👵🏻 Why hair turns gray 🛌 Sleeping pill discovery 🗣️ Argument hack

👵🏻 Why hair turns gray 🛌 Sleeping pill discovery 🗣️ Argument hack

Gray hair is an I'm-sure-scientists-know-why-this-happens-but-I'll-never-look-it-up topic. Well, turns out scientists DIDN'T know...until today. At a high level, we did know that a reduction in our supply of pigment-producing cells called melanocytes was the ultimate cause, but we didn't understand why melanocyte supply drops in the first place.

🧠 Memory illusions 🤖 A.I. love 🤥 Spotting a liar Reading 👵🏻 Why hair turns gray 🛌 Sleeping pill discovery 🗣️ Argument hack 5 minutes Next ⚖️ Weight loss drug boom 🛌 No-mo nightmares ☕ Coffee hack
The best news, hacks, & facts from the past week!
April 21, 2023
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Scientists just officially modeled out how to achieve maximum height / hang time on a playground swing set.

So you can stop holding your breath on that one...

TL;DR - shift your body weight forward when you hit the forward-swinging high point, and then shift backward when you hit the backward swinging high point.

This may seem intuitive, but apparently it isn't given physicists are all fired up about the discovery (and doing lots of playground swinging to celebrate).

What's wild to me is that kids just naturally figure out how to optimally shift bodyweight to achieve peak momentum. It's like a pendulum is built into our DNA. Pretty rad.

As always, please forward IQNEWS to a friend if you're a fan!

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STORY OF THE WEEK

We now know why hair turns gray

image: quotesgram

Gray hair is an I'm-sure-scientists-know-why-this-happens-but-I'll-never-look-it-up topic.

Well, turns out scientists DIDN'T know...until today.

At a high level, we did know that a reduction in our supply of pigment-producing cells called melanocytes was the ultimate cause, but we didn't understand why melanocyte supply drops in the first place.

Melanocytes are formed from melanocyte stem cells (McSCs) in the hair follicle. A recent study closely examined these stem cells in mice as they aged and found they get "stuck" in a region called the follicle bulge as we age and/or incur stress.

And when an McSC gets stuck, it never develops into an melanocyte and thus never contributes pigment to the strand of hair.

Here's the punchline...

"This finding presents a potential pathway for reversing or preventing the graying of human hair by helping jammed cells to move again between developing hair follicle compartments," reports one of the study authors.

Pretty wild!

That said, silver fox George Clooney seems to be doing okay with some salt and pepper up top. Same with Meryl Streep. And a zillion other people.

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IN OTHER NEWS

Sleeping pills, bag invention, cold vs aging...

image: istock
Sleeping Pills

A study on sleeping pills yielded a shocking discovery: those who took pills saw a drop in brain proteins linked to Alzheimer's. This might totally change how we view sleeping pills.

Paper Bags

Five trillion plastic bags are made each year and it can take up to 1,000 years for a bag to disintegrate. Good news though: a dramatically stronger paper bag was just invented.

Bug Behavior

Bugs don't actually like lightbulbs. A new study found bugs are "trapped" by artificial light (vs being attracted to it) - light interferes with bugs' body orientation control systems.

Loneliness

A new study found eight hours of loneliness saps energy and increases fatigue as much as going eight hours without food for certain folks. Interaction is as important as food!

Coldness

Scientists found that subjecting the body to cold initiates a process whereby damaged proteins are removed from cells. Cold might slow aging and counteract mental decline.

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HACK OF THE WEEK

Winning an argument with questions

image: freepik

Most arguments go something like this...

"I think X!"

"X makes no sense. Y is the way."

"Y can't be the way because of Z."

"You're wrong and I dislike you as a person."

(That last line might only be relevant to me; I can't say for sure).

Anyway, point is: most arguments entail two parties making statements at each other, which rarely results in people changing their minds (a.k.a. resolution).

If you instead weave questions into your argument (e.g., "But what if you were in position X - would you still feel that way?"), the other party is far more likely to see flaws in their logic and adjust their perspective.

Go pick an argument with a stranger and give it a try! Just kidding...sort of.

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SHOWER THOUGHTS
  1. When in school, students wish to leave it. When in the workplace, adults wish to go back to school.
  2. In Star Wars, the people who won brought swords to gun fights.
  3. There is nothing as simultaneously satisfying and disappointing as figuring out a big twist long before you’re supposed to.
  4. Talking to your pets is weird but not talking to your pets is weirder.
  5. It's such a blessing that our thoughts don't directly control our bodies.
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QUOTE / TIL / WORD / TRIVIA

Robin Sharma: "Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life."

Today I learned about the Blue Java banana, a hard cold-tolerant type of banana known to have an ice cream-like consistency and a flavor reminiscent of vanilla. (more here)

undergird [ uhn-der-gurd ] - verb
provide support or a firm basis for
That's a philosophy that needs to undergird retailers' business plans this year.

Q: How many inches is the diameter of a basketball hoop?
A: (see below next section)

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TWEET OF THE WEEK
image: twitter

TRIVIA ANSWER: 18.

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