Curiosify

Noticias singulares a raudales

Curious

The Norwegian island that wants to get rid of time

Sommaroy is the name of the Norwegian island that is planning on completely getting rid of time. The island has 69 days of summer, which is why it’s often called “the Summer Island”. It’s also why they have come up with this crazy time-less idea.

Where the initiative stems from

The 300 hundred inhabitants of the island spend 69 days straight under the light of day. They lack normal timetables like we have. To them, it is strange for a child to have a curfew. If they had to tell them to come home when night falls they would see them again three months later!

Making the most out of it

The daylight allows them to make the most out of the time they have: you’ll find children playing football at 2 in the morning. How crazy? Given they already didn’t live like the rest of the world, it just made sense to them to completely remove any sense of time. The objective of this new no-time implementation is to remove stress, allowing citizens to live more freely and in peace.

An implementation many want

If the implementation does take place, Sommaroy would be the first zone worldwide to live without any sense of time. They aim is to formalize a system that suits their light-time better. All it needs is legislative approval, as it already has the approval of the citizens. They have even been called to hang their clocks from the bridge as a sign to show they are in favour.

For now, the initiative has come up just for summertime, but they are already looking at extending it to the whole year, even when day light is scarce. Would you dare living like this?

Confirmed: Instagram ISN’T Listening To Your Conversations

How many times have you scrolled through Instagram, only to see an ad pop up about the most random thing you were just talking about with your friends? I swear it happens all too often. Most recently I was bombarded with inflatable pool flamingos after my friend had been talking to me about buying one. It was CREEPY and I swore Instagram was listening!

Man holding coffee cup while scrolling instagram on phone, looking shocked.

However, according to Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, the application we long thought was eavesdropping into all of our conversations, isn’t! In fact, it has no connection or access to the microphones in our phones!

If Instagram Isn’t Listening, Why Do We Get Such Specific Targeted Content?

His first explanation for the phenomenon? “Dumb luck,” which doesn’t seem quite like a sufficient answer for one of the most used and profitable applications in the world. 

via GIPHY

His other theory might leave you feeling a little more uneasy. Masseri said, “you might be talking about something because it’s top of mind because you’ve been interacting with that type of content more recently. It’s top of mind, maybe it’s subconscious and then it bubbles up later.” Meaning, you are likely interacting with content on social media and websites, without even realizing it!

Not Entirely A Coincidence…

It does make you wonder how often we surf the internet or scroll through instagram and like different ads, websites, and photos without registering what we are doing. That said, Mosseri does admit that the ads we see on Instagram are generated based on the accounts we follow and all the content we commented on or liked. 

Man on computer while a circle of social media apps, including Twitter, instagram, Facebook, etc encircle him.

Another way that Instagram gives us “targeted ads” is by sorting each of its users into one of 52,000 ad-targeting categories. Talk about being specific! Just further proof that there is a deep digital algorithm behind all the content we see.

How To Avoid The “Creepy” Ads In The Future

Girl holding Instagram logo in front of face.

On the one hand, we can rest assured that Instagram is not listening in to our most intimate (and ridiculous) of conversations. To avoid the creepy “I swear I was just talking about this” ads that pop up, it’s a wise decision to start paying more attention to all that we do while using our social media apps. Being more attentive instead of mindlessly scrolling and liking will help limit the shocking content.

Photos: Freepik

“Doll therapy”: another step in the fight against Alzheimer’s

Elderly

Our experiences and social bonds are what build us into the human beings we are. What we go through, think and feel cause us to be the way we are. We stick to memories that shape us into behaving in certain ways; they partly provide form to the personalities we have.

But what happens when we start losing these memories we so strongly cling to? We lose sight of previous experience, and even entire periods of our lives. We forget the faces and names of people we love, and in the end, we even forget about ourselves.

Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimers

This is what happens if you suffer from the medical condition called Alzheimer’s. The disease mostly affects the elderly, but it is not necessarily so. Almost 44 million people worldwide suffer from this dreaded condition, and numbers seem to be rising every year.

Therapies

There are numerous therapies that aim to cure, or at least palliate the disease. Such therapies go from musical therapies to building entire villages for people suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Doll therapy against Alzheimer’s

The latest ongoing therapy has been carried out in Spain: non-pharmacological therapies that involve patient-doll interactions. The aim of this therapy is awakening feelings inside the patient that would palliate symptoms caused by Alzheimer’s.

What the interaction between patients and dolls turns into, is the patient treating them like real life babies: they sing lullabies to them or even give them kisses. The interactions, in turn, cause a shift from the patient being the person who has to be taken care of, to actually being the care-giver.

An emotional memory stimulator

The therapy aims to stimulate emotional memory, because this is the last type of memory people lose. By stimulating emotional memory, patients are able to recall and keep certain memories and behaviours. The dolls are provided to the patients, for a short period of time, by experts who know how and when to provide them.

The early stages

However, this doll therapy is still in it’s early stages. The therapy is not to be considered a game, but people also have to realise the many positive effects it might have. There are people against it because they feel it infantilizes the patients. But positive results are what really matter, and this is something the therapy is certainly achieving.

Elderly

A professional guide coming soon

Maribel González, the director of the Spanish “Centro de Referencia Estatal de Atención a Personas con Azhéimer y otras Demencias ” (a medical centre for people suffering from Alzheimer’s and similar), has claimed that as soon as they obtain valid conclusions, they will be publishing a professional guide for both professionals and family. The therapy is certainly a step in the right direction.

Photos: Unsplash and Twitter

2000€ reward for deciphering the French “Rosetta stone”

If you’re one of those who just loves a little brain teaser, this might be the perfect opportunity to show off your detective skills… and even get paid for it!

A mysterious stone found on the French coast

A French town called Plougastel-Daoulas has found a mysterious stone on their coast, which seems to hold a secret message. Experts have yet to figure out what the message means. It’s not even clear what language the message was written in. Lonely Planet has baptised it the French “Rosetta stone”.

plougastel daoulas

Dare to decipher the message?

The French government has opened the case to the public, in hopes of finding what this enigmatic message might contain. In fact, they encourage anyone who might have a slight idea on what the stone says, with a reward of 2000€.

Hundreds of years old

Truth is, that the stone was found in 2015, so the case has been ongoing ever since. Theories claim it was written in Basque, others state it could be Breton. Any theory is but a longshot, as experts have absolutely no clue on what the message might mean.

What they do suspect is that the stone could be hundreds of years old, but they won’t be able to pin down an exact date until they find out what the stone says.

What we know about the stone

The clues we have on what the stone might mean are scarce, but what we can rely on is what we see: its measurements are more or less that of an average human being, and all of its surface is engraved with what look like capital letters.

It also shows a drawing which contains what look like two dates: 1786 and 1787. These dates are thought to refer to the artillery batteries from the town next-door, called Brest.

Detective

Will we ever find out?

All in all, the only clue we have from the mysterious stone is that it might be related to the horrendous wars that have taken place on the French coast.

From here on, you can make your own conclusions: does the message lead to an impossible love story? does it narrate the tale of ripped apart family? For now, we will leave it up to you and your imagination to decide what enigma the message holds.

Photos: Unsplash, Pixabay, Twitter and Instagram

How Technology is Zapping Our Memory

While you might think you can easily remember everything thanks to the plethora of calendar and organizational apps available, turns out technology is actually worsening our memory.

Confused Girl.

A Quick Memory Check

Before you start to think this finding too terribly shocking– how many phone numbers of friends and family members can you recall, without looking them up? Or even more challenging- when are the birthdays of all your closest friends?

Brain gears working to produce a memory, result in a question mark.

Unsuccessful? We thought so. You’re not alone- technology has changed the way our memories actually work, and how our brains decide to store information.

How Our Brains Work

To have a better understanding as to how technology is impairing our memories, it’s important to know how our brain stores information in the first place.

Brain that internally looks like a memory board.

Our brains are working constantly, and every event that occurs in our life is compartmentalized into the three main types of memory: sensory, short-term (working), and long-term. Sensory memories are everything that we experience but don’t process; they last less than a second in our “memory storage.”

Short-term involves information that we can temporarily recall, typically from 10 seconds to a minute. Our brains can only retain a limited amount of information in short-term, so the information we give more attention to in this “working stage” can transfer to long-term memory. Otherwise, the information is essentially deleted from our consciousness.

Long-term memory is where- you guessed it- our memories are stored for life. The good news is that there is an unlimited space available in our long-term! Having more long-term memories has been proven to enhance our brain function and intelligence.

Girl at graduation with her graduation cap and tassle.

The Bad News…

The way we interact with technology today makes information much more difficult to be transferred to long-term memory. Every time you spend long nights scrolling through articles, newsfeeds, and images, your brain is being overloaded with information. Just imagine if you had all of your classes being taught at the same time- you would have no idea which information is most important to take notes on, or how to process it. Your brain is feeling the exact same thing, making it difficult to choose and process what’s important.

Girl with hands covering face and extra set on head, looking overwhelmed.

Social Media, Minus The “Social”

Forming memories has historically been considered a social process, with our memories being enhanced and more vivid thanks to the people we create them with. Although Social Media was created to help us stay connected, the numerous platforms have in turn made us less social. Rather than calling up a family member to remember a specific date, we check our phones. Instead of experiencing a new city fully while traveling with friends, we whip out Instagram to take photos and videos, producing a “photo-taking impairment effect.”

Hand with phone using Instagram in big city, which hurts our memory of events.

A Senior Moment, Or A Millennial Moment?

We all have heard of the senior moment, when typically an adult forgets something and attributes it to old age. However, a study by The Trending Machine found Millennials are actually more likely to forget common things like names and where they placed their keys and purse, than people over the age 55. Researchers attribute this lapse in memory to both interconnectivity and the high levels of stress common among the 18-34 year old crowd.

Girl holding her car keys.

While your brain is not going to stop working entirely from using technology, it’s important to think about the long term. Finding ways to be more present in your daily life, and spending time with family and friends will help ensure you make and remember those important memories to last a life time.

Photos: Freepik, Pixabay, and Unsplash

Can A Mushroom Be The Answer To Our Plastic Problem?

If you haven’t already hopped aboard the #plasticfree train, you might be contributing to one of the world’s leading causes of environmental damage. According to National Geographic, “18 billion pounds of plastic waste flows into the oceans every year from coastal regions,” all of which will never break down in our life time (nor during the next generations…).

How This Plastic Build Up Affects The Environment…

To make matters worse, the majority of the plastic that humans consume around the world is never recycled. This means our landfills, oceans, and environment get filled with plastic trash, causing animals who mistakenly eat and get entangled in the products to die.

…And Affects Us

If the sight of animals being harmed isn’t enough to worry you (as it SHOULD), plastic also has many toxic chemicals that, when leached into the soil and groundwater, end up in our drinking water, produce, and fish. According to a study at Arizona State University, almost every human has some traces of chemicals in our system that have derived from plastic. These chemicals can have a range of negative effects, including cancer, hormonal changes, and a weakening of our immune systems.

The Search For A Solution

Despite the grim outlook on the planet’s future, scientists have been developing research for numerous ways to reduce and maybe even reverse the damage caused by our consumption. The latest of investigations? A plastic-eating mushroom called Pestalotiopsis microspora.

Asides from being a mouthful to pronounce, the Pestalotiopsis microspora is a fungus that was originally discovered in the Amazon in Ecuador by a group of scientists from Yale University. While most living creatures need oxygen to survive, this rare mushroom’s source of energy comes from consuming polyurethane, a plastic material.

Mushrooms in the wild.

A Waste Reducer…and Tasty Snack?

Before being trucked to as many landfills as possible to start eating away at the trash, scientists are still doing research on the properties of these mushrooms and potential side effects. Additionally, some scientists are cultivating the mushrooms to be grown into an edible snack. Talk about a renewable source.

While this mushroom is a promising find in the quest for measures to save our planet, it is unlikely to be the end-all solution for our problems. This means it’s vital we all find ways to reduce our plastic consumption and aim for a more sustainable lifestyle. Our planet and lives depend on it.

Photos: Pixabay