Latest science news in Psychology & Sociology
Online personas rarely match real-life behavior, observers say
Just because popular social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, encourage members to use their actual identities doesn't mean people are presenting themselves online the way they do in real...
New Look At How The Brain Produces Language
MIT neuroscientists writing in the Journal of Neurophysiology have developed a new method to analyze brain imaging data – one that may paint a clearer picture of how our brain...
Virtual reality illusions: the medical and scientific benefits (w/ Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Is it possible to have the illusion that your body has changed radically, or that a different body is your body?
OUCH! Virtual Girl Slaps Real Guys
Guys reacted strongly to a virtual slap after taking on the perspective of a virtual teenage girl
Size matters: Eavesdropping on sexual signals
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- In the animal kingdom, sexual signals often are manifested as displays of bright coloration or, in the case of crickets, as loud song. Adult male...
LSU identifies community conditions related to malnutrition deaths among older adults
In a paper published in the May 2010 issue of the scholarly journal Annals of Epidemiology, two LSU researchers tackle a problem seldom acknowledged in the United States - the...
Giving sweet solutions to children before immunisation reduces pain
Infants who receive sweet solutions before being immunised experience less pain and are more comfortable, reveals research published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood...
Scripps Research study overturns decade-old findings in neurobiology
In findings that should finally put to rest a decade of controversy in the field of neurobiology, a team at The Scripps Research Institute has found decisive evidence that a...
Willetts becomes science minister
The UK's new minister responsible for research will have a very challenging brief, say science advocates.
Trauma 'not rife among UK troops'
Serious mental issues are not nearly as common as feared in UK troops who have served in combat zones, a study says.
Cancer scare headlines are not new | Richard Evans
Scientists and journalists have been publishing overblown reports for a century – no wonder people still don't trust them"It would be difficult to think of any article of diet which has not,...
Violent teenage girls fail to spot anger or disgust in others’ faces
Girls appear to be "protected" from showing antisocial behaviour until their teenage years, new research has found. The study sheds new light on antisocial behavior in girls compared with boys...
Companies challenged Poizner business claims
He says his ex-firm invented cellphone GPS technology. Suits alleged some ideas were taken. ...
Population health plays a bigger role in geographic differences in Medicare spending
In a study conducted by researchers from George Mason University and the Urban Institute, it was determined that variations in Medicare beneficiaries' health across geographic areas accounts for a significant...
Students Use Satellites to Check for Ticks
(PhysOrg.com) -- Using state-of-the-art NASA satellite information, about a dozen students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Ala., are busy checking state forests...
How the Public Perceives Science
Dan Kahan studies how group values shape perceptions of risks and benefits.
Women's Perceived Leadership Weaknesses Actually Strengths
(PhysOrg.com) -- A perception of sensitivity and competence causes women to be evaluated as better leaders than men in comparable positions, says a recent study.
Talking seriously with children is good for their language proficiency
How adults approach children aged 3 to 6 years during conversations has a major influence on their language acquisition. Those who address children as fully-fledged conversation partners lay an early...
Visual perception heightened by meditation training
(PhysOrg.com) -- Intensive mental training has a measurable effect on visual perception, according to a new study from the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis....
Woman falls to her death at Cal State Fullerton
A woman fell to her death from a six-story parking structure at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday morning in what officials said appears to be a suicide.
LAPD officer pleads guilty to misdemeanor assault in Texas
A Los Angeles police officer charged in Texas for allegedly forcing himself on a motel employee while she was retrieving a crib for his infant was placed on two years'...
Grown men swap bodies with virtual girl
Simulated visual shifts create illusion of being in someone else's skin
More graduation speakers boycott UC ceremonies
A labor union's call for graduation speakers to withdraw from the ceremonies at UC campuses is gaining traction. Among several others canceling their speeches, state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles)...
Study: Pro-smoking videos, often sexual, prominent on YouTube
(PhysOrg.com) -- Pro-smoking videos, and especially those that are sexual in nature, are prominent on the online video site YouTube and very accessible to young people, says a Michigan State...
Study finds alcohol is a growing problem for retirees
(PhysOrg.com) -- For a decade, researchers followed more than 1,300 workers as they retire from work to identify how psychological, social and economic factors associated with retirement influence drinking behaviors.
Eureka, brain makes real mental leaps
Rat studies reveal nerve activity shifts location during aha moments
Rockefeller immunologist receives Gates Foundation Grand Challenges grant
Jean-Laurent Casanova will launch a new project aimed at understanding how a collection of genetically diverse errors in immunity leads to susceptibility to tuberculosis in children under 15 years old.
Scientists learn how brains process images of faces
(PhysOrg.com) -- Stare at a stranger's face for too long, and two things will likely happen: You'll feel uncomfortable, and you'll get the sense that the stranger doesn't like it.