'Crazy' Coffee Shop Study

Plus: Photos Of Courage, Temperature Roller Coaster, Controversial Hair Removal Ad editor's note Okay, even the researcher admits his study was "a bit crazy." Thomas Talhelm, a professor of behavioral science, had his team put chairs in the aisles of Chinese coffee shops in different regions. Then they watched to see if customers squeezed around the chairs or moved them out of the way. [Read the story here.]( Talhelm's thesis is that rice growers and their descendants would not disturb the chairs because rice-growing is a cooperative venture. Whereas wheat growers work on their own --- so they'd just push the chairs aside. In writing about the study, Maanvi Singh found that different researchers have different perspectives about coffee shop etiquette. As for me, I'll confess that I'd move those chairs. Maybe that's because as an editor, I'm always shifting paragraphs around! [Read the story here.]( Marc Silver Editor, Goats and Soda how to raise a human Does raising kids have to be stressful? Is it actually dangerous for new babies to sleep with mom? Do chores have to be a fight? Over the next month, NPR’s Science Desk is going to take a close look at the advice parents are given and travel around the world for ideas to make parenting easier. Sign up for NPR Health’s newsletter to get the stories in your inbox: [( medical news [How Worried Should You Be About A Disease You've Never Heard Of?]( Earlier this spring, there were scary stories in the Saudi media about Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever. To find out what was really going on, we interviewed a specialist on tick-borne viruses. [Are We Prepared For A Killer Flu Epidemic?]( A 21st-century outbreak could be as nightmarish as the 1918 pandemic. So the Gates Foundation wants to spur the development of a flu vaccine. [Giving Antibiotics To Healthy Kids In Poor Countries: Good Idea Or Bad Idea?]( Researchers administered doses of azithromycin to 190,238 children in sub-Saharan Africa. The death rate dropped, but fear of antibiotic resistance looms. hair-raising debate [Hair Removal Ad Makes Pakistani Women Go 'Wow' -- But Not In A Good Way]( The commercial celebrates hairlessness. And it prompted a cricket star to speak out, charging that the ad promotes "body shaming and objectification." courage in photojournalism [Award-Winning Images Touch 'Your Head And Your Heart']( Andrea Bruce is the 2018 winner of the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award -- given for work depicting scenes from conflicts and disasters. quote of the week ["Cellal alaa cogu -- health has no price."]( Haja Bah is an Ebola survivor in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital. She sounds a lament that speaks for many survivors. Four years after the outbreak began devastating West Africa and two years after the end of the last flare-up, she says, "But they have forgotten us ... and many are still suffering." climate change [A Temperature Roller Coaster Could Be Coming]( Global warming has so far seen a gradual rise in average temperatures. But that may change, with extreme variations. And poor countries could bear the brunt of it. [Twitter]( [Tumblr]( NPR | 1111 N. Capitol St. NE | Washington, DC 20002 | [Privacy Policy]( This message was sent to {EMAIL} based on your NPR email subscriptions. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you may [unsubscribe]( at any time. [NPR](