1. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. While Blindsight being “the best sci-fi novel exploring other forms of consciousness” is a hill I am willing to die on, Lem’s cult classic Solaris is definitely a worthwhile read.
  2. Research Spotlight: The Interference Effect is Getting Less Scary by the Day by Greg Nuckols at Stronger by Science. New research suggests that endurance training does not counteract strength and hypertrophy-related goals as much as previously assumed.
  3. The New (Experimental) Ways To Tackle Mental Health Crisis by Nikhil Krishnan at Out Of Pocket. The offering of mental health solutions is currently larger than ever. Krishnan touches on the different approaches from coaching to peer-to-peer support, mental health tracking via digital biomarkers, to TMS.
  4. Effect of High-Intensity Interval Training and Intermittent Fasting on Body Composition and Physical Performance in Active Women by Martínez-Rodríguez et al. (2021). A 16 week study on active women in their late 30s compared standalone HIIT training with HIIT + intermittent fasting (IF). Unsurprisingly, IF was significantly more effective in reducing fat mass. But it also lead to a bigger increase in jumping performance. These findings align with the positive effects of IF combined with resistance training, as reviewed in a meta-analysis by Ashtary-Larky et al. (2021). However, we can’t rule out an indirectly reduced calorie intake.
  5. Virtual Communication Curbs Creative Idea Generation by Brucks and Levav (2022). The study indicates that remote collaboration is inferior to real-life collaboration in initial creative brainstorming. However, when it comes to selecting the ideas to implement, remote teams perform at least equally well.
  6. The Boneyard Principle: Why the Next Big Thing will Emerge from a Failed Idea by David King and Misty Sharma. Everyone knows that timing matters for the success of a product, but this article hones in on the importance of ballsy design decision. Often a small design detail (the forced decisions of Tinder, the immediate content of TikTok) can turn an existing idea into a whole new thing.
  7. Reality+ Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy by David Chalmers. “Reality+” is defined as the physical reality combined with the metaverse of augmented and virtual realities, perhaps even with a multiverse of alternative realities. In his book, Chalmers argues that virtual worlds are just real as our physical one and that we can lead meaningful lives inside metaverse-style virtual worlds. The book had a bit less depth than anticipated, so I can only recommend it to people who are relatively new to the topic.
  8. The Ownership Economy 2022 by Li Jin. While all the noise and nonsense in the Web 3 space can make it frustrating to interact with, the concept of the ownership economy itself is a space to watch. Jin and her team cover the current status, the failures, and the future outlook.
  9. Research Spotlight: The Progressive Effects of Sleep Restriction and Extension by Greg Nuckols. The study reviewed is “Extended Sleep Maintains Endurance Performance Better than Normal or Restricted Sleep” by Roberts et al. (2019) with a sample size of n = 9. Sleep extension (compared to normal and restricted sleep) shows positive effects on performance, with the largest effect on reaction time and mood states. This study also suggests that the effect doesn’t only affect younger athletes (a focal point in previous studies).
  10. How ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ Foretold Our Era of Grifting by Megan O’Grady at The New York Times. In re-reading Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley I came across this article that captured some of the key points — both of the novel and the author — beautifully . “Con artists have a way of milking the hypocrisies of an age […] Like a good novel, a skilled impostor can be the lie that tells the truth.”