1. Is What You See What You Get? Perceptions of Personal Trainersʼ Competence, Knowledge, and Preferred Sex of Personal Trainer Relative to Physique by Boerner et al. (2019). The study found that personal trainer physique significantly influenced individuals’ perceptions of trainer characteristics, with mesomorphic and ectomorphic body types being rated as more competent than endomorphic body types, and muscular trainers being perceived as more knowledgeable and competent than non-muscular trainers. Female trainers were perceived as more competent and knowledgeable than male trainers, but not necessarily preferred.
  2. Demystifying Text Data with the unstructured Python Library by Saeed Esmaili. Working with text data can be challenging due to its lack of neat structure like numerical data. In this tutorial, Saeed Esmaili demonstrates various options for handling text data, focusing on the usage of “unstructured,” a Python data transformation library.
  3. How to Blow Up a Timeline by Eugene Wei. “Usually, social networks are killed off by something exogenous, usually another, newer social network. Twitter went out and bought Chekhov’s gun in the first act and use it to shoot itself in the foot in the third act. Zuckerberg can now extend his quip about Twitter being a clown car that fell into a gold mine.”
  4. Don’t Close the Door on Creatine Yet by Greg Nuckols at Stronger by Science. A meta-analysis of 11 studies on creatine supplementation and muscle growth found that while the effect size was considered “trivial,” which lead many to believe that creatine’s effect was less than previously assumed. However, it still resulted in about 1/3rd faster muscle growth compared to not taking creatine during a training intervention — so in the context of the average muscle growth, the effect is undeniable.
  5. The Evolutionary Mystery of Menopause by David P. Barash for Nautilus. It appears that a non-reproductive grandmother not only contributes to the he evolutionary success of her grandchildren, but that this role also maintains her vitality and well-being in old age.