Latest science news in Psychology & Sociology
Scientists Generally Happy With Their Media Interaction
Scientists and journalists get along much better than the anecdotal 'horror stories' would lead us to believe, according to new research published in the journal Science, which has found that...
Group Apologizes for Its Racial Bias
The American Medical Association formally apologized on Thursday for more than a century of policies that excluded blacks from the group, long considered to be the voice of American doctors.
Autism Genes That Control Early Learning [News]
A new genetic analysis of large, inbred Middle Eastern families found that genes linked to a heightened risk of autism are crucial to a child's ability to learn.
Reducing Global Warming And Working For Common Good: What Inspires Collective Cooperation?
No one enjoys paying taxes. Even so, we need taxes if we want our streets clean, a proper public health care system, an educated population or the maintenance of Earth's...
Research identifies brain cells related to fear
The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that in any given year, about 40 million adults (18 or older) will suffer from some form of anxiety disorder, including debilitating conditions...
Scientists Predict New Uses For Existing Drugs From Their Side Effects
Researchers have discovered a new way to make use of drugs' unwanted side effects. They developed a computational method that compares how similar the side effects of different drugs are...
'Learned fear' tied to brain circuits
BASEL, Switzerland, July 10 (UPI) -- Learned fear is triggered by a rapid switching in the activity balance between two brain circuits, a Swiss study published Thursday found.
Fewer nonsmokers breathe cigarette fumes, CDC says
ATLANTA (AP) -- Nearly half of nonsmoking Americans are still breathing in cigarette fumes, but the percentage has declined dramatically since the early 1990s, according to...
Age-old Money Matters: Positivity In Older Adults Leads To Balanced Investments
The economic and psychological term known as "sunk-cost fallacy" is a bias that leads someone to make a decision based solely on a previous financial investment. For example, a baseball...
Octopuses Choose Favorite Tentacles
There are plenty of times when a third hand would be helpful, but solving a Rubik's Cube isn't really one of them. Despite that, a study in England has been...
Embryo research debate delayed
The government today risked accusations of running scared of the Glasgow East byelection after it called off a controversial vote on embryology research
Fashion Bug: Teens Turn Dead Cicadas Into Jewelry
Two 17-year-old jewelry makers from Cape Cod, Massachusetts are hoping swarms of customers will want their latest creations: earrings and necklaces made from dead bugs.
Doctor calls for ER to reopen following woman's death
A woman's life might have been saved on Wednesday night if the Tobique Valley Hospital in Plaster Rock, N.B., still had emergency services available, says Dr. Barry Wecker.
Realities of One-Night Stands Revealed
Women seek one-night stands even though they feel crappy the morning after.
Revolutionary Chefs? Not Likely, Shows Physics Research
However much the likes of Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay might want to shake up our diets, culinary evolution dictates that our cultural cuisines remain little changed as generations move...
Even fruit flies have an orientation memory: Recall tested in a virtual space
In order to cope with their environment, animals must be able to remember the location of their destination in situations in which they temporarily lose sight of it. This ability,...
Fifi more aggressive than Fang, says dog study
Small dogs, especially dachshunds, are likelier to attack strangers and other dogs compared with pitbulls, rottweilers and other macho breeds, a study published on Wednesday finds.
Past science papers stump pupils
Students who sat a chemistry exam made up of questions from over five decades scored an average of only 25%.
The world is becoming a happier place: study
The world is becoming a happier place, a study published in this month's Perspectives of Psychological Science shows.
Verbally aggressive mothers direct their children's behavior
A new study in Human Communication Research reveals that verbally aggressive mothers tend to control their children's choice of activities as well as use physical negative touch, along with directives,...
Saskatoon doctor facing sexual charges identified
The name of a Saskatoon doctor charged with sexually assaulting two female patients was made public Wednesday when the case moved into the courts.
Brain activity encodes reward magnitude and delay during choice
Good things may come to those who wait, but research has proven that humans and animals actually prefer an immediate rather than a delayed reward. Now, a study published by...
1 year community service for HIV-positive woman guilty of assault
A Quebec woman living with AIDS has been sentenced to one year of community service for hiding her HIV status from her former boyfriend.
Vietnam plans to tempt expat scientists back
A proposal for a scheme to attract expat scientists back to Vietnam with good salaries and research funding is under discussion.
Psychiatric genetics: The brains of the family
Does the difficulty in finding the genes responsible for mental illness reflect the complexity of the genetics or the poor definitions of psychiatric disorders? Alison Abbott reports.
Avatars As Communicators Of Emotions
Current interactive systems enable users to communicate with computers in many ways, but not taking into account emotional communication. A Ph.D. thesis puts forward the use of avatars or virtual...
Money makes the heart grow less fond... but more hardworking
Money is a necessity: it provides us with material objects that are important for survival and for entertainment, and it is often used as a reward. But recent studies have...
More sex please, we're 70
Men and women in their early seventies are having sex more often and enjoying it more than their counterparts three and four decades ago, according to a Swedish study published...