Do we compete more against fewer competitors?

Marginal Revolution: Do we compete more against fewer competitors?: "The more people you're competing against, it turns out, the less motivated and competitive you are. ... Students taking standardized tests in more crowded venues got lower scores."

Medical myths -- Vreeman and Carroll 335 (7633): 1288 -- BMJ

Medical myths - Part 2

1. People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day
2. We use only 10% of our brains
3. Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
4. Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster, darker, or coarser
5. Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
6. Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy
7. Mobile phones create considerable electromagnetic interference in hospitals

Festive medical myths -- Vreeman and Carroll 337: a2769 -- BMJ

Festive medical myths - Part 1

1. Sugar causes hyperactivity in children
2. Suicides increase over the holidays
3. Poinsettia toxicity
4. Excess heat loss in the hatless
5. Nocturnal feasting makes you fat
6. You can cure a hangover

Biases

I chapter one of Nudge, Thaler and Sunstein list the following biases:

1) Anchoring - our tendency to answer questions by finding an anchor and adjusting our answer.
2) Availability Bias
3) Representativeness
4) Optimism and Overconfidence
5) Loss aversion
6) Status Quo Bias
7) Framing

Scientists debunk myth that most heat is lost through head | Science | The Guardian

Scientists debunk myth that most heat is lost through head | Science | The Guardian

"The face, head and chest are more sensitive to changes in temperature than the rest of the body, making it feel as if covering them up does more to prevent heat loss. In fact, covering one part of the body has as much effect as covering any other."

"Another myth exposed by the study was that sugar makes children hyperactive. At least a dozen high-quality studies have investigated the possibility of a link between children's behaviour and sugar intake, but none has found any difference between children who consumed a lot and those who did not."

Raising the World’s I.Q.

Op-Ed Columnist - Raising the World’s I.Q. - NYTimes.com: apparently it requires iodized salt. Who knew?

Extract from Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: Is there such a thing as pure genius? | Books | The Guardian

Extract from Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: Is there such a thing as pure genius? | Books | The Guardian: "The curious thing about Ericsson's study is that he and his colleagues couldn't find any 'naturals' - musicians who could float effortlessly to the top while practising a fraction of the time that their peers did. Nor could they find 'grinds', people who worked harder than everyone else and yet just didn't have what it takes to break into the top ranks. Their research suggested that once you have enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That's it. What's more, the people at the very top don't just work much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder."

Top 10 Myths About The Common Cold - The List Universe

Top 10 Myths About The Common Cold - The List Universe

Phys Ed - Stretching - The Truth - NYTimes.com

Phys Ed - Stretching - The Truth - NYTimes.com Static stretching now considered harmful.

Gut Bacteria May Cause And Fight Disease, Obesity : NPR

Gut Bacteria May Cause And Fight Disease, Obesity : NPR: "if you find bacteria which are responsible for diseases — and you can include obesity in this — you can then target them to reduce the risk of that disease."