Danielle Poindexter's reads
Un-bee-lievable. Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have found that a computer simulation of a bee's brain with only four nerve cells could count a small number of objects if it carefully inspected each object individually. In comparison, humans look at a group of items and count them together. The study suggests that bees are capable of "clever counting tasks," with "minimal brain power," as long as their nerve cells are organized and wired in a certain manner, Science Daily reports.
Researchers found what makes men happy. Job satisfaction is the biggest influencer of men's overall happiness, according one of the largest studies of masculinity on record, Quartz's Leah Fessler reports. For the report, Harry's, a men's grooming company, worked with University College London psychologist John Barr to survey 5,000 American men on how happy they were with their relationships, money, and health. The researchers found that men who felt they contributed to their companies' success were most likely to be satisfied in other aspects of life.
Rachel Schulze's reads
What to make of RBG's health. The Atlantic's James Hamblin, who trained as a radiologist, explains what to make of the news that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was found to have two malignant nodules in her lungs. Hamblin writes that while it wouldn't be particularly surprising to find two malignant pulmonary nodules in a smoker, the same finding in a nonsmoker can lead doctors to "worry … they [could] represent metastatic disease from a cancer somewhere else." This particularly true for a patient, such as Ginsburg, with a history of cancer. After Hamblin's piece came out, Ginsburg was released from the hospital, and a Supreme Court spokesperson said there was no evidence of remaining disease. So, for now, Ginsburg's "recovery from a lobectomy" is "the relevant health issue," according to Hamblin. Still, he writes, "expect that Ginsburg will be monitored closely in coming years for metastatic disease."
Is gingerbread a 'superfood?' Did you just eat your weight in Christmas cookies? While cookies are not, in fact, healthy, some are somewhat less nutritionally bad than others. Mel Magazine's Ian Lecklitner reached out to Dana Hunnes, senior dietitian at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, to rank the holiday assortment based on nutritional value… or lack thereof. Find out where your favorite landed.