Category Archives: Human Behavior

Human Behavior

Dont blame notifications: Users themselves responsible for 89% of phone interactions – Gearbrain

A new study has found that the vast majority of smartphone interactions are initiated by users themselves and not by an attention-grabbing notification.

It was found that 89 percent of smartphone interactions are initiated by the user, compared to just 11 percent due to being alerted by an attention-grabbing notification like a message, call or email.

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The study also discovered that many smartphone interactions are unconscious and are not noticed by users absentmindedly picking up their handsets. Regardless of context, it was found participants in the study interacted with their phones about every five minutes.

Called Computers in Human Behavior and published on November 21, the study's findings go against what was understood about smartphone behavior. It has previously been reported that smartphone notifications are the problem, pulling our attention away from work, family and friends.

The study followed the use habits of 37 smartphone owners in the UK, Germany and France, with an average age of 25 and just over half being male. The participants were each given wearable video cameras which recorded 200 hours of first-person footage and 1,130 smartphone interactions. The study was led by Max Heitmayer and Saadi Lahlou, both from the London School of Economics.

Each phone interaction lasted an average of 64 secondsiStock

The authors wrote: "Previous research suggests [smartphone notifications] can be a major disruption to the professional and private lives of users...We show how smartphone interactions are driven by a complex set of routines and habits users develop over time. We furthermore observe that while the duration of interactions varies, the intervals between interactions remain largely invariant across different activity and locations contexts, and for being alone or in the company of others."

Interestingly, the authors add: "We find that 89 percent of smartphone interactions are initiated by users, not by notifications. Overall this suggests that the disruptiveness of smartphones is rooted within learned user behaviors, not devices."

This finding echoes the longstanding liknesses drawn between smartphone applications, especially social media apps like Twitter and Instagram, and gambling machines. Their never-ending columns of content and constant potential for positive feedback in the form of messages, 'likes' and other messages from others, is likened to the psychological pull of slot machines and their promise or reward for little effort.

Reported further by Psych News Daily, the study found the average duration of a smartphone interaction was 64 seconds, with about half being 23 seconds of less. It also found that checking WhatsApp for new messages accounted for 22 percent of interactions however it should be noted WhatsApp is far more popular in Europe than in the US.

Phone calls accounted for just 1 percent of handset interactions, while a "lock screen check," picking up the phone for a moment to check for notifications, made up 17 percent of interactions and was the second most popular behind WhatsApp.

It was even found that participants felt compelled to check their smartphones even when notifications were switched off. "Seeing this has made me realize That I don't even remember picking it up," one participant told the study's authors.

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Dont blame notifications: Users themselves responsible for 89% of phone interactions - Gearbrain

Human Behavior

Social Isolation Triggers The Same Brain Signals As Hunger – Interesting Engineering

A new study from MIT finds that the yearning for human contact we feel during periods of social isolation share a neural basis with the food cravings we feel when hungry.

The neuroscientists behind the study found that after a single day of total isolation, the sight of a group of people having fun together activates the same brain region that lights up when someone who hasn't eaten for a day sees a picture of food.

RELATED: COVID-19: 7 METHODS ASTRONAUTS USE TO COPE WITH LONG-TERM CONFINEMENT

Over the years, studies into human behavior have shown that being deprived of social contact can lead to emotional distress, but the neurological basis for these feelings has not been thoroughly examined.

"People who are forced to be isolated crave social interactions similarly to the way a hungry person craves food," Rebecca Saxe,the senior author of the study, explained in a press statement.

"Our finding fits the intuitive idea that positive social interactions are a basic human need, and acute loneliness is an aversive state that motivates people to repair what is lacking, similar to hunger," she continued.

The research team collected the data for their study in 2018 and 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic and social isolation guidelines came into force.

Their new findings, detailed inNature Neuroscience, form part of a larger research program focusing on the impact of social stress on people's behavior and motivation.

"We wanted to see if we could experimentally induce a certain kind of social stress, where we would have control over what the social stress was, Saxe said. "It's a stronger intervention of social isolation than anyone had tried before."

The researchers enlisted healthy volunteers, mainly college students, and confined them to a windowless room on MIT's campus for 10 hours. They were not allowed to use their phones, though the room did have a computer the volunteers could use to contact the researchers if necessary.

"There were a whole bunch of interventions we used to make sure that it would really feel strange and different and isolated," Saxe said. "They had to let us know when they were going to the bathroom so we could make sure it was empty. We delivered food to the door and then texted them when it was there so they could go get it. They really were not allowed to see people."

Once the 10-hour isolation period finished, each of the volunteers was scanned in an MRI machine. Importantly, the researchers wanted to avoid any social interaction for the volunteers during the scanning process. Each volunteer, therefore, was trained before their isolation period, on how to get into the MRI scanner, so that they could do it while isolated.

Separately, each of the 40 volunteers underwent 10 hours of fasting on a different day. Following this fasting period, MRI scans were once again taken of all the volunteers.

After both the isolation periods and the fasting, the participants had MRI scans taken while looking at images of people interacting, and food respectively, as well as neutral images of flowers as controls.

The researchers focused specifically on the part of the brain called the substantia nigra, which has previously been linked with hunger and drug cravings. The researchers found that when the volunteers saw photos of people enjoying social interactions, the "craving signal" in theirsubstantia nigra was similar to the one produced when they saw food after fasting.

The brain signals also correlated with how strongly the patients rated their cravings for food or social interaction on a number scale.

The researchers say that, following on from their findings, they now hope to work towards a better understanding of how social isolation affects people's behavior and whether virtual contact via video calls effectively alleviates those cravings.

In a year marked by social isolation, the researchers also aim to look into the way each of the volunteers has reacted to isolation measures put in place due to COVID-19 in order to help further our understanding of the impact of the pandemic.

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Social Isolation Triggers The Same Brain Signals As Hunger - Interesting Engineering

Human Behavior

Kids will sacrifice to teach wrongdoers a lesson – Futurity: Research News

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Many children are willing to make personal sacrifices to punish wrongdoersand even more so if they believe punishment will teach the transgressor a lesson, according to a new study.

Philosophers and psychologists have long argued whether the main reason people punish others for bad behavior is to enact retribution or to impart a moral lesson. In adults, most studies show the answer is that people have both motives.

Retribution is a driving force in young childrens moral judgment.

But what about children, who are less steeped in societal values?

Children are less exposed to social ideas about how to behave in certain ways, says first author Julia Marshall, who conducted the research in the lab of Molly Crockett, assistant professor of psychology at Yale University and senior author of the paper. We wanted to know if children are interested in punishing others because they want wrongdoers to pay, because they want to teach bad actors a lesson, or a combination of both.

For the study, Marshall, Crockett, and Yale postdoctoral fellow Daniel Yudkin monitored the responses of 251 children between the ages of 4 and 7 who watched a video of a child tearing up another youngsters art work.

The children first had to decide whether to punish the art destroyer by taking away their iPad. However, if the children decided to punish the transgressor, they would have to make a personal sacrificetheir own iPad would be locked away.

The researchers divided the children into two groups. The first group was told that if they chose retributive punishment, the wrongdoer would lose use of their iPad but would not be told why. The second group was told if they punished the wrongdoer he or she would be told it was for ripping up the drawing, what researchers called the communicative condition.

About one-quarter of children (26%) in the first group decided to punish the transgressor even after being told they would lose use of their own iPad.

Retribution is a driving force in young childrens moral judgment, says Marshall.

However, children in the second group, who knew that the wrongdoer would be told why he or she was being disciplined, were 24% more likely to punish than the first group.

The opportunity to teach a wrongdoer a lesson motivates children to punish over and above the desire to see them suffer for their actions, Crockett says.

Children seem equipped at an early age with both a desire for punishers to receive their just deserts, and a desire to have them improve their behavior for next time, says Marshall, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at Boston College.

Crockett adds: Despite having a taste for retribution, young children also value the social benefits that punishment can bring. How social learning impacts the balance of retributive and forward-looking motives for punishment is an important avenue for future study.

The research appears in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

Source: Yale University

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Kids will sacrifice to teach wrongdoers a lesson - Futurity: Research News

Human Behavior

Governor Cuomo Announces New Record-High Number of COVID-19 Tests Reported to New York State – ny.gov

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo todayannounced that 205,466 COVID-19 test results were reported to New York State yesterdaya new record high.

"We did 205,000 tests yesterday, a new record. Remember when we first started, we could only do 500 tests a day -- that's how far we have come. Context here is very important because I want New Yorkers to have confidence in the rules that we're setting. And it's not that our rules are that much more onerous than other states' rules, it's that we triggered them earlier. Our triggers are much lower than other states, and hence our performance is much better than other states,"Governor Cuomo said."You decide your own destiny. If you follow the rules, you're fine. And if you're not fine, the rules change on you. The micro-cluster approach doesn't put restrictions on places that are following the rules. It's that targeted. If you and your neighbor are acting responsibly, you have a collective, vested interest in your local community. I am concerned about Thanksgiving, and I believe it could have a large impact if people are reckless. It is the socialization that's a problem, and socialization is human behavior. So we are on guard, but it depends on what we do."

The Governor noted that the positive testing rate in all focus areas under the state's Micro-Cluster strategy is4.55percent, and outside the focus zone areas is2.15percent. Within the focus areas,43,790test results were reported yesterday, yielding1,994positives. In the remainder of the state, not counting these focus areas,161,676test results were reported, yielding3,474positives. Full results for tests reported yesterday, the day prior, the current 7-day rolling average, and last two weeks is below:

STATEWIDE

11/1-11/7 % Positive

11/8-11/14 % Positive

Current 7-day rolling average

Day Prioir (11/18) % Positivity

Yesterday (11/19) % Positivity

All focus area statewide % positive

3.44%

4.89%

4.66%

4.23%

4.55%

Statewide % positivewithall focus areas included

1.95%

2.86%

2.91%

2.72%

2.66%

Statewide % positivewithoutallfocus areas included

1.81%

2.47%

2.44%

2.38%

2.15%

Micro-cluster zone 7-day average positivity ratesfor today, yesterday, the day before, last week, and the week prior is below:

FOCUS ZONE

11/1- 11/7 % Positive

11/8- 11/14 % Positive

Day-Prior 7-day Rolling Average

Yesterday 7-Day Rolling Average

Current 7-day rolling average

Erie orange-zone focus area % positive

4.53%

7.22%

7.46%

7.21%

7.40%

Erie Yellow-zone focus area % positive

4.64%

5.34%

6.22%

6.08%

6.57%

Niagara Yellow -zone focus area % positive

4.29%

5.10%

5.04%

3.74%

4.40%

Monroe Yellow-zone focus area % positive

4.06%

5.54%

4.74%

4.39%

4.12%

Onondaga Yellow-zone focus area % positive

4.68%

6.58%

6.02%

5.67%

6.01%

Queens Kew Garden Hills/Forest Hills/Astoria yellow-zone focus area % positive

2.11%

3.40%

3.47%

3.41%

3.39%

Bronx East Yellow-zone focus area % positive

2.70%

3.81%

3.60%

3.62%

3.41%

Bronx West Yellow -zone focus area % positive

2.79%

3.80%

4.66%

4.50%

4.68%

Brooklyn Yellow-zone focus area % positive

3.33%

3.92%

3.56%

3.59%

3.55%

Rockland Yellow-zone focus area % positive

3.46%

3.55%

3.79%

3.69%

3.41%

Chemung Orange-zone focus area % positive

6.45%

4.59%

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Governor Cuomo Announces New Record-High Number of COVID-19 Tests Reported to New York State - ny.gov

Human Behavior

Commissioners have questions, few answers in wake of ‘pause’ – Polkio.com

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DALLAS While the Polk County Commissioners understand much of the reasoning that went into Gov. Kate Browns order for a two-week pause amidst growing COVID-19 cases, they wish she had consulted them and others in small counties before making her decision.

Craig Pope participated in a joint call with other neighboring commissioners Nov. 17, seeking clarification on Browns declaration closing down businesses again to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

So many entities are upset and frustrated (the state) decided they better listen to us, Pope said after the Polk County Commissioners weekly meeting Nov. 18, Im working with Marion and Linn county commissioners trying to take the metrics that are still in raw form and trying to help them revamp what those metrics might look like so that we can do the best we can to keep businesses open.

Pope said Brown was open to his suggestions, wanting such input to help her teach people and to help them understand the spread of the disease is happening in social gatherings.

Its a human behavior challenge. I support that. But punishing small businesses that have no data, weve all said it to her and said it to her team, Pope added. If you dont have data that demonstrates that the disease is spreading through these venues, then why are we closing them? Put restrictions on them, but do it with some sense of science.

For example, Pope said rather than a blanket limit of 25 people per restaurant, consider restricting restaurants by the percentage of their licensed capacity.

Pope said the data for Polk County shows that 26% of the cases over the last two weeks are from social gatherings, according to contact tracing.

So people are saying they went to a social gathering event and they got sick. The balance of that is showing in certain types of businesses and long-term care facilities are the highest for Polk County, just like it is for Marion County, Pope said. There is data we can track and there are ways we can target behavioral challenges in certain categories. But gyms, fitness centers and pools, theyre not in there.

Browns closure order limits restaurants to takeout only and closes gyms, pools, and fitness centers.

In her COVID-19 update to the commissioners Nov. 17, Public Health Manager Jacqui Umstead said coronavirus outbreaks in Polk County were taking place primarily in care providing facilities. She said Windsong Long Term Health Facility had seven, Capital Manor two, Heron Point seven and Marquis Spa Corporation, a business, had 11 confirmed cases.

Commissioner Mike Ainsworth was at his first meeting since returning from quarantine after he and three others were exposed to a county staff member diagnosed with COVID-19. Ainsworth said he had ample time to have several questions about the coronavirus percolate in his head while in isolation.

Chief among his concerns was with contact tracers inability to contact him directly. Although he was asymtomatic and never had to test for COVID-19, Ainsworth said when he tried to return the contract tracers call, their voicemail was full.

I was quarantined. But my wife didnt have to be, he said after the meeting. Whats to say I would have gotten it a week later and my wife could have spread it around? Thats why I brought it up, because I wanted other people to hear firsthand what I went through. Because I think a lot of people want to know the process is and how you get contaminated. We were never tested and were allowed to come back in without a test, as long as we didnt exhibit any symptoms.

Umstead said she appreciated Ainsworths input and promised changes in the contact system. She added his experience was likely due to the dozen or so overworked contract tracers contracted out from Western Oregon University interns who were actively tracking nearly 250 people at the time.

The county has three or four case investigators working on gathering information on positive cases in the county. They are now working seven days a week on the task, Umstead said. Were stretched really thin right now by the sheer volume of cases.

According to Polk Countys COVID-19 tracer page (www.co.polk.or.us/ph/covid-19-polk-county), as of Nov. 23 there were 1,097 positive COVID-19 cases, four hospitalizations and 16 deaths.

With numbers on the rise from record daily counts, Commissioner Lyle Mordhorst said targeting restaurants with another shutdown was unfair when theyve been the ones going out of their way to abide by new health standards.

You look at what investment the Washington Street Steakhouse did in the first shutdown, Mordhorts explained. They remodeled that whole place, put in Plexiglass, separators, at the bar and the tables. They followed the rules and guidelines with face masks all the way through. Yet they cannot serve another meal there? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Thats a huge investment to meet the needs of the guidelines she gave us and theyve been doing it and theyve had no outbreaks.

Pope and his colleagues thought his meeting with the governor was productive. However, they realize theyre not going to be able to change the course of the pause now that its in place.

Were not going to change the pause. The pause is set, Pope said. What Im hoping to do is be able to develop some criteria that gets us out of the pause or starts moving us forward in a way thats measurable, that makes sense, as much as possible for the people and the business owners. Because what theyre using now is tougher than the first shutdown. They dont have any real sensibility to them.

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Commissioners have questions, few answers in wake of 'pause' - Polkio.com

Human Behavior

401k Advisors Working Overtime to Guide Existing Clients Through Pandemic – The 401(k) Specialist

Sometimes its hard to think about generating new business when youre focused on servicing existing clients.

As new RFP activity remains largely on hold, defined contribution plan specialists with over $50 million in DC AUM are working overtime to guide their existing clients through the pandemic, according to Retirement Plan Advisor Trends, a just-released annual Cogent Syndicated study from human behavior and analytics firm Escalent.

Nearly six in 10 DC advisors (58%) agree that the COVID-19 pandemic is thwarting the growth of their retirement plan business, according to the study.

In stark contrast to their peers, DC specialists are increasing the assistance theyre offering to plan participants in assessing rollover and distribution options, long-term financial planning, one-on-one investment advice and retirement income strategies, said Sonia Davis, senior product director at Escalent. Moreover, they cite a sizable uptick in providing plan sponsors with regulatory updates and consulting with clients on plan design, services and features.

Stemming from the heightened focus on client service and support, the latest findings reveal DC advisor expectations of providers are also evolving. This underscores the value of firms developing effective DC advisor outreach and engagement strategies.

These are extraordinarily complex times for anyone to navigate financially, including the most seasoned DC advisors, said Linda York, senior vice president at Escalent. Firms must remain fixated on providing superior participant education, regulatory guidance and plan design options, as the support rendered throughout the pandemic will undoubtedly fuel future client recommendations for years to come.

According to the study, a handful of DC plan providers have differentiated themselves, earning strong, positive recall among DC specialists for their COVID-19-related information and content.

Top 10 firms for COVID-19 communication recall

1. American Funds

2. Vanguard

3. Fidelity Investments

4. Merrill/Merrill Edge

5. Alliance Benefit Group

6. ADP Retirement Services

7. Empower Retirement

8. Capital Group

9. Principal Financial Group

10. T. Rowe Price

Base: DC Specialists (plan advisors with $50M+ in DC AUM)

Source: Escalent/Cogent Syndicated Retirement Plan Advisor Trends, Sept. 2020

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401k Advisors Working Overtime to Guide Existing Clients Through Pandemic - The 401(k) Specialist

Human Behavior

Technology And Its Role In Supplements – STL.News

(STL.News) Take with food. Take on an empty stomach. Nearly everyone has heard these instructions at one time or another when taking medications. Fortunately, when those instructions are followed when taking any medication, you will be doing yourself a greater favor than avoiding gastrointestinal distress. Those instructions will also make the medicines more effective. This is due to a phenomenon known as bioavailability and the technology that makes it possible. This is true to one extent or another with many supplements too. For more information, check out details from i49.

Bioavailability is the level of a chemicals potency that interacts with a persons body to deliver that drug or supplements benefit. When the bioavailability is high, it will cause a more robust and immediate physical response to that chemical. On the other hand, when bioavailability is low, it will take a larger dose to affect a response.

The technology used to create some medications and supplements prohibit human behavior from impacting a doses efficacy. This is also true of other products, such as CBD, that are made with these intended limitations. CBD and certain medications are created to have suboptimal levels to prevent misuse of the chemicals and prevent accidentally taking an unprescribed dose. However, the dose is enough to deliver relief of symptoms.

Another benefit to technology in using drugs and supplements is delivery systems embedded into or used along with the products. With CBD, for example, recommended dose levels are given to those who use them. Further, several recommended methods of receiving CBD include straws that can be used with any beverage, tablets, hydrogels, and even suppositories.

For example, some people have trouble swallowing certain drugs and supplements. There are makers of technology who have created magnesium additives that make drugs and supplements easier to digest, absorb, or otherwise consumed by the human body for these folks.

Even a product that is as easy to use as CBD needs some degree of solubility to be taken and react appropriately. This is an issue that is separate from the other active ingredients. Once it is taken, it is absorbed into the bloodstream and metabolized by other parts of the body.

Fortunately, high solubility is usually not a problem for CBD, resulting in a much higher chance that the products active ingredients will have their desired effects instead of diminished and passed along to other parts of the body. It is also important that the correct solubility level is maintained, since drugs and supplements that are fat-soluble move quicker between cells than more water-soluble ones.

As important as technology is in creating new drugs and supplements and new ways to use them, one of the most existing parts of these developments is the promise they add to drug development in the future. Not only do new medicines and supplements appear to be on the horizon, but there are also therapeutic breakthroughs that will enhance medication effectiveness.

It stands to reason that as the potential of drugs and supplements increases, technology will be there to make them better and easier to take in the future. There can be little doubt that just as has been the case in the past, both drug makers and developers of technology will work together for the better.

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Technology And Its Role In Supplements - STL.News

Human Behavior

VirTra Announces Winners of the Force Science Scholarship Award – GlobeNewswire

TEMPE, Ariz., Nov. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VirTra, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTSI), a global provider of training simulators for the law enforcement, military, educational, and commercial markets, today announced the recipients of the VirTra and Force Science Scholarship Award. This award, which was created from a partnership between VirTra and the Force Science Institute, allows twelve outstanding peace officers around the country to earn a scholarship to a five-day Force Science Analyst Certification Course in 2021.

The peace officers chosen were from:

VirTra and the Force Science Institute are furthering research-based and science-backed training that is crucial to better educating law enforcement officers and better preparing them to handle the individual needs of their communities. The course is taught by world-renowned instructors and is designed to provide officers with the necessary tools to help improve their knowledge base and grow their careers.

This announcement arrives at the perfect time to wish all of our first responders both law enforcement and military a wonderful Thanksgiving, said Jason Mulcahy, general manager of VirTra. Every day, we are thankful to those who put their lives on the line to keep our communities and our country safe, and it is our hope that the recipients of this scholarship will be able to do so more effectively.

The courses will be taught in 12 different cities across the country. The winners listed above, whose $1,650 course fee will be paid in full by VirTra, may choose from any course at the date and location most convenient for them. Attendees will also have an opportunity to earn a Force Science Analyst Certification, which demonstrates their ability to recognize the factors that impact human behavior in use-of-force encounters.

About VirTraVirTra (NASDAQ: VTSI) is a global provider of judgmental use of force training simulators, firearms training simulators and driving simulators for the law enforcement, military, educational and commercial markets. The companys patented technologies, software, and scenarios provide intense training for de-escalation, judgmental use-of-force, marksmanship and related training that mimics real-world situations. VirTras mission is to save and improve lives worldwide through practical and highly effective virtual reality and simulator technology. Learn more about the company atwww.VirTra.com.

About the Force Science InstituteThe Force Science Institute is dedicated to promoting the value of knowledge through empirical research in behavioral science and human dynamics. Force Science develops and disseminates high quality scientifically grounded education, training, and consultation to support fact-based investigations, inform decision processes, enhance public safety, and improve peace officer performance in critical situations. Learn more at http://www.forcescience.org.

Investor Relations Contact:Matt Glover or Charlie Schumacher VTSI@gatewayir.com 949-574-3860

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VirTra Announces Winners of the Force Science Scholarship Award - GlobeNewswire

Human Behavior

How viruses use bats’ bodies as an evolutionary training ground – Salon

Imagine that you are a Shamel's horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus shameli). With a complex nose shaped like a horseshoe, you use echolocation to find insects that you can eat, since as an invertivore your diet depends on consuming invertebrates. You live in southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Not that you have a concept of the nation-state, as a bat; rather, your range is defined by tropical forests, and that is how you think of geography.Indeed, you do not think far beyond these tropical forests; how could anything outside of their range concern you?

It certainly wouldsurprise you to learn that a mostly hairless primate species are suddenly tremendously interested in you, stricken, as millions of them are, with a deadly virus that may have become more lethal by and throughyour being.Some of these upright-walking primates even think that your anatomy contains clues as to how this disease movedthrough their population.

Indeed, because of theirunique immune system, there has been asudden flurry ofinterest in Shamel's horseshoe bats, a species few humans know about.As reported inNature, researchers told the scholarly journal that two Shamel's horseshoe bats, which had been stored in a freezer in Cambodia since 2010, contained in their bodies a coronavirus closely related toSARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the disease COVID-19. If that coronavirus is found to share more than 97% of its genome with SARS-CoV-2, it could help explain how a pandemic that originated in bats was able to be passed along to humans, according tovirologists at the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Around the same time, researchers in Japan claimed that they found a viruscalled Rc-o319, which has also been found in bat droppings, inside aJapanese horseshoe bat(Rhinolophus cornutus). Because Rc-o319 only shares 81% of its genome with SARS-CoV-2, it will not be able to directly help scientists learn more about the pandemic's origins. Still, that discovery still confirms viruses closely related toSARS-CoV-2 are relatively common in horseshoe bats, including species outside of China.

The next question, then, is why are bats so prone to gettingcoronaviruses?

The answer is that it's not just various breeds of coronaviruses that bats are ridden with it's all viruses.Science Daily reportedin February that deadly disease outbreaks like MERS, Ebola, Marburg and the original SARS originated in bats. A study from the University of California, Berkeley published in the journaleLife found that some bat specieshave unusually aggressive immune systems that respond to viruses in a way that causes them to replicate more quickly.

While the bats' bodies are able to keep the viruses out of their cells, however, the viruses adapt andreproduce more quickly in order to try to get around their defenses. Those viruses then take those same traits and apply them when infecting animals that do not have the same unusually aggressive immune system such as human beings.

"The bottom line is that bats are potentially special when it comes to hosting viruses," Mike Boots, a disease ecologist and UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology, told Science Daily. "It is not random that a lot of these viruses are coming from bats. Bats are not even that closely related to us, so we would not expect them to host many human viruses. But this work demonstrates how bat immune systems could drive the virulence that overcomes this."

Another study seemed to reinforce this conclusion. As Infectious Disease Special Edition reported in May, a research team at the University of Saskatchewan found that cells from a brown bat could be persistently infected with MERS (or Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, which is also caused by a coronavirus) because of adaptations made by both the bats' cells and the virus. To adapt to changes made by the bats' cells to protect itself, the MERS virus will quickly mutate one specific gene so that it can continue to survive inside the bat.

In other words, while bats do not seem to suffer greatly from the same diseases they pass on to people, the very traits that allow them to endure those illnesses make those viruses particularly dangerous when they reach the human population.

Still, if you're a poor bat flitting through the dry tropical forests of southeast Asia, don't fret. Killing bats is not key to stopping future pandemics.

"Culling bats will not end the COVID-19 pandemic or any future emerging infectious disease outbreaks, in fact this may well increase the dangers since stressed animals may become more disease prone," writes the Bat Conservation Trust. "It is human activity that led to the current pandemic and it will be changing human behavior in relation to wildlife that may prevent future pandemics. To prevent future outbreaks we need to stop uncontrolled habitat destruction and control the trade in wild animals."

The group notes that bats and humans have coexisted, and even become accustomed toeach other."There are over 1,400 bat species around the world . . . Many have adapted to living alongside us in both urban and rural environments, in our gardens, parks and even roosting around our homes, without posing a threat to their human neighbors."

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How viruses use bats' bodies as an evolutionary training ground - Salon

Human Behavior

Never Underestimate The Power Of Saying ‘I Like You Just The Way You Are’ – WBUR

There is no shortage of thoughts about President Donald Trumps supporters. Comments abound. They are ignorant, immoral, climate change deniers, racists, misogynists, religious fanatics, deplorables, and on and on.

Much of what is being said is silly. Or worse, it groups 74 million people into one big polluting lump of coal, making the behavior of the most extreme represent everyone. We blue folks can be pretty othering when we set ourselves to it, and we are good at the quiet sneer. Were enlightened theyre the unwashed masses. We get structural racism, climate change, gun control, science, and the real price of wealth inequality they dont. Were good. Theyre bad.

Wouldnt it be nice to think so. Ive worked for decades as a psychotherapist, and I am reminded each day what a mistake it is to assume that rational thought has the upper hand over our unconscious minds. However different our ideas about government, I believe the polarization and intense anger Red and Blue folks share springs from the unconscious wish each person possesses to feel that they are good enough just as they are.

In fact, were I to wager one vast generalization about many of the more fervent Trump voters, it would be that they experience him as their Mr. Rogers. You know, the man who so repeatedly and convincingly said, I like you just the way you are.

I understand that these two men seem like polar opposites, but its exactly that gulf that makes the comparison true. Trump is the anti-Rogers who likes his followers just the way they are.

Trump is completely unapologetic about every single aspect of his being: what he says, what he does, how often he lies, what he eats, how he cheats, who he hurts and on and on. And so they can be completely unapologetic, too.

Trump's supporters adore him because by insisting that a broad range of human behaviors are acceptable, he makes them feel understood, and not ashamed.

While humans have a capacity for love and for compassion, we have a whole host of not so pretty traits, too violence, greed, selfishness, cruelty and this president isnt having anything to do with the thick frosting of respectability that attempts to make the human cake all shiny and sweet.

He knows ugly, and he says ugly is nothing to be ashamed of. Its just part of who we are. In turn, Trump's supporters adore him because by insisting that a broad range of human behaviors are acceptable, he makes them feel understood, and not ashamed. They feel that he spares them their dignity (even if, in others' view, he's shredding every bit of decency, and deeply harming society).

That notion can be a huge relief. Especially to people who are being pushed to change in ways that seem abstract and mostly just make them feel bad about themselves and misunderstood, and like theyre being chastised, told theyre bad and that their sacrifices are meaningless.

When I think of the small, rural towns I grew up in, in Oregon and then in Vermont, normal meant occasionally enjoying being mean; making fun of peoples differences, forming cliques, bullying. We sometimes called each other ugly names, we told awful sexist and ethnic jokes. As girls, we all knew we were less than.

When, as a 22-year-old in 1974, I worked in a huge working-class daycare center in Lowell, Mass. my female boss called me The Jew when she was irritated with me, and The Wop when she wasnt. (I was both.) Other staff members included the The Polack, the Cannuck and the Mick. We all laughed a lot, not thinking much of it, but the tone was nasty.

Whats acceptable to do, or be, or say aloud, even to believe in private, has changed radically in half a century.

I worked for many of those changes, and heartily applaud the bulk of them. I passionately favor racial equality, gender equality, and on and on. But the changes have been accompanied by an unintentional oozing sense of superiority in those of us who have bought into this newer vision of whats OK and whats not.Weve seen the light. But the unspoken rest of that assumption is, We are virtuous and You are inferior, you are shameful.

[T]he changes have been accompanied by an unintentional oozing sense of superiority in those of us who have bought in to this newer vision of whats OK and whats not.

Wittingly or not, we often strip the dignity from anyone not in our club. We forget that theres a difference between feeling your vision of the world has something better to offer humanity, and feeling you are superior because you hold that vision. But the heat of the battle tends often to melt that distinction.

Part of Trumps genius has been to say, No, youre not less than to me. You are good people. I embrace you just the way you are. If you vote for me, I will have your back. I wont let anyone make you feel bad or ashamed even when you behave indecently. I do that too. The power of the message, however disingenuous the speaker, is profound.

The question facing those of us intent on creating greater racial, gender and economic equality, and on fueling a full-throttle effort to reverse climate change, is how we move forward legislatively, how we gather power and use it forcefully, without dehumanizing, devaluing or patronizing those who may disagree.

I dont know. It may be that the best our minds' hardwiring will let us do is move the othering from one place to another, and that ever rearranging groups will make meaning only by battling forever. Im not sure we can find another way. But its certainly a burning question. And were he still with us, I think Mr. Rogers would be all in on seeking an answer.

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Never Underestimate The Power Of Saying 'I Like You Just The Way You Are' - WBUR