This Is Why the Summer Heat Makes People Grumpy

Summer makes a whole lot of people very irritable, am I right?

Well, everything in science needs to have evidence, so researchers Liuba Y. Belkin and Maryam Kouchaki, from Lehigh and Northwestern Universities, conducted three experiments that tested the effects of being uncomfortably hot on human behavior. Their findings, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, claim that people are cranky, uncooperative, and less likely to help others when they’re dealing with their own discomfort.

They began with data from a “secret shopper” experiment in Russia, one that was conducted when the country was experiencing a “mega-heatwave” back in 2010, and found that the shoppers’ experiences and the store employees ratings decreased significantly during the stifling heat.

Employees, for example, were 59% less likely to ask customers if they needed help, to make suggestions, volunteer assistance, or show signs of active listening. They didn’t seem to struggle with the non-customer related portions of their duties, either – only interacting pleasantly was a problem.

Then they recruited 160 people to take an online trivia quiz, and instructed half of the participants to imagine themselves in an uncomfortably warm setting. Afterward, all of the participants were asked to complete a short survey about their experience.

The results found that people who had been instructed to imagine themselves being hot were less likely to agree to take the survey at all, and when they did, they reported feeling tired and less happy than the people who weren’t instructed on their environment at all.

Lastly, Belkin recruited 73 of her students and taught the same class twice – once in a stuffy 80 degree F room and once with the air conditioner running. At the end, the students completed a 100 question survey they were told supported a nonprofit dedicated to helping underprivileged children.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Students who took the course in the hot room answered fewer of the survey questions, possibly because they wanted out of the stuffy space sooner. As Belkin pointed out, the heat affected their behavior.

“The point of our study is that ambient temperature affects individual states that shape emotional and behavioral reactions, so people help less in an uncomfortable environment, whatever the reason they come up with to justify why they cannot do certain things.”

They believe their findings apply to not only students who need a comfortably environment to learn, but to employees who require a temperate workplace in order to be the most efficient at their jobs.

So, better figure out the best temperature for everyone, managers of the world. If you want the best from people day in and day out, they’re going to have to be thinking of something other than when they’ll be able to escape.

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10 Facts About Chernobyl That Will Give You the Creeps

A devastating nuclear disaster took place at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union on April 26, 1986. The incident is back in the public consciousness right now due to the success of the HBO show Chernobyl that dramatizes the events surrounding the accident.

Much of what happened before, during, and after the 1986 event is still the cause of much debate due to the secrecy of the Soviet Union. But one thing is for sure: the Chernobyl accident is considered the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history.

Here are 10 facts about the terrifying Chernobyl disaster and its aftermath.

1. Casualty rate: Unknown

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It’s sometimes strange how different paths in life come together and suddenly your path takes an unexpected direction. The path towards Chernobyl with @jonadbo. We have been there twice now and it remains such a special place because of its history. We ended up there to photograph abandoned locations and we got fascinated by the history. Ofcourse I have watched the HBO series and it’s made so accurate. It’s very realistic and I recognized so many places. I hope that the ghost town of Prypjat remains protected from mass tourism, that it does not deteriorate even more and that nature can still run its own way. So keep it nice. In the end we all have our reason to visit this city. First picture: @jonadbo #pripyat #chernobylzone #chernobyl #ukrain #decay #abandoned #deserted #netflix #disaster #rooftop #tsjernobyl #urbex #urbexphotography #belgiumphotography #belgiumphotographer #canonbelgium #urbexkings #abandonedafterthedark #urbextopia #urbexbelgie #forgotten #forgottenplace #chernobyltour @urbexchampions @urbex_kings @urbexeurope @urbex_3336 @abandonedafterdark @urbex_utopia @urbex_supreme @deurbex

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The number of victims that can be blamed on the accident ranges anywhere from 4,000 to 90,000. Two people died in the initial blast, 29 people died from radiation sickness in the months after the accident, and there are literally thousands that may die from radiation-related causes in the future.

2. A gruesome death

One of the first firefighters who responded to the accident scene was Vasily Ignatenko. He suffered a terrible two-week death from his exposure to radiation, including excreting blood and mucus 25 times a day and coughing up pieces of his own internal organs.

3. Other ailments

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⚠ On April 26, 1986, the fourth block was destroyed, the reactor was completely destroyed. The largest accident of this kind in the history of nuclear energy, the estimated number of dead and wounded and economic damage. ⠀ ⚠ 134 people suffered radiation sickness. More than 115 thousand people from the 30-kilometer zone were evacuated. More than 600 thousand people took part in the aftermath of the accident. During the first three months after the accident, 31 people died, another 19 deaths from 1987 to 2004 can be explained by its direct consequences. ⠀ ⚠ Unlike the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the explosion resembled a very powerful "dirty bomb" – radioactive contamination became the main striking factor.

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People in neighboring areas had to flee their homes and complained of such symptoms as “black spots,” bodies getting “fat, like a barrel,” and turning “black, like coal, and shrinking.”

4. Radiophobia

Because women were terrified of possible radiation poisoning, there were an estimated 100,000-200,000 abortions in Europe after the Chernobyl disaster.

5. Dead trees everywhere

The area around the nuclear power plant became known as The Red Forest because the trees died and turned a ginger color after the accident.

6. Lingerers

Although it’s illegal to live in the area around the plant known as the Zone of Alienation, or the Exclusion Zone, it’s estimated that 130-150 people still live there, many of them older women taking care of their family’s land.

7. Poor animals

If you’ve seen the show, you know that people were not allowed to evacuate with their pets. This actually happened and units were sent in to put the animals down.

8. But…there are still hundreds of dogs there

Descendants of the dogs who survived the aftermath of the disaster still live in the Exclusion Zone. There are an estimated 300 stray dogs here. You can help them out by donating HERE.

9. Tourist spot

Tourists can visit the Exclusion Zone, and it’s actually become pretty trendy after the success of the HBO show about the disaster.

10. Ghost town

There is an abandoned amusement park in nearby Pripyat that looks like something out of a horror film.

While it’s truly terrifying what happened at Chernobyl, the strength that the people of Russia have shown in the face of unimaginable devastation should be commended.

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Scientists found that…

Scientists found that deleting a certain gene in mice can make them smarter by unlocking a mysterious region of the brain considered to be relatively inflexible. It is called the ‘Homer Simpson Gene.’

Brave Women Are Sharing Their Abortion Stories with the Hashtag #YouKnowMe

Right now is a scary time to be a woman in America.

People who support a woman’s right to choose what she does with her reproductive health are trying anything they can to make sure the message is spread far and wide that even if people don’t think they know somebody who has had an abortion… they do.

A lot of people have shared their story, but Busy Philipps recently shared a story on her talk show about her experience…

Busy also shared some statistics… with the hashtag #YouKnowMe

Folks, 25% of all women have had an abortion at some point in their lives. If you didn’t know that stat before, now you do.

Naturally, people are taking up the hashtag and sharing their stories…

Yes, women will die.

Lots and lots of women.

And it doesn’t matter what their reason is..

Because these are incredibly difficult choices…

And without those choices, women literally lose their rights as human beings…

Because imagine a world where rapists just get to have children because they commit a crime…

And the only option being a hotel room in the middle of nowhere…

Women need to be able to plan their lives…

Without fear of consequence for ONE moment taking over their entire life…

Again, these are health care decisions, first and foremost…

And nobody should ever make that decision for another person.

Yes, we all know somebody who had an abortion. And their reasons, while their own, are completely justifiable.

Anybody who tells you differently is just trying to interfere with a woman’s civil rights.

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All Women Have the Same Freckle on Their Wrist. Take a Look, We’ll Wait.

A Twitter user recently pointed out something that was staring us in the face this whole time, but none of us noticed this feature most women have in common.

It started off with an innocent question…

“Ladies… you got a freckle on the middle of your wrist or is this a myth,” Aaryn asked.

The answer was YASSSSS!!!! So many women had a freckle in that exact spot!

And so they shared…

Because this is wild, ya’ll!

Shocking to say the least!

Some weren’t so sure…

But that’s because they didn’t look closely enough!

And yeah, you’re right to freak…

Because it’s there. Just need to uncover it.

And look at both wrists, ladies!

To answer the following question: “Because.”

So yeah… that’s crazy right?

The question is now… do you have a freckle in the middle of your wrist?

Snap a shot and leave it in the comments!

The post All Women Have the Same Freckle on Their Wrist. Take a Look, We’ll Wait. appeared first on UberFacts.

An Anti-Vaxxer Dad Asked for Advice on Building an “Outside Bedroom” for 2-Year-Old and Got Roasted

Anti-vaxxers are really something, aren’t they? Despite mountains actual, peer-reviewed, scientifically validated evidence that show the benefits of vaccination and also prove that there is no link between vaccines and autism, anti-vaxxers keep insisting that vaccines are evil based on information they got from memes and health blogs. Cool.

Naturally, choosing not to vaccinate your child is your right as a parent. But unfortunately diseases couldn’t care less about your personal autonomy, and skipping vaccines is a decision that puts you child and others (such as those too sick/young to be vaccinated) at serious risk of infection. That’s why whenever an anti-vaxxer parent tries to justify their choice online, other parents are pretty quick to roast them.

That’s what happened to this parent, who apparently wanted to create an “outside bedroom” for their unvaccinated child…

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

Here’s what they wrote:

The weather is getting nicer. My son, Jericho (not vaccinated), never wants to make it in by curfew. I am planning on moving his bedroom outside. I’m not looking for this post to turn into a debate, REBECCA. Just looking for recommendations for outdoor furniture for 2 year old boys room. His favorite color is yellow.

The internet being what it is, it wasn’t long before the roasting began.

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

And continued…

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

…and continued…

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

The Twitterverse was on FIRE

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

And the hits just kept coming.

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

So toasty in here

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

Is it just me? Cuz I am feelin the heat for real.

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

That’s a whole cup of dark roast right there

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

People were also curious about this mysterious “Rebecca” that Jonny didn’t want to debate with.

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

Where is Rebecca??

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

I think Jonny is gonna need some ointment for these sick burns.

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

And finally, there’s this to consider:

Photo Credit: WWInterweb

FACE MELTER. ^^

Well played, internet. You have saved the day yet again.

The post An Anti-Vaxxer Dad Asked for Advice on Building an “Outside Bedroom” for 2-Year-Old and Got Roasted appeared first on UberFacts.

Research Shows That Sleeping in a Cold Room Is Better for Your Health

Do you battle with your partner over the thermostat? If so, then listen up – whoever likes it colder at night now has some science to back up their position.

According to an article written by Dr. Christopher Winter, medical director at Charlottesville Neurology & Sleep Medicine, there are several reasons to keep your thermostat between 60-67 degrees F while you snooze. According to his research, if the temperature falls below or climbs above that range you’re more likely to toss, turn, and generally get worse sleep.

Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay

Why? It’s important to note that our bodies have a natural, 24-hour cycle in which our temperatures peak in the late afternoon and fall to their lowest point around 5 am. We’re typically able to fall asleep when our body temperature begins to drop, so keeping your room cold could encourage you to fall asleep faster.

A cold room encourages a more restful sleep, says research out of University of South Australia that connected poor body temperature regulation with certain forms of insomnia.

It could keep you looking younger, since sleeping in a room warmer than 70 degrees stops your body from releasing melatonin.

Image by Jess Foami from Pixabay

Naturopathic doctor Natasha Turner says that healthy sleep patterns and a predictable temperature drop release a growth hormone and decrease your stress hormone, the combination of which could actually help you lose weight.

One study even found that it could lower your risk for metabolic disease like diabetes. Participants burned more calories while they were awake and also doubled their amount of brown fat, or good fat, while allows the body to store fewer calories. Over time, that combination can lower your risk for metabolic disease.

Image Credit: Pixabay

So, there you go – make sure to turn down your thermostat and get ready to catch some totally restful, totally healthy zzz’s tonight!

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Take a Look at These Real Life Stories of People Who Stumbled upon Dead Bodies

I’ve never seen a dead body, even at a funeral, so I think it would be pretty horrible and disturbing to just come across one in the middle of my day. Some of the Redditors on this AskReddit thread absolutely agree with me:

1. Absolutely Devastating

“I found my mom’s dead body on the floor of her bedroom in March of this year. I called 911 and then my father, who was out of town on business. Hardest phone call I’ve ever had to make. Apparently my mom had a kidney infection from kidney reflux disease as well as pneumonia. It caught her in the middle of the night and she passed away.”

2. RA’s Worst Nightmare

“I was an RA in college. I got a call that one of my students didn’t go home for Easter. We found him hanging in the closet in his dorm room. I was upset about it because he seemed okay and never showed any signs of depression. Having to talk to his parents afterward was beyond hard.”

3. All a Blur

“I was 14 and babysitting for my baby 2nd cousin. He died from SIDS and I found him when checking on him in the morning. I frantically tried baby CPR but knew it was useless. I had to go and tell his mother who had been out late and was sleeping in the next room. Then it was all just a blur of crying, ambulance, calling my auntie and uncle and then being questioned by police.”

4. Delayed Reaction

“I must have been in total shock, because I was completely calm (detached). Saw something weird in the bushes, found the body, called the cops, talked to the cops, went on about my day. Two days later had a panic attack when walking down same path.”

5. “I Miss You, Tom”

“There was a park worker named Tom who used to always smile at me and say hello when I was a little kid. Sometimes he would have candy or a small toy for me. Fast forward 20 years, and I’m an adult. Walking back from work one day I saw tom in the park, and stopped to talk to him. At this point he was close to 70 years old, but still working 50 hours a week.

During our conversation he was still working, and he needed to go into the maintenance shed for something. I followed along with him, continuing the conversation. When he opened the door, I saw a bed. He had been living in the maintenance shed, with no running water or electricity. I decided to let him move into my spare room, and things were going great. I spent 4th of July weekend at my girlfriends house, leaving Tom by himself in the apartment.

He refused to turn on the air conditioning because he didn’t want to “waste” my money. It was over 100 degrees that weekend, and we lived in a top floor apartment in a shitty wooden building, so it had to hit 120+ inside. The heat killed him. He died drinking his morning coffee. He fell out of his chair, halfway through the cup. When I found him he had been dead for a couple days.

He was discolored, and slightly bloated. The smell was horrible, it took me weeks to get it out of the apartment. I called 911 (in hindsight, it wasn’t much of an emergency, but I wasn’t thinking clearly) and they came and took the body. They didn’t clean up all the bodily fluids though, which I was not expecting. I had to do it. It was rough. I wish he hadn’t been so concerned with wasting my money. I wish he would have turned the AC on. I miss you Tom.”

6. Landlord

“I’m a landlord. I got a call from the father of one of our tenants. He hadn’t heard from his son for a few days and he didn’t live in town. I said I would go by and check on him. No one answered the door and I just felt something was wrong. I used a master key to enter and could see that he was laying on the couch. I thought he looked dead and went back out the door, but then I realized I had to be sure.

I went back in and stared at him for about 15 seconds to really be sure. I don’t recall how he died, but I know he was a very heavy drinker. The worst part was that, after I called the police, I had to call the father back. Not an easy phone call to make, but I felt he should know.”

7. Not Suspicious At All

“My dad and I found a body in the middle of the road in Ohio. It was on the 5th of July at 5:30 A.M. He was just in the road, one leg almost severed. We blocked the road and called the sheriff. I guess he was either drunk and fell asleep in the road or someone just hit him and bailed. They never did find out who did it. There was a couple that supposedly discovered him shortly before us, and for some odd reason they went 10 miles home and switched vehicles before the sheriff showed up. We told the sheriff about it but he didn’t see anything unusual about that.”

8. Murder/Suicide

“I came home and discovered the bodies of my husband and son from a murder suicide. I knew something was wrong when I opened the apartment door, because usually my son would be greeting me, crawling on the floor (he was 2) and it was totally quiet and I hadn’t had any responses from texts from my husband. They were lying side by side on our bed. My initial reaction was “Okay… you don’t know yet.” I started moving towards my son, just enough to see that his chest wasn’t moving. I started shaking, looked around briefly for a note with some sort of explanation, couldn’t find one and decided that I would be better off not touching anything.

I ran out of my apartment and into the hallway and called 911. I sat down on the floor and just wailed into the phone until emergency services showed up. I just sat there, staring ahead of me unable to respond. After I don’t know how long a paramedic came out and asked if I was okay. I asked “Are they gone?” and he nodded, and said, “Yeah…” There aren’t really words to describe the shock and grief. There was also the big question of, “Now what?” – what do I do with my life? My whole planned future was nulled in the space of about 10 minutes.”

9. Missing Girl

“My brothers and I were playing around in the woods at a park up the street from my house, and had been playing near a pile of leaves picking bits up, throwing them at each other, when my brother noticed a purse laying on the ground. He picked it up, and he looked through it, he found a wallet, there was money in it, credit cards…We took it home, and showed my mom, who thinking it strange that it had been abandoned called the police. The I.D. in the wallet belonged to a woman who had been missing for three days, the police searched the park, and found the woman’s body. She had been hidden in a pile of leaves, the one we had been playing around (luckily not jumping in). To make matters worse, the woman was murdered by her estranged boyfriend, whom she agreed to meet the morning she died only a few days before she was due to testify against him in court for domestic violence.”

10. Desensitized

“I was driving home at about 2 a.m. and I was going around a turn at about 50 MPH but I noticed something off and slowed down it was a car in a ditch. And there was something in the road I hadn’t slowed down quickly enough and narrowly swerved around the object. As I passed it realized it was a human body. I pulled into the nearby driveway. Ran over to them and tried to get them to wake up or show some sign of life. I think I had leaned on their chest and it sounded like they may have breathed a bit but I think it was just wishful thinking. Called the cops and told them I thought he was breathing so they would hurry. Took an ambulance about 10 minutes to get there and as soon as the guy stepped out the ambulance he said “oh yeah he’s dead.” I was struck by his callousness. It happened to be a guy a few years older than me that grew up in my neighborhood. I didn’t even realize it until I got home and then I finally cried myself to sleep.”

11. Med Student

“Was coming back home from school. Back then I was in my first year of med school and had not seen any dead bodies yet. I hear one of my neighbors scream and call for her husband. I walk over to see what was going on and turns out another neighbor fell down a set of stairs just outside her apartment and hit her head. She had a very faint pulse, her pupils were fixed and she wasn’t breathing anymore, I also suspect she had fluid in her lungs cause she had froth at the mouth. We called an ambulance but all they could do was confirm her death. I was truly shocked at the time because I had never ever seen a dead person before that day. She was a single lady, no kids and I felt really bad that there was no one around to help her while there was still hope.”

12. Surprisingly Normal

“I once found my neighbor dead in his yard. He looked quite normal as if alive, but he wasn’t. He had a fatal heart attack. His body still had color in it. Before that I always used to think that dead bodies look horrific, but they look surprisingly normal to me.”

13. Not Suitable For Children

“I was eleven years old and a friend of mine and I were playing near my friend’s house which was near a lake. We say a dog barking by a small jetty in the lake. He stood there barking for a long time and tried to get our attention so went walked over to see what it was. We saw the legs of an old woman sticking out from under the jetty. She had been there for a long time. We told my friend’s parents and they called the police. It was a little scary but I felt pretty detached from the whole situation. The thing I remember the most was when she was picked up and I wanted to see what was going on, the cops yelled at us to get lost.”

14. Career Change

“When I was 9 years old coming back from a dentist’s appointment. My mom and I stopped at a service station to get gas. There was a red truck in front of us facing our car at the other pump and the man inside was wearing sunglasses. He was sitting in a odd position with his head resting on his shoulder. I walked into the station to get a coke and when I came back I saw he hadn’t moved and noticed chewed up food in his mouth. I poked his shoulder to see if he was just sleeping but he didn’t move so I took his glasses off and saw his eyes wide open. He got hauled off in an ambulance and I asked one of the workers if he was alright but he was said he dead for at least thirty minutes. I cried the rest of the day. That mess is scary! I wanted to be a brain surgeon prior to that incident but that changed my mind. I can’t deal with the traumatic stuff.”

15. Terrifying Find

“My friend’s mum was going for an early morning jog on some boardwalk that ran through a creek (which is usually a pretty fucking scary place at the best of times). She was on a long straight stretch and saw a white figure at the end; on closer inspection, it was some guy who hung himself off a tree.”

We know you can choose a lot of sites to read, but we want you to know that we’re thankful you chose Did You Know.

You rock! Thanks for reading!

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A Study Showed That Younger Siblings Are Funnier Than Older Siblings

I have three older siblings and guess who’s the King of Comedy? This guy, right here. So I’ve known this all along. But now there’s science to back it up!

A British study from YouGov questioned 1,783 adults to assess various personality traits based on birth order. The survey showed that 46% of younger siblings believe that they are the funniest child in their family, while only 36% of oldest siblings report that they are the family clown.

Photo Credit: pxhere

The study also showed that 54% of oldest children believe they bear the most responsibility, compared to 31% of youngest kids. So not only do the young ones get to be hilarious, they also don’t have to worry about as much. Well, isn’t that great?

Some more findings: older siblings feel “more organized” than their little brothers and sisters, and young siblings see themselves as more easygoing than their older counterparts. That makes sense. Again, the younger ones typically don’t have to worry about things compared to the older kids.

Photo Credit: pxhere

A lot of successful comedians just so happen to be the youngest kids in their respective families: Eddie Murphy, Ellen DeGeneres, Jim Carrey, and Steve Martin, to name a few.

What do you think? How does it work in your family?

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This Guy Tried to Explain Science to a Female Astrophysicist…Not a Good Idea

We get to see how clueless a lot of people can be because of social media.

If you’re going to engage in a debate with someone online, at least take five seconds to look at their bio so you can see who you’re about to tangle with. Case in point, let’s look at Twitter user Katie Mack’s short bio:

“(a.k.a. Dr Katherine J Mack) astrophysicist/cosmologist, occasional freelance science writer, connoisseur of cosmic catastrophes”

Okay, you probably wouldn’t want to debate Ms. Mack about, oh I don’t know, astrophysics or anything science-related. Let’s see how this unfolded, shall we?

Here was the tweet that started the exchange.

Then this fella decided to throw in his two cents. Bad move, bro.

Photo Credit: Twitter

To be clear, that’s a screenshot because Mr. Jackson has since deleted his tweets.

Ms. Mack responded with this tweet, which you really can’t argue with in any way.

Ouch. Immediately roasted. Gary, Gary, Gary…bad move, my friend.

Other people weighed in on Twitter with their thoughts about the exchange.

And then another mindless troll just had to step in to try to take up Gary’s fight. Another bad idea.

I’ll never understand the anti-science, anti-education, anti-reason people out there. And there seems to be A LOT of them.

The lesson here? If you don’t know what you’re talking about, do yourself a favor and keep your mouth shut. Or else you’ll end up looking incredibly stupid, and you’ll have to hang your head in shame.

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