Chris Martin

Matching sounds to shapes: Evidence of the bouba-kiki effect in naïve baby chicks Humans across multiple languages spontaneously associate the nonwords “kiki” and “bouba” with spiky and round shapes, respectively, a phenomenon named the bouba-kiki effect. To explore the origin of t...

“Humans across multiple languages spontaneously associate the nonwords kiki & bouba with spiky & round shapes, respectively...We tested the bouba-kiki effect in baby chickens. Similar to humans, they spontaneously chose a spiky shape when hearing a kiki sound & a round shape when hearing a bouba.”😲🧪

By Fernando Pessoa

In 2024, 15 of the “Low-Wage 20” corporations paid workers less than $35,631 per year, which would make a 3-person family eligible for Medicaid in most states. 13 of the 20 companies in the report paid below the $33,576 per year threshold for a family of the same size to be eligible for food stamps.

When we talk about Baby Boomers not getting off the stage: In 1997, the US president was born in 1946.

In 2007, the US president was born in 1946.

In 2017, the US president was born in 1946.

And next year in 2027? The US president will have been born in 1946.

1953 Iranian coup d'état - Wikipedia

The US-UK coup (1953) was much closer in time to the embassy takeover (1979) than that takeover is to this week’s US attack on Iran en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Ir...

Don't want to unfairly dunk on this guy, because pro-Eisenhower propaganda has convinced people that he was George McGovern with an R next to his name, but Eisenhower was an awful President for anyone who considers themselves a friend of progress, and in this thread, I'll cover why. 🧵

Cover of Disoriental

A great book for anyone interested in Iran or just appreciative of great novels: Disoriental by Negaj Djavadi.

Violent and non-violent death tolls for the Gaza conflict: new primary evidence from a population-representative field survey This first independent population survey of mortality in the Gaza Strip shows that violent deaths have substantially exceeded official figures whereas the demographic composition of casualties aligns ...

The new Lancet study on the genocide in Gaza finds that total deaths were 1.71 times higher than reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health as of January 2025.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Generals should disobey orders to start a war unless it’s authorized by Congress. So it’s not just Trump that is blameworthy.

A ship in harbor is safe. But that's not what ships are built for. Actually many ships are built just to be in harbor, such as tug boats. So take risks and get out there. Except if you're a tugboat, in which case you've made a terrible decision and placed yourself somewhere you shouldn't be.

Israel kills more journalists than any nation on record: Media watchdog Israel responsible for 84 of 129 journalist killings in 2025 tracked by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Israel responsible for 84 of 129 journalist killings in 2025 tracked by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

I just did a Ctrl+F for Aquinas and you'll never believe what happened next.

The new Strength In Numbers/@verasight.io poll finds Democrats leading on the generic ballot by 10 points among registered voters.
(@gelliottmorris.com)
More, via Opinion Today:
opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260225

Didn't think we'd ever solve this problem....

Supreme Court Says You Can’t File Tort Suits Against Postal Carriers Who Won’t Deliver Mail to Black People According to Clarence Thomas, mail that your mail carrier steals from you is really just “lost,” if you think about it.

You can't sue the government if postal workers accidentally drop the glassware you ordered or lose a letter from your pen pal

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that this means you also can't sue if postal workers refuse to deliver your mail because you're Black

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/posta...

Two bar graphs showing Congress members holding leadership positions are less likely to apologize.

Leaders are less likely to apologize. This graph is from Study 1.

New work by Nguyen & Galinsky from the Trust and Cooperation Preconference at #SPSP2026.

This is the most incredible footage of blue whales I’ve ever seen

To what extent do you think Merrick Garland was to blame? To me, he shoulders almost all of the blame.

In all seriousness we should also have something like the BBC Young Musician of the Year Award.

I believe the volume is what people are trying to control. The volume of anonymous bullying that you can get online is much, much greater.

Crooked Timber is still around

Today’s Kurt Cobain’s 59th birthday. A few years back I got to write the "official" government dedication for Nirvana and grunge. Probably the one thing that I've done that'll still be read 200 years from now. www.loc.gov/static/progr...

‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, i...

A retired British primary school administrator with a British passport and a valid visa was shackled, chained and detained for six weeks by ICE

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

UK: Prince Andrew arrested.

South Korea: Former President Yoon sentenced for life.

Brazil: Former President Bolsonaro serving a 27-year sentence.

USA: President Trump demands $10 billion payout from taxpayers.

He has a 2010 paper that is quite good

Mozart. Schubert. Beethoven. And then there’s Haydn with 104 symphonies.

Batman and Robin. I watched ten minutes and left the theater.

And at the end I thought—was that just a sequence of fights with no plot? At least John Williams got a cameo

I accidentally got tipsy before watching it AND accidentally got tickets for the 4D version. So I was woozy and it felt like I was being kicked in the back. I fell asleep somewhere in the middle nonetheless.