Why Remembering Names is So Hard

Have you ever met someone at a party and soon after introducing yourselves realize you don’t remember their name? Turns out you aren’t the only one. Research shows that forgetting someone’s name is the result of various social circumstances including the Baker effect, which points out that someone who reveals that they work as a baker is much more memorable than someone whose says their …

Spiders Fall From the Sky in Australia

Millions of spiders were recently seen falling from the sky in the Southern Tablelands region of Australia, using parachutes made from their own silk strands. The tiny spiders—known as sheet-web weavers or money spiders—took to the skies in a mass migration called a ballooning event. During these events, the spiders will crawl to the highest point they can reach (ie: a fence pole) and cast …

Songs That Make Us Cry

After asking listeners to send in songs that make them cry, NPR trawled through 7,000+ tracks and found that though some of the results were expected, others weren’t. While “Adagio for Strings” sounds like it was composed to make people misty eyed, “Highway to Hell” perhaps doesn’t. However, the team at NPR found that oftentimes, the reasons songs made listeners weepy isn’t about composition and …