Curated News: Featured: LifeWire

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

A recent Baylor University research study has shed new light on the diet and food acquisition strategies of some the earliest human ancestors in Africa.

• share
• favorite_border

The Great Recession, characterized by devastating mortgage defaults, has challenged the conventional wisdom that home ownership is a good investment, particularly for those with low and moderate incomes. But the conventional wisdom on the benefits of owning vs. renting still holds when done right, according to a newly published study led by the Brown School’s Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.

• share
• favorite_border

With campus safety and security in mind, engineering students at The University of Alabama in Huntsville are working with the campus police department to perfect unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies for use on-campus.

• share
• favorite_border

Adding captivating visuals to a textbook lesson to attract children’s interest may sometimes make it harder for them to learn, a new study suggests.

• share
• favorite_border

As college students across the country cram for final exams, higher ed leaders look for inspiration out their windows to help students relax. With the goal of relieving student stress and increasing overall well-being in mind, Wake Forest University President Nathan Hatch made improving the public spaces on campus a priority.

• share
• favorite_border

Opposing thumbs, expressive faces, complex social systems: it’s hard to miss the similarities between apes and humans. Now a new study with a troop of zoo baboons and lots of peanuts shows that a less obvious trait—the ability to understand numbers—also is shared by man and his primate cousins.

• share
• favorite_border

The Internet has been understudied as a political and cultural formation, Stephanie Ricker Schulte argues in her new book, Cached: Decoding the Internet in Global Popular Culture.

• share
• favorite_border

Paying college athletes is a contentious issue and the subject of a lawsuit challenging the use of their likenesses in video games. An Indiana U. study found that many video gamers recognize athletes in the video games.

• share
• favorite_border

Wide-eyed expressions that typically signal fear seem to enlarge our visual field making it easier to spot threats at the same time they enhance the ability of others to locate the source of danger, according to new research from the University of Toronto.

• share
• favorite_border

Research from Temple University’s Center for Competitive Government finds that privately operated prisons can substantially cut costs while performing at equal or better levels than government-run prisons.

• share
• favorite_border

The faculty advisor to Michigan Technological University's Korean Student Association and a visiting scholar from South Korea express their fears and hopes about escalating tensions between South and North Korea.

• share
• favorite_border

A Western Illinois University faculty member who published a widely covered study about Facebook and narcissism last year has authored another study about Facebook and romantic relationships.

• share
• favorite_border

A mother’s trait of simply “being there” was mentioned most frequently by young men as critical in their relationships with their moms — whether that meant talking about romance, discussing faith or picking a college major, according to a Baylor University resesarcher.

• share
• favorite_border

Acute or chronic sleep deprivation resulting in increased feelings of fatigue is one of the leading causes of workplace incidents and related injuries. More incidents and performance failures, such as automobile accidents, occur in the mid-afternoon hours known as the “post-lunch dip.” A new study from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shows that exposure to certain wavelengths and levels of light has the potential to increase alertness during the post-lunch dip.

• share
• favorite_border

People who participate in community gardening have a significantly lower BMIs—as well as lower odds of being overweight or obese—than do their non-gardening neighbors, according to a study by Univ. of Utah researchers with local gardeners.

• share
• favorite_border

Maternal love can counteract aggressive behaviors by children.

• share
• favorite_border

An Iowa State psychology professor looks at optimism and knowledge influence voter expectations in the weeks leading up to an election.

• share
• favorite_border

Students and scholars are taking a renewed interest in an "underdog" method of philosophy that is also uniquely American.

• share
• favorite_border

Romantic-comedy films are not a major source for developing unrealistic expectations about relationships among young adults, finds a new study to be published online this week in the National Communication Association’s journal Communication Monographs.

• share
• favorite_border

On April 15, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, a case that could answer the question, “Under what conditions, if any, are isolated human genes patentable?” Kevin Emerson Collins, JD, patent law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, believes that layered uncertainties make this case an unusually difficult case in which to predict the outcome.

• share
• favorite_border

A new report on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in California warns of possible water contamination and seismic activity near drilling sites, unless the oil-extraction method is tightly regulated.

• share
• favorite_border

Similar to blogging and e-publication in the 21st century, wood-block illustrated books (ehon) in Edo-period Japan (1615–1868) evolved quickly into a popular mode of both artistic production and commercial trade. This Smithsonian Snapshot features an image from Odori Hitori Geiko (Dance Instruction Manual) by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849). It is in the exhibition, “Hand-Held: Gerhard Pulverer’s Japanese Illustrated Books,” at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

• share
• favorite_border

Effective leaders’ brains may be physically “wired” to lead, offering the promise of more precise identification and training, according to studies of U.S. Army officers published by the American Psychological Association.

• share
• favorite_border

Fear of public speaking tops death and spiders as the nation’s number one phobia. But new research shows that learning to rethink the way we view our shaky hands, pounding heart, and sweaty palms can help people perform better both mentally and physically.

• share
• favorite_border

A team of researchers led by Associate Professor Maria Kozhevnikov from the Department of Psychology at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences showed, for the first time, that it is possible for core body temperature to be controlled by the brain. The scientists found that core body temperature increases can be achieved using certain meditation techniques (g-tummo) which could help in boosting immunity to fight infectious diseases or immunodeficiency.

• share
• favorite_border

New research indicates that teams improve their performance when they meet in a structured environment in which each member reflects on his or her role and how it relates to the overall performance of the team.

• share
• favorite_border

Residents of states with the highest rates of gun ownership and political conservatism are at greater risk of suicide than those in states with less gun ownership and less politically conservative leanings, according to a UC Riverside study.

• share
• favorite_border

Why is it so hard for some people to resist the least little temptation, while others seem to possess incredible patience, passing up immediate gratification for a greater long-term good? The answer, suggests a new study from Washington University in St. Louis, is that patient people focus on future rewards in a way that makes the waiting process seem much more pleasurable.

• share
• favorite_border

A University of Alabama researcher looks at how coping strategies used by a mother when her child is hospitalized impacts that child's anxiety level.

• share
• favorite_border

Surveillance is everywhere, from street corner cameras to the subject of books and movies. “We talk a lot about why surveillance is bad, but we don’t really know why,” says Neil Richards, JD, privacy law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “We only have a vague intuition about it, which is why courts don’t protect it. We know we don’t like it, and that it has something to do with privacy, but beyond that, the details can be fuzzy.” Richards’ new article on the topic, “The Danger of Surveillance,” will be published in the next issue of the Harvard Law Review.

• share
• favorite_border

Contemporary scholarship has conceptualized modern fame as an open system in which people continually move in and out of celebrity status. However, according to new research, “Only 15 Minutes? The Social Stratification of Fame in Printed Media,” published in the April issue of the American Sociological Review, researchers led by Arnout van de Rijt, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Stony Brook University, reveal that most fame isn’t fleeting after all.

• share
• favorite_border

Adolescents participating in wilderness and adventure therapy programs are at significantly less risk of injury than those playing football and are three times less likely to visit the emergency room for an injury than if they were at home, a new study finds.

• share
• favorite_border

True fame isn’t fleeting. That’s what a team of researchers led by Eran Shor from McGill University’s Dept. of Sociology and Arnout van de Rijt of Stony Brook University conclude. They studied all the names mentioned in over 2,000 English-language newspapers from the U.S., Canada and the U.K. over a period of several decades. What they found was that, contrary to popular belief (and scholarly research up to now), the people who become truly famous stay famous for decades.

• share
• favorite_border

American University Professor Jennifer Lawless and her co-author reveal in their new report, "Girls Just Wanna Not Run: The Gender Gap in Young Americans’ Political Ambition," that there is a serious gender gap in women's interest versus men's interest in running for elected office which will likely persist for generations.

• share
• favorite_border

New evidence from Iowa State researchers demonstrates a link between video games and youth violence and delinquency. The research shows a strong connection even when controlling for a history of violence and psychopathic traits among juvenile offenders.

• share
• favorite_border

New UT psychology study shows people are more supportive of gun control policy when elected officials base their arguments on broader statistics, rather than isolated incidents.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study co-authored by Boston University Assistant Professor of Psychology Peter Blake finds that young children endorse fairness norms related to sharing, but often act in contradiction to those norms when given a chance to share.

• share
• favorite_border

With a dizzying number of ties in our social networks – that your Aunt Alice is a neighbor of Muhammad who is married to Natasha who is your wife’s boss – it’s a wonder we remember any of it. How do we keep track of the complexity? We cheat, says a Cornell University sociologist in Scientific Reports (March 21), a publication of Nature.

• share
• favorite_border

First study to confirm influence of media portrayals of mass shootings involving a shooter with mental illness on attitudes towards persons with mental illness.

• share
• favorite_border

UC San Diego report on gender in the professions shows that males retain lion’s share of power and prestige in post-recession economy.

• share
• favorite_border

New research from an international team of scientists suggests evolution, or basic survival techniques adapted by early humans, influences the decisions gamblers make when placing bets. The findings may help to explain why some treatment options for problem gamblers often don’t work, the researchers say.

• share
• favorite_border

New research from the University of Adelaide has studied the behaviour of young people lured into internet gambling through so-called 'free-play' or 'practice' modes.

• share
• favorite_border

One of the major demographic and social changes of the last four decades has been the dramatic increase in the average age at which Americans first marry, from their early 20s in 1970 to their late 20s today.

• share
• favorite_border

The contrasting nature of facial features is one of the signals that people unconsciously use to decipher how old someone looks, says Psychology Prof. Richard Russell, who has been collaborating with researchers from CE.R.I.E.S. (Epidermal and Sensory Research and Investigation Center), a department of Chanel Research and Technology dedicated to skin related issues and facial appearance.

• share
• favorite_border

A team of sleep researchers led by UC Riverside psychologist Sara C. Mednick has confirmed the mechanism that enables the brain to consolidate memory and found that a commonly prescribed sleep aid enhances the process.

• share
• favorite_border

Research has long linked high socioeconomic status with better health and lower mortality. But what’s remained unclear is whether this association has more to do with access to resources (education, wealth, career opportunity, etc.) or the glow of high social status relative to others.

• share
• favorite_border

When people are denied the chance to cheat or steal, they get frustrated -- and turn to violent video games for release.

• share
• favorite_border

According to Jeff Bergen, a mathematics professor at DePaul University in Chicago and a lifelong collegiate basketball fan, the odds of picking a perfect bracket are less than one-in-9.2 quintillion. He demonstrates the math on YouTube.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study on mental health in Afghanistan looks beyond the effects of its 12-year war and identifies the root causes of mental distress and anxiety among its citizens: poverty and vulnerability.