- January 27, 2009
- 12:29 AM
- 658 views
Writing - 2 Minutes to Better Health
by Sr. Edith Bogue in Monastic Musings
How much impact can 2 minutes of writing have on your health and well-being? According to one of several articles recently published, much more than you would thinkIn the mid-1980s, psychologists first discovered that the process of writing about emotions seemed to lead to improvement in health outcomes, and even in life chances - in some studies, unemployed people found work more quickly after brief episodes of expressive writing. Beginning with Pennebaker's early studies, the research has acc........ Read more »
Chad M. Burton, & Laura A. King. (2008) Effects of (very) brief writing on health: The two-minute miracle. British Journal of Health Psychology, 13(1), 9-14. DOI: 10.1348/135910707X250910
Joshua M. Smyth, & James W. Pennebaker. (2008) Exploring the boundary conditions of expressive writing: In search of the right recipe. British Journal of Health Psychology, 13(1), 1-7. DOI: 10.1348/135910707X260117
- January 27, 2009
- 12:00 AM
- 1,528 views
Contact with hobbits simplified languages?
by Bjørn Østman in Pleiotropy
Languages simplify only in contact with non-native speakers. Perhaps this happened when humans interacted with hobbits?... Read more »
John McWhorter. (2008) Why does a language undress? Strange cases in Indonesia. Miestamo, Matti, Kaius Sinnemäki and Fred Karlsson (eds.), Language Complexity: Typology, contact, change. 2008. xiv, 356 pp., 167-190.
Tabitha M. Powledge. (2006) What Is the Hobbit?. PLoS Biology, 4(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0040440
- January 26, 2009
- 11:44 PM
- 1,595 views
Internet Dependence Questionnaire: Garbage In, Garbage Out
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
Scales to diagnose Internet Dependence and Internet Addiction prosper. Even when this diagnosis is doubted by scientists and bloggers alike these scales get used very frequently and their publications accepted in peer reviewed journals. It is possible that this diagnosis will be included in the new DSM V. Recent research evaluated the utility of [...]... Read more »
Nicki A. Dowling, Ph.D, & Kelly L. Quirk, BAppSci. (2008) Screening for Internet Dependence: Do the Proposed Diagnostic Criteria Differentiate Normal from Dependent Internet Use?. CyberPsychology . DOI: http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2008.0162
- January 26, 2009
- 08:44 PM
- 543 views
Causes of violence: Take 2
by Colin Clark in Mens Rea
New findings and limits of the biological epidemiology of violent behavior.... Read more »
Lee, T., Chan, S., & Raine, A. (2008) Strong limbic and weak frontal activation to aggressive stimuli in spouse abusers. Molecular Psychiatry, 13(7), 655-656. DOI: 10.1038/mp.2008.46
Raine, A. (2008) From Genes to Brain to Antisocial Behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(5), 323-328. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00599.x
- January 26, 2009
- 06:26 PM
- 723 views
So you won’t go blind, but you might get prostate cancer
by Helen Jaques in In Sickness and In Health
Although the schoolyard rumours that masturbation causes blindness or hairy palms aren’t true, a new study published in BJU International has found that too much playing solo in your twenties and thirties can increase the risk of prostate cancer.
The study of more than 800 men found that a high level of sexual activity or [...]... Read more »
Polyxeni Dimitropoulou, Artitaya Lophatananon, Douglas Easton, Richard Pocock, David P. Dearnaley, Michelle Guy, Steven Edwards, Lynne O’Brien, Amanda Hall, Rosemary Wilkinson.... (2009) Sexual activity and prostate cancer risk in men diagnosed at a younger age. BJU International, 103(2), 178-185. DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2008.08030.x
- January 26, 2009
- 05:00 PM
- 1,596 views
Low-calorie diets improve memory in old age
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
People diet for many reasons - to fit into clothes, to look more attractive, or for the sake of their health. But to improve their memory? It's an interesting idea, and one that's been given fresh support by Veronica Witte and colleagues from the University of Munster in Germany.
Witte found that elderly people who slash the calories in their diet by 30% were better able to remember lists of words than people who stuck to their normal routine. It's the first experiment to show that cutting calo........ Read more »
A. V. Witte, M. Fobker, R. Gellner, S. Knecht, & A. Floel. (2009) Caloric restriction improves memory in elderly humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0808587106
- January 26, 2009
- 05:00 PM
- 975 views
Do newborn infants have a sense of rhythm?
by Henkjan Honing in Music Matters
It might look somewhat disturbing, but the picture that accompanies this entry is a snapshot of a two day old baby that is healthy and sound asleep! She is one of fourteen newborns that participated in a recent listening experiment, a collaboration between the Institute for Psychology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and our research group at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. In this project we are interested in how newborn infants perceive the musical world around them and in ........ Read more »
István Winkler, Gábor P. Háden,, Olivia Ladinig, István Sziller, & Henkjan Honing. (2009) Newborn infants detect the beat in music. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0809035106
- January 26, 2009
- 12:49 PM
- 1,498 views
Facial sensations modulate speech perception
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
What sensory cues do we rely on during the perception of speech? Primarily, of course, speech perception involves auditory cues - we pay close attention to the sounds generated by the speaker. Less obviously, the brain also picks up subtle visual cues, such as the movements of the speakers mouth and lips; the importance of these can be demonstrated by the McGurk effect, an auditory illusion in which the visual cues accompanying spoken words can alter one's perception of what is being said. ........ Read more »
T. Ito, M. Tiede, & D. J. Ostry. (2009) Somatosensory function in speech perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0810063106
- January 26, 2009
- 12:00 PM
- 838 views
Obesity Caused by a Viral Infection
by Christie Wilcox in Nutrition Wonderland
The word “epidemic” gets thrown around lightly when Americans talk about obesity. Many argue that obesity in America is so high and “spreading” that it kills as much as an outbreak of any other fatal disease, warranting epidemic status. Others say that their concerns are exaggerated and obesity is no more epidemic than the flu.
The Marburg Virus
The Marburg Virus
It turns out that comparing weight gain to the flu might not be as far off as you might think. Obesity........ Read more »
Rathod, M., Rogers, P., Vangipuram, S., McAllister, E., & Dhurandhar, N. (2009) Adipogenic Cascade Can Be Induced Without Adipogenic Media by a Human Adenovirus. Obesity, 17(4), 657-664. DOI: 10.1038/oby.2008.630
- January 26, 2009
- 11:51 AM
- 840 views
Something Smells Funny.
by Christie Wilcox in Observations of a Nerd
Ok, the consistent reader of this blog can't help but notice that I am a sucker when it comes to unique studies about human relationships and the trappings that go with them. The biological basis and interaction with behavior is simply fascinating to me. This is why I had to report on a study that showed even without knowing it, women's brains picked up on the smell of arousal in men's sweat. And, following that vein, I can't help but write about a new olfactory study, which found that a woman's........ Read more »
J LUNDSTROM, & M JONESGOTMAN. (2008) Romantic love modulates women's identification of men's body odors. Hormones and Behavior. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2008.11.009
- January 26, 2009
- 10:01 AM
- 794 views
55 years, 40,000 papers, and still surprises
by iayork in Mystery Rays from Outer Space
Adenovirus infecting HeLa cells
I’ve quoted before that “the stupidest virus is smarter than the smartest virologist”. Adenoviruses are far from the stupidest viruses, and even after 55 years of study, and nearly 40,000 papers in PubMed, adenoviruses still throw surprises at us on a regular basis. Last week, while talking about [...]... Read more »
C. T. Garnett, G. Talekar, J. A. Mahr, W. Huang, Y. Zhang, D. A. Ornelles, & L. R. Gooding. (2008) Latent species C adenoviruses in human tonsil tissues. Journal of Virology. DOI: 10.1128/JVI.02392-08
- January 26, 2009
- 09:06 AM
- 1,039 views
The origins of ABA-based autism interventions
by Michelle Dawson in The Autism Crisis
When it comes to behaviour analytic approaches to autism, the paper that started it all, and set the tone for what was to come, was Fuller (1949), the first published report of operant conditioning in a human being. Fuller opens his paper by noting that classical conditioning had been tested in "normal and subnormal" humans. For example, it had been found that "subnormal" children formed conditioned responses to shock faster than "normal" children. But so far, operant conditioning had only been ........ Read more »
Fuller, P. R. (1949) Operant conditioning of a vegetative human organism. . American Journal of Psychology, 587-590. DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15392573
- January 26, 2009
- 06:00 AM
- 982 views
For the one life we have
Humanists believe that this life is all we have. Now, this is a very disturbing idea for a lot of people who feel that, without a hope of life after death, life itself becomes meaningless. Humanists, on the other hand, argue that the very fact that life is limited gives it greater meaning - because if you only have a short period to exist you'd better go out and make the most of it. Hence the motto of the British Humanist Association - For the one life we have.So who's right? It's largely a phil........ Read more »
Jaime L. Kurtz. (2008) Looking to the Future to Appreciate the Present: The Benefits of Perceived Temporal Scarcity. Psychological Science, 19(12), 1238-1241. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02231.x
- January 26, 2009
- 04:33 AM
- 1,080 views
Would you give way at the photocopier?
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Back in the 70's, a classic study (PDF) showed that people using a photocopier were just as likely to give way to a line-pusher who gave the nonsense excuse "because I need to make copies", as they were to one who gave the more sensible excuse "because I'm in a rush". Ellen Langer and colleagues interpreted their finding as showing how mindless we often are. As soon as we hear the word "because", we assume the excuse that follows is justified and respond accordingly. Now Scott Key and colleagues........ Read more »
M SCOTTKEY, J EDLUND, B SAGARIN, & G BIZER. (2009) Individual differences in susceptibility to mindlessness. Personality and Individual Differences, 46(3), 261-264. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2008.10.001
- January 26, 2009
- 04:03 AM
- 1,030 views
Catching Obesity
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
Research suggests that a highly infectious virus might be behind some cases of obesity. There is constant talk of an epidemic of overweight in the developed world. Overindulgence, lack of exercise, sedentary lifestyles are usually blamed. Occasionally, the words genetics or glands are mentioned, but rarely is the obesity epidemic thought of as a disease [...]Post from: Sciencebase Science Blog... Read more »
Miloni A. Rathod, Pamela M. Rogers, Sharada D. Vangipuram, Emily J. McAllister, & Nikhil V. Dhurandhar. (2009) Adipogenic Cascade Can Be Induced Without Adipogenic Media by a Human Adenovirus. Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/oby.2008.630
- January 26, 2009
- 12:00 AM
- 1,576 views
Would we still obey? The first replication of Milgram's work in over 30 years
by Dave Munger in Cognitive Daily
Two years ago, we linked to a post about an ABC news program that claimed to have replicated Stanley Milgram's controversial experiments from the 1960s and 70s about obedience to authority. The original study tricked unwitting paid study participants into believing that they had administered potentially deadly shocks at the bidding of an experimenter. The cover was a "learning and memory experiment," allegedly designed to see if administering shocks would improve people's ability to memorize a l........ Read more »
Jerry M. Burger. (2009) Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today?. American Psychologist, 64(1), 1-11. DOI: 10.1037/a0010932
- January 26, 2009
- 12:00 AM
- 1,566 views
Every Man an Island, Pt. 2
by Iddo Friedberg in Byte Size Biology
In the previous post we have seen how our bacterial population affects our weight and that by changing our dietary habits we can change the species composition in our guts. Also, we saw how a metagenomic analysis can lead to verifiable hypotheses: using a metagenomic analysis, Gordon’s lab discovered that the microbiome in the guts of obese mice have a high level of bacteria from the Firmicutes division; they also found that they contain a high level of carbohydrate-active enzymes or CA........ Read more »
Peter J. Turnbaugh, Micah Hamady, Tanya Yatsunenko, Brandi L. Cantarel, Alexis Duncan, Ruth E. Ley, Mitchell L. Sogin, William J. Jones, Bruce A. Roe, Jason P. Affourtit.... (2008) A core gut microbiome in obese and lean twins. Nature, 457(7228), 480-484. DOI: 10.1038/nature07540
- January 26, 2009
- 12:00 AM
- 880 views
Of bears (old and new) and geometric morphometrics
by The Milligan in The Milligan
A re-evaluation of the ecology of two extinct bears, based on the warp analysis of the craniodental morphology of extant and extinct species. ... Read more »
B. Figueirido, P. Palmqvist, & J. A. Pérez-Claros. (2009) Ecomorphological correlates of craniodental variation in bears and paleobiological implications for extinct taxa: an approach based on geometric morphometrics. Journal of Zoology, 277(1), 70-80. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00511.x
B. Figueirido, P. Palmqvist, & J. A. Pérez-Claros. (2009) Ecomorphological correlates of craniodental variation in bears and paleobiological implications for extinct taxa: an approach based on geometric morphometrics. Journal of Zoology, 277(1), 70-80. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00511.x
- January 25, 2009
- 11:37 PM
- 839 views
Ninja Kittens Don't Steal The Moon - Crime Rates And Lunar Phase Research
by Kylie Sturgess in Podblack Blog
Studies on the lack of correlation between phases of the moon and crime in rural and city areas - as well as all the other moon myth and superstitions. WITH NINJA KITTEZ!... Read more »
Hicks-Caskey WE, & Potter DR. (1991) Effect of the full moon on a sample of developmentally delayed, institutionalized women. Perceptual and motor skills, 72(3 Pt 2), 1375-80. PMID: 1817481
Núñez S, Pérez Méndez L, & Aguirre-Jaime A. (2002) Moon cycles and violent behaviours: myth or fact?. European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine, 9(2), 127-30. PMID: 12131634
Bhattacharjee C, Bradley P, Smith M, Scally AJ, & Wilson BJ. (2000) Do animals bite more during a full moon? Retrospective observational analysis. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 321(7276), 1559-61. PMID: 11124173
- January 25, 2009
- 11:31 PM
- 1,577 views
Brassica oleracea: Artificial Selection is Delicious!
by Johnny in Ecographica
Brassica oleracea: Artificial Selection is Delicious!While reading through a few abstracts at the Journal of Insect Science - looking for information regarding introduced predators as biological controls for invasive insect species - I came across an article discussing Delphastus catalinae (ladybird beetles, image at below right) as a control agent for Bemisia tabaci (whiteflies). Whiteflies are major pests, and have recently gained infamy for attacks in Florida.A good description from a recent ........ Read more »
Legaspi J, Legaspi BC, Simmons AM, Soumare M. (2008) Life table analysis for immatures and female adults of the predatory beetle, Delphastus catalinae, feeding on whiteflies under three constant temperatures. Journal of Insect Science.
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