Now we’re not ones to blow a secret here in Weekendersville, but we can share some new research that says gossiping is good for you.
According to psychologists at the University of Berkeley, gossip helps lower stress levels. One study said that people’s heart rates went up when they saw someone do something shady, but the rates went down when they told someone else what they’d seen. According to subsequent experiments, people even gave up cash in return for passing on gossip notes about a fellow experimentee who was cheating on a test. It’s all a form of social pressure, apparently, showing that generally people will display more generosity if they know people are watching. Or, if you’re not that cynical (and this is Weekender’s preferred interpretation) – it shows that people are fundamentally good-hearted and not motivated by money.
Remote control cockroach
We’ve talked before in this column about remote control insects and science has moved on to biofuel-powered cockroaches. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University, which sounds like a vineyard, implanted the cell in the abdomens of the roaches. It works by converting sugar into energy, which is pretty much the same as how alcohol is made.
A rather more violent way to harness energy is being explored by drillers at Newberry Crater in Oregon. Their plan is to pump loads of water into the side of a volcano. Now, luckily, said volcano is dormant but it still has extremely hot rocks; the hope is that the water (as steam) returns to the surface with enough velocity and heat to turn turbines and create clean electricity. Problem with it is that past frackings have created earthquakes. Ay, there’s always a downside, but this version of the geothermal process could open up all manner of cheap energy that could compete with fossil fuels within 50 years.
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