In an interview with PsyPost, lead study author Jesús Adrián-Ventura said that he and his team found that right-wing authoritarianism was associated with lower grey matter volume in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex — a "region involved in understanding others' thoughts and perspectives," as the assistant Zaragoza psychology professor put it.

So subscribing to "right-wing" beliefs (they merely describe it as adhering to conservative or traditional values) literally makes you less able to understand others. So even the brain shows signs of a lack of community and mutuality between people. While it doesn't surprise me that right-wingers are less understanding, it's intriguing that there seems to be a visible change in the brain. What I'm curious about now is if this can be reversed.

The left-wing authoritarians of the bunch — we don't know exactly how many, as the results weren't broken down in the paper — had less cortical (or outer brain layer) thickness in the right anterior insula, which is "associated with emotional empathy and behavioral inhibition." Cortical thickness in that brain region has been the subject of ample research, from a 2005 study that found people who meditate regularly have greater thickness in the right anterior insula to a 2018 study that linked it to greater moral disgust.

Ok so... left-wingers, according to this study, are less empathetic and more impulsive...

Kidding aside, if we take the article at face value, I think it'd be safe to say that we all need to mediate more and go on as we are. Still, more research would be nice. Hope they don't stop with this study.

I mean, we all agreed the next Pope would be worse, so...

This is gonna make the list of cool things that happened in 2025

Pretty much, yeah.

Al Jazeera is doing an enormous job for posterity (mostly), and maybe even for the off-chance of any of these monsters getting punished. I'm glad someone is doing it.

I've been discussing this with a friend too, the realization that militaries are hiring at insane rates these days. Forced conscription is not legally possible in my country (yet), but our military is offering more jobs than any other possible employer. It's terrifying if you're looking for jobs and desperately just want to get one that keeps you afloat, and all you get is "military here, military there, please learn how to shoot a gun, we really need more people who can shoot a gun, oh look, we love women who shoot guns too!" It's making me sick.

Lifelong fan here: Yes. YES. YEEEES. Please go and play them, they're amazing! Before I start rambling in earnest, when I played Syberia 3, it was even more buggy than it is now, but it hasn't been fixed according to more recent reviews. Safe to say, it was almost unplayable when it came out, now it seems to be barely holding together. The story did not make up for it in any way, shape, or form.

The first Syberia game I played when I was a kid, second one came soon after. They are so beautifully mesmerizing, and there's so much heart and thought put into them. Syberia, in general, always struck me as a mixture of nostalgia for a world that we never had, while at the same time being so close to reality that you feel like you've been in a similar/the same place before. (I've recently started reading Bill Cashmore's "We hear only ourselves" book on utopia, and as far as I've read, it couldn't be closer to the sentiments that the Syberia games evoke.) The first one is arguably the best, the second one continues in the same manner, the third one is shitshow of a game, and the fourth one is a beautiful masterpiece that had me crying every time I played it. They all vary in tone, emotion, and plot, but there is an overarching storyline. I am still hoping they'll do a fifth one and bring us the closure that the story demands, but I'm happy if they decide not to do it. You can, thankfully, skip the third game completely (you don't have to but I don't think you need it to appreciate the beauty of the fourth game) as there is a concise summary of all relevant plot points available at the beginning of the fourth game. Syberia has a beautiful storyline, supported by the non-steampunkish-steampunk design of the automatons, and riddles/puzzles that'll keep you on your toes (they get easier in 3 & 4, but no less fun imo). It's a definite recommendation for me, but I am very biased as those games were my introduction to gaming itself.

Hope you have a lot of fun playing them!

The funniest part is that in German, her name sounds almost like the word for layperson (Laie). So she's Ursula of the Laypersons.

Charming

Ah, now it makes sense that all my applications got turned down with "You're overqualified for the position"

Think my favorite moment was when the US withdrew one of their aircraft carriers once they realized the Houthis could hit it (don't remember all the details, but I thought it was extremely funny).

That's exactly it. And it might just wake up some of those who have been scared/conditioned into silence to at least think about it. I don't think it'll meaningfully change anything, no, but then again, if they didn't care already, one QR code won't change anything either.