Selfie Addicts May Not Make Good Partners

Good news for anyone who has ever twitched with rage at the friend who constantly posts selfies of their apparently perfect life online: the biggest offenders could be damaging their romantic relationships. Researchers are working to understand how selfies affect our self perception and the quality of our romantic relationships. The team behind an initial study entitled “The online ideal persona vs the jealousy effect” sound that the more selfies a couple take, the more likely they will view their relationship as a “lower quality”. They pinned this down to jealousy stemming from the comments about the pictures, as well as the creation of an “online ideal persona” that was different to real life.

Other studies have also revealed how social media surveillance of a romantic partner is associated with greater jealousy, insecurity and dissatisfaction in relationships. Their findings follow a previous study by the same team which found that those who were more narcissistic take more selfies, but that the photos also boosted feelings of self-importance. To make those findings, they surveyed 314 people aged between 18 to 65 years old, and again a year later. The respondents were asked to rank on a one to five scale questions including “I like to be the centre of attention,” “I will never be satisfied until I get all that I deserve,” and “I like to look at myself in their mirror,” according to Pacific Magazine. The researchers also asked how frequently the participants took and shared photos of themselves on social media.

Roller Coaster Rides Can Help Patients Get Rid Of Kidney Stones

Getting rid of kidney stones may now be as fun as riding on a roller coaster, according to scientists who found that the activity helps patients pass stones with 70% success rate. Using a validated, synthetic 3D model of a hollow kidney with three kidney stones no larger than 4 millimeters, he took the model in a backpack and rode a roller coaster 20 times. Sitting in the last car of the roller coaster showed a 64% passage rate, while sitting in the first few cars only had 16% success. Then the researchers rode the same roller coaster with multiple kidney models attached to the researchers.

They also found that both studies showed a 100% passage rate if the stones were located in the upper chamber of the kidney. Researcher said roller coasters too fast or too violent won’t work as the G-force pins the stones into the kidney and doesn’t allow it to pass. The ideal coaster is rough and quick with some twists and turns, but no upside down or inverted movements. Lithotripsy, which breaks apart kidney stones that are too large to pass, is a common treatment but it can leave remnants in the kidney which can result in another kidney stone.