When a company first releases shares, investors are unlikely to have much additional diagnostic information about the company’s performance. It turns out that NYSE companies with easy to pronounce names – i.e. more familiar to us – perform better than those whose names are hard to pronounce.
Psychology & Science
The outstanding predictor of longevity isn’t diet or exercise – it’s patchy birth records. Introducing proper records in the late 19th century reduced by more than two-thirds the number of babies who would eventually seem to reach the age of 110. That suggests that, until recently, seven out of 10 apparent supercentenarians were, in fact, younger than claimed.
They can be used to create life and end it (explosives). It depends who’s in charge.
It conjures imagery of macho men, road rage, and violence, but there is no direct link between the hormone and aggression. Instead, testosterone causes us to seek social status. This is why studies find a link between testosterone and pro-social behaviour, like generosity.
It’s certainly a societal issue, but it’s not getting worse. Research from Brunel University has shown that the proportion of people experiencing chronic loneliness has remained steady for 70 years, with 6-13% saying they feel lonely all or most of the time. Yes, it’s true that more people are living alone around the world, but loneliness and aloneness are not the same – the most restful activities, like reading and listening to music, are all done alone.
Contrary to popular belief, Viagra doesn’t increase sexual desire – it only potentiates your natural desire by relaxing the blood vessels in the penis. In other words, you still have to be up for it to be up for it. According to Murray Blacket, a psychosexual therapist, “before Viagra, erectile dysfunction was thought to be up to 90% psychological and 10% organic. With everything put out by the drug companies over the years, that’s now reversed. It’s seen as mostly an organic, physical problem.”
It’s an idea popularised by films like Limitless, but it has no basis in science. fMRI scans show that even simple activities require almost all of the brain to be active.
In memory tests, only 6% remember a mundane fact: “160,000 trolleys are sent off to be fixed each year.” But recall triples when the same information is brought to life visually: “That’s the equivalent of 2 full Wembley Stadiums.”
Reddit has an excellent thread based around this question. Being really into wine, getting money from the government and wearing hoodies to work are some of the answers that show the same behaviour can have two very different connotations.
Life supposedly peaked when we were young, and is at its worst right now – this holds true for society, music and fashion. The problem is that nostalgia is selective; we only remember the best from the past and compare it to all the average stuff today (it’s also why marketers claim there is a ‘crisis in creativity’ and it’s all due to the rise of online ads.)
If you ask people, they gravitate towards the era when they became adults. Over 70s choose the Swinging Sixties, while under 30s choose the turn of the millennium.
It’s only recently that they’ve been used for flying. They were initially developed for insulation, arranged in multiple layers to preserve heat, before their shape evolved for camouflage and finally for flight.
The prestigious Gilbert et Gaillard wine contest was won by a €2.50 bottle, disguised as a premium product with a fancy name (‘Chateau Colombier’) and an eye-catching label.
When someone wins the lottery, it increases the chance of their neighbour going bankrupt: they see the good fortune next door and feel pressure to accumulate more assets of their own, especially flashy purchases like cars, that they simply can’t afford.