A Few Things #5

Here are a few things that I found interesting this week:

1. Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity by Van der Weel et al.
   Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology studied how handwriting and typewriting affected brain activity:

   “When writing by hand, brain connectivity patterns were far more elaborate than when typewriting on a keyboard, [which existing research shows] are crucial for memory formation and for encoding new information… Our findings suggest that [handwriting contributes] extensively to the brain’s connectivity patterns that promote learning.”

   I remember hearing of similar research I was in college, and it was the main reason that I took notes by hand instead of on a laptop. I’m glad to see that there’s more research on the topic and that those hand cramps were not in vain.

2. The mystery of the medieval fighting snails by Zaria Gorvett (BBC)
   Gorvett looks into the history of medieval illuminations, decorative illustrations that were added to the borders of a text. The subject of the illuminations did not need to match the text, and “for a brief period in the late 13th Century, illuminators… across Europe embraced a new obsession: fighting snails.”. Gorvett explores the possible reasons for the trend—none of which consider the possibility that there were megafauna snails in the medieval period.

3. Liz Climo Cartoons
   I saw one of these cartoons on r/wholesomememes and wanted to track down the creator. All of Climo’s comics feature cute animals in relatable situations. Very wholesome.

4. Banana Prices by XKCD
   When a student asks their Math teacher “Why do I need to learn this?”, they should be shown this.