Puttin' two and two together

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. Today’s rising healthcare costs drive tomorrow’s even higher; the benefits of hobby recognition; and a mysterious floating island reemerges after disappearance.

Let’s get into it!

Everyone gets joy out of their hobbies, but it turns out there’s even more joy to be had than just simply having one.

While it’s not really ever a good thing to care what other people think in relation to the things that bring you joy, there is something to be said about being recognized for your hobbies.

A study conducted specifically on adults over 60 found multitudes of psychological benefits associated with having and regularly engaging in one’s hobbies. Another study found being recognized for them had even more of a positive impact on a person’s wellbeing.

The benefits aren’t necessarily associated with flattery, which is what a lot of people like to chase on social media, often to no avail. At best, such a reward system has diminishing returns.

Hobby recognition does, however, help foster a sense of meaning, identity, and even community. When you become known for your art, magic, music, or any one of an infinite list of quirky characteristics, it means you’ve become you.

Typically, common interests forge friendships, and when everyone is on the same page about the activities and goals associated with them, the positive psychological impacts are measurable.

The recognition also motivates improvement, and the pursuit of mastery in any craft has long been known to drive sustainable and healthy lifestyles.

A study published in Diabetology looked into the concerns first expressed when GLP-1 drugs were developed, which suggested the medications could be linked to psychiatric conditions like depression or suicidal ideation.

The study found there is no link between the use of GLP-1 medications and any psychiatric illness, despite earlier warnings suggesting the opposite.

The earlier warnings were based on observations of one subset of patients taking one specific GLP-1 drug, which the authors of the recent study proved were inconclusive and, in some cases, contradictory to themselves.

"When reports of depression and suicidal thoughts first surfaced with GLP-1 RA use, they came from patients and doctors voluntarily reporting what they saw, and such reports can raise a question, but can't answer it," said Kavita Batra, executive director of medical research and scholarly activities at the UNLV Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine.

"Since then, studies following millions of patients, including a pooled analysis of 91 clinical trials, have found no increase in psychiatric risk. But an answer for millions isn't an answer for everyone. The right response is to screen and check in with each patient, not to take an effective treatment off the table."

A study published in Royal Society Open Science found dogs may blink more when looking into their owner’s eyes and noticing the owner’s blink rate accelerating.

Past studies have found dogs can distinguish between various emotional expressions on a human’s face, and they even tend to intentionally do the “puppy eyes” while in a starting contest.

The new study had 35 dogs of different breeds look at two different videos, each lasting 40 seconds. One video contained three humans—including their owner—blinking fast, while the other contained no blinking.

The idea was to isolate the dogs from most other variables and triggers, and just have them watch the human expressions. The researchers found that when the dogs were watching their owners specifically in the first video, their blinking picked up speed, while nothing happened when they were watching the second video.

“Our study does not show that every time a dog blinks it is deliberately ‘saying’ something,” said Dr Chiara Canori of the University of Parma, the study’s first author.

“What our work suggests is that this apparently simple and automatic behaviour can nevertheless be influenced by the social context. Dogs appear sensitive to blinking in other individuals, and their own blinking can change depending on who they are interacting with.”

In July, boaters noticed a strange island in the middle of the Williston Reservoir—a man-made lake in northern British Columbia. They also noticed it seemingly disappeared into thin air a few days later.

According to B.C. Hydro, the newly formed island—which is bigger than a football field—was relocated, having washed ashore at the Ospika Arm, which is where the Ospika River flows into the lake.

The island travelled 30 km from where it was first discovered in late July, and appears to have landed at its current resting place in mid-August. There are next to no currents in the man-made reservoir, meaning the island was carried almost exclusively by the wind.

The lake is known for “notoriously” strong winds, which often create artificial currents that uproot unstable trees and chunks of land along the shorelines of its adjacent landmasses. The magnificent disappearing island was likely just the most recent—and certainly most intriguing—example of this.

"For it to disappear and now to reappear, that just creates a lot of excitement," said B.C. Hydro spokesperson Bob Gammer.

"It's great to know that we found it and it's not causing any trouble right now and hopefully that's the way it stays."

Hitchcock presents…

Widely considered his greatest film, Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window landed in theaters 72 years ago yesterday. To celebrate, we’ll be quizzin’ you on several of the director’s classic films, with today’s trivia 📽️