79 posts · 75,096 views
Taking a scientific view on life (and without the lab goggles). Friendly and (hopefully) authoritative - an easy-to-read science blog that you don't need a PhD to understand!
Stuart Farrimond
79 posts
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- May 3, 2013
- 03:04 AM
- 63 views
Online reviews and movie critics are fantastic – so why do we ignore them??
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
The carpet is sticky and the smell of hotdogs mingles with sweet popcorn. The trailers are rolling. Even though person’s knee from the seat behind jabs into my back, I don’t care. The summer blockbuster is about to start and I’ve heard great things about it… But two hours, a bursting bladder and numb bottom … Continue reading »... Read more »
Chintagunta, P., Gopinath, S., & Venkataraman, S. (2010) The Effects of Online User Reviews on Movie Box Office Performance: Accounting for Sequential Rollout and Aggregation Across Local Markets. Marketing Science, 29(5), 944-957. DOI: 10.1287/mksc.1100.0572
Duan, W., Gu, B., & Whinston, A. (2008) Do online reviews matter? — An empirical investigation of panel data. Decision Support Systems, 45(4), 1007-1016. DOI: 10.1016/j.dss.2008.04.001
BOOR, M. (1992) RELATIONSHIPS AMONG RATINGS OF MOTION PICTURES BY VIEWERS AND SIX PROFESSIONAL MOVIE CRITICS. Psychological Reports, 70(3c), 1011-1021. DOI: 10.2466/pr0.1992.70.3c.1011
- April 15, 2013
- 04:21 AM
- 63 views
A little less money could do us some good
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
It can get depressing to reach Wednesday and the week’s food budget has already run out. It reminds me of college life. You young folk who are going to college, you’ve got it all to look forward to: independence, parties, lectures and beans on toast (not necessarily in that order). Let’s face it, with the … Continue reading »... Read more »
Franco, M., Bilal, U., Ordunez, P., Benet, M., Morejon, A., Caballero, B., Kennelly, J., & Cooper, R. (2013) Population-wide weight loss and regain in relation to diabetes burden and cardiovascular mortality in Cuba 1980-2010: repeated cross sectional surveys and ecological comparison of secular trends. BMJ, 346(apr09 2). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.f1515
- February 27, 2013
- 01:10 PM
- 164 views
Coming soon to a high street near you… horse meat burgers?
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
A Findus ‘100% beef’ lasagne made from 100% horsemeat now has a market value of over £50 ($75). A bargain. The woes of the processed meat industry may continue unabated. The exposé of recent weeks has been staggering: horsemeat and pork in ‘beef’ burgers, Non-Halal meat in ‘Halal’ meals and, staggeringly, 100% beef lasagne without … Continue reading »... Read more »
SafeFood. (2012) What's in that Bun?. Nutrition Takeout Series. info:/
Lee, C., Seong, P., Oh, W., Ko, M., Kim, K., & Jeong, J. (2007) Nutritional characteristics of horsemeat in comparison with those of beef and pork. Nutrition Research and Practice, 1(1), 70. DOI: 10.4162/nrp.2007.1.1.70
- February 2, 2013
- 01:38 PM
- 147 views
I can’t tweet without you: How twitter feeds our inner longing for friendship
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
I think I’ve started to feel what it’s like to get old. Strange ‘#’ symbols started to flash up on the TV screen a few months back. Some odd new lottery I wondered? Oblivious to the newest and most important media advancement in the last decade, my friends laughed at my ignorance. Graciously educating me … Continue reading »... Read more »
Chen, G. (2011) Tweet this: A uses and gratifications perspective on how active Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with others. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(2), 755-762. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2010.10.023
- December 30, 2012
- 11:46 AM
- 227 views
What is really in your takeaway pizza
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
It’s a Saturday night. Perhaps you shouldn’t have had that last Babycham, but it’s been a hard week and you deserve it. Now, like a Siren luring you to the rocks, the takeout calls. Will it be the kebab van, the burger joint or pizza parlour? Unlike tightly regulated franchises, most high street vendors don’t … Continue reading »... Read more »
SafeFood. (2012) Pizza – What’s in that box? . Nutrition Takeout Series Feb 2012 SafeFood: Cork. info:/
- October 31, 2012
- 09:51 AM
- 356 views
Why popular culture is obsessed with Zombies
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Flesh-eating marauding monsters – frightening? You betcha. Like many of us, I love a good scare every so often and Halloween is a great time to do it. In terms of nightmarish thoughts, there’s little to top a zombie apocalypse. The prospect of being chased by a half-decomposed Granny truly scares me. They say adrenaline-stimulating … Continue reading »... Read more »
Harper, S. (2002) Zombies, Malls, and the Consumerism Debate: George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. Journal of American Popular Culture, 1(2). info:/
Deborah Christie, & Sarah Juliet Lauro, ed. (2011) Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human. Fordham Univ Press. info:other/0-8232-3447-9, 9780823234479
- October 17, 2012
- 06:00 PM
- 340 views
Bemused by The Great British Bake Off
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
I couldn’t help but laugh. “James’ choux pastry isn’t rising – it’s a real disaster” the commentator said in tones as if poor James’ house had just fallen down. I peered over my wife’s shoulder to see the unfolding catastrophe: anxious looking cooks whisked, poured and prayed (whilst gazing into ovens). An elderly woman wandered … Continue reading »... Read more »
Redden, G. (2008) Making over the Talent Show. In Exposing Lifestyle Television: The Big Reveal. Ashgate, 129-144. info:/
- September 12, 2012
- 05:50 AM
- 536 views
Get fit faster: listen to music!
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
It’s now officially Games Over. Gone is the excuse to bunk off work to catch five minutes of of dressage or synchronised swimming. And as our love affair ends, normal life must resume. The real challenge now begins: to stay true to those keep-fit resolutions. One of the tricks to stay motivated may be, quite … Continue reading »... Read more »
Goehr, Lydia. (2011) Sounds: Relationships between Sport and Music. Sporting The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 69(2), 233-235. info:/10.1111/j.1540-6245.2011.01465_2.x
Karageorghis C, Jones L, & Stuart DP. (2008) Psychological effects of music tempi during exercise. International journal of sports medicine, 29(7), 613-9. PMID: 18050063
Waterhouse J, Hudson P, & Edwards B. (2010) Effects of music tempo upon submaximal cycling performance. Scandinavian journal of medicine , 20(4), 662-9. PMID: 19793214
- August 30, 2012
- 03:18 PM
- 411 views
Why I hope this is the last Paralympics
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Blink and you just might miss it. If you don’t live in the UK, that is. Last night, 80,000 people watched the Paralympic opening ceremony – a slightly more modest, but nonetheless equally poignant affair than its bigger brother. As the kids return to school and the Olympic feel-good fades, it offers a last-hurrah for … Continue reading »... Read more »
Moon, M. (2010) The shackled runner: time to rethink positive discrimination?. Work, Employment and Society, 24(4), 728-739. DOI: 10.1177/0950017010380648
- August 24, 2012
- 01:30 PM
- 474 views
The challenge to live a ‘no impact’ life
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Of all the consumables I couldn’t live without, it wouldn’t be the internet. Neither would it be chocolate, ice cream or shampoo. I think I could cope without electricity just fine (I learnt how to make camp fires as a child). No, the one thing that would really chafe me (quite literally) would be not … Continue reading »... Read more »
Tukker, A. et al. (2006) Environmental Impact of Products (EIPRO). Analysis of the life cycle environmental impacts related to final consumption. Institute for Perspective Technological Studies. info:/
- August 10, 2012
- 12:12 PM
- 501 views
The real legacy of the Olympics: uncomfortable truths.
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
About 15 years ago, I visited the Montreal Olympic Village. A captivating and beautiful city, the Olympic Village was a complete contrast. Tired-looking vacant stadia and vast, mostly unused concrete behemoths populated by a few shuffling tourists. I found it a depressing place and the slowly flaking paint symbolised a squandered enterprise. Costing Canada $1bn, … Continue reading »... Read more »
Georgios Kavetsos, & Stefan Szymanski. (2011) National well-being and international sports events. Journal of Economic Psychology, 2010(31), 158-171. DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2009.11.005
- August 1, 2012
- 05:31 AM
- 431 views
Could you survive a week without emails?
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
It’s 7.30am and the emails have already started. As I sit, savouring a few moments calm over a bowl of muesli before leaving for work, the phone has already started to chime. The ‘silent’ phone setting insists on buzzing on the table top – vibrating my coffee mug. I have resigned myself to the alternative … Continue reading »... Read more »
Gloria J. Mark, Stephen Voida1, & Armand V. Cardello. (2012) “A Pace Not Dictated by Electrons”: An Empirical Study of Work Without Email. Proceedings of the 2012 ACM annual conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 555-564. info:/
- July 23, 2012
- 04:06 AM
- 423 views
Nostalgia: Why we think things were better in the past
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
They just don’t write blogs like they used to. Back in the good old days there was none of this Twitter or Facebook piffle. Web pages were once simple and images didn’t instantly appear but – like a photo being developed – gradually formed out of a pixelated mess. In the 1990s, receiving an email … Continue reading »... Read more »
Batcho KI. (1998) Personal nostalgia, world view, memory, and emotionality. Perceptual and motor skills, 87(2), 411-32. PMID: 9842580
Batcho KI. (1995) Nostalgia: a psychological perspective. Perceptual and motor skills, 80(1), 131-43. PMID: 7624184
Zhou X, Sedikides C, Wildschut T, & Gao DG. (2008) Counteracting loneliness: on the restorative function of nostalgia. Psychological science, 19(10), 1023-9. PMID: 19000213
- July 2, 2012
- 08:46 AM
- 538 views
Do old people get more grumpy?
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
It is said that during our twenties we spend our time worrying about what other people think . In our thirties, we blame our parents for all our problems. In our forties, we finally realise that no one was really paying us that much attention and all our issues aren’t our parent’s fault after all. … Continue reading »... Read more »
Noftle EE, & Fleeson W. (2010) Age differences in big five behavior averages and variabilities across the adult life span: moving beyond retrospective, global summary accounts of personality. Psychology and aging, 25(1), 95-107. PMID: 20230131
Roberts BW, & DelVecchio WF. (2000) The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: a quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological bulletin, 126(1), 3-25. PMID: 10668348
Franco OH, Wong YL, Kandala NB, Ferrie JE, Dorn JM, Kivimäki M, Clarke A, Donahue RP, Manoux AS, Freudenheim JL.... (2012) Cross-cultural comparison of correlates of quality of life and health status: the Whitehall II Study (UK) and the Western New York Health Study (US). European journal of epidemiology, 27(4), 255-65. PMID: 22392587
Orth U, Trzesniewski KH, & Robins RW. (2010) Self-esteem development from young adulthood to old age: a cohort-sequential longitudinal study. Journal of personality and social psychology, 98(4), 645-58. PMID: 20307135
Robins, Richard W,, & Trzesniewski, K H. (2005) : Self-esteem development across the lifespan . Current Directions in Psychological Science, 158-162. DOI: 10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00353.x
Mak W, & Carpenter BD. (2007) Humor comprehension in older adults. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS, 13(4), 606-14. PMID: 17521496
Shammi P, & Stuss DT. (1999) Humour appreciation: a role of the right frontal lobe. Brain : a journal of neurology, 657-66. PMID: 10219779
Kruse BG, & Prazak M. (2006) Humor and older adults: what makes them laugh?. Journal of holistic nursing : official journal of the American Holistic Nurses' Association, 24(3), 188-93. PMID: 16880415
- June 6, 2012
- 07:12 AM
- 375 views
How can I stop…… stammering?
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
London 1940 was a grey place. In June, smog and grey skies made way for sunshine. Not that there was any summer cheer. Homes were in a perpetual gloom because of blacked-out windows. Food was scarce and kitchen broth was the family staple meal. And then the Germans were approaching. Against this backdrop, the new … Continue reading »... Read more »
Büchel, C., & Sommer, M. (2004) What Causes Stuttering?. PLoS Biology, 2(2). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0020046
Carl Herder, Courtney Howard, Chad Nye, & Martine Vanryckeghem. (2006) Effectiveness of Behavioral Stuttering Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN COMMUNICATION SCIENCE AND DISORDERS, 33(`), 61-73. info:/
Prins, D., & Ingham, R. (2008) Evidence-Based Treatment and Stuttering--Historical Perspective. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52(1), 254-263. DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2008/07-0111)
- May 14, 2012
- 03:45 AM
- 555 views
Ofsted Head says Teachers don’t know Stress. Perhaps Sir Michael Wilshaw should have done his homework.
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Teaching is an incredible privilege. It’s hard to underestimate the importance of inspiring and motivating young people – helping them achieve and grow. It was therefore more than a little surprising when Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of the UK schools inspectorate Ofsted, started a finger-wagging tirade accusing teachers of being shirking whiners. “You youngsters don’t … Continue reading »... Read more »
Ferrie JE, Martikainen P, Shipley MJ, Marmot MG, Stansfeld SA, & Smith GD. (2001) Employment status and health after privatisation in white collar civil servants: prospective cohort study. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 322(7287), 647-51. PMID: 11250849
Taylor, S. (2009) Wealth, health and equity: convergence to divergence in late 20th century globalization. British Medical Bulletin, 91(1), 29-48. DOI: 10.1093/bmb/ldp024
- April 30, 2012
- 07:57 AM
- 578 views
Rare, Medium or Well done? The science of a perfect steak
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Vegetarians, look away now. Today’s post is distinctly carnivorous. Read on, you red meat eaters, as we are discussing an issue of upmost culinary importance… You can’t beat a good steak, I say. Quality medium-rare beef fillet; served with fries and salad is true feel-good food. I know I’m not the only one: it is … Continue reading »... Read more »
Koebnick, C., Strassner, C., Hoffmann, I., & Leitzmann, C. (1999) Consequences of a Long-Term Raw Food Diet on Body Weight and Menstruation: Results of a Questionnaire Survey. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 43(2), 69-79. DOI: 10.1159/000012770
Faller, A., & Fialho, E. (2009) The antioxidant capacity and polyphenol content of organic and conventional retail vegetables after domestic cooking. Food Research International, 42(1), 210-215. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2008.10.009
Gerber N, Scheeder MR, & Wenk C. (2009) The influence of cooking and fat trimming on the actual nutrient intake from meat. Meat science, 81(1), 148-54. PMID: 22063975
Obuz E, & Dikeman ME. (2003) Effects of cooking beef muscles from frozen or thawed states on cooking traits and palatability. Meat science, 65(3), 993-7. PMID: 22063680
- April 11, 2012
- 05:00 AM
- 626 views
Does eating Celery burn calories? The Science about ‘Negative Calorie’ diets (finally).
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Science can be great for answering life’s little questions – you know, the sort of thing you ponder whilst sitting on the toilet or waiting for the number 49 bus. Does chewing gum take seven years to digest? No. Will eating bread crusts make your hair curl? You should be so lucky. Will eating an … Continue reading »... Read more »
Mikkelsen PB, Toubro S, & Astrup A. (2000) Effect of fat-reduced diets on 24-h energy expenditure: comparisons between animal protein, vegetable protein, and carbohydrate. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 72(5), 1135-41. PMID: 11063440
Raben A, Christensen NJ, Madsen J, Holst JJ, & Astrup A. (1994) Decreased postprandial thermogenesis and fat oxidation but increased fullness after a high-fiber meal compared with a low-fiber meal. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 59(6), 1386-94. PMID: 8198065
Westerterp, K. (2004) Diet induced thermogenesis. Nutrition , 1(1), 5. DOI: 10.1186/1743-7075-1-5
- March 20, 2012
- 07:31 AM
- 731 views
Looking for a bargain? Don’t shop on a Sunny Day
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Forget twitter, Facebook and social networking. If you want real followers – the physical ones – just get yourself a roll of yellow labels. Come early evening when supermarkets start reducing short-dated produce, a rabble of anxious-looking shoppers will invariably tail staff members as they mark down food. It seems many of us are ravenous … Continue reading »... Read more »
Murray, K., Di Muro, F., Finn, A., & Popkowski Leszczyc, P. (2010) The effect of weather on consumer spending. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 17(6), 512-520. DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2010.08.006
- March 12, 2012
- 01:26 PM
- 637 views
The psychological cost of being a stripper
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
A few days ago I heard an interesting radio debate. Following the news that footballer Mario Balotelli was caught out visiting a strip club, BBC Radio 5 Live held a late-night telephone discussion about the rights and wrongs of ‘gentlemen’s clubs’. A feminist speaker argued that such establishments unfairly degrade women. Opposing her, a female … Continue reading »... Read more »
Downs, D., James, S., & Cowan, G. (2006) Body Objectification, Self-Esteem, and Relationship Satisfaction: A Comparison of Exotic Dancers and College Women. Sex Roles, 54(11-12), 745-752. DOI: 10.1007/s11199-006-9042-y
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