisors go through prior to identifying underperformance. Now in this paper, they describe the shift from disbelieving underperformance to recognizing failure, which is akin to the psychological process of reaching a tipping point.

Full citation:

Gingerich, A., Sebok‐Syer, S. S., Lingard, L., & Watling, C. J. (2022). The shift from disbelieving underperformance to recognising failure: A tipping point model. Medical education, 56(4), 395-406.

What did we learn from the resurgence of Ebola in 2021?

In this episode, I feature a paper by Keita and colleagues who studied the resurgence of Ebola in Guinea in 2021.  They showed how even almost five years after the declaration of the end of an epidemic, new outbreaks can still occur. And in this case, not because of transmission from animals, but rather from humans who were infected in a previous epidemic.

Full citation:

Keita AK, Koundouno FR, Faye M, Düx A, Hinzmann J, Diallo H, Ayouba A, Le Marcis F, Soropogui B, Ifono K, Diagne MM. Resurgence of Ebola virus in 2021 in Guinea suggests a new paradigm for outbreaks. Nature. 2021 Sep;597(7877):539-43.

How is it that two people who speak two different languages may look like they are having a conversation?

In this episode, I feature a paper by Cwiek and colleagues who conducted online and in-person experiments with 900 participants who spoke 28 languages. They asked them to listen to a set of sounds and guess what they represented. And they found how certain sounds, also known as vocalizations, can be recognizable to people around the world.

Full citation:

Ćwiek A, Fuchs S, Draxler C, Asu EL, Dediu D, Hiovain K, Kawahara S, Koutalidis S, Krifka M, Lippus P, Lupyan G. Novel vocalizations are understood across cultures. Scientific Reports. 2021 May 12;11(1):1-2.

Why is it that a remarkably small number of songs become so popular?

In this episode, I feature a paper by Rosati and colleagues who found that download count time series for many popular songs resemble infectious disease epidemic curves. This, therefore, suggests that songs become popular in a similar fashion as infectious diseases are transmitted from person to person.

Full citation: 

Rosati, D. P., Woolhouse, M. H., Bolker, B. M., & Earn, D. J. (2021). Modelling song popularity as a contagious process. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 477(2253), 20210457.

How could increasing our intake of "blue" foods help our environment?

In this episode, I feature a paper by Gephart and colleagues who performed a comprehensive assessment of the environmental pressures for more than 2,500 fisheries and aquaculture farms. They found that farmed clams, oysters, and seaweeds, for instance, generate the lowest greenhouse emissions, followed by sardines. As such, blue foods present an opportunity to improve nutrition with lower environmental burdens.

Full citation:

Gephart, J. A., Henriksson, P. J., Parker, R. W., Shepon, A., Gorospe, K. D., Bergman, K., ... & Troell, M. (2021). Environmental performance of blue foods. Nature, 597(7876), 360-365.