Latest science news in Psychology & Sociology
Speaking foreign languages may help protect your memory
People who speak more than two languages may lower their risk of developing memory problems, according to a new study.
Bell class action suit approved by Que. court
A Quebec Superior Court judge has authorized a class action lawsuit to go ahead against Bell Mobility.
Video: Killzone 3 Pushes Playstation's Limits
Gamecore's Calbert Lee and Chad Chamberlain traveled to Amsterdam and got a behind the scenes look within Guerrilla Games' studios as they develop the third installment in the "Killzone" series.
Children in public housing play outdoors more
Young children living in urban public housing spend more time playing outdoors than other urban children, according to researchers.
Why innocent suspects may confess to a crime
Why would anyone falsely confess to a crime they didn't commit? It seems illogical, but according to The Innocence Project, there have been 266 post-conviction DNA exonerations since 1989 --...
The real avatar
That feeling of being in, and owning, your own body is a fundamental human experience. But where does it originate and how does it come to be? Now, Professor Olaf...
The brain as a 'task machine'
The portion of the brain responsible for visual reading doesn't require vision at all, according to a new study published online on February 17 in Current Biology, a Cell Press...
Improving microscopy by following the astronomers' guide star
A corrective strategy used by astronomers to sharpen images of celestial bodies can now help scientists see with more depth and clarity into the living brain of a mouse.
Consults: A.D.H.D.: To Medicate or Not to Medicate?
Dr. Russell Barkley responds to reader questions about attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Put major government policy options through a science test first, biodiversity experts urge
Scientific advice on the consequences of specific policy options confronting government decision makers is key to managing global biodiversity change.
Policy experts say changes in expectations and funding key to genomic medicine's future
Unrealistic expectations about genomic medicine have created a "bubble" that needs deflating before it puts the field's long term benefits at risk, four policy experts write in the current issue...
Psychology and the law: A special issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science
Legal systems are necessary in any functioning society. Centuries ago, people realized that the only way to maintain a peaceful community was to develop a firm set of rules --...
Mayo Researchers, Rochester Educators, Students to Present at Science Conference
Zebrafish curriculum receives national attention.
7 Ways the Mind and Body Change With Age
The elderly tend to become happier, more liberal and remain pretty darn sharp.
Emotional response may predict how the body responds to stress
Your emotional response to challenging situations could predict how your body responds to stress, according to research published this month in the journal Brain, Behaviour, and Immunity...
Que. child psychiatrist admits to sex with patient
A child psychiatrist from St-Eustache, Que. has admitted to having sex with a former patient who he was treating for depression and suicidal tendencies.
Fontenelle’s Conversations (1686): Popular Science Writing At Its Very Best
Popular science writing today can be hit and miss. It can be truly awful; such as Brian Greene’s immensely dull Elegant Universe, Stephen Jay Gould’s idiosyncratically waffley Rocks of Ages,...
How gendered beliefs funnel women away from science and engineering
Women earned only 18% of all Computer Science degrees and made up less than 25% of the workers in engineering- and computer-related fields in 2009. These statistics stand in stark...
An unexpected career move
Joie Gelband wasn’t supposed to have a career as a union organizer. In 1985, the recent college graduate “tagged along” with friends to Boston and took a job at the Harvard Divinity...
Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages
Professor of Scandinavian and Folklore Stephen A. Mitchell examines witches, wizards, and seeresses in literature, lore, and law, as well as surviving charm magic directed toward love, prophecy, health, and...
Nabokov’s blues
In 1967, novelist Vladimir Nabokov was asked what he might have done had he not become an author. “It is not improbable that had there been no revolution in Russia, I would...
To catch a killer
Last summer, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) brought in a young African-American man on a felony weapons charge. After obtaining a DNA sample, the police found a close match in their database:...
Losing the ‘likes’ and ‘ums,’ but finding a community
Shao-Liang Zheng can manipulate the tiniest of molecules, but he has a harder time manipulating words. Zheng, who manages the Center for Crystallographic Studies in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, is by...
American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us
Robert D. Putnam, the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy, and co-author David E. Campbell, plumb America’s modern history of religion, including the shift towards atheism, and current...
Claudio Guillén
At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on February 1, 2011, the following Minute was placed upon the records. Claudio Guillén was born in Paris, and was brought up...
Planetary Loves: Spivak, Postcoloniality, and Theology
Mayra Rivera Rivera, assistant professor of theology and Latina/o studies, and Stephen D. Moore compiled these essays by theologians and biblical scholars who react to Spivak’s postcolonial studies and theology.
Study: Asian Americans are not viewed as ideal leaders
Asian Americans are widely viewed as "model minorities" on the basis of education, income and competence. But they are perceived as less ideal than Caucasian Americans when it comes to...
Fawaz, Shapiro to lead Harvard Overseers for 2011-12
Leila Fawaz, A.M. ’72, Ph.D. ’79, a Tufts University professor, former dean of humanities and arts, and prominent social historian of the Middle East, has been elected president of Harvard’s Board of Overseers...