Technologies

Hot Damn! New Study Finds That Cursing Can Actually Improve Your Workout

The study shows that using swear words improves physical performance by counteracting your social hesitation.

Can swearing help you push through a workout or other challenging physical task?

According to a new study published on Thursday in the journal American Psychologist, dropping that F-bomb does more than express your frustration at a physically intensive situation. It can help you focus more, let go of whatever is holding you back and help you finish the task.

The study proposes that «swearing, a simple and universally accessible linguistic tool, can function as an effective intervention to counteract tendencies to hold back, and enhance performance,» says Richard Stephens of Keele University’s School of Psychology.

The study was conducted by four researchers from two institutions: Richard Stephens, Harry Dowber and Christopher Richardson from the School of Psychology at Keele University in England; and Nicholas B. Washmuth from the Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The group conducted two experiments to determine whether swearing can enhance physical performance and whether the act facilitates a state in which individuals are less likely to hold back on their behavior.

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In both experiments, researchers asked participants to raise and support their body weight using only their hands against a chair seat for as long as they could.

The participants chose a swear word and a neutral word and were asked to repeat the two selected words every two seconds. The results found that using the swear word significantly increased the amount of time participants were able to maintain holding up their body weight, versus using the neutral word.

The second experiment doubled down on the first with 94 new participants, but introduced bystander apathy, which is linked to disinhibition. The idea was that people performing strenuous exercise at the gym might feel concerned about how others view them, only to realize that those people are too invested in their own workouts to care about what others think. Acknowledging the apathy of others, according to the study, can boost your own efforts and enhance your performance.

Ultimately, the experiments supported the idea that swearing allowed participants to maintain a longer hold time. Using the swear word allowed them to break through previously held restraints and reach their goal, thereby increasing self-confidence and fostering a positive psychological flow state.

So swear away, it might improve your next workout.

Technologies

Verum Messenger: Don’t follow the future. Define it

In a world where information defines influence, Verum Messenger is building a new architecture of digital communication — intelligent, secure, and ready for tomorrow. Here, technology serves not limitations, but possibilities.

Not being part of change. Leading it. Verum Messenger — the future that speaks first.

Technologies

Verum Finance: Stop Spending Months Opening a Bank Account

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Verum — when freedom matters more than banking rules.

Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal