It’s been a strange week for me, as I dusted off my passport and flexed my international travel muscles again. I was somewhat apprehensive about the whole thing, and found myself pinged by a perpetual low level anxiety telling me I had forgotten something vital while preparing to leave. This continued throughout my entire 30-hour journey. You can find links to my accounts of preparing to go, including the joy of getting a supervised RAT to determine whether I could get on the plane or have to wait a further 7 days to try again, and my photo essay of my journey, complete with observations along the way.
I'd always said that I would enjoy where I was. I vowed not to miss where I wasn’t. This was the migrant magic solution that had worked for me. This is the way you didn’t miss people.
That worked until I had kids. That worked until the pandemic.
Now, it’s all falling apart. And the doors haven’t even closed on my shortest flight of the three I need to take to get to London.
I’ve just cleared my Day 4 RAT in my self-imposed isolation regime, and I’ve been seeing my parents in their garden in the meantime. Now I can finally see them properly. Which was the whole point of me being here - I haven’t been able to make this trip and see them in person for 927 days. It’s been well worth the trip.
Enjoy this week’s Noise Reduction. Please consider subscribing to get the full version if you haven’t already. If you are already a paid subscriber, thank so much for your support. I could do this and my 30,000 Days project without you.
Finally, I’ve refreshed my website at sarbjohal.com Please drop by and take a look and tell me what you think. I’m actively seeking feedback on it.
Are we there yet?
Dr Fauci had to row back and clarify his comments, after saying that the US was out of the “pandemic phase”. He later went on air to correct the record, telling NPR he “should have said the acute component of the pandemic phase” was over. Read and listen to the 33-minute interview here, on the topic on why masks are such a big deal for so many, digging into the psychology behind this.
I certainly noticed on my US flight from Los Angeles to London that only just over half the passengers were masked.
In case you missed it, last week a Florida judge struck down the federal travel mask mandate, and while companies aren't being forced to drop their mandates, many have. Meanwhile, the Omicron subvariant BA.2 now accounts for 75 percent of new COVID cases in the U.S.
Want to learn a language like a child does? Get tired.
A new study suggests that someone who is tired when learning new word sounds relies less on conscious mental processes. They basically learn like children. This is perhaps a way to free up the adult brain to learn a new language as a youngster does.
My Books That Work podcast interview
I had the pleasure of being on the Books That Work podcast with Anna Hughes earlier this month, discussing my book, Finding Calm. You can listen to that here, and she did this fantastic infographic too - perfect for a TL:DR.
What I’m listening to (and watching)
Now that I’ve finished watching The Dropout on Disney+ (can definitely recommend), I was intrigued to dig into the podcast on which the TV show was based. It’s absolutely riveting - and gives you a good insight into just how well Anna Seyfried nails Elizabeth Holmes’ vocal pattern - in fact, her entire persona. Worth listening to, and watching.
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What is Elon Musk up to now?
Why Jungle is massive again
How to read a scientific paper
Are extroverts worse at listening?
When we see faces in objects, what gender are they?
How climate change affects education in many different ways
Do you see faces in objects?
We were talking about face neurons in the brain, which respond preferentially to images of faces. But they also sometimes respond to pictures of round objects, such as apples or clocks. That reminded us of the experience of seeing faces in objects. And we thought it would be fun to find out whether the face regions of the brain respond to illusory faces in a similar way to real faces. - Susan Wardle, cognitive neuroscientist.
Our experience shows that we most definitely see faces in inanimate objects. My 4-year old daughter delighted in telling me about a car’s face only last week. Science supports this too, but new research finds that, more often than not, we perceive those illusory faces as male. Find out more here, where you can listen to the interview too.
“Jungle is massive”
I’m a big fan of drum’n’bass, and it’s been experiencing a bit of a resurgence. If you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, think Shapeshifter (NZ). I haven’t been out yet much in London since I arrived, but I’m interested to hear what music is current in the cafes and bars over the next couple of weeks (outdoor spaces preferred).
But why now? What is it about our current times that has encouraged a resurgence of this early drum’n’bass 90s vibe and sound? Check out this article with embedded music for more.
What’s going on with TwitterMusk?
The Twitter / Elon Musk thing is moving so fast, it’s hard to keep up. This opinion piece argues that Musk is the problem masquerading as a solution.
It is a perfect marriage for an age of plutocracy: Twitter with its serious problems and Elon Musk, the embodiment of those problems. What happens when the incarnation of a problem buys the right to decide what the problem is and how to fix it?
Musk doesn’t own Twitter yet, but he’s already making his presence felt there, and some might perceive that this is not a good thing. Musk criticized a longtime employee tweeting that a past moderation decision by Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s top lawyer and safety expert, was “obviously incredibly inappropriate.” He later posted a meme mocking Gadde. Inevitably and almost immediately, some people began tweeting abusive, racist and sexist attacks at her.
Dick Costolo was Twitter’s CEO from 2010-15.
So why would he sabotage and target the employees in the company he is going to take over? Is he trying to sabotage his own deal? Will the deal actually fail? Some investors are still betting on it, with Twitter’s stock trading below Musk’s offer price, signaling clear skepticism about the deal.
Finally, why is it that big shot tech bosses think free speech is a simple thing anyway?
How climate change can affect education in myriad of ways
Though this article is written in the context of the USA, it’s applicable to many areas of the world - and most likely where you are too. School buildings are no match for the weather being unleashed through climate change. Little is being done to prepare.
Emily Diamond, a researcher focused on health inequalities and a professor of clinical psychology at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, Calif., found that children who experienced an extreme weather event were more likely to have future medical conditions severe enough to limit everyday activities. And sitting in classrooms with mold particles post-flood can mean a higher risk for things like asthma and other lifelong conditions that can result from it, she explains. “And all this is happening at a time when what you really hope for is that children fall in love with life,” Diamond says.
Even without a violent weather event, increasing temperatures present their own burden:
According to one study published in the American Economic Journal in May 2020, students who routinely experienced hotter classroom temperatures had lower PSAT scores than their peers at schools that didn’t experience as many hot days.
Read the whole article here.
How to read a scientific paper
Reading a scientific paper is easy, isn’t it? I’ve certainly linked to a couple for you to read in this edition. Well, it should be easy but there are certain things you need to be aware of.
“To understand a study, as well as how it relates to previous research on the topic, you need to read more than just the abstract. Context is critically important when discussing new research, which is why abstracts are often misleading.” - Examine.com
I subscribe to Examine.com. They offer this free guide on how to read a scientific study. It’s really good.
Are extroverts worse at listening?
Possibly. Check out this report on a paper finding a negative link between extraversion and perceived listening.
That’s all for this week. I’m off to the cricket at Lord’s tomorrow and catching up with some good friends in a physically-distanced, outdoors socialising kind of way. Have a great week, and please feel free to comment / mail me back.
It’s always great to hear from you.
Cheers, Sarb