Fascinating and rare footage shows a male sea dragon carefully carrying his female's eggs under his tail.

Underwater videographer Jarrod Boord, 37, captured the video whilst deep diving in Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne.  The stunning piece of footage has even garnered the attention of David Attenborough, who wrote Boord a personal letter.

Male sea dragons are responsible for carrying eggs after fertilisation, which happens in a delicate process were the female transfers the babies to the male.  As with sea horses, sea dragon males are responsible for childbearing.  They carry the offspring for around a month before the hatchlings emerge into the water.

But instead of a pouch, like sea horses have, male sea dragons have a spongy brood patch on the underside of the tail where females deposit their bright-pink eggs during mating.  The males incubate the eggs and carry them to term, releasing miniature sea dragons into the water after about four to six weeks.

These elusive creatures are only known to be located in the Southern Ocean and can be hard to spot unless you know where to look.

Mr Boore, who grew up photographing wildlife, moved into film and has won multiple awards for his documentary and wildlife cinematography.  He says that these leaf-shaped creatures are his favourite animal and was amazed to find that the male he was tracking was carrying eggs.

'It is not very common to see as they can only be seen with eggs at particular times of year.  I also once received a letter from David Attenborough about how the Weedy Sea Dragon is one of his favourite animals too.  I think the video is amazing as it can show how everyone is different, but we all have our strengths, no matter what others say,' he said.

Pollution and habitat loss have also hurt their numbers, and they are currently listed as near threatened.

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The horror genre has long maintained its popularity despite fear otherwise being a negative experience.  According to new research, this may be in part because horror entertainment gives us a sense of control over our fears and stimulates the emotions.  In one of several recent studies designed to shed light on the phenomenon, the researchers analyzed the mental tactics used by haunted house attendees to either maximize or reduce their fear.

In the study, Mathias Clasen from Aarhus University in Denmark surveyed 280 haunted house visitors after asking them to focus on taking control of their fear, according to New Scientist.  This revealed stark contrasts between participants who were asked to minimize their own fear, and those instructed to boost it.  All participants, however, got physically closer to the other people in their group.

‘It was striking that the same gesture of seeking physical proximity can work in those diametrically opposed ways,’ Clasen told New Scientist.

According to the researcher, the participants who were instructed to maximize their fear ultimately reported more enjoyment than the other group, despite being more scared.  The findings suggest horror films or similar experiences help thrill-seekers feel as though they’re overcoming simulated danger.

‘When people report that they were more scared, they may not mean they were scared for their life, but enjoying a high state of [emotional] arousal, rather than pure fear,’ Garriy Shteynberg at the University of Tennessee told New Scientist.

Recent research has helped paint a better picture of the mechanisms that control fear in the human brain, and some scientists are even working to eradicate it.

A study published in 2017 claimed to have discovered a way to erase fear memory from the brain.  In the study, researchers in Japan created bursts of ‘destructive oxygen’ to inactivate specific responses in the hippocampus of mice.  This region is involved in memory and navigation, and the work may have implications for human treatments, as similar techniques have been proposed with hopes they can one day help treat PTSD and other memory-related disorders.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

Mindfulness is a natural painkiller, research suggests.

A study found the trendy meditation - favoured by the likes of Hollywood's resident 'health guru' Gwyneth Paltrow and pop sensation Katy Perry - is just as effective at easing discomfort as the go-to treatment cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

Focusing the mind on the present moment is thought to help sufferers cope with their discomfort, which also improves their 'physical functioning' and reduces their risk of depression.

The research was carried out by The Ottawa Hospital in Ontario, and led by the biostatistician Dr Wei Cheng.  Writing in the journal Evidence Based Mental Health, the scientists said: 'While CBT is considered to be the preferred psychological intervention of [chronic pain], not all patients with [it] experience a clinically significant treatment response.  Although a number of recommendations have been proposed to improve CBT for patients with chronic pain, an additional solution may be to offer patients mindfulness based stress reduction.  [Mindfulness] shows promise in improving pain severity and reducing pain interference and psychological distress.'

Chronic pain affects one in five adults and 'may impact all dimensions of a person's wellbeing'.  The most common psychological-based treatment is CBT, which aims to help people develop coping mechanisms for their discomfort.  However, this does not work for all sufferers.

The researchers set out to determine CBT's effectiveness compared to mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR).  MBSR focuses on 'building awareness and acceptance of moment-to-moment experiences including physical discomfort and difficult emotions'.

The scientists trawled through 21 studies with a total of nearly 2,000 chronic pain sufferers.  These patients - who were mainly women - underwent either CBT or MBSR for at least three months.  The participants were aged between 35 and 65, and largely suffered from musculoskeletal pain, such as back ache or arthritis.  In nearly four out of ten of the studies, the patients had endured their pain for more than a decade.

Results suggested mindfulness is just as effective as CBT when it comes to improving 'physical functioning'.  Both are also equally as good at easing pain and reducing associated conditions, such as depression.

But the researchers stress only one of the studies directly compared CBT with MBSR.  The scientists also only judged 12 of the trials to be of 'reasonable or good quality'.

Further research is therefore required to determine if CBT or mindfulness is better for people with different types of pain and psychological symptoms, they add.

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Driverless cars will cruise around city centres while their owners shop instead of parking to avoid extortionate parking fees, according to new research.

The influx of the controversial vehicles meandering around the roads would likely increase congestion and cause huge traffic jams, scientists claim.  During this time they will also save petrol by going slow to 'kill time' - amplifying the issue.

Adam Millard-Ball, an associate professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said: 'Parking prices are what get people out of their cars and on to public transit.  But autonomous vehicles have no need to park at all.  They can get around paying for parking by cruising.  They will have every incentive to create havoc.'

Chancellor Philip Hammond expects 'fully driverless cars', with no safety attendant on board, to be in use in just two years - by 2021.

The study, published in the journal Transport Policy says the nightmare of 'robot-fuelled gridlock' is right around the corner.  Professor Millard-Ball says self driving, or autonomous, vehicles are likely to become commonplace in the next five to 20 years.  He carried out the first analysis of its kind into the combined impact of parking costs and the vehicles on city centres where the expense and availability of space restricts car travel.  It found, under the 'best-case scenario,' the presence of just 2,000 self-driving cars in downtown San Francisco will slow traffic to less than two miles per hour.

Professor Millard-Ball used game theory and a traffic micro-simulation model to generate his predictions.  He said: 'It just takes a minority to gum things up.  Drivers would go as slowly as possibly so they wouldn't have to drive around again.'

Free smartphone parking areas, coupled with strict enforcement in loading areas, relieved the airport snarls.  But cities will be hard-pressed to provide remote parking areas for driverless cars at rates lower than the cost of cruising.  Professor Millard-Ball estimates this at just 50 cents an hour - about 30p in English money.

The solution, according to the researchers, lies in 'congestion pricing' to charge people for entering densely populated areas.   In London's city centre, motorists pay a flat fee of £11.50 (about $15) to enter.  Singapore and Stockholm employ similar models.  More sophisticated systems could charge by miles driven, or assign different fees to particular streets.

Professor Millard-Ball said: 'Congestion pricing is difficult to implement.  The public never wants to pay for something they have historically gotten for free.  But no one owns an autonomous vehicle now, so there is no constituency organised to oppose charging for the use of public streets.  This is the time to establish the principle and use it to avoid the nightmarish scenario of total gridlock.'

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Clay tablets found in Modern-day Iraq have revealed key secrets about medicine thousands of years ago.  The tablets were discovered decades ago but new research has unearthed the writings of a trainee doctor from the 'cradle of civilisation'.

Several tablets, written in the ancient cuneiform script form a timeline of events showing the different aspects of a medical education 2,700 years ago.  Researchers believe this could provide an entirely new outlook on how illness was treated in ancient civilisations.

A Danish PhD student analysed clay tablets written by a man called Kisir-Aššur in the seventh century BC.  The tablets were found in what was once known as the 'cradle of civilisation' in the ancient remains of the city of Assur in Northern Iraq.

Written in an ancient language invented by Sumerians called cuneiform script the tablets tell the story of a doctor in training.  He records his work and his methods in the ancient scripture.  The tablets speak about a combination of medical practices (potentially handed down to the Greeks) and magical rituals.  It is thought to be one of the most detailed accounts of ancient medical education and practice ever recorded.  Kisir-Aššur recorded what he learnt in chronological order, which allowed researchers to unpick the timeline of his training.

Dr Troels Pank Arbøll from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark studied the text as part of his PhD and told ScienceNordic: 'The sources give a unique insight into how an Assyrian doctor was trained in the art of diagnosing and treating illnesses, and their causes.  It's an insight into some of the earliest examples of what we can describe as science.'

Scientists believe that although magical cures were commonplace at this time, the tablets use a more traditional approach to medicine as well.

'He does not work simply with religious rituals, but also with plant-based medical treatments.  It is possible that he studied the effects of venom from scorpions and snakes on the human body and that he perhaps tried to draw conclusions based on his observations,' says Dr Arbøll.

After translating the ancient prose, the Scandinavian researcher discovered that Kisir-Aššur observed patients with bites or stings.  The physician probably did this to find out what affect toxins had on the body and to determine how the venom functioned.

Although Kisir-Aššur lived hundreds of years before Hippocrates - who is widely regarded as the father of modern medicine - they developed similar ideas.  The script carved into the clay tablets speak of the dangers of bile and the risk it poses to humans.

Dr Arbøll said: 'It can regulate certain bodily processes and could be the cause or contribution to the cause of an illness.  This idea is reminiscent of the important Greek physician, Hypocrites' theory of humours, where the imbalance of four fluids in the body [blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile] can be the cause of illness.'

'However, the Mesopotamian conception of bile seems to differ from the Greek.  It is far from certain that the idea spread from Mesopotamia to the Greeks.  But it would be interesting to investigate,' says Dr Arbøll.

The researcher believes that the aspiring Mesopotamian doctor would have worked on animals before progressing to human babies as he neared the end of his training.  It is unlikely that he would have treated an adult human alone before he was fully qualified.

The clay tablets were housed in Kiṣir-Aššur's family library in the ancient city of Ashur.  Located in modern-day Iraq, the city was destroyed in 614 BCE when it was burnt to the ground as the Neo-Assyrian Empire was dismantled.  It remained untouched until the early-twentieth century when archaeologists excavated the site.

The library is one of the most complete and important sources of information from the era.

'It's a snapshot of history that is difficult to generalise and it is possible that Kiṣir-Aššur worked with the material in a slightly different way than other practising healers.  Kiṣir-Aššur copied and recorded mostly pre-existing treatments and you can see that he catalogues knowledge and collects it with a specific goal,' says Dr Arbøll.

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Brrr…it’s cold out there!  Children are flocking to the television in hopes of hearing there will be a snow day; the bread and milk aisles at grocery stores are empty because of an impending snow storm; and utility trucks are out spraying salt or salt water on the roads.

We all know why the first two happen – kids are excited for a day off of school filled with hot chocolate and snowmen. Adults are stocking up on necessities.  But what’s up with those trucks?

They’re working to protect drivers from slippery conditions by spraying rock salt or a solution of salt water to prevent ice formation.  This salt is very similar to the salt you have on your dinner table – it’s the same sodium chloride, NaCl.  There are some proprietary mixtures that contain other salts – such as potassium chloride (KCl) and magnesium chloride (MgCl) – but they’re not as commonly used.

Road salt isn’t as pure as what you use on your food; it has a brownish gray color, mostly due to mineral contamination.

Subjecting the environment to this salt via runoff can have some unintended consequences including negative effects on plants, aquatic animals and wetlands.  But it’s a cheap and effective way to protect roads from ice due to a simple scientific principle: freezing point depression of solutions.

The freezing point of pure water, the temperature at which it becomes ice, is 32 degrees Fahrenheit.  So if there’s snow, sleet or freezing rain and the ground is 32 F or colder, solid ice will form on streets and sidewalks.

If the water is mixed with salt, though, the freezing temperature of the solution is lower than 32 F.  The salt impedes the ability of the water molecules to form solid ice crystals.  The degree of freezing point depression depends on how salty the solution is.

It’s important to note that the salt must be in a solution with liquid water in order for this principle to be obeyed.  That’s why many cities spray a salt solution before any ice forms.

Salt that’s dumped on top of ice relies on the sun or the friction of car tires driving over it to initially melt the ice to a slush that can mix with the salt and then won’t refreeze.

Pre-treating with solid salt relies on the warmer road surface to initially melt any snow or freezing rain so that it can properly mix with the salt.

This is also why pre-treatment of bridges – which are colder than other roads – does not typically work, and why you see 'bridge freezes before road' signs.

These salt solutions decrease the freezing temperature of water to around 15 F.  So, unfortunately for folks facing truly frigid temps, treating with salt won't get rid of ice on their roads.

An alternative strategy used at these lower temperatures is putting sand on the ice.  Sand doesn’t change the melting temperature, it just provides a rough surface for your tires to prevent slipping and sliding.

The science of freezing point depression can be applied to any solution, and many research groups have focused on developing alternatives with fewer negative environmental consequences.  They include additives such as molasses and beet juice.

So many you can look forward to cleaning not just white salt off the bottom of your jeans after a winter walk, but pink salt as well.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

Residents of south-east Asia spend more time online than any other region on the planet.  Three of the region's countries averaging more than eight hours a day online.

The Philippines topped the global list with an average 10 hours and 2 minutes of screen time every day per person, according to a new report.  The country was joined in the top five by Thailand which were found to spend an average of nine hours and eleven minutes online and Indonesia, who tended to clock up eight hours of internet usage.

People in the United Kingdom spend almost eight hours online while US citizens spend a combined 8 hours and 31 minutes logged into the web.

The figures were derived from a mixture of time spent on computers and mobile usage on devices by HootSuite and We Are Social.

People in Japan spent the least amount of time online – at an average of 3 hours and 45 minutes, followed by China.

The Philippines was followed by South Africa, Columbia and Brazil in terms of daily time spent using the internet on computers.

The 2019 report reveals 57 per cent of the global population is now connected to the internet, spending an average 6.5 hours online each day.

Leas author Simon Kemp estimated that the 'world's digital community will spend a combined total of more than 1.2bn years using the internet in 2019'.   They found that most of the time spent online is done via mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets.

Social media was found to be what users spend the majority of their time on, the UAE ranking the highest on that list.  Countries who used social media the least, were Nigeria, where 16 per cent of the population used social media, followed by Kenya, at 12 per cent.

Mr Kemp wrote that the big story in this year's data is the 'accelerating growth in internet users'.  'More than 360 million people came online for the first time in 2018, at an average rate of more than one million new users every day,' he wrote.

The country that experienced the biggest jump in internet usage in 2018 was India.  The south Asian nation saw the number of internet users jump by almost 100 million last year, nearly doubling the same growth in China, with internet penetration in India now at 41 per cent.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

A Pentagon report is warning that the U.S. Marine Corps' oldest F-35B Joint Strike Fighters could remain airworthy for just over a quarter of their expected lifespan due to 'serious structural problems'.

According to Bloomberg, one early version of the jet, known as 'early block F' and bought by the Marine Corps, could fly for just 2,100 flight hours, which the report says is 'well under' the expected service life of 8,000 hours.

The plane has been hit by a huge list of issues, and is over a decade late, with final cost estimates for the US military expected to reach $1.5 trillion.  It is being tested by military forces around the globe, with the Royal Air Force already having taken delivery of its test planes, known as the Lightning.

Although the structural issues are believed to affect only a small number of planes, the Pentagon test office 2018 annual report obtained by Bloomberg also found a huge host of flaws in all versions of the fighter, ranging from cybersecurity issues to 'unacceptable' problems with the accuracy of guns fitted to the Air Force's A version of the plane.  The finding means some jets expected to start hitting service life limit in 2026.

Bloomberg claims the report also said maintenance personnel and pilots 'must deal w pervasive problems w data integrity, completeness on a daily basis.'

Test office director Robert Behler said in the new assessment improvements 'are still not translating into improved availability'.  He also warns there is no 'improving trend in' aircraft availability to fly training or combat missions as it's remained 'flat' over the past 3 years, according to Bloomberg.  The details come a day after Defense Sec. Pat Shanahan told reporters the F-35 'has a lot of opportunity for more performance.'

Lockheed Martin, who manufactures the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, hit back at the report, claiming 'The F-35s operating today are delivering exceptional capability, lethality and connectivity around the globe.

'Items identified in the Annual DOT&E report are well understood and have been resolved in partnership with the F-35 Joint Program Office or have an agreed path forward to resolution.'  It said the 'planned modifications and fleet management' of the early contract F-35B aircraft will ensure that they meet the 8,000 hour service life requirement, and promised 'aircraft delivering today incorporate design changes in the build process to ensure they'll meet 8,000 hours or more.'

With a current development and acquisition price tag already at $379 billion for a total of 2,443 F-35 aircraft - most destined for the US Air Force - the F-35 is the most expensive plane in history.  Once servicing and maintenance costs for the F-35 are factored in over the aircraft's lifespan through 2070, overall program costs are expected to rise to $1.5 trillion for the US alone.

The Marine Corps plans to buy a total of 353 F-35Bs, and 67 F-35Cs, which have tail hooks that allow them to land on aircraft carriers, it has previously been revealed.

According to The Drive, 'The appalling low durability of early F-35Bs is also something that DOT&E reports have highlighted in the past, but this is the first time there has been any concrete information on how bad the problem actually is.  It says the flaws, which have not been revealed, could be related to a 2004 project where Lockheed Martin tasked a group of engineers, known as STOVL (Short Take Off/Vertical Landing) Weight Attack Team, or SWAT, with cutting 2,700 pounds off the weight of the B model.  Proponents tout the F-35's radar-dodging stealth technology, supersonic speeds, close air support capabilities, airborne agility and a massive array of sensors giving pilots unparalleled access to information.

But the program has faced numerous delays, cost overruns and setbacks, including an engine fire in 2014 that led commanders to temporarily ground the planes.

Other problems include software bugs, technical glitches and even a faulty eject system that risked killing pilots who weighed less than 136 pounds (62 kilograms).

The plane was most recently hit with worries of pilot health.  Since May 2 2018, F-35 pilots on five occasions reported symptoms of hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation.  The Air Force says the F-35's backup oxygen system worked in each instance, and the pilot was able to land the plane safely.  'It could range to anything from headaches, to nausea, to color-blindness,' he told the AP.

Planes were subsequently grounded at Luke, and only began flying again a few days ago, even though the cause of the fault has not been found.  A team of engineers, test pilots, medics and others experts are 'digging into this problem 24 hours a day,' to try to identify the cause, Canterbury said.  'It could be lack of oxygen. It could be too much oxygen, too much carbon dioxide.  There have been similar incidents 'across a number of bases, but not in clusters like we saw at Luke.'

The local commander at Luke will decide when the planes can fly again, he said.  Canterbury said the pilots will 'start flying as soon as they can.  They are ready.'

Luke is a training base for F-35 pilots.  Operational units have not had such issues.  It is still too early to tell the root cause,' he said. 'An airplane in development, such as this, will have teething problems, he said.

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A meteorite crashed down in western Cuba on 1 February following reports of an object seen streaking across the sky over the Florida Keys.  Locals say the impact rocked Viñales, Pinar del Río with a ‘large explosion’ that shattered windows in some homes.  No injuries have been reported.

Several residents are now sharing images of what they believe to be fragments of the space rock.

‘We’re receiving reports that a meteor was seen in the sky across the Florida Keys.  It appears that a meteorite impact occurred in western Cuba, near the town of Viñales, Pinar del Río, earlier this afternoon,’ NWS Key West tweeted Friday afternoon amid mounting questions from locals who saw the smoking object fly overhead.

The impact occurred at around 1:20 p.m. local time.  Residents of Cuba and the Florida Keys took to social media to report what they’d seen and share images of the black rocks they suspect are bits of the meteorite.

‘Only in Cuba does an apparent meteorite crash and you happen to know the person whose house was hit,’ Patrick Oppman, CNN’s Cuba correspondent, tweeted after reporting that there were no known injuries.

While the exact source of the meteor is unclear, the American Meteor Society predicted meteor activity from a slew of radiants for that week.  The radiant is the area from which meteors appear to originate in the sky.

According to the AMS, the week was expected to bring as many as four meteors per hour for southern-latitude viewers, as seen from dark skies.

‘Hourly meteor rates for evening observers this week is near 3 as seen from mid-northern latitudes (45N) and 4 as seen from tropical southern locations (25S).  For morning observers the estimated total hourly rates should be near 7 as seen from mid-northern latitudes and 10 from the southern tropics,’ the AMS forecast says.

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A new Super Bowl commercial aims to calm frenzied football fans with oddly relaxing images of actress Zoe Kravitz whispering into a pair of microphones and softly tapping on a bottle.  The beer ad already has drawn more than 10 million views and stands to expose a vast audience to an internet craze known as autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR).  However, scientists say there is not yet enough evidence to say the ads really work.

Some people spend hours watching videos of hair brushing, paper crinkling or 'happy little clouds' artist Bob Ross painting because they say it makes their brains tingle.  They report feeling a rush from the subtle, repetitive sights and sounds, but is it all in their heads?  Not everyone feels ASMR.  And so far, there's not enough evidence to recommend it as a stand-alone treatment for depression, anxiety, insomnia or any of the other problems its fans claim it solves.

But a few scientists are trying to study ASMR, and there is evidence that there might be something to it.  And if any harm is done, it's not financial: It's usually free.

Most people agree the sound of nails on a chalkboard is freakishly unpleasant. ASMR is described as an opposite feeling: a tingly euphoric response, usually starting on the head and scalp, and sometimes spreading down the neck, arms or back.

Triggers include videos of someone turning pages in a book, pretending to give an eye exam or tapping on a collection of purses.

Some call it a 'brain orgasm,' though most say it's not sexual. They say it's deeply relaxing, making it different from goosebumps or chills. The feeling helps some people get to sleep.

'I'll feel my eyelids start to droop.  I'll feel a tingling sensation start toward the top of my head and slowly travel down my neck to my shoulders to my fingertips,' said Robert Calaceto, 24, of Ridgewood, New Jersey, who uses it nightly before going to sleep and sometimes after work. 'Listening to these videos helps my mind to mellow out.'

Craig Richard, author of 'Brain Tingles' and a professor at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, traces the history to 2007 when a post titled 'Weird sensation feels good' kicked off a conversation in an internet health forum.

A Facebook group and YouTube channels followed.  From the start, people shared their triggers: slow or quiet talking, teeth cleaning and chewing sounds.

Today, millions subscribe to content from the most popular ASMR artists. Products including Dove chocolate, Behr paint and IKEA have used it in advertising.  A hair-cutting scene in the 2017 movie 'Battle of the Sexes' was designed to elicit the response.  A live ASMR spa experience has launched with planned performances in New York and California.

IS IT REAL?

About a dozen research studies have been published.  That's not a lot in the world of medical science.

In England, University of Sheffield researchers found something surprising when they hooked up 112 volunteers to electrodes to gather biophysical data during ASMR videos: The tinglers seemed physically excited, but their heart rates slowed.

Half the volunteers were self-identified ASMR fans.  They had greater reductions in their heart rates - by about 3 beats per minute - compared to the non-tinglers while watching the same videos.  Their bodies became more excited, compared to non-tinglers, as measured by how their skin conducted electricity.

In Canada, University of Winnipeg researchers conducted brain scans of 11 people who experience ASMR and 11 people who don't.  The scientists measured which areas of the brain fired together when participants were lying in the scanner but weren't watching any videos.

In the brains of ASMR people, they saw unexpected 'teams' of neurons firing together, suggesting that normally distinct networks were blended together.  It was as if 'a few members of the Seahawks are trying to play outfield for the Mariners,' said Stephen Smith of the University of Winnipeg.

That could mean ASMR is similar to synesthesia, a better-known condition where people describe seeing music or numbers as specific colors.

PLACEBO EFFECT

Louisiana State University researchers tried to see whether the power of suggestion affected people's responses to ASMR audio clips.  It did, but only for the people who never before experienced ASMR.

The study involved 209 volunteers, including fans of ASMR recruited from the online forum Reddit.  All were told about the ASMR effect and that they would hear three audio clips.

Half were told the audio clips were known to produce the effect.  The others were told none of the audio clips had been shown to elicit ASMR.  Some clips were ASMR-triggering sounds such as a whispering and tapping.  Other clips were fakes: screaming and piano scales.

The encouraging instructions made a huge difference in those who'd never experienced ASMR before; they mostly felt tingles when they were told to expect tingles.

But ASMR fans weren't fooled by the fakes or the misleading instructions. They reported more tingles when they heard legitimate ASMR audio, no matter what they were told ahead of time.

'In a way, it doesn't matter as long as what the user experiences is relief or stress reduction,' said Megan Papesh, who led the study. 'It seems relatively harmless and it is free, which is wonderful.'

WHAT'S NEXT

For ASMR to take hold in mainstream science hinges on whether the craze lasts long enough for researchers to find out whether it helps people with stress or other health problems.  That kind of study is expensive and lengthy.

For now, Richard said the best way to think about ASMR is 'supplemental intimacy.'  It shouldn't replace healthy relationships, but it can be used to improve mood.

A pleasant feeling caused by a soft voice, caring gaze, gentle disposition, light touch and soothing hand movements - 'that's something we're born with,' he said, 'and its purpose is to soothe and comfort.'

It could even be educational.

'I think it helps teach people the feeling from a healthy relationship,' Richard said. 'You can have people learning for the first time what a healthy relationship feels like from an ASMR video.'

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk