An excuse to build a study…?
Arkesteijn and teammates (using data collected from April to December 2020 from more than 36,000 Dutch people working at home during the COVID-19 pandemic) determined that “respondents who worked in a [dedicated] work room...
Add Vertical Nature
You may have seen Vertical Gardens, beautiful, stunning nature landscapes of greenery, plants, flowers, mini trees and more. There is increasing evidence that these have many positive effects on us, not just reducing VOCs....
Play music when doing something simple!
Have you ever wondered how music affects what you’re doing? Kiss and Linnell shared some research on two sets of people who either sat in silence or listened to some music while they are...
Depression and Vision
So when they speak about seeing the world through Rose-coloured glasses, it seems the opposite is true if you’re feeling blue. Researchers have verified that being depressed influences how people see the world, literally;...
Managing Circadian Rhythms
More research on how lighting affects us. Also read on to learn how we are lighting our homes and spaces now we have access to electric light in a way that is counter-intuitive to...
Sight-Sound Links
Did you know that our environment affects how we read and process information. This is a handy bit of information for advertisers, designers, or anyone trying to enhance their messaging to their readers. So,...
Stressed? Walk on a Carpet…
Who would have thought that a little walk on a carpet can help reduce your stress level. Hoki, Sato, and Kasai’s research “focused on the effects of indoor flooring in the residential environment on stress,...
Getting out in Nature helps Boost Brain Power – It’s Official!
If you want to improve your little grey cells and also make yourself happy, get yourself out into nature. Write yourself a “green prescription” and take a walk outside, in a park, forest or...
Lighting for Sleep
Figueiro and colleagues set out to learn how light experienced during the day influences sleep. Via an online survey they evaluated how “potential changes in daytime light exposures resulting from teleworking or self-isolating at...
The Best Lighting Tip You’ll Read all Month!
Do you want to sleep better? Adjusting your lighting during the day is a key feature in helping you have a better night’s rest. Switching up the lighting, also helps you concentrate during the...
Designing for Creativity
Recently published research confirms links between thinking creatively and being in less energizing spaces. Needle and Mallia report that “Open-office plans have become the dominant mode for creative workplaces, designed to encourage collaboration. . ....
Workplace Views
We all know what we see affects our mindset, but which views are best and why? Elzeyadi’s research focused on preferred workplace views but his findings can be applied in other contexts. He reports...
Making BIG Spaces
If you want people to feel welcome and comfortable, especially in commercial environments, you would do well to pick up tips from Noble and Devlin’s recent study. The bigger the better it seems, makes...
Enjoying Mingling
Article after article is trumpeting how much people are enjoying interacting with others again or how much they long to do so (see this one, for example: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/17/insider/working-empty-newsroom.html ) Of course we’re glad to...
Living alone together
Recently, there’s been more attention to people, generally those getting a little long in the tooth, who are choosing to have relationships with others but not marry or move in together (see this article,...
How to alter your VR experience
Here’s a question for you! Did you ever visit a virtual reality environment while in different physical spaces and think your virtual experiences were different in each real life place? Research indicates that you’re...
Early experiences affect us more than recent ones
Have you ever gone somewhere where you had a good time a few years back? Or revisited a place which was associated with a bad memory? It turns out that those early memories really...
Live near Greenspace – If you can!
The more greenspace we are surrounded by, the happier we are. Kwon and colleagues report that “By measuring the urban green space score (UGS) from high-resolution satellite imagery of 90 global cities covering 179,168...
Symmetry in Nature
Symmetry matters and can be good, even in natural scenes, but too much can put us off. We’ve previously reported on the implications of viewing symmetrical arrangements of things here. Damiano and colleagues report...
Colours and Taste
Regular readers of The Space Doctors will already be aware of the weird fact that the colours we surround ourselves with or look at while we’re eating affect how much we eat. for instance,...
Finding our way around after GPS!
Have we become so dependent on our SatNav? Researchers have learned that using GPS-type systems affects our fundamental ability to find our way from one place to another. Knowing about these findings may encourage...
Round or Spiky Words…
Do you sometimes find that the names for things just seem wrong? New research by Sidhu and colleagues may make it clearer why that happens. The researchers report that “Sound symbolism refers to associations...
Can a Scent change our Opinion? – “Science News”
If you want to be liked make sure you’re surrounded by lovely sweet smelling roses! That’s what this piece of research seems to reveal! Also the opposite is true, if you are trying to...
Moon Effects – “Science News”
So it seems that science is proving that we are affected by the moon’s cycle! Casiraghi and colleagues used “wrist actimetry to show a clear synchronization of nocturnal sleep timing with the lunar cycle...
Design in Movement – “Science News”
Move more! As a result of this study, why not make sure you put your walking shoes by your main door, so it’s easy to take up those strides and walk for a bit...
It’s Time for Squishy
We love curves and squishy furniture is in right now and there’s a science-based reason it is! You might like to introduce some of these designs into your home right now as we emerge...
Red = Risk, unless you’re in China
Can seeing Red negatively influence Stock Market Liquidity? This is an interesting piece of research. We have written before about how the colour red influences our choices. In this month’s round up of Science News,...
Varying Lighting Levels
Vary your daylight – we’ve found more proof! You’ve heard of circadian rhythms and you are probably also aware how replicating it inside your home and office is a good idea. We write about...
Improving by Removing
Sometimes less is more. Have you ever tried to solve a problem by listing everything, maybe pulling in all the issues. In many situations, we seem to solve problems by adding. But in our...
Blue is Best
We like blue birds, which makes sense because humans definitely have a soft spot in their hearts for blue places and things. In this month’s science round up, there was more evidence that a...
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