Apparently, Canadian pigs are not as friendly as Canadian humans.

Violent, "turbocharged superpigs" from the north are invading America. This is not a drill, and we don't have time for Canadian Bacon jokes.

In the 1980's, European boars were brought to Canada to introduce new pork products. But then they bred with domestic pigs and the result was 600lb monsters that destroy any environment they populate.

If you're in Montana, North Dakota, or Minnesota, prepare for Pork-ocalypse. Southerners already know the deal - wild pigs cause $2.5B in damage in the US south each year.

As always, please forward IQNEWS to a friend if you're a fan!

Hearing someone say something and then forgetting what they said 10 seconds later is a relatable phenomenon, especially for folks with boring friends.

A new study confirms what our failure to encode Todd's virtual happy hour story about his Cocker Spaniel already suggested: everyone's short-term memory is really bad.

What researchers found was that our entrenched beliefs cause us to regularly generate "short-term memory illusions" just seconds after we take in information. In other words, we alter information according to pre-conceived expectations.

In the study, participants were shown a series of letters and mirrored versions of letters ("pseudo letters"), and later asked to recall details about them. Researchers weeded out all respondents who didn't report being highly confident in their answers.

~40% of respondents mis-remembered pseudo letters as being real. Yet, this dynamic was not seen when the same exercise was conducted with shapes instead of letters.

"People seem to be sensitive to memory illusion where they already have a preset notion of what the world should look like," says the study's author. "This is very strong for letters because we have a lot of experience with them."

Bottom line: previous knowledge and beliefs of all kinds appear to fundamentally and powerfully shift our short-term memory. Be cognizant of pre-conceived notions!

Humans are notoriously good at lying and notoriously bad at detecting lies.

...which is an unfortunate combo.

However, a recent study revealed the best possible lie-detector method to date (other than a literal lie detector).

Focus on one variable only: the level of detail the person provides.

If they provide rich descriptions of who, what, when, how, and why, it's likely they are telling the truth. If they skim over these details, they are probably lying.

This super simple method boosts lie detection success from ~50% to ~80%!

1. To not expose his identity Batman is either driving the batmobile uninsured or is committing insurance fraud.
2. Someday soon the last fax will be sent.
3. Tasks that are usually easy become difficult when you don’t want to do them.
4. The memory of your childhood best friend lives on through bank security questions.
5. Shorts are also T-pants.

Roger Staubach: "There is no traffic jam along the extra mile."

Today I learned that the band Fall Out Boy was named after a character in The Simpsons (Radioactive Man's sidekick), when a fan in the crowd, at their second ever show, shouted the name as a suggestion. (more here)

démarche [ dey-marsh ] - noun
a petition or protest presented through diplomatic channels
Military pressure is likely to be augmented by possible diplomatic démarche.

Q: Who was the first president to visit all 50 states?
A: (see below next section)