25 interesting facts #29

701. Margarine was invented in response to Napoleon III's call for a cheap alternative to butter (Vaisey-Genser 2003)

702. People consistently underestimate others' desire for feedback (Abi-Esber et al. 2022)

703. Dentists with shorter waiting times are more likely to propose unnecessary treatment (Gottschalk et al. 2020)

704. Teaspoons and tablespoons are unreliable dosing devices (Falagas et al. 2010)

705. Top income earners score slightly worse on cognitive ability than those in the income strata right below them (Keuschnigg et al. 2023)

706. In 1474 in the city of Basel, a chicken passing for a rooster laid an egg, and was sentenced in a solemn judicial proceeding and condemned to be burned alive (Walter 1984)

707. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics archery competition, real-time heart rate predicted athletic performance (Lu and Zhong 2023)

708. A Lego figurine head passes through adult patients in 1–3 days (Tagg et al. 2019)

709. Stylistic changes from more figurative to impressionistic paintings by Turner and Monet over the 19th century covary with increasing levels of air pollution (Albright and Huybers 2023)

710. Compulsory voting diminishes the relationship between winning and satisfaction with democracy (Singh 2023)

711. In surveys, perceptions of response anonymity are associated with improved item response (Cohen and Cassell 2023)

712. Humanitarian aid decisions are based primarily on the number of fatalities instead of the number of survivors (i.e., the actual beneficiaries) (Evangelidis and Van den Bergh 2013)

713. Fish predation by spiders is geographically widespread but largely limited to warmer areas (Nyffeler and Pusey 2014)

714. People who report higher attention to politics are more likely to over-report recognition of fictitious parties (de Geus and Green 2021)

715. Negativity drives online news consumption (Robertson et al. 2023)

716. If a patient has complications in performing a vaginal or a cesarean delivery, the physician will be more likely to switch to the other delivery mode for the subsequent patient (Singh 2021)

717. Since the early 2000s, Premier League has changed from being a reasonably balanced league to a two-tier league (Basini et al. 2023)

718. Soccer referees make better decisions when they keep a distance of 11-15 meters to the play (Mallo et al. 2012)

719. In his painting Bathsheba, Rembrandt depicted Mondor’s disease in his lover's breast (Zamboni 2020)

720. There is substantial variability in individual-level moral foundations across time (Smith et al. 2017)

721. In 19th century England, landowners opposed taxation in order to reduce state education provision (Goñi 2023)

722. While accounting for more than 40 percent of suicides in 1963 in England and Wales, suicide by domestic gas was all but eliminated by 1975 (Clarke and Mayhew 1988)

723. German World War 1 battle deaths fueled civilians’ support for the Nazi Party (De Juan et al. 2023)

724. Plants emit ultrasonic airborne sounds when stressed (Khait et al. 2023)

725. Charles Darwin’s reading choices were towards increasing exploration as his career developed (Murdock et al. 2017)

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