News for Nerds - January 27, 2012
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- 1/27/2012 |
- 10:00 am
Welcome back to another edition of News for Nerds! This week we'll share the benefits of double-dating, explain why your dog dictates your buying habits, and give you some insight into the tricky mindgames drug companies like to play. But first: look, up in the sky!
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A solar storm got underway this week, and despite fears that its effects might disrupt our everyday lives, so far the biggest symptom we've seen is a spectacular light show in the form of aurora borealis.
Solar storms involve electromagnetic bursts from the sun, which make their way to Earth with alternately disruptive, and awe-inspiring, results. On the 'disruptive' end of that spectrum, intense solar flares can be responsible for power outages, interference in radio and TV broadcasts, cell phone signal failure, and all sorts of mayhem with orbiting satellites.
So far this particular storm hasn't led to any of that, but on the upside, we have gotten the benefit of some awe-inspiring benefits. Beginning Tuesday night, stargazers in Europe were treated to a northern lights show that was, in the words of one 40-year veteran, "absolutely incredible" and among the best he's ever seen.
Here's some video that was captured in Finland:
The sun is the source of more than just awesome amateur video -- it's also the source of all life on our planet. We tend to take it for granted sometimes, but it's nice to be reminded every so often just how great and powerful it really is.
This particular solar storm will rage on for years, with the peak flares (and best chances for glitches in cell phones, TV service, etc.) expected in 2013.
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It's a well-known fact that residents of my home state of Colorado are required by law to own at least one dog at all times. (I've somehow managed to evade prosecution for my blatant dog-free household, so please don't report me to authorities.)
Well, it seems that Colorado is not the only place that has gone dog-crazy. Advertisers behind a Beneful ad now running in Austria have incorporated several noises, including a dog-toy squeak, a high-pitched pinging noise and an even higher-pitched whistle that only registers in canine's ears.
The strategy is summed up by a marketing professor who says, "In today's world we see an increase of older individuals living alone who rely on their pets for companionship, and this provides a time for the owner and pet to interact." Or, in other words, there's no better way to manipulate senior citizens into buying a product than to trick their dogs into getting in on the act.
In Germany last year, print posters for a popular brand of dog food featured odors designed to attract sniffing dogs. As with the Beneful TV commercials, these advertisements were not meant to influence the dogs to dip into their own wallets, but rather to attract the dogs as a way of drawing in their owners.
It's not unlike the strategy of designing commercials to attract young children. The kids can't do the buying themselves, but you can bet that moms and dads take notice when their youngsters are attracted to a commercial. Same concept, different species.
So is the new dog-centric ad effective? Check it out for yourself, as it's featured at the end of this source article from our friends at Discovery.
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Are you familiar with the Placebo Effect? That's basically the phenomenon whereby someone experiences a real (or imagined) change based purely on the false assumption that they are supposed to. The most famous example comes from the world of pharmaceuticals, where actual placebos -- sugar pills -- are administered to patients who are told that they are taking some high-powered pill. Often, the very idea that they're taking a miracle drug will have the desired effect.
Now it seems that pharmaceutical companies are taking this concept one step further. New research suggests that the color of the pills you pop has a direct effect on its efficacy.
How's that?
Take, for example, sleeping pills. They're almost always blue, and so is the packaging they come in. This has been going on so long that we've become conditioned, even subconsciously, to believe that sedatives should be blue.
One study gave every patient the exact same sedative, except that some received it in blue pill form, and others as an orange pill. The patients who took the blue pill reported falling asleep 30 minutes faster, and sleeping for 30 minutes longer, than their orange counterparts.
Furthermore, a separate set of patients was given an assortment of blue and pink pills, and told that some were sedatives and some were stimulants. They were actually all placebos, but it didn't matter. 66 percent of the blue pill-poppers reported feeling less alert, as compared with only 26 percent of those who took the pink pills.
But wait, there's more. You see, this business of associating colors with certain physical effects shifts from one culture to the next. In America, we equate blue with drowsiness. But in a place like Italy, it has quite the exact opposite effect -- quite possibly because blue is the color of Italy's national soccer team.
Gooooaaalllll!
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And finally, a story about how double dating can help your marriage.
New research has shown that having another couple to double date with improves the happiness of your own relationship. Why is that?
The experts list several reasons. Among them: that hanging out with other couples gives both husbands and wives a greater understanding of the opposite sex; that allowing couples to observe the way other couples interact and negotiate differences is a learning opportunity; and that being in that specific type of group dynamic increases partners' attraction to one another.
One study featured interviews with 123 couples, 122 individuals in relationships but who were questioned alone, and 58 divorcees. The results showed that there are several different types of couples relationships: fun-sharing couples and emotion-sharing couples.
Fun-sharing couples spend their time together having fun and getting away from the stress of everyday lives. Emotion-sharing couples open up about their troubles with their couple friends, although the standard-issue taboos of sex and money generally still apply.
Being able to agree on what type of couple you want to hang out with, and on how much time to spend with them, leads to happier relationships. But really, the best way to judge a potential couple's worthiness is how they conduct themselves during a game of Left, Center, Right.
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That's all for now! I'll be back with more News for Nerds next week, but be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and to sign up for the free e-Newsletter so that you can properly get your nerd on every single month! And please send any juicy News for Nerds tips to me right here!
