Quickies: Historical Infertility, Fake News on Facebook, and Misinterpretation of Emojis

• Lost In Translation: Study Finds Interpretation Of Emojis Can Vary Widely – “For example, the researchers found that when people receive the ‘face with tears of joy’ emoji — which Oxford Dictionaries declared its word of the year — some interpret it positively, while others will interpret it negatively.”
• “Weepeth and sorroweth without comparison”: Historical Fertility Problems – “Forget about understanding the exact cause of a fertility problem, or even diagnosing that it existed. Let’s start with this simple fact: in the early modern world, there was no reliable way to know if a woman was pregnant until she had given birth to a baby.”
• The Rare District That Recognizes Gifted Latino Students – “Researchers say this happens to lots of gifted children who arrive at school speaking little or no English. These students go unnoticed, until someone taps into their remarkable talent and potential. Vanessa Minero Leon was lucky. She was one of those students who got noticed.”
• “Happens All the Time”: What I Do When I’m Stopped By Police – “Now it’s an election season. My least favorite time of any year, when people’s worst behavior starts to come out under the guise of finally ‘having their say,’ of ‘taking back America.’ In a lot of ways, I’ve stopped arguing with these people. I know they can hurt me much more than I could ever hurt them.” This is the best article to forward to your white friends who “don’t see color.”
• The Brain That Wasn’t Supposed to Heal – “Steve Mishkin’s unexpected recovery is a case study in luck, split-second decisions, and the many, many things that need to go right for a trauma patient to get well.”
• In Its Fight Against Fake News, Facebook Found A Resilient Foe – “Some people sharing these stories may understand they’re looking at potentially specious stuff: ‘I so hope this is true!’ wrote one person who shared the Tsarnaev story. But many others clearly have no idea. ‘Good for the bastard,’ wrote another. ‘Maybe he should have left America alone,’ wrote another. (And the majority of people sharing the posts seem to do so with no added commentary at all.)” And in my experience, even including a “satire alert” for Onion articles sometimes goes unheard.

Featured Image