The 76th Primetime Emmy Awards will air tonight on ABC at 8 p.m. ET — with red carpet coverage beginning at 7 p.m. — and we’re quite excited about the funny, father-son hosting duo: actor Eugene Levy and filmmaker-actor Dan Levy. We’ll be rooting for some of our favorite nominated shows, like Abbott Elementary, Hacks, and Only Murders in the Building (the Nice News team is composed of comedy fans, can you tell?). Check out all the nominees here, and scroll through the top 75 TV moments from the 1940s to the 2020s, compiled by the Television Academy ahead of last year’s event. — Rebekah, Ally, and Natalie
Featured Story
Don’t Just Pay It: Why You Should Challenge Your Troubling Medical Bills
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Health care debt is a persistent financial problem for many: More than 100 million Americans are estimated to owe money due to health-related bills. But according to a new study that surveyed 1,135 adults across the country — with 1 in 5 saying they’d received a medical bill in the prior 12 months that they either didn’t agree with or couldn’t afford — there’s a simple way to help ease the financial burden of medical debt. Read the findings in our article below.
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Where Does the Brain Feel Love? Study Evaluates 6 Types and Reveals Which Is Strongest
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Where is love? Turns out Oliver Twist isn’t the only one asking — the question has been on scientists’ minds as well (though they likely don’t express it in quite as pretty a soprano). Now, a new study out of Finland’s Aalto University has identified where six types of love reside in the brain. The researchers measured brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. To pinpoint the areas that light up for love, 55 parents, self-described as being in loving relationships, were played short, recorded stories related to the different kinds of love. “We now provide a more comprehensive picture of the brain activity associated with different types of love than previous research,” study co-author Pärttyli Rinne said in a statement. “The activation pattern of love is generated in social situations in the basal ganglia, the midline of the forehead, the precuneus, and the temporoparietal junction at the sides of the back of the head.” Love for one’s children generated the strongest brain activity, with romantic love a close second — learn more about the other types.
Tech
MIT Scientists Develop Filter to Remove “Forever Chemicals” From Water
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PFAS, the dreaded acronym for “forever chemicals,” are in the news again — but this time for a good reason. A team of MIT scientists invented a new filtration material that could remove the infamously pervasive chemicals from water and it all came about “by chance,” according to Benedetto Marelli, one of the study’s authors. In a surprising turn, the team found that a filtering technology made with a silk membrane, which was developed for an unrelated purpose, could be effective at filtering contaminants when combined with cellulose, a material obtained from wood pulp waste. It also demonstrated strong antimicrobial properties to help prevent the filter from “fouling” as a result of bacteria and fungi. “These materials can really compete with the current standard materials in water filtration when it comes to extracting metal ions and these emerging contaminants, and they can also outperform some of them currently,” Marelli said in a press release.
Health
A Simple Way to Shorten Kids’ Colds? Saltwater Drops, Study Finds
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Cue the stuffy noses, scratchy throats, and headaches — cold season is upon us. The common cold is relatively innocuous for most people, but with kids contracting 10 to 12 of these viruses each year, parents could certainly use a way to help little ones feel better. Enter: the European Respiratory Society’s new study on saltwater nose drops. Researchers found that saltwater drops can reduce the length of a child’s cold by two days. Unlike most other over-the-counter remedies, this treatment could actually accelerate the recovery period, rather than just soothe symptoms. “We found that children using saltwater nose drops had cold symptoms for an average of six days, where those with usual care had symptoms for eight days,” co-author Dr. Steve Cunningham said in a statement. He added that the children who took the drops also “needed fewer medicines” — and their colds were shown to spread less to other family members. About 82% of parents involved in the study said the saline nose drops helped their child get better faster, and 81% plan to implement the treatment in the future, indicating that it could be a useful tool for making colds a bit more manageable, though we’re still holding out for a cure.
Sunday Selections
Deep Dives
That Teflon pan of yours has a “long, strange history”: Learn the indestructible substance’s origin story
A New York Times writer shares his simple secret to fostering deeper friendships
There are over 200 words for “rain” in Hawaii, and each has its own lore
Even for those of us who know how impactful optimism is, cynicism can be a hard habit to break. In this book, Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki shares ample scientific evidence indicating that cynicism is often misplaced — particularly when it comes to perceptions of other people — and walks readers through developing “hopeful skepticism” as a means of rebalancing their views on human nature.
Sting released his first song in three years on Sept. 5, the inaugural output from his new band, Sting 3.0. The former Policefrontman will launch a North American tour Tuesday night in Detroit alongside his three-piece rock combo: Dominic Miller on guitar, Chris Maas on drums, and Martin Kierszenbaum on organ. Click the photo to watch them play the bluesy, romantic track live in the U.K. last weekend.
For the past three decades, countless bibliophiles have relied on Oprah Winfrey’s book club to help them choose their next read. The former daytime television host launched the club as a discussion segment on her show, starting with the novel The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard. Since then, Winfrey’s endorsement has helped catapult both first-time novelists and classic literature to the bestsellers lists, an example of the phenomenon dubbed the “Oprah Effect.” Read the descriptions of all 107 selections.
Give Back to Nature From the Comfort of Your Home
Climate change can often feel like an overwhelming problem, but what if we told you there was a way to do your part to help the environment from the comfort of home? Planet Wild is a community of ordinary people who crowdfund pioneering nature projects that save animals, oceans, and forests. Then, members get to see what their contribution helped achieve through monthly documentaries. Nice News readers get their first month free with the code NICE9.
