The Know Daily - Monday 25 March 2024

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Petting a puppy or playing fetch with a Labrador could be great forms of stress relief, a recent study suggests. Researchers monitored participants as they interacted with a 4-year-old poodle through activities like play, feeding, hugging and walking - and found heightened alpha-wave activity in the brain, which is associated with relaxation, improved memory and reduced mental stress.

📲 Meta makes moves

Instagram now limits by default the amount of political content that you see in your feed.

Go on… 
Over the weekend, Instagram users began noticing that the Meta-owned app had turned everyone’s ‘political content’ setting to ‘limit’ - even if it had been set to ‘don’t limit’ previously. This essentially means that users will see less news on their feeds by default, although Instagram has stressed that the change only applies to suggested content and “does not affect the content from accounts you follow”.

What’s the reason?
According to Mashable, it’s easy to see why Meta has made the move, given that social media sites have been “rife with misinformation and disinformation” during past elections. And with voters in over 60 countries - including the US - heading to the polls this year, that concern appears especially pressing. 

Got it. But what if I want to see news on my feed still?
You can change how much ‘political content’ you want to see via Instagram’s settings:

But I don’t actually want more political content!
That’s totally valid. After all, we founded The Know to keep you up-to-date in a way that protects your mental health - so avoiding the doomscroll is something we absolutely encourage.

The issue is, it’s not entirely clear what Meta classifies as ‘political content’. The company says it’s likely to mention “governments, elections, or social topics that affect a group of people and society at large” - but that’s a pretty broad definition.

And what it means in practice is that a lot of our informative Instagram posts - such as this explainer on decriminalising abortion or this one on wins in women’s healthcare - would be classed as ‘political content’, therefore reaching fewer people who would find what we do really refreshing and useful. 

That’s not ideal. 
So if you want to keep seeing The Know in your feed, changing your ‘political content’ setting or adding us to your favourites will help. And as we aren’t reaching as many new followers over there as we used to, we have a favour to ask: if you know someone who would love our hopeful and helpful approach to the news, get them to sign up to our newsletter. 

🍄 A fungi boycott

The National Trust has reduced the use of mushrooms at its cafés and restaurants, amid concern at the environmental impact of fungi.

Hold up - what’s the problem with mushrooms?
It’s all to do with where they’re grown. As The Times explains, almost all mushrooms on sale in the UK are grown in peat - and that’s because mushrooms need a lot of water to grow, and peat is great at retaining moisture. 

But the thing is, extracting peat has a pretty significant climate impact. According to the paper, the National Trust wanted to find a mushroom supplier that didn’t use peat - but when it couldn’t, it decided to reduce use instead.

But why is extracting peat problematic?
Peat is taken from bogs, and these bogs play a vital role in locking up carbon, explained The Guardian. That means when you extract peat, you release CO2 into the atmosphere.

In February, The Wildlife Trusts launched a campaign to raise awareness of the “hidden peat” used in growing products such as houseplants, leafy salads and mushrooms, calling on consumers to be more mindful about how they shop. 

So should I stop eating mushrooms?
Not so fast. The Wildlife Trusts doesn’t advocate fungi abstinence, instead saying it is “hopeful” that researchers will develop peat alternatives soon. According to New Scientist, this could include using fibre made from coconut husks to grow mushrooms.

The UK government will ban farmers from using peat-based products in 2026, although mushroom growers will be exempt until 2030. In addition, ministers have pledged to restore 35,000 hectares of peatland in England by 2050.

💰 British benevolence: Brits donated a record-breaking £13.9bn to charity last year, with the least affluent areas among the most generous.

👑 Kate Middleton: The Princess of Wales delivered a hopeful message to other cancer patients as she revealed her own diagnosis in a video message on Friday. 

🇷🇺 Moscow latest: Russia has charged four men following an attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday. Here’s what we know so far.

🏃‍♂️ Waiter dash: A Parisian tradition returned yesterday as hundreds of waiters raced through Paris balancing trays of coffee, croissants and water. 

🐻 Boating bears: A group of black bears at Woburn Safari Park were spotted hitching a ride on a swan pedalo after heavy rain created a temporary lake.

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Trivia answer: A) Johan Röhr was recently revealed as Sweden's top Spotify artist. The Stockholm-based “secret” composer has reportedly released over 2,700 songs under 650 different aliases. 🤯

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