How's that for an alliterative title? Shall we talk about science, my friends?
Link #1: Toddlers know that spit-sharing predicts "thick" relationships. One-year-olds can infer reliably that the people we share saliva with are likely to be closer to us. The participants observed interactions among human actors and puppets. They expected that the spit-sharing relationships (i.e., people who shared a kiss or "non-partitionable food") would be the ones in which help was available in a distressing situation. Pretty smart, huh? Press release is here, or the study is available here if you want more details.
Link #2: Bronze Age women were stronger than previously suspected. I originally saw this on Upworthy (sorry), which framed the findings as "Bronze Age women were JACKED!!" Farming is hard, and ordinary Bronze Age women appear to have been stronger than contemporary athletes. The actual study is here if you are curious.
Link #3: After posting about my Spiral of Decrepitude last night, I almost cried when I saw this NYT article today about musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause. (That's a gift link, so it should work for you whether or not you're a subscriber.) I have talked to three other women today who have said, "Yes! That's me! I feel seen!" I haven't read their paper but it's here if you're interested. i think SoD (for Spiral of Decrepitude) is a catchier name, with the benefit of capturing women's feelings about that whole pile of nonsense: sod* that!
*I'm not sure if I have any British readers at the moment, but if so please excuse the vulgarity. I was surprised to learn, when we lived in Scotland, that "sod" was considered especially crude, more obscene than some of the language that's barred from US TV. Here in the US "bugger" means "something small, possibly cute, and mildly annoying," and "sod" mostly makes us think of lawn management. Language is a funny thing.
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