'The Pandemic Made People Worse Drivers,' a driving update

As I predicted, Pearl passed 70,000 miles yesterday, so it's time for a driving update. I begin with SciShow reporting The Pandemic Made People Worse Drivers, among other things.

We all picked up new habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. But not all of them stuck. Here's the data on whether we're better or worse drivers, exercisers, social media community members, neighbors, and self carers than during and before lockdown.

I've known that the pandemic increased murders and bad driving for four years, since I wrote Americans speeding during the pandemic is increasing traffic deaths, a driving update.

In the past week of returning to in-person teaching and resuming my pre-pandemic driving patterns, I've observed several people driving just as Krugman described, weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds. While a few Michigan drivers were doing that all along before the pandemic, I think I've seen more this week than the pre-pandemic average. Based on the data and my personal observations, I agree with Krugman that "the pandemic and its disruptions seem to have done a number on social psychology in many dimensions. The worrisome thing is that troubled behavior seems to be persisting even as the country reopens." Here's to hoping that subsides when the pandemic is over, which it isn't.

I also knew about increased social media use, which persisted, and worse mental health, which the stats say has returned to the pre-pandemic normal. What I didn't know about were the Cannonball Run record, increased drinking, childhood obesity, strokes, and drug deaths, along with worse heart health. I can't say I'm surprised at any of them, except the Cannonball Run. I thought that was only a movie. I'm also relieved that driving is improving and the murder rate is decreasing. It give me hope that the rest of the craziness will subside as well.

That's the general driving situation. Follow over the jump for my personal update.

Ray 'CityNerd' Delahanty explains how 'Dunning-Kruger Is a Scourge On Our Roads,' a driving update

As I promised yesterday, today's educational entry is a CityNerd video about drivers and a driving update, since Pearl passed 70,000 miles yesterday. Watch as Ray 'CityNerd' Delahanty explains how Dunning-Kruger Is a Scourge On Our Roads.

I've often heard that EVERYONE thinks they're an above average driver. Well, I wanted to look at data to see if it's actually true, share research on how the Dunning-Kruger effect impacts driving, and look at wider consequences on our transportation system.

I've been blogging for 15 years and I've never mentioned the Dunning-Kruger effect until now? I'm amazed. I've had so many opportunities to apply it, especially during two administrations of "only the best people." *Snort*

That written, I'm not surprised at either people's inflated self-assessments of their driving skills or how poor they really are. I wish I weren't surprised that the people who did the worst actually upgraded their self-assessments after doing poorly. I guess they thought they did better than they expected. And I have to share the road with them? Ugh.

That's the general driving situation. Follow over the jump for my personal driving update.

Bumblebees show their intelligence by rolling balls and pulling strings for World Bee Day

Happy World Bee Day! Since honeybees have their own day, I'm looking at the other well-known group of social bees today, bumblebees. In particular, I'm examining their more fun behaviors as indicators of their intelligence, beginning with SciShow's Bumblebees Play ... And it's Adorable.

There’s just about nothing better than watching a kitty play with a ball of yarn, but there’s another unexpected animal that enjoys playtime, too! And certain birds appear to have the abilities of self-control!

The last year I took classes for my M.S. degree, I enrolled in both mammalogy and ornithology. One of the things that struck me after taking both classes was that mammals played a lot but birds played a lot less. The textbooks reflected this disparity, with pages and pages devoted to play in the mammalogy text, but maybe half a page in the ornithology text. The same professor taught both courses and I asked him about it and he said that the books accurately reflected the two classes' behavior, with the mammals playing more because they were more intelligent. Birds don't have to be as bright as long as the best solution to a problem is to fly away. No surprise that the most playful birds are the corvids, the same birds the video examined for their intelligence.

What does this have to do with play in bees? I found bees being bright enough to play a good argument in favor of them being brighter than I expected. However, I should have known better, as scientists have been studying intelligence in bumblebees for years. Follow over the jump for three more videos of bumblebees demonstrating their problem-solving skills from six years ago.

Silly Squirrels for Happy Wester 2017!

Happy Wester!*  For my readers who don't yet know the story of Wester, I'm quoting For Winter Solstice 2016, the Archdruid and I discuss Discordianism and fake holidays.

[Me:] Oh, I'm familiar with Discordianism.  I'm single-handedly keeping alive a fake holiday called Wester, which is the first Sunday following the first Full Moon after the Autumnal Equinox.  When I first posted about it, my Discordian friend claimed it for Discordianism.  As far as I'm concerned, it's still a Discordian holiday.
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[Greer:] Pinku-Sensei, yes, I thought I remembered you were a closet Discordian. Wester is funny; presumably that was the day that some messiah or other descended from the living?
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[Me:] I agree, Wester is funny.  As for an anointed one descending from the living, sorry, that wasn't part of the Wester story that I heard.  However, the holiday has its own animal mascot, the Wester Squirrel, which goes around and gathers goodies to hide instead of hiding goodies to pass out like the Easter Bunny.

The coversation led to Greer suggesting Norther and Souther with lemming and wombat mascots respectively, suggestions I followed through on -- but that's not the subject of today's post.**  Instead, since I've been featuring the best in last year's nature films and TV shows, I'm continuing on with funny clips of squirrels from nature shows.  I begin with Squirrel Uses 'Walking Dead' Move to Hide from Snakes from Nature on PBS.

Has this squirrel species been watching "The Walking Dead"?
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In the popular TV series "The Walking Dead" humans can hide from zombies by covering themselves in zombie guts, masking their scent. The California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi) uses a similar tactic to hide from a major predator, the rattlesnake, which relies on smell to track down its prey.

Last year, I celebrated Wester with an image of a zombie squirrel.  This year, it's only fitting I post a video of a squirrel using an anti-zombie snake defense.

Since the Wester squirrel takes treats away and hides them, it's also only fitting that I share Squirrel steals a fake nut - Spy in the Wild: Episode 2 Preview - BBC One.

A squirrel uses his intelligence to outwit a nut thief by pretending he's burying a nut.

Serves that squirrel right.  That reminds me, it's time for a Wester blessing.  May the Wester Squirrel not steal anything from you and hide it!

*In the first Happy Wester post here, I passed along the observation that Wester usually falls during the Jewish festival of Sukkot or The Feast of Tabernacles.  This is true this year and my wife and I have been invited to a sukkuh decorating party.  I've never been to one, despite growing up in a Jewish neighborhood.  I've been told it will be fun.

**The next Norther will be January 7, as the full moon falls on New Year's Day, so there will be a Blue Moon on January 31.  Speaking of blue lunar holidays, the first full moon after the 2018 winter solstice will fall on Saturday December 22nd, so there will be a second Norther on December 23.  Blue Norther on Festivus!

'Nature: Super Hummingbirds' wins Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary

I noted my intentions for today in the introduction to 'Sonic Sea' wins Outstanding Nature Documentary and Outstanding Music and Sound and returned to it to conclude yesterday's entry.

Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary, a category I'll return to tomorrow.
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I plan on posting more about the other winners in science, nature, health, and the environment tomorrow and next week, continuing with the winner of Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary.  Stay tuned.

The nominee that earned the statue for  was the episode that I featured in Nature documentary nominees are well photographed at the 2017 News and Documentary Emmy Awards, "Nature: Super Hummingbirds."  Here is Katty Kay presenting the award.


To celebrate, here are two clips from Nature on PBS that show both the "super hummingbirds" and the amazing camera work that captured them.  First, Hummingbird's Face Resembles Baby Octopus.

Do female Costa's hummingbirds really find this look attractive?
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Spring is the time to nest for the Costa's hummingbirds, before the desert gets too hot. Both males and females are looking for a partner, but it's up to him to impress her. Though his back shimmers with green, it’s not until we get her point of view that we see his true splendor. He flexes the iridescent feathers of his mantle until they become a glowing mask of violet.

Next, Hummingbirds Battle in the Air.

Hummingbirds may look cute, but they have a fierce warrior within.
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Hummingbirds sometimes use their unmatched flying skills for something other than feeding on flowers--for fighting over them. Flowers in full bloom are a call to arms. It’s fight and flight – a display of skill and fiery tempers.

I don't know if I'll use these videos in my classes, but I certainly will recommend this show to my students for extra credit.  In fact, I did so yesterday.

I will return to the winners of the News and Documentary Emmy Awards next week after I wish my readers a Happy Wester tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

Seeker/DNews is optimistic about how people would behave during the apocalypse

I write a lot about post-apocalyptic fiction, particularly in films and television.  All of those thrive on conflict, which fuels drama and contributes to the viewers' entertainment.  Seeker/DNews reports that would be unrealistic in What Would Happen in an Apocalypse... According to Science.

Most people think the apocalypse would bring violence, crime, and selfishness. But according to scientists, that's just not realistic.
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People remain calm as the world ends, video game study suggests
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"As the world ends, will you lock arms and sing "Kumbayah" or embark on a path of law-breaking, anti-social behavior? A new study, based upon the virtual actions of more than 80,000 players of the role-playing video game ArcheAge, suggests you'll be singing. The study...found that despite some violent acts, most players tended toward behavior that was helpful to others as their virtual world came to an end."

I hope that's true.  If so, that's good news, even if it might not be good entertainment.

By the way, my wife plays ArcheAge.  I wonder what she'll think of the cited study, especially since she's a psychologist.  Hmm.

Seeker/DNews on Spring for the Vernal Equinox

Happy arrival of astronomical Spring!  USA informs its readers of the exact time of the Vernal Equinox in First day of spring officially arrives early Monday.

It's the day warm weather fans have been waiting months for: Monday is the first day of spring!

Spring officially arrives at 6:28 a.m. EDT (3:28 a.m. PDT) Monday, when the sun will be directly over the equator, marking the spring (aka vernal) equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere. For the folks down under in the Southern Hemisphere, it will be the first day of autumn.

To celebrate, I'm sharing three videos from DNews, which now calls itself Seeker, about Spring in general and the Vernal Equinox in particular, beginning with What Is Spring?

It's the first day of spring, which means longer days, warmer weather, and the advent of flowers blooming. In this DNews video, Trace has the lowdown on what signals the changing of the seasons, plus the nifty way flowers know this intuitively!

That video was from 2013.  Follow over the jump for two more, one each from 2014 and 2015.*

More evolution in action among urban animals

Last month, I explored how Eastern Coyotes AKA Coywolves were evolving and becoming better adapted for urban life.  It turns out it's not just coyotes.  Newsy reports how coyotes and other animals evolve to live in cities.

Animals are evolving to live in cities. They can change their behavior and biology to thrive in a place meant for humans.

While I knew about how coyotes changed their behavior around people (the neighborhood in Los Angeles where I grew up had coyotes coming down out of the hills to hunt cats 50 years ago), I didn't know about how birds change the pitch of their songs or how city mice have larger brains than country mice -- city living makes animals smarter too!

Speaking of coyotes in urban settings, Fox 47 in Lansing passed along Coyote sightings rising in residential neighborhoods two days ago.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is offering new advice to help neighbors make their homes less appealing to coyotes as the number of coyote sightings in residential neighborhoods increases. Biology experts said coyotes are looking for food and residential neighborhoods can make that search easy. Put away your trash bins, bird feeders and pet food so coyotes are not attracted to them. Keep these kind of items away from your yard.

I learned something from both videos, making the time watching them well spent.  Any day I learn something is a good day and I hope its a good day for my readers, too.

Watch evolution in action on Black Friday

In honor of Black Friday, I am reposting my favorite article I wrote as Detroit Science News Examiner from 2009 in its entirety.  It is just as timely today as it was when I first posted it on Christmas Eve two years ago.  In addition to being my favorite from that year, this article was the first one of mine to be ranked as the most popular on the Detroit Edition of Examiner.com, something I was so proud of that I took a screenshot of it.




And now, the article.

Watch evolution in action among last-minute Christmas shoppers