10 Things We Learnt In June, 2024

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Here at Gowing Life, we are keeping our fun record of everything we learn in 2024, be it longevity-related or something else entirely. Here is a selection of our newly acquired neural connections for the month of June!

1: Footage of the RP FLIP research vessel switching from a horizontal to a vertical orientation, its bulkheads becoming decks. This put most of the ship’s mass underwater below the influence of the waves, making the vessel exceptionally stable, quiet, and ideal for studying acoustic signals, waves, and collecting other ocean data. It was in service for around 60 years.

2: Why do hammerhead sharks have wide heads? Sharks have electroreceptors on their snouts that allow them to sense the electric fields of nearby fish to better track prey. Hammerheads evolved wider snouts with more electroreceptors to detect prey with more sensitivity and precision. It also puts their eyes very far apart, granting them both excellent depth perception and the ability to see what is behind them with slight head movements.

3: Chimpanzees self-medicate with medicinal plants. A study monitoring chimps found that diseased or injured chimps often sought out plants that they did not normally eat. When researchers collected and analysed these plants, they found that almost all of them had antibacterial or anti-inflammatory properties.

4: Kansai International Airport: An artificial island and airport built in Osaka Bay, Japan, boasting the longest airport terminal in the World. Unfortunately, it’s sinking quite rapidly. The islands were predicted to sink to 13 feet above sea level over the course of 50 years, but in reality this only took 6 years for the first island. Some engineers now predict that sections of the islands will have sunk to sea level by 2056.

5: The perception of new technology degrading society is nothing new, as people in the middle ages were grumbling about this exact problem. The cause? New fireplace technology. Before the invention of chimneys, houses were typically heated by hearths placed in the centre of a great hall, with smoke exiting through a hole in the ceiling. During the 11th and 12th centuries in Northern Europe, these hearths were gradually replaced by chimney fireplaces built into the walls of smaller rooms. While this was much more efficient, many complained that it ruined the social dynamic of the household. Instead of gathering round the fire in the middle of the room, people would sit facing the wall or retreat to their individual rooms and would talk to each other less. Sound familiar?

6: The pizza meter: A theory proposing that times of international crisis can be predicted by the frequency of pizza orders placed at pizzerias near the Pentagon, the idea being that Pentagon staff are hunkering down for a night of hard work (and delicious Italian food). The theory seems to originate from a Domino’s pizzeria owner near the pentagon, who told newspapers he noticed an uptick in sales during national security events.

7: Eating cheese is associated with significantly improved mental wellbeing. In European datasets, the positive association between cheese consumption and mental wellbeing is almost as large as the negative association between smoking and mental wellbeing, and is larger than the association between fruit consumption and mental wellbeing.

8: Scientists are moving into human trials for a treatment that could regrow lost teeth in humans. The intravenous treatment works by introducing antibodies that target a signalling pathway controlling bone growth.

9: An fMRI study of brain circuits suggests that there at least six different ‘biotypes’ among people with anxiety and depression, and that these biotypes could predict how well people will respond to different types of therapy and drugs, leading to better personalisation of treatments.

10: Influencers on social media are increasingly creating virtual, AI versions of themselves in order to have more individual, personal interactions with thousands of followers at once. Unfortunately, some are finding out that their AI clones are not behaving the way they would like, especially when it comes to sexually aggressive followers.