It’s time for another installment of those delectable tidbits we find that won’t take a whole blog post but that are just too intriguing or amusing to toss out. And sometimes, they are life-changing. Sort of.

The Pinocchio Effect Confirmed:

For years we’ve been looking for a deception identification technique that is foolproof. And here it is! A bit impractical perhaps but just wait a few years and there will be thermographic cameras on every desk (or perhaps witness stand). Researchers at the University of Granada have been experimenting with thermography cameras and have found that when we lie we experience “an increase in the temperature around the nose and in the orbital muscle in the inner corner of the eye”. This is visible with a thermographic camera. “Excuse me while I take your photo repeatedly to determine if you are lying…”.

Guilt and the Perception of Delicious Pie

Many of us try to avoid sweet desserts but there are times we succumb. Why does it have to taste so good? New research says the guilt we feel for succumbing actually makes the treat taste even more delicious than it normally would. Guilt may not be good in and of itself, but it sure makes pie taste better!

Please! Check under your bed prior to pouring out your heart!

We knew when we discovered that scientists were feeding people dog food to see if they knew it was dog food (and not fine paté) that you just cannot trust researchers. Frankly we knew it before then but we sure had no clue it had been going on since 1938! In that year, a study was published where researchers secretly recorded conversations by “hiding under beds in students’ rooms, eavesdropping in university smoking rooms and dormitory washrooms, and listening in on phone conversations”.  And this was not considered an unreasonable invasion of privacy or violation of human subjects’ rights. All we can say is it is a good thing you can’t do that stuff anymore. But we’d look under the bed anyway!

Drink as Much Coffee as You Like!

Didn’t we say “life-changing”? You’ve seen our previous nods to the joy of coffee and now the restrictions are off! “We should embrace coffee for reasons beyond the benefits of caffeine, and that we might go so far as to consider it a nutrient”. There are, in fact, so many benefits to coffee we cannot recount them all here so follow the link to the Atlantic and enjoy another cup of coffee while you read up on why it’s so very wonderful. The comments are also instructive and quite amusing (it’s apparent that many of these commenters have had their quota of caffeine for the day).

So, identify liars with your trusty thermographic camera, know exactly why that pie tastes so very, very special, avoid pesky researchers and have a cup of caffeinated coffee with that pie. Terrific news to use every day.

Goldsmith, K., Cho, E., & Dhar, R. (2012). When Guilt Begets Pleasure: The Positive Effect of a Negative Emotion Journal of Marketing Research, 49 (6), 872-881 DOI: 10.1509/jmr.09.0421

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