News from the world of science
Keep what you eat in mind
Want to avoid piling on the pounds over Christmas? Then try imagining eating those fattening foods over and over again before you dive into them. A study published in Sciencehas found that this approach could help reduce the amount you take on board.
“Five experiments showed that people who repeatedly imagined eating a food (such as cheese) many times subsequently consumed less of the imagined food than did people who repeatedly imagined eating that food fewer times, imagined eating a different food (such as candy), or did not imagine eating a food,” write the authors.
New mistletoe in the tropics
Could there be a more festive botanical announcement? Kew Gardens has unveiled a newly described species of wild mistletoe, Helixanthera schizocalyx.
The plant was found growing in a biodiversity hotspot near Mount Mabu in northern Mozambique in 2008.
“It was spotted by the expedition’s renowned East African butterfly specialist, Colin Congdon, while the team were trekking up the mountain, on a path that took them from the moist montane forest up to where the broad granite peaks break through the dense foliage,” states the Kew website. “On closer inspection back at Kew it was confirmed a new plant species.”