Yes, heat makes it harder for students to learn. Students perform worse on tests when they’re hot, according to multiple studies by economists R. Jisung Park and Joshua Goodman, among others.
One study tracked 10 million secondary students who took the PSAT, a standardized exam used to identify students for college scholarships, multiple years between 2001 and 2014. The researchers found that cumulative heat exposure decreases the productivity of instructional time—without school air conditioning, a 1 degree hotter school year reduced that year’s learning by 1 percent.
The effect was three times more damaging for Black and Hispanic students than for white students, that study found. A similar discrepancy was found for students from low-income households compared to their affluent peers.”
For too long, sharks have been portrayed and perceived as the menacing, lurking creatures in the deep. Contrary to popular belief, we are much more of a threat to them than they are to us.
Researchers have found that the ominous music that often accompanies even documentary footage of them has inspired excessive fear about sharks.
In an experiment at UC San Diego, participants watched footage of sharks. Some scenes featured uplifting music, and others had a more daunting score.
The effect was what you might expect. Viewers saw sharks as intimidating creatures when they they also heard ominous music.
But with uplifting music (or none at all), viewers had a more positive impression of sharks.
This is problematic because rarely do we see shark footage without the ominous music, and the negativeportrayals of sharks may be hindering conservation efforts.
“We know from prior research that conservation progress for sharks is sluggish compared to marine mammals and that this slow response may be due in part to the societal marginalization of sharks,” says study co-author Elizabeth Keenan.
After all, in the words of Senegalese conservationist Baba Diou, “we will conserve only what we love.”
And while they’re still not exactly a furry, cuddly rabbit, consider this: you’re more likely to be struck by lightening than fall prey to a fatal shark attack.
Monument Valley By Edgar Payne (1883 – 1947) c. 1925 oil on canvas, 30 x 34 inches
“These are the kinds of clouds you see ships in, turtles in, the kinds of clouds you see the mouths of wolves in. These are the kinds of rocks you see lost cities in, lost worlds in, the kinds of rocks where great warriors contend with great beasts. Far off, at right, rain streaks into shadow. Soon the light will shift, and the shapes will shift with the light, and you will make new worlds of these shapes, worlds for your imagination to revel in and dwell in.”
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