Things I learned this week

A few years ago as we left a dinner party I turned to Brett and asked that he help make sure I could always have conversations about research and current events and I wouldn’t be limited to diapers and nursery rhymes. I love talking about Iddo, but my world, and hers, needs to be bigger than that.

Iddo has taken to napping in the crib this week rather than my arms. While I miss the snuggles, it was getting hot with both of our bodies together like that. And I like being able to use both arms. And it gives me time to read interesting things on the internet.

So here are the interesting things I read on the internet this week and what I learned.

Scientific American: Firstborn Girls Most Likely to Succeed – I’m glad my siblings didn’t kill me off to take advantage of the IQ points of being first.

NPR: ‘Wassup, Sheep?’ He Asked – I wonder why aggression and big brains seem to correlate.

Scientific American: You Don’t Know What You’re Saying – I’ve decided that a lot of the time Iddo is speaking just to hear the sound of her own voice. I also know that there are a lot of times where I think I said one thing when I actually said something else. It’s an interesting thought to think about. I also know that when I’m trying to memorize something I do much better when I hear myself repeat it out loud than when I just repeat it in my head.

ISS HD Hearth Viewing Experiment – They put cameras on the International Space Station (ISS) and have them streaming live. You can watch the earth pass by underneath from the comfort of your own living room! They change between day and night every 45 minutes, so if it’s dark, just wait.

Red-tailed Hawk Nest – You can also watch live streaming of a red-tailed hawk nest. I have a nephew who was obsessed with them a few years ago and saw them everywhere, even the invisible ones.

Wired: A Custom Font That Helps Kids Learn to Read and Write – The idea of making fonts that make it easier to read, for all kinds of reasons, fascinates me. It’s such a simple solution that seems so obvious, but it isn’t readily used.

Wired: Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be … Paper – As a lover of paper books, I thought this comparison between the types of reading done on different mediums was interesting. I thought it was particularly interesting that deep reading for comprehension is more likely to occur on paper but schools and text book publishers are really pushing e-books.

xkcd: Old Files – My desk top is dying. I bought it in January 2005. So it’s old. I need to dig through the archeological layers of files and get the important ones off before it completely goes.

Scientific American: Naughty or Nice? When Does It Begin? – I love the research that is done on how infants and small children’s brain works (which is why I loved reading The Philosophical Baby (my review) last year). Brett and I often look at Iddo and wonder how great it would be to know what she is thinking about this world she finds herself in at this time. As I read this article I thought about how to me it’s proof that we are all born with the light of Christ in us, we all know what is morally right and what is morally wrong. Of course the scientists will see it differently, but that doesn’t mean I can’t merge the science and religion of life in my own mind.

NPR: To Get Help From A Little Kid, Ask The Right Way – I’m already watching how I use adjectives with Iddo, identifying the object before describing it a lot of the times so she knows what green thing I’m talking about and learns her colors better. I’m going to watch the use of verbs and nouns as well.

A Rough Guide to Spotting Bad Science – What a great infographic. If I were still teaching college I’d use it in my lecture about analyzing research. Instead I’ll just use it to help make sure Iddo grows up a wise consumer of research. One of my favorite examples of “conflict of interest” was a few years ago when the plastic bag industry funded a study at the U of A about the amount of bacteria growing in reusable grocery bags. The study found there was a lot of bacteria but concluded that instead of washing the reusable grocery bags people should just use plastic bags.

Deseret News – Let it go: Creating new family traditions to end clutter – I think the title of this article is supposed to be a reference to a Disney movie or something. But we haven’t exactly gotten out to see movies in a few years, even less so this last year. Anyway, I don’t know how many clutter clearing traditions I’ll be starting in the near future, but I do like the idea of completely clearing out the fridge and pantry right before Thanksgiving. We’ll see how that one goes this year.

NPR: First Lady Not First Priority For Graduates – I think I liked this part of it best: “at a time when we are quick to complain that young people all think they’re supposed to be on television, maybe we should also applaud those who felt that a selfie with the family is even more important than a selfie with a celebrity”