🪞 Snakes can recognize themselves in the mirror.. sort of

SCIENCE

SNAKES CAN RECOGNIZE THEMSELVES IN THE MIRROR.. sort of

Researchers recently discovered that snakes have the capacity for self-identification, but not how you would expect…

They found that snakes are able to distinguish between their own scent and that of other snakes, indicating that each individual snake has their own signature scent!

WHY IT MATTERS?

• Self-cognition is a leading indicator for more sophisticated intelligence.

• In plain english: snakes are probably a lot smarter than we previously thought.

GO DEEPER: Read more here

CULTURE

INFLUENCERS WILL HELP YOU EAT YOUR VEGGIES

English researchers studied whether a person’s social media diet could influence their IRL diet - namely, whether following health and fitness influencers would help people improve their diet.

The result: following health influencers for just a few short weeks led to a marked increase in consumption of fruits and vegetables and a major decrease in eating junk food.

WHY IT MATTERS?

• While a majority of Americans use social media daily, only 1 in 10 Americans eat their daily recommended amount of fruits and vegetables.

• Social media could prove to be a valuable tool for improving nutrition among the general public

GO DEEPER: Read more here

SCIENCE

SHROOMS HELP WITH CHRONIC PAIN - THESE RATS SAY SO

We’re not endorsing the use of the magic mushrooms here at Da Vinci Daily, but these lab-rats would probably beg to disagree!

New research published in Current Biology showed that a treatment of magic mushrooms dramatically reduced chronic pain for rats with little to no side effects.

These results in rats are a promising step toward the development of more effective treatment of chronic pain in humans.

WHY IT MATTERS?

• More than 1 in 5 Americans suffer from chronic pain.

• Magic mushrooms might be more than the key to a goofy evening - increasing treatment efficacy for chronic would be a game changer for millions of Americans.

GO DEEPER: Read more here

QUICK HITS:

• Zendaya’s new romance film “Challengers” debuted this past weekend to widespread critical acclaim, earning a 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

• The federal government is now investigating Tesla for the implementation of self-driving technology amidst a growing concern about the safety of the tech on the road.

• Washington state police are on the lookout for a runaway zebra after four others got loose in the suburbs of Seattle. See the bizarre story here

BOOK OF THE WEEK: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

Anxiety has skyrocketed among people under the age of 30, particularly among young girls, and researchers have struggled to answer why.

In this important new book, Jonathan Haidt reveals just how harmful the proliferation of social media has become for the mental health of America’s youth.

GET IT HERE