This Just In

A roundup of new and noteworthy insights from the week’s most talked-about studies:

1 AMERICANS PREFER PLAYLISTS TO ALBUMS

A report published by the Music Business Association found that playlists account for 31% of music-listening time across demographics, while albums make up only 22%. Singles, at 46% of listening time, were the most popular form of music.

2 PIGEONS MAY BE ABLE TO ‘SPELL’

For a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers trained four pigeons to recognize dozens of words. The birds then picked out the correct spellings from a series (which included nonwords) by pecking them, marking the first time nonprimates have been able to identify letter formations.

3 KIDS WHO GROW UP ON FARMS MAY HAVE FEWER ALLERGIES

A study published in Thorax, analyzing data from more than 10,000 people in 14 countries, found that adults who had grown up on farms were 57% less likely to have allergic nasal symptoms and 54% less likely to have asthma or hay fever than those from urban settings.

–J.Z.