Fun Academic Articles and Findings

[RedRose]

I really do wonder what it's coming from. Born to older parents (esp dad), 5'10

[Oniya]

I think the researchers are getting correlation instead of causation.  By one paper, my oldest sister (first born female) should be taller than my younger sister.  By another one, my younger sister (born when my parents were 15 years older than when my oldest sister was born) should be taller.  I'm leaving my brother out just to minimize variables.

[Oniya]

They've found out why stepping on Legos hurts so much.

[Bezukhov]

I think the researchers are getting correlation instead of causation.  By one paper, my oldest sister (first born female) should be taller than my younger sister.  By another one, my younger sister (born when my parents were 15 years older than when my oldest sister was born) should be taller.  I'm leaving my brother out just to minimize variables.

I'm way taller than my parents, my elder sister (who's five years older than me) and my elder brother (who's eleven years older than me)! 

[gaggedLouise]

A headline like "Dead Suns Smashing Together" (on the BBC's front page) gets me hooked at once - this is a very nice description of a super rare phenomenon - so far observed only once - out of which some heavy metals are born ("Heavy Metal Thunder", anyone?) - but also an exceptional telescope.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-61911047

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41640256

Though not mentioned directly, I think the end product of this kind of collision could be a black hole.

[stormwyrm]

Though not mentioned directly, I think the end product of this kind of collision could be a black hole.

Probably a likely outcome, but in general such a collision could also conceivably produce a heavier neutron star as well, depending on just how heavy the original neutron stars were, and how much of their substance got ejected into space instead of staying together, which depends on the exact dynamics of the collision. Astrophysicist Ethan Siegel wrote about this when the first such detection was made in 2017:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/10/20/seeing-one-example-of-merging-neutron-stars-raises-five-incredible-questions/

That particular collision from GW170817 produced a remnant that was 2.74 solar masses, which is somewhat above the theoretical limit for a stationary neutron star, but if the remnant is spinning, it could have been an unstable hypermassive neutron star, that might have eventually collapsed into a black hole as it slowed its spinning.

[Inkidu]

https://youtu.be/GqKP4vBxwcs

[Oniya]

So, are we supposed to eat the avocado toast or not?

[Inkidu]

So, are we supposed to eat the avocado toast or not?

Yesn't

[Ozolosterna]

Harvard's take on Gaming Addiction

[BlueOrange]

Psychological impacts of porn

(1) Participation in "NoFap" abstinence culture linked to higher rates of erectile dysfunction, depression and misogyny:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/13634607231157070?journalCode=sexa

(2) No such thing as porn addiction, but existing religious beliefs lead to more harmful reactions in porn consumers AND religious belief was a better predictor of whether someone believed they had experienced problematic pornography use than whether they had actually used pornography at all.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-018-1248-x

(3) Being religious leads to bad interactions with porn:
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/usac20/current

(4) Pornography use can predict depression - but only in people with religious values:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29377724/

[BlueOrange]

More porn research (from a Facebook thread, not my descriptons):

Next we have a round on porn and relationships. The evidence here is all fairly one way:
(a) That where partners are afraid to be open about their porn use with a partner, it's a good predicter of an unstable relationship;
(b) That porn use in both men and women in unsatisfying relationships is likely to either predict or exacerbate the breakup of that relationship; and
(c) That there is no discernible harm or connection to relationship strength for porn use by either men or women in consensually NON-monogamous relationships.
i.e. in terms of relationships, it's not the porn that's the problem, it's a combination of poor communication skills, existing relationship dissatisfaction, and toxic forms of monogamy.
See:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-020-01782-z
And:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28341933/
I should pause to note that in looking at research in this area, there's a lot of very BAD research, which falls afoul of one or more of the following problems:
(a) Funded by or undertaken within Christian organisations for the purpose of proving a presumed hypothesis (some fairly rabid right-wing fundamentalist Christian NFPs are some of the primary commissioners of "research" in this area);
(b) Assuming that straight cis men are the primary or exclusive consumers of porn;
(c) Undertaking research primarily or exclusively among religious or conservative communities without controlling for it;
(d) Categorising all forms of consensual kink and restraint as "violent porn";
(e) Assuming that the front page of PornHub fully represents the breadth and depth of pornography, and the full range of circumstances in which it is made and consumed;
(f) Undertaken by researchers who are simply not experienced or literate in sex themselves.

Next: does porn use cause poor body image, misogyny, or sexual violence? No, no, and no.
Link roundup:
Perception of pornography as realistic among adolescents is directly linked to whether they've received any other form of sex education (i.e. adolescents don't model behaviour on porn as long as they've had any other sex ed, but otherwise might).
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563219300299
But people who DO view porn as realistic... actually have higher body image and felt better about their bodies:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224499.2018.1475546?journalCode=hjsr20
No clear link between porn use and misogynistic violence. It may make already misogynistic men more violent (effects seen in some 7 percent of all men), but also some evidence it *decreases* negative attitudes to women in adolescents. (It's unclear whether they controlled for the possibility that misogynistic men were seeking out misogyny communities to find their porn, with a resulting community effect.)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/talking-apes/202104/does-porn-use-lead-sexual-violence
Studies based on self-reporting show link between porn use and erectile dysfunction in men - but objective lab studies show no such link:
https://www.jsm.jsexmed.org/.../S1743-6095(20.../fulltext
The biggest consumers of porn ("porn superfans") overwhelmingly held strongly feminist attitudes:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/socf.12506
Pornography users are on average more feminist than non-users:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224499.2015.1023427
Early porn use was of no value in predicting sexual violence:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33083941/
No evidence of effects on body image or relationship satisfaction in women who self-reported problematic porn use:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10720162.2018.1532360?journalCode=usac20
Women who hold beliefs that female genitalia is attractive and desirable have higher sexual satisfaction:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0092623X.2019.1586018

Oh, lastly, there's also an interesting range of studies that consistently show that, despite what you might think, that rates of pornography consumption have NOT increased with the advent of the internet. Total % of consumers (male and female) remained steady, and that neither accessibility, price, or anonymity of porn markets meaningfully affected the number of people who consumed porn.
I forgot to collect the links of those, and I suspect that it doesn't account for time spent with porn per consumer, or the types and range of porn consumed. And of course the initial reaction of "ha, ha, people use porn no matter what you do" fails to account for *where* they use their porn - i.e. where porn is illegal or restricted, people will access porn in less safe and regulated environments, and performers will also be working in less safe and independent conditions.

[BlueOrange]

Masturbation is 40 million years old.

[Al Terego]

Masturbation is 40 million years old.

I'm a bit skeptical of the science.

It looks like they looked at primate species that exhibit the behaviour and traced a common ancestor to 20m years ago, but that does not necessarily mean that that common ancestor also engaged in it.

[Oniya]

Considering the age-old Q&A about why a dog *ahem* (because he can!), I'd hazard it dates to the early mammals at least.   

[Al Terego]

Oh, I don't doubt it in the least -- supply an ape with a pleasure button, it will get pushed, often.
Just that I expect the science to be more rigorous.
Then again, maybe it was; I only saw the reporting, not the publication.

[Lilias]

How to fight feeling exhausted

[Lilias]

The power of speaking strangely: the good side of bad English