Venting might be making you angrier, Neanderthals apparently had a type, and unborn babies are already forming strong opinions about kale. This week we bounce from modern psychology to ancient DNA to fetal facial expressions, with a quick detour into pokie machines and how they might be made a little less addictive. We start with a meta analysis suggesting venting is not the healthy release we have been sold. Instead of calming you down, it can keep your body fired up and make the anger stick around longer. The less satisfying fix is also the more effective one, doing things that lower arousal like breathing, yoga, and anything that stops you replaying the same rant on loop. Then we head back to prehistory, where research suggests Neanderthal DNA patterns point to pairings that may have involved Neanderthal men and human women more often than the reverse. The details are complicated, but the headline is simple. Neanderthals are not just history, they are part of us, and the human story has always been messier than we like to admit. Finally, we look at a study that might explain why some people hate vegetables with the passion of a thousand suns. Fetuses exposed to carrot flavours appeared to react more positively than those exposed to kale, hinting that taste preferences may start before birth. We wrap up with a surprisingly practical idea for pokie machines, adding sounds for losses as well as wins to make the experience less psychologically sneaky. CHAPTERS: 00:00 Venting Myth 02:40 Science Debunks Catharsis 04:06 Meta Analysis Breakdown 05:40 Calm Down Not Amp Up 06:59 Jogging And Anger 09:25 Why We Love Anger 10:53 Play Metal And Fun 11:48 Neanderthal DNA Mystery 13:07 Who Mated With Whom 14:17 Neanderthal Dating Bias 15:16 Hybrid Myths and Mechanics 16:28 Picky Eaters Rant 18:54 Fetuses Taste Flavours 20:08 Carrot Smiles vs Kale Grimaces 23:30 Pokies Need Losing Sounds 27:47 Petition and Sign-Off SOURCES: Interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans was strongly sex biased Why I risked prison to add a 'Losing Sound' to poker machines Flavour Sensing in Utero and Emerging Discriminative Behaviours in the Human Fetus https://www.sciencealert.com/venting-doesnt-reduce-anger-but-something-else-does-review-finds See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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