Bold as a Crucifer
What effect might it have on adolescents and young children to see the positive expressions on the faces of strangers eating raw broccoli?
Katie Edwards of Aston University in the UK, along with colleagues from the same university and the University of Birmingham, also in the UK, set out to find out.
journal appetite The first-hand account of that adventure is Seeing the model's positive facial expression while eating raw vegetables encourages children to accept and consume the model vegetables.” “.
There's no need to mince words about what they found: in their own words, “Contrary to our hypothesis, the facial expression of the model while eating broccoli did not significantly affect their initial willingness to try it.”
Circle of Life
In the 1960s, young intellectuals in the West encouraged each other to adopt the philosophy and path of Zen Buddhism. They were encouraged to “walk the Zen path” and “become one with the universe” in order to live a thoughtful, wise and good life.
Sixty years later, thinking and conversation have advanced.
No alternative to this has been widely adopted in the West in the 2020s, but feedback suggests a Venn diagram.
Like Zen, Venn diagrams aim to provide a simpler understanding of seemingly complex things. Venn diagram masters might describe the practice like this: Venn diagrams use overlapping circles or similar shapes to show logical relationships between different types of items.
Adopt the philosophy and method of the Venn diagram. Recognize and nurture the overlaps in your life. Draw a Venn diagram of the characteristics of all the people, places, and things in your life from birth to the present. The Venn diagram overlaps will reveal commonalities. Embrace them. Identify with the few.
Ven, let's go.
The talent for titration
Psychics, whether trivial or not, have a reputation for being either you get it all or you get nothing. John Hancock tells Feedback about an exception to that, perhaps a partial exception:
He says, “I can consistently pour almost half a 339ml bottle of beer so that the height of the beer in two identical glasses is within 1mm, 2mm at most. I can do this in one go, unassisted, and I seem to know when to stop pouring.”
(Feedback: The name Hancock is well known to Americans. On January 4, 1776, the late John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence, a document that egged on Britain. Hancock wrote it in such large, bold letters that his name became synonymous with “a man's handwritten signature.” In the U.S., people still say “Sign John Hancock.” The late John Hancock, unlike today's John Hancock, hated doing things by halves.)
Questionable discomfort
A recent addition to Feedback's collection is called “The Title Tells You Everything You Need to Know.”
“The pain one may experience when executed in various ways” probably came as a surprise to magazine readers. Sensing It was published in 1993, and in 1997 Harold Hillman of the University of Surrey in the UK was awarded the Ig Nobel Peace Prize.
If you've come across similarly impressive examples, please submit them to Telltale titles, c/o Feedback, along with citation details.
Teflon Diet
Teflon, prized as a “non-stick” coating for frying pans and other cookware, may become a common additive to foods, especially in weight-control diets.
A study published in 2022 titled “Engineering Properties of Teflon-Derived Blends and Composites: A Review” makes this immediately clear in one slightly enigmatic sentence: “The amount of Teflon reduced the calorie content of the food and satisfactory results were observed that were accepted by the community.“This sentence refers to a paper published in 2016. Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.
The 2016 paper has an intelligent and intriguing title:Consuming polytetrafluoroethylene is a way to increase food volume and feel full without increasing calorie content.“US authors Rotem Naftalovich, Daniel Naftalovich and Frank Greenway explain that polytetrafluoroethylene (also known as PTFE or Teflon) is a plastic. They claim its benefits: “Animal feeding studies showed that rats fed a diet of 25% PTFE for 90 days showed no signs of toxicity and lost weight.”
They further hypothesized that “incorporating PTFE powder into foods (1 part food to 1 part PTFE) and increasing the portion size of the food would significantly increase satiety and decrease caloric intake.”
Polytetrafluoroethylene “does not impart flavor (as evidenced by its use in tongue piercings) and therefore does not affect the taste of food,” they write, and is “highly inert, meaning it does not react with food in the body.”
This makes it an “ideal ingredient to use as a bulking agent for foods that are not metabolized” and can be used in foods that don't make you feel stuffed.
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