Surprising Science — October 17, 2010

Too Skinny for TV

“Psychologist believes seeing images of skinny performers affects the way women and girls eat.” The Independent reports on a call for warning labels on TV programs.

bigthinkeditor

“Aric Sigman, a British psychologist, is urging the Government to intervene over the prevalence of thin women on television because he believes there is clear evidence to show that the abundance of skinny women on screen has become a medical issue. He wants the Department of Health to issue ‘assertive guidance’ on the impact of images on female health, claiming the effects are strong and immediate. The relationship between media and body image has previously been treated as a psychological, cultural or political debate—as opposed to biological.”

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Culture & Religion

The Truth about Chile’s Wines

“Though the quality of Chile’s wines has risen dramatically recently, the world, by and large, still regards them as bottom-rung, at least in terms of price.”