Latest science news in Psychology & Sociology
Genetic study clarifies African and African-American ancestry
People who identify as African-American may be as little as 1 percent West African or as much as 99 percent -- just one finding of a large-scale, genome-wide study of...
Santa Claus at risk? Unhealthy lifestyle, unreasonable working conditions, and stress
An unhealthy lifestyle, unreasonable working conditions, and then the stress of having to deliver 152 million Christmas gifts in 24 hours. The extreme accomplishments of Santa Claus are making researchers...
When Fire Approaches, Chimps Keep Their Cool
Primates clear an important hurdle in humanlike mastery of fire [Read more]
China defends role in climate talks
BEIJING, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- China struck back Tuesday at British accusations that Beijing "hijacked" the Copenhagen climate-change talks.
How nurses can better support families of dying children
Most nurses that work in a children's critical care unit feel prepared and trained to help parents during the final moments of their child's life and the difficult hours that...
Got smell? Research shows that accurate taste perception relies on a functioning olfactory system
As anyone suffering through a head cold knows, food tastes wrong when the nose is clogged, an experience that leads many to conclude that the sense of taste operates normally...
Texting and driving don't mix, just as suspected
Sending or receiving messages proves even worse than cell phone calls for young adults on simulators
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says US fabricated nuclear documents
Iranian president dismisses western deadline to accept deal to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuelThe Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, today dismissed a year-end deadline set by the US for Iran to accept a...
Depression saps endurance of the brain's reward circuitry
A new study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that depressed patients are unable to sustain activity in brain areas related to positive emotion...
Orphanages are viable options for some children, study finds
A study of more than 3,000 orphaned and abandoned children in five Asian and African countries has found that children in institutional orphanages fare as well or better than those...
New research sheds light on our reactions to humanitarian crises
Millions of lives are lost around the world each year to accidents, terrorist attacks, wars, epidemics and natural disasters. What’s more, the prediction is that climate change will increase the...
Discrimination in the citations that scientists use
Science does not have to be altruistic. In fact, most of the time it is egotistic, according to a study by researchers in Spain that analyzes the discrimination that exists...
Essay: A ‘Gift of Life’ With Money Attached
Financial incentives may be needed to help secure enough organ donations, as altruism alone is not working.
Very Sick, and Now a Curiosity
A Colorado woman who became ill after a vacation to Uganda becomes a bit of a medical wonder after surviving a case of Marburg hemorrhagic fever.
Banks and bailouts: Playing politics?
(PhysOrg.com) -- Banks with strong political connections were more likely to receive bailout money from the government -and more of it -in the past year than those with weaker ties,...
Temp workers not stuck in jobs and earn more than regular employees
(PhysOrg.com) -- Rather than being trapped in dead-end jobs, many people hired by temporary help agencies actually earn higher hourly wages and are better educated than permanent employees, and move...
Marketing Professor Studying Adolescents' Sources of Happiness
(PhysOrg.com) -- Lan Nguyen Chaplin, an assistant professor in the Eller College of Management, says children and teenagers, in finding happiness, do not always place material things before personal relationships.
Preschoolers in Child Care Centers Not Active Enough
Many young children in child care centers are not getting as much active playtime as they should, according to new research.
Quantum information: Disentangling a billion-dollar opportunity
The field of quantum information processing has come a long way in the past five years, partly thanks to new funding which has helped focus activity in this potentially lucrative...
Dutch researchers explore advanced brain diagnostic techniques
At present the task of diagnosing brain disorders using electroencephalography (EEG) is still performed by humans, but in years to come it will increasingly be taken over by computerized systems....
Machine Translates Thoughts into Speech in Real Time
(PhysOrg.com) -- By implanting an electrode into the brain of a person with locked-in syndrome, scientists have demonstrated how to wirelessly transmit neural signals to a speech synthesizer. The "thought-to-speech"...
B.C. woman donates kidney to her boss
A British Columbia woman has given her boss a Christmas gift that will keep on giving - a kidney.
Loyola Helps the Museum of Science and Industry Build YOU! The Experience
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine Department of Radiology donated more than 1,000 medical images to the Museum of Science and Industry for use in YOU! The Experience, a...
For Green Boris read Greed Boris | Dave Hill
The London mayor has not abandoned his core belief that capitalism can save the planetDavid Cameron might disagree but Boris Johnson is an unusually reliable politician. I don't mean that in the...
A most controversial man
Mavericks. People showing great independence of thought*. Some of the greatest discoveries in science have been made by mavericks. Nonsensical untruths have been promulgated by those very same mavericks. Mavericks stimulate...
Brain Power: Studying Young Minds, and How to Teach Them
Research is clarifying when young brains are best able to grasp fundamental concepts, turning conventional wisdom on its head.
Now you see it, now you know you see it
Psychologists say that time lag between unconscious perception and conscious recognition of a visual stimulus can vary depending on the complexity of the stimulus.
Having children makes you more like your own parents
“I’ll never be like my parents.” Many youngsters must have said this at least once in their lives. The truth emerges as soon as you have your own children: you...