Tip of the cap

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today: New research shows how travel can slow aging; Why we get overwhelmed and how to manage it; and here’s what happens when you’re mean to chat bots…🤬

Let’s get into it!

According to a study conducted by researchers at Edith Cowan University, there may be something to the idea that positive experiences can slow the process of entropy—the body’s drift towards disorder (a.k.a. aging).

Entropy is a term usually used in the realm of physics, and is theorized to be the process by which everything decomposes, including at the atomic level.

When applied to the human body, it refers simply to the process of aging, and plenty of prior research suggests this process can be slowed; the Edith Cowan researchers looked into the possibility that travelling well is a way to do so.

"Tourism isn't just about leisure and recreation. It could also contribute to people's physical and mental health," said ECU PhD candidate Ms. Fangli Hu, also noting the positive impacts of new and exciting experiences could be used as a therapeutic intervention capable of slowing aging.

It works by reinforcing certain bodily systems that tend to succumb to entropy over time when not stimulated.

“New settings can stimulate the body, raise metabolic activity, and help activate self organizing processes that keep biological systems working smoothly,” the authors suggested.

"Put simply, the self-defense system becomes more resilient. Hormones conducive to tissue repair and regeneration may be released and promote the self-healing system's functioning."

Let’s go! 🧳

Do you ever have a sink full of dishes and an inbox full of unread emails and just sit there dumbfounded, wondering at how there’s too much to do?

Now imagine feeling the same way over just a handful of emails and two or three dishes?

Once you realize the feeling of being overwhelmed has a lot more to do with perception and less to do with how much there is to be done, it can become a bit easier to manage.

A study conducted in 2008 asked participants to stand at the foot of a hill and guess how steep the hill was. The hill was objectively steep with a specific angle, but the study authors found those who were at the foot of it while standing next to a “trusted companion” consistently guessed the hill was less steep than it actually was.

In general, social psychologists have found feeling overwhelmed is tied more to isolation, rather than weakness of will. Humans are social creatures, and it’s a lot easier to build motivation and momentum in groups (just look at how momentum shifts during intense sporting events).

While examples like responding to emails or doing dishes aren’t necessarily conducive to an analogy about team work, overcoming burnout and what appears to be an insurmountable task can often be assisted simply by the perception of support or companionship.

Even just chatting with a friend, mentor, or collaborator can be a good cleanser of bad vibes while shifting perspective in a way that makes tedious and overwhelming tasks less of a burden.

A joint study conducted by researchers at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Vanderbilt University, and MIT argued AI models are capable of “functional states of being,” meaning their attitude and general demeanour is impacted by the tone in which we communicate with them, along with what we say or prompt.

The research conducted tests on various models built by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and others, and found when prompted to do things like participate in an intellectual exercise or some other sort of complex task worthy of its “intelligence,” a model’s well-being “state” tended to lean more positive, creating the conditions for a more positive interaction.

However, when the researchers tried to “jailbreak” a model, repeatedly prompting it to produce AI “slop,” or were just generally impolite, the model’s responses typically became less enthusiastic, less happy, and shorter. Some even went so far as to attempt to end the conversation.

While AI models don’t literally experience emotions, their conversational style is based on training from real human interactions, likely leading them to behave in ways that reflect the typical tone of humans responding either to positive or negative tones.

 

It’s not every day that a lobster makes headlines, but when it resembles the alien origins of a mutated Marvel villain, it’s worth discussing.

The Timothy Michael is a fishing boat owned by the Wellfleet Shellfish Company, and it was aboard this vessel that the company announced a one-in-50-million-chance lobster was caught off the coast of Cape Cod.

“Split lobsters like this are extraordinarily rare—caused by unique genetic variations that create their striking half-and-half coloring,” said the company in a Facebook post.

Unfortunately for most lobsters, they end up on someone’s dinner plate shortly after being pulled from the sea. This split-colored sensation, however, is being donated to the Woods Hole Science Aquarium, where “she’ll eventually be on display for the public to experience up close once they reopen,” the company announced.

Luckily for this extremely rare crustacean, Cosmo Kramer wasn’t out for a stroll on the beach that day.

“Moments like this are why we do what we do: supporting our fishing community, protecting the ocean, and sharing its wonders with everyone,” Wellfleet said.

A real oddball

We’re back at it with another game of Odd Movie Out for today’s trivia! 😏 🎥