Fandom and Neomedia Studies

This Week in Fandom and Neomedia Studies (23-29 May)

We’re starting up a new feature, a roundup of news and studies related to the FANS fields of interest. We hope to make this weekly so people can keep up to date on the newest developments in our areas of study. Please feel free to link/tag us with stories you think should be included in future editions.

Someone Measured Con Crud

As it turns out, each city has its own sort of microbiome with 1% differences every 20 km or so. That means you’re exposed to a brand new microbiome whenever you travel to a new city for a convention or conference and you bring a bit of your home brew with you to share with others. So, what we’ve always kind of known now has definite science behind it. Via Cell.

Brain Training Games Are Bogus

While they may be fun, it turns out that popular brain training games are effectively worthless in terms of increasing IQ. Setting aside the problematic nature of IQ itself for a moment (and it’s VERY problematic), the games purport to improve intelligence, recall, and other mental factors. In fact, it seems that they do none of that even with intense play over periods as long as five years. Via Experimental Psychology.

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