Watercooler Sensation

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Got The Giving Spirit? Thank Your Hormones.

• ‘Tis the season, we suppose: All these bright paper packages tied up with string have got us in the giving spirit. But now, scientists are telling us that that “spirit” may be nothing more than hormonal urges. For real. [USA Today]
• A study by Paul Zak, a neuroeconomist at Claremont (Calif.) Graduate University, links the trait of generosity with oxytocin, a hormone released by the brain in response to social stimuli. The hormone causes a general feeling of attachment to other people, even strangers, Zak says. That may help explain why people donate to victims of natural disasters or to others who are in need.
• So how’s a guy to go about getting more oxytocin? It’s like that old saying goes: When you help others, you can’t help helping yourself. The brain releases the oxytocin only as a reaction to social interaction, such as a hug or kiss, Zak says. So when someone is kind to you, you are more likely to be kind to others because of the oxytocin that is released into your system.
• “If you have enough nurturing, if you’re in a safe environment … you might be more likely to release oxytocin the next time you encounter a positive social stimulus,” Zak says.
• Super interesting: About 2% of people constantly have oxytocin being released by their brain, so they stop reacting to it. Those people lack empathy, Zak says. Although they can still learn appropriate behaviors, the reactions are not natural for them. Or, as we call them: New Yorkers.

We’re high on giving.

The Mysterious Murders Of Mexico’s Country Music Stars

• Spiraling drug-related violence and gang activity in Mexico is having a surprising effect: widespread murders of country music stars. [NY Times]
• The casualties so far: “13 in the past year and a half, three already in December.”
• Number of cases these that have been solved: 0.
• The murders are gangland style, with one man, Grammy nominee Sergio Gómez, the founder and lead singer of K-Paz de la Sierra, found dumped on a roadside...beaten, tortured with a cigarette lighter, then strangled with a plastic cord.
• The reasons for the attacks? Links to organized crime, explicit or implicit.
• Some of the musicians were buddies with known organized crime figures, “making them potential targets in reprisal attacks from rival gangs.”
• Others wrote “ballads known as narcocorridos, glorifying the shadow world of drug dealers and hit men, which can offend other drug dealers and hit men.”
• Read more about Mexico’s crime wave here: [MicCheck]

The day the music died.

When Black Holes Attack

• Here’s one thing you really don’t want to tick off: a black hole. [Washington Post]
• Astronomers have observed a black hole shooting out a jet of energy across 20,000 light years of space, hitting a nearby galaxy.
• They call it an unprecedented “act of galactic violence.” And we thought the Borg were bad.
• The small victim galaxy isn’t taking the attack too well.
• Says Dan Evans, the study leader at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, “any planets orbiting the stars of the smaller galaxy would be dramatically affected, and any life forms would likely die as the jet’s radiation transformed the planets’ atmosphere.”
• The cosmic battle is waging 1.4 billion light-years from the milky way galaxy, started less than 1 million years ago, but could rage on for the next 10 to 100 million years.
• Be glad that galaxy isn’t ours. Researchers say that if earth were bombarded with a similar combination of “highly charged gamma rays and X-rays...it would destroy the ozone layer and collapse the magnetosphere that blankets the planet and protects it from harmful solar particles.”
• The result? The end of life as we know it.

Time to add the Universe’s black holes to our christmas card list...

Why We Shiver

• Oh, the weather outside is frightful. And if we were inside, we’re sure that fire would be delightful. The bad news is we’re not. We’re outside. And we’re shivering. The good news is now we know why our teeth are rattling and our knees are shaking. Ah, the warm glow of knowledge! [Live Science]
• Shivering is one of the many automatic and subconscious functions that the body performs to regulate itself. The brain’s wiring system monitors the temperature of the skin and decides when the shivering should commence. In other words: shivering if your body’s last ditch effort at warming up.
• On an anatomical level, when you shiver you’re actually producing heat in your skeletal muscles. It requires a small bit of energy, and is often the body’s final attempt to crank up the heater when it’s facing a cold environment.
• Here’s where things get cool: In a recent study, researchers at Oregon Health & Science University traced the shivering sensory pathway on rats from the rodents’ skin to specialized cells in a portion of the brain called the lateral parabrachial nucleus. These cells can then transmit information to another part of the brain, the preoptic area, which decides when the body should start shivering.
• The skin, therefore, acts as one big thermometer for the brain. And that’s not all. The sensory system the researchers found in the brain also seems to operate other cold-control mechanisms, such as the restriction of blood flow to the skin.

This still doesn’t change the fact that we can’t feel our friggin’ toes.

Writers Guild Strikes Hollywood Ego-Fests

• The striking writers have flexed their muscles and attacked a cherished hollywood tradition: ego-stroking.
• The Writers Guild of America has declined requests for “waivers” from the producers of the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.
• What this means: the Golden Globes won’t be able to hire writers to write the script for the awards show, and the Academy Award won’t be able to show clips of movies or of past shows without ponying up cash for the writers.
• More ominously, the Guild’s move makes these award show “struck productions” meaning they “probably would be boycotted by Hollywood’s A-list writers and the actors sympathetic to their cause.”
• In other words, the red carpet might look a little thread-bare.
• Wrote Patric M. Verrone, president of WGA West, “We must do everything we can to bring our negotiations to a swift and fair conclusion for the benefit of writers and all those who are being harmed by the companies’ failure to engage in serious negotiations...granting a waiver...would not advance that goal.”
• Why are they striking again? Remind yourself here: [WGA] [MicCheck]

Striking egos.

By the Numbers

They’re gonna find their purpose.

Oh, those college kids today: so young! So ambitious! So purposeful! Turns out, while we spent four years at university doing keg stands and cramming for finals, today’s co-eds are looking for a deeper meaning. Through spiritual enlightenment or otherwise, these kids are gonna find their purpose. Take a look at the numbers. [USA Today]

74.3%

74.3% of juniors said “helping others in difficulty” was “very important” or “essential,” compared with 62.1% of freshmen.

66.6%

66.6% of juniors said “reducing pain and suffering in the world” was “very important” or “essential,” compared with 54.6% of freshmen.

54.4%

54.4% of juniors said they were committed to “improving my understanding of other countries and cultures,” compared with 52.0% of freshmen.

63.8%

63.8% of juniors said they supported “improving the human condition,” compared with 53.4% of freshmen.

Celebrities: Unfiltered

“Clooney thinks that, provided he does films which are politically committed, he’s allowed to do ‘Ocean’s 11’, ‘12’ and ‘13.’ But the ‘Ocean’s’ movies are a cancer to world culture. They’re destroying us. He’s not the brightest spark on the boulevard. He’ll be President one day. Mark my words, if he’s straight, he’ll be President.”

— Rupert Everette: As offensive as he is endearing. [Rush and Malloy]

Speed Round

BAD IDEAS

More and more churches are incorporating live donkeys and camels into their nativity scenes. What could possible go wrong? [Wall Street Journal]

WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO DESERVE THIS?

Rachel Ray to be even more annoying on yet another Food Network show. Happy holidays. [AP]

GEEK CHIC

Good news, fantasy buffs: Peter Jackson, the award-winning director of Lord of the Rings, has signed on to produce “The Hobbit.” [AP]

SOMEONE’S GETTING COAL THIS YEAR...

“Woman Accused of Groping Mall Santa” [AP]

$1,000

A bank in Fargo, ND is giving full-time employees $1,000 each. The only condition? That they spent the cash on people in need. [AP]

BAD GUYS

As if you needed another reason to hate Blackwater, the infamous contracting group also shot Hentish, the New York Times’s Baghdad bureau dog. [Reuters]

WE SMELL A HORROR MOVIE

“Alien Ants Devour Locals, Then Go Vegetarian” [Live Science]

64%

The percent of CEOs who think that CEOs are overpaid. In other news: 64% of CEOS are lying. [Reuters]

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

A Japanese minister confirms what Mulder and Scully already knew: UFOs are real. [Reuters]

IRONY

Formula One racing sensation Lewis Hamilton had his license suspended on Tuesday. For speeding. [Reuters]

THE MAN SHOW

Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show is headed back on the air despite the writer’s strike, joining fellow late night hosts Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. [AP]

THEY TRIED TO MAKE HER GO TO JAIL

Singer Amy Winehouse is arrested in London “as part of an investigation into perverting the course of justice.” She’s certainly perverted the course of soul singing. And we love it. [Reuters]

LUNCH LADY LIAR

A lunch lady contestant on Survivor: China claims that she was demoted to janitor when she got home after participating in the show. Only trouble: the custodian position was a promotion, with more money and better benefits. [AP]

NO COMMENT

“60,000 Chinese-made full-body harnesses used by hunters were recalled because they could allow users to fall from tree stands.” [Reuters]

SUNSHINY NEWS

Nanosolar, a private company partially funded by Google, have begun selling “the world’s lowest cost solar panel.” [Reuters]