Latest science news in Psychology & Sociology
Autism's social struggles due to disrupted communication networks in brain
Picking up on innuendo and social cues is a central component of engaging in conversation, but people with autism often struggle to determine another person's intentions in a social interaction....
Videogames getting minds of their own
Videogames are getting smarter with virtual enemies improvising during battles, storylines shifting based on moral choices and in-game characters sending players text messages for help.
Congress Overrides Bush’s Veto on Medicare
President Bush cast a futile veto, rejecting a bill that would protect doctors from cuts in Medicare payments.
Cancer Researchers Call For Ethnicity To Be Taken Into Account
Breast cancer research needs to investigate how a person's ethnicity influences their response to treatment and its outcome, according to a new Comment piece in The Lancet. Emerging evidence suggests...
Doctors are key to tackling knife violence, says expert
Every hospital emergency department should share information about violent incidents with local crime reduction agencies to tackle the problem of knife crime, says an expert in this week's BMJ.
Context Is Everything: New Research Uncovers Key To Consumer Preferences
New research in the Journal of Consumer Research reveals that a product's attractiveness can shift depending on the other choices that are available at the time. The authors demonstrate that...
Bullying-suicide link
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found signs of an apparent connection between bullying, being bullied and suicide in children, according to a new review of studies from 13...
Good News For Veggies: Personal Values Deceive Taste Buds
Many heavy meat eaters believe they eat a lot of meat because of the taste. But according to groundbreaking new research the reason that a beef burger tastes better than...
Family sues co. for muscular dystrophy drug
(AP) -- A Minnesota family is trying to force a New Jersey drug company to give their son an experimental drug for a fatal form of muscular dystrophy, saying...
XM-Sirius Merger Gets Conditional Go-Ahead
The FCC commissioner holding the potential deciding vote says he'll decide in favor of the merger if the two companies agree to tougher conditions.
Solitary Hyenas Still Get the Last Laugh
New research indicates that, to offset the cost of competition among the group, spotted hyenas still demonstrate an ancestral tendency to separate themselves when searching for their next meal.
Underactive region in brain linked to OCD
British researchers at the University of Cambridge have found that an area of the brain that regulates habitual behaviour is under-activated in people with obsessive compulsive disorder and their close...
Research Publications Online: Too Much Of A Good Thing?
The Internet gives scientists and researchers instant access to an astonishing number of academic journals. So what is the impact of having such a wealth of information at their fingertips?...
Mississippi remains most obese state, CDC reports
(AP) -- Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee lead the nation when it comes to obesity, a new government survey reported Thursday.
Polio resurfaces in region of Pakistan
(AP) -- An eight-month-old Pakistani girl has tested positive for polio in an area where militants campaigned against vaccination, a World Health Organization official said Thursday.
Complex questions asked by defense lawyers linked to convictions in child abuse trials
Defendants in child abuse cases are more likely to be convicted if their defense lawyer uses complicated language when interrogating young victims according to new research out of the University...
Who says the Internet broadens your horizons?
Online access to scientific journals can be a mixed blessing, as Philip Ball finds out.
Scientists Creates Touch-based Illusion
Anyone who has seen an optical illusion can recall the quirky moment when you realize that the image being perceived is different from objective reality. Now, scientists have designed a...
Emotional robots in the spotlight
(PhysOrg.com) -- A robot with empathy sounds like the stuff of sci-fi movies, but with the aid of neural networks European researchers are developing robots in tune with our emotions....
Drug-resistant TB needs massive research increase
Multidrug-resistant TB needs more research to equip healthcare workers with the right tools, write Frank G. J. Cobelens and colleagues.
Interview: Medicinal reasons
Yixin Lu talks to Vikki Allen about his dreams and the importance of medicinal chemistry
‘Macho’ work ethic forcing women out of chemistry
Isolation and lack of encouragement fuel exit from academia
Negative perception of blacks rises with more news watching, studies say
Watching the news should make you more informed, but it also may be making you more likely to stereotype, says a University of Illinois researcher. In a pair of recently...
Decisions under pressure: it's all in the heartbeat
A person's heart rate can reveal a lot about how they make decisions when feeling stressed, a Queensland University of Technology academic says.
Researchers find a partially shared genetic profile between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
Both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can be disabling conditions, and both present clinically with significant mood and psychotic symptoms. These two illnesses also share genetic variants that might be...
Chalk and talk
The traditional view of a teacher scribbling on a chalkboard while talking at students has changed in recent years, not only with the advent of net-connected classroom displays and other...
Comrades To Consumers: Advertisements In Chinese Media
A new study looks at the role advertising has played in China's transformation. Researchers analyzed advertisements in the Chinese media for clues on how sociological and ideological change has taken...
Opinion: Great research how about some outcomes?
Though Australian health research is strong in theory, it needs to be translated into social and commercial outcomes, according to Peter Andrews.