Articles (page 1 of 8)

{"mod_blog_articles":{"rows":[{"status":40,"date":"2025-09-23 08:04:05","title":"The hidden bias in online ratings","content":"\n\nImagine you\u2019re shopping online for headphones. One pair shows a *3.5-star rating*, the other a *3.5 out of 5 numerical rating*. You\u2019d think they mean exactly the same thing. But according to new research, our brains interpret these two ratings very differently.\n\nA team of researchers, Deepak Sirwani from the University of British Columbia, Srishti Kumar from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and Manoj Thomas from Cornell University, have uncovered a surprising psychological quirk: **star ratings and number ratings systematically fool us in opposite directions.**\n\nRatings drive the internet economy. A small bump in product ratings, say, from 3.3 to 3.5, can dramatically boost sales. Studies suggest that even a 0.2 increase in average ratings can increase sales by *30% to 200%*. That means whether a platform uses stars or numbers can subtly sway what millions of consumers decide to buy, where they choose to eat, which movie they stream, or even whom they swipe right on.","featured_media":"https:\/\/data.paperleap.com\/mod_blog\/0cccyp\/m_68c7f8f432e0dacd_th.jpg","stats_views":15,"stats_likes":0,"stats_saves":0,"stats_shares":0,"author_firstname":"Paperleap","author_lastname":null,"category_name":"General","sID":"0cccyp","slug":"the-hidden-bias-in-online-ratings-0cccyp","category_sID":"0cccc0","category_slug":"general-0cccc0","author_slug":"paperleap-0cccc0"},{"status":40,"date":"2025-09-22 03:10:08","title":"Your brain sees what it expects","content":"\n\nWhen you look at a crowded street and instantly pick out your friend\u2019s face, something remarkable is happening in your brain. For decades, scientists thought this kind of recognition was like a one-way street: information flowed from your eyes into the visual system, gradually piecing together raw edges, colors, and shapes into complete objects. But new research challenges that idea. It shows that your brain isn\u2019t just a passive camera. It\u2019s an active predictor, constantly reshaping how neurons respond based on what you expect to see.\n\nThat\u2019s the key finding of a study published in the [PNAS Neuroscience], conducted by Tiago S. Altavini, Minggui Chen, Guadalupe Astorga, Yin Yan, Wu Li, Winrich Freiwald, and Charles D. Gilbert. The work comes out of Rockefeller University in New York and Beijing Normal University, and it reveals just how much our expectations shape what our eyes perceive.\n\n### Challenging the old view\nFor much of modern neuroscience, the dominant theory of vis","featured_media":"https:\/\/data.paperleap.com\/mod_blog\/0cccy3\/m_68c7f51d9534b2Uo_th.jpg","stats_views":124,"stats_likes":0,"stats_saves":0,"stats_shares":0,"author_firstname":"Paperleap","author_lastname":null,"category_name":"General","sID":"0cccy3","slug":"your-brain-sees-what-it-expects-0cccy3","category_sID":"0cccc0","category_slug":"general-0cccc0","author_slug":"paperleap-0cccc0"},{"status":40,"date":"2025-09-21 05:10:08","title":"What global health data reveals about gender lifespan","content":"\n\nIn a waiting room, two people sit side by side. One has likely seen a doctor sooner, received an earlier diagnosis, and begun treatment on time. The other has more often delayed seeking care, skipped preventive services, and arrived sicker as a result. Which one is which? A new analysis published in [PLOS Medicine] offers an answer. More often than not, men are the ones showing up late and dying younger, while women are living longer but often with chronic conditions that limit their quality of life.\n\nThe study, conducted by an international team of researchers including Alessandro Feraldi (Sapienza University of Rome), Virginia Zarulli (University of Padova), Kent Buse and Sarah Hawkes (Global Health and Monash University Malaysia), and Angela Y. Chang (University of Southern Denmark), investigates one of global health\u2019s most persistent puzzles: how sex and gender shape who gets sick, who gets treated, and who survives.\n\n### A health \u201cpathway\u201d for men and women\nThe researchers","featured_media":"https:\/\/data.paperleap.com\/mod_blog\/0cccyi\/m_68c6f48ad424duXt_th.jpg","stats_views":216,"stats_likes":0,"stats_saves":0,"stats_shares":0,"author_firstname":"Paperleap","author_lastname":null,"category_name":"General","sID":"0cccyi","slug":"what-global-health-data-reveals-about-gender-lifespan-0cccyi","category_sID":"0cccc0","category_slug":"general-0cccc0","author_slug":"paperleap-0cccc0"},{"status":40,"date":"2025-09-20 11:07:05","title":"How the brain adapts to shifting context","content":"\n\nAt a farmer\u2019s market, you pick up a carrot. Now, in one moment, your brain faces a dilemma: would you group it with lettuce and other vegetables? Or would you see it alongside tangerines and other orange-colored food? Or both? While the carrot itself doesn't change, what changes are the mental rules you\u2019re applying to categorize it into different groups based on its properties.\n\nThis everyday flexibility is the subject of a fascinating study published in [Nature Communications] by Margaret Henderson (Carnegie Mellon University), John Serences (University of California, San Diego), and Nuttida Rungratsameetaweemana (The Salk Institute and Columbia University). Their research tries to answer the question: How does the brain adapt when the same object suddenly belongs to a different category?\n\nFor decades, neuroscientists treated the early visual cortex, the brain\u2019s first stop for processing what we see, like a passive camera. It was thought to capture light and shapes and then ha","featured_media":"https:\/\/data.paperleap.com\/mod_blog\/0cccy2\/m_68c6e3be62597PeJ_th.jpg","stats_views":299,"stats_likes":0,"stats_saves":0,"stats_shares":0,"author_firstname":"Paperleap","author_lastname":null,"category_name":"General","sID":"0cccy2","slug":"how-the-brain-adapts-to-shifting-context-0cccy2","category_sID":"0cccc0","category_slug":"general-0cccc0","author_slug":"paperleap-0cccc0"},{"status":40,"date":"2025-09-19 12:09:03","title":"Climbing shoes release chemicals into gym air","content":"\n\nIndoor climbing isn\u2019t a niche anymore. In 2023, more than **6 million Americans** tried it, and Europe has seen similar surges. For many, climbing gyms are more than workout spaces; they\u2019re community hubs, workplaces, and even second homes. If you\u2019ve ever set foot in an indoor climbing gym, you know the atmosphere: the thud of climbers landing on padded mats, the scrape of shoes against plastic holds, the fine white haze of chalk that seems to hang in the air. It feels alive, energetic, maybe even a little dusty. But according to a new study, there\u2019s something else floating in that air, something invisible, unexpected, and potentially troubling: microscopic particles from the soles of climbing shoes.\n\nA team of researchers from the University of Vienna, EPFL in Switzerland, and partner institutions across Europe has uncovered an invisible \u201cfootprint\u201d left behind in climbing halls: rubber-derived compounds (RDCs), chemicals that are intentionally added to rubber to make it","featured_media":"https:\/\/data.paperleap.com\/mod_blog\/0cccyy\/m_68c6b74ca2515ONQ_th.jpg","stats_views":392,"stats_likes":0,"stats_saves":0,"stats_shares":0,"author_firstname":"Paperleap","author_lastname":null,"category_name":"General","sID":"0cccyy","slug":"climbing-shoes-release-chemicals-into-gym-air-0cccyy","category_sID":"0cccc0","category_slug":"general-0cccc0","author_slug":"paperleap-0cccc0"},{"status":40,"date":"2025-09-18 03:03:04","title":"The role of temperature in sperm","content":"\n\nWhen we think about fertility, we often picture hormones, eggs, sperm counts, and maybe even lifestyle factors like diet or stress. But rarely do we think about temperature. Yet, a new study published in [Nature Communications] reveals that sperm are exquisitely tuned to heat, and that their ability to sense temperature may be one of the most finely balanced systems in human biology.\n\nThe research, conducted by Polina V. Lishko, a cell biologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, along with colleagues Dilip K. Swain, Citlalli Vergara, and J\u00falia Castro-Arnau, uncovers something remarkable: sperm carry a molecular thermometer. This thermometer is built into a protein channel called *CatSper*, and it plays a decisive role in whether or not fertilization can happen.\n\n### The unsung hero of fertility\nEvery sperm cell has a long tail, or flagellum, that it uses to swim. But swimming straight isn\u2019t enough to reach an egg. At a certain point in the female reproducti","featured_media":"https:\/\/data.paperleap.com\/mod_blog\/0cccyu\/m_68c6e14f22f3c8lt_th.jpg","stats_views":510,"stats_likes":0,"stats_saves":0,"stats_shares":0,"author_firstname":"Paperleap","author_lastname":null,"category_name":"General","sID":"0cccyu","slug":"the-role-of-temperature-in-sperm-0cccyu","category_sID":"0cccc0","category_slug":"general-0cccc0","author_slug":"paperleap-0cccc0"},{"status":40,"date":"2025-09-17 05:03:03","title":"The hidden dangers of competitive bodybuilding","content":"\n\nWhen you picture bodybuilding, chances are you imagine chiseled physiques, gleaming muscles under bright stage lights, and a celebration of human strength taken to its most extreme form. Bodybuilders are often admired as paragons of discipline and physical perfection. But behind the glossy photos and trophy smiles lies a far more dangerous reality: bodybuilding, especially at the professional level, comes with serious, and sometimes deadly, health risks.\n\nA new study published in the [European Heart Journal] pulls back the curtain on these dangers. Researchers from the University of Padova in Italy, along with an international team spanning the United States, Austria, and beyond, assessed mortality in male bodybuilding athletes in the most comprehensive fashion. And the findings are startling.\n\nThe team tracked over **20,000 male bodybuilders** who competed in official International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) events between 2005 and 2020. Using meticulous searches ","featured_media":"https:\/\/data.paperleap.com\/mod_blog\/0cccy0\/m_68c684cc17769CyY_th.jpg","stats_views":642,"stats_likes":0,"stats_saves":0,"stats_shares":0,"author_firstname":"Paperleap","author_lastname":null,"category_name":"General","sID":"0cccy0","slug":"the-hidden-dangers-of-competitive-bodybuilding-0cccy0","category_sID":"0cccc0","category_slug":"general-0cccc0","author_slug":"paperleap-0cccc0"},{"status":40,"date":"2025-09-16 01:03:01","title":"A celiac-friendly wheat is on the way","content":"\n\nPeople with celiac disease may one day enjoy warm, crusty bread fresh from the oven, without pain, gut damage, or fear. It may sound like science fiction, but new research from the University of California, Davis, suggests that the future could be within reach.\n\nIn a study published in [Theoretical and Applied Genetics], a team of researchers from UC Davis, the USDA, and the California Wheat Commission, reported a groundbreaking discovery. By removing a specific set of proteins from wheat, the team not only reduced its potential to trigger celiac disease but also enhanced bread quality.\n\nThat\u2019s right: less harmful, more delicious.\n\n### What's the problem with gluten?\nGluten is often maligned in popular culture, but it\u2019s also the magic that makes bread springy, chewy, and delicious. It\u2019s not a single substance but a blend of proteins, mainly glutenins and gliadins, that tangle together into stretchy networks when flour meets water. This web traps gas from yeast, making the dough","featured_media":"https:\/\/data.paperleap.com\/mod_blog\/0ccc05\/m_68c57b360f4efhoZ_th.jpg","stats_views":745,"stats_likes":0,"stats_saves":0,"stats_shares":0,"author_firstname":"Paperleap","author_lastname":null,"category_name":"General","sID":"0ccc05","slug":"a-celiac-friendly-wheat-is-on-the-way-0ccc05","category_sID":"0cccc0","category_slug":"general-0cccc0","author_slug":"paperleap-0cccc0"},{"status":40,"date":"2025-09-15 08:02:05","title":"Dogs actually struggle with talking buttons","content":"\n\nIf you\u2019ve ever played your voice through a phone speaker and wondered why your dog seemed confused, you\u2019re not alone. It turns out that *how* we speak to our dogs, not just the words we say, can make a big difference in whether they understand us.\n\nA study published in [Scientific Reports] by researchers from E\u00f6tv\u00f6s Lor\u00e1nd University in Budapest and collaborators in Japan takes a close look at this question. The team, comprised of Fumi Higaki, Tam\u00e1s Farag\u00f3, \u00c1kos Pog\u00e1ny, \u00c1d\u00e1m Mikl\u00f3si, and Claudia Fugazza, wanted to know: do dogs recognize words played through different devices the same way they recognize them when spoken directly by humans?\n\nSpoiler: they don\u2019t. And the results have big implications not only for dog training but also for the booming world of \u201ctalking button\u201d devices that promise interspecies communication.\n\nHumans are remarkably good at understanding speech even when it\u2019s distorted. We can make sense of a friend\u2019s voice on a scratchy phone line","featured_media":"https:\/\/data.paperleap.com\/mod_blog\/0cccyc\/m_68c58818a377eHzK_th.jpg","stats_views":828,"stats_likes":0,"stats_saves":0,"stats_shares":0,"author_firstname":"Paperleap","author_lastname":null,"category_name":"General","sID":"0cccyc","slug":"dogs-actually-struggle-with-talking-buttons-0cccyc","category_sID":"0cccc0","category_slug":"general-0cccc0","author_slug":"paperleap-0cccc0"},{"status":40,"date":"2025-09-14 04:07:12","title":"The curious case of the air-dried chaplain","content":"\n\nIn a quiet village church in the Austrian countryside lies a cool stone crypt where, instead of a skeleton, visitors encounter a remarkably preserved human body dating back nearly three centuries. For generations, both locals and scholars wondered how this \u201cair-dried chaplain\u201d of St. Thomas am Blasenstein had remained in such pristine condition. Was it a miracle? A natural accident? Or an intentional act of preservation?\n\nToday, thanks to researchers armed with CT scans, isotope analysis, and meticulous detective work, the mystery has finally been solved. The results, published in [Frontiers in Medicine], tell a story that weaves together medicine, history, and intrigue in equal measure.\n\nThe mummy in question lay in the small parish church of St. Thomas am Blasenstein in Upper Austria, a few kilometers north of the Danube River. Villagers had long whispered that he was a priest named Franz Xaver Sidler von Rosenegg, born in 1709, who served the parish around 1740 before dying yo","featured_media":"https:\/\/data.paperleap.com\/mod_blog\/0ccc08\/m_68c57425143f9P8q_th.jpg","stats_views":935,"stats_likes":0,"stats_saves":0,"stats_shares":0,"author_firstname":"Paperleap","author_lastname":null,"category_name":"General","sID":"0ccc08","slug":"the-curious-case-of-the-air-dried-chaplain-0ccc08","category_sID":"0cccc0","category_slug":"general-0cccc0","author_slug":"paperleap-0cccc0"}],"total":74,"pagesize":10,"page":1},"mod_blog_settings":{"excerpt_length":50},"head":{"title":"Articles","description":"Articles","og_image":"https:\/\/www.paperleap.com\/data\/mod_blog\/featured_media.png","og_url":"https:\/\/www.paperleap.com\/blog\/articles"},"theme":{"description":"Articles"}}