25 interesting facts #38

926. Interstate conflicts are less likely among countries with more oral tradition in common (D’Amato and Russo 2026)

927. Conversations about boring topics are more interesting than we think (Trinh et al. 2026)

928. Managers tend to allocate additional tasks to employees they perceive as more intrinsically motivated (Bae and Woolley 2026)

929. A small number of countries disproportionately serve as global reference points in government policy documents across the world (Ramirez-Ruiz and Senninger 2026)

930. An autonomous robot can now outplay elite table tennis players (Dürr et al. 2026)

931. Training language models to be warm can reduce their accuracy (Ibrahim et al. 2026)

932. Experienced software engineers write less code when sitting near team mates (Emanuel et al. 2026)

933. Both politicians and citizens are influenced in their electoral predictions by wishful thinking (Mongrain et al. 2026)

934. The strengthening of the Mafia in Sicily resulted in a reduction in the intensity and duration of newly registered patents (Di Vita et al. 2026)

935. Female ejaculation is common among young, sexually active adult women (Ali and Walløe 2026)

936. Non-White fashion models are 4.5 times more likely to be plus-size (Boucherie et al. 2026)

937. A greater number of daily steps is associated with lower all-cause mortality (Saint-Maurice et al. 2020)

938. When looking for work, faster replies increase hiring likelihood (Hart et al. 2026)

939. People overestimate the actual dishonesty of others (Martuza et al. 2026)

940. Collective streaks (e.g., information that "the last X people in a row have done it") motivate prosocial behavior (Levari and Norton 2026)

941. People are more likely to trust governments led by political leaders with "bouba" names (Perrin and Weill 2026)

942. States use street renaming to retaliate against other international actors (Birnbaum 2023)

943. There is no evidence that Ramadan fasting impairs cognitive performance among expert chess players (Buckland and Smerdon 2026)

944. People feel more similar to their future selves than their equidistant past selves (Martuza et al. 2026)

945. There is a large effect of bicycle lane infrastructure provision on the volume of bicycle traffic (Fosgerau et al. 2023)

946. Men do not respond to a masculinity threat by adopting more conservative political attitudes (Gothreau and Haas 2026)

947. Vegetarian diets are associated with a reduced risk of cancer compared with non-vegetarian diets (Aune et al. 2026)

948. The Long and Winding Road is the most referenced song by The Beatles in the titles of scientific articles (Budel et al. 2026)

949. Brexit had a negative effect on NHS hospital quality (Castro-Pires et al. 2026)

950. The Col de la Traversette would have been the shortest and energetically most efficient route for Hannibal’s alpine crossing (Berti and Vollrath 2026)