We’re used to the idea that my smart phone knows a lot more than we do, but it’s unnerving to think that it may know a lot more about us than we’re aware of…
Your face is your fortune – and how trustworthy you look could have life and death implications in the US Courts.
There’s good evidence that exercise helps older adults stay sharp – but how do you keep at it? Some new research on exercise instigation habits may be useful
Here’s looking at you kid is the famous toast from Casablanca but the colour of your eyes may have a correlation with how much you drink?
Altruism is simpler than we thought
A new computational model of how the brain makes altruistic choices is able to predict when a person will act generously in a scenario involving the sacrifice of money.
Your phone knows if you're depressed
You can fake a smile, but your phone knows the truth. Depression can be detected from your smartphone sensor data by tracking the number of minutes you use the phone and your daily geographical locations, reports a small Northwestern Medicine study.
Jealousy in a romantic relationship can lead to alcohol problems
People who depend on their relationship to make them feel good about themselves are more likely to drown their sorrows if they believe their partner is cheating, suggests new research. The study, published in Addictive Behaviors, links romantic jealousy, relationship-dependent self-esteem and alcohol problems for the first time.
The authors of the study, from the University of Houston, US, say understanding the link between these three factors could help identify people at risk of alcoholism more quickly.
Exercise can improve brain function in older adults
New research conducted at the University of Kansas Medical Center indicates that older adults can improve brain function by raising their fitness level.
Jeffrey Burns, M.D., professor of neurology and co-director of the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Center, led a six-month trial conducted with healthy adults ages 65 and older who showed no signs of cognitive decline. The results of the study were published on July 9 in the journal PLOS ONE.
The randomized controlled trial attempted to determine the ideal amount of exercise necessary to achieve benefits to the brain. Trial participants were placed in a control group that did not have monitored exercise, or they were put into one of three other groups. One group moderately exercised for the recommended amount of 150 minutes per week, a second exercised for 75 minutes per week, and a third group exercised for 225 minutes per week.
With teeth like that, this pre-dinosaur vegetarian was no push over
Head-butting and canine display during male-male combat first appeared some 270 million years ago. This is what researchers from the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Wits found when they conducted an updated and more in-depth study of the herbivorous mammalian ancestor, Tiarajudens eccentricus, discovered four years ago.
CREDIT
Wits University
Discovered four years ago, and following an updated and more in-depth study of the herbivorous mammalian ancestor,Tiarajudens eccentricus, researchers from Brazil and South Africa can now present a meticulous description of the skull, skeleton and dental replacement of this Brazilian species.
They also learned that 270 million years ago, the interspecific combat and fighting we see between male deer today were already present in these forerunners of mammals.
This description by Brazilian researcher, Dr Juan Carlos Cisneros, and his co-authors from the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, Professor Fernando Abdala and Dr Tea Jashasvili, is published in an article, titled:Tiarajudens eccentricus and Anomocephalus africanus, two bizarre anomodonts (Synapsida, Therapsida) with dental occlusion from the Permian of Gondwana in the journal, Royal Society Open Science, on 15 July 2015.
Kid swagger: How children react to winning and losing
A group of preschoolers were given one shot to beat the world’s fastest builder of block towers.
Unbeknownst to the children, it had already been decided who would capture the victory and who would see it slip away.
The losers shook it off without it ruining their mood.
The winners – even the two-year-olds – showed some obvious swagger: heads held high, chests puffed out, hands on hips in a victorious power pose.
But here’s the thing – children show emotions much younger than they understand them. That’s why the psychologists who staged the contest asked the children afterward to choose from a set of four pictures the one that best shows how they feel.
The trustworthiness of an inmate's face may seal his fate
The research, published in Psychological Science, reveals that inmates whose faces were rated as low in trustworthiness by independent observers were more likely to have received the death sentence than inmates whose faces were perceived as more trustworthy, even when the inmates were later exonerated of the crime.
It's not what you do, but how you get yourself to exercise that matters
Developing any habit--good or bad--starts with a routine, and exercise is no exception. The trick is making exercise a habit that is hard to break. According to a new Iowa State University study, that may be easier to accomplish by focusing on cues that make going for a run or to the gym automatic.
Blue eyes linked to alcohol dependence
People with blue eyes might have a greater chance of becoming alcoholics, according to a unique new study by genetic researchers at the University of Vermont.