Scientific American

Age Brings Happiness

Sat, 25 May 2013 08:00:00 EST

Do people get happier or crankier as they age? Stereotypes of crotchety neighbors aside, scientists have been trying to answer this question for decades, and the results have been conflicting. Now a study of several thousand Americans born between 1885 and 1980 reveals that well-being indeed increases with age--but overall happiness depends on when a person was born.

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Girls Who Are Sexually Abused More Likely to Start Using Substances before Age 10

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:10:00 EST

Many studies have confirmed the link between childhood sexual abuse and substance-related problems in adulthood. But a new investigation finds that being raped or molested at a young age also makes young girls far more likely to start drinking or doing drugs during their preteen years.

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How to Expel Hurtful Stereotypes from Classrooms across the Country

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:30:00 EST

In this month's Scientific American science writer Ed Yong explores new research on stereotype threat --the fear of confirming derogatory stereotypes about one's social group. Such anxiety can undermine people's performance in school, sports and the workplace. A girl in an advanced math class, for example, might worry that she will not test as well as the boys, because of the stereotype that boys are better at math. Her concerns might distract her and tax her mental resources so that she performs below her abilities. Similarly, a young white basketball player might play poorly because he is worried that he is not as skilled as his African-American peers. Stereotype threat is one of the explanations for certain achievement gaps.

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Psychologists Find New Ways to Steel Minority Students against Fear of Failure (preview)

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:45:00 EST

Neil deGrasse Tyson, the renowned science communicator, earned his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Columbia University in 1991. About 4,000 astrophysicists resided in the country at the time. Tyson brought the total number of African-Americans among them to a paltry seven. In a convocation address, he spoke openly about the challenges he faced:

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How to Enjoy Your Decision

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:08 EST

Decisions can be hard. We may be haunted by the path not taken.

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You Are Less Beautiful Than You Think

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:30:00 EST

In April 15, 2013 Dove launched a 3-minute video entitled “Dove Real Beauty Sketches.” The video achieved instant popularity and has been watched millions of times -- a successful viral campaign which has been widely talked about . In the video, a small group of women are asked to describe their faces to a person whom they cannot see. The person is a forensic artist who is there to draw pictures of the women based on their verbal descriptions. A curtain separates the artist and the women, and they never see each other. Before all this, each woman is asked to socialize with a stranger, who later separately describes the woman to the forensic artist. In the end, the women are shown the two drawings, one based on their own description, the other based on the stranger’s description. Much to their amazement and delight, the women realize that the drawings based on strangers’ descriptions depict much more beautiful women. The video ends: “You are more beautiful than you think.”

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China's 1-Child Policy Affects Personality

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:00:00 EST

In 1979 China instituted the one-child policy, which limited every family to just one offspring in a controversial attempt to reduce the country's burgeoning population. The strictly enforced law had the desired effects: in 2011 researchers estimated that the policy prevented 400 million births. In a new study in Science , researchers find that it has also caused China's so-called little emperors to be more pessimistic, neurotic and selfish than their peers who have siblings.

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Childhood ADHD Linked to Obesity in Adulthood

Mon, 20 May 2013 05:00:00 EST

Identification and treatment issues surrounding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are challenging enough. Now research is shedding light on long-term outcomes for people with ADHD. A May 20 study in Pediatrics reports that men who had ADHD in childhood are twice as likely to be obese in middle age, even if they no longer exhibit symptoms of the disorder.

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Why Do Top Athletes Suddenly Develop the Yips --a Tendency to Choke under Pressure?

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:00:00 EST

Why do top athletes suddenly develop “the yips,” a tendency to choke under pressure?

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Advertisers Exploit Time Illusions to Sell Products

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:00:00 EST

Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend . [More]

Why Rituals Work

Tue, 14 May 2013 06:30:00 EST

Think about the last time you were about to interview for a job, speak in front of an audience, or go on a first date. To quell your nerves, chances are you spent time preparing – reading up on the company, reviewing your slides, practicing your charming patter. People facing situations that induce anxiety typically take comfort in engaging in preparatory activities, inducing a feeling of being back in control and reducing uncertainty.

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Inside the Mind of a Psychopath

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:08 EST

Psychopaths are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime. These people are primarily identified by an extreme lack of empathy. Now a study finds that when psychopaths see images of people in pain, there’s a pattern of activity in their brains that is quite different from brain activity in non-psychopaths.

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Money Is Valued Differently Depending on How It's Earned

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:08 EST

Is every dollar bill worth the same? Or does a dollar earned honestly have a different value than a dollar with a sketchy history?

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Do Electronic Cigarettes Really Help Smokers Quit?

Tue, 07 May 2013 07:00:00 EST

Everyone knows that cigarettes are bad for you. Yet 45 million Americans smoke , a habit that shaves a decade off life expectancy and causes cancer as well as heart and lung diseases. Nearly 70 percent of smokers want to quit , but despite the deadly consequences, the vast majority of them fail.

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Secrets of the Criminal Mind

Tue, 07 May 2013 06:30:00 EST

What is science revealing about the nature of the criminal mind? Adrian Raine, a professor at the university of Pennsylvania, is an expert in the expanding field of “neurocriminology.” He has written The Anatomy of Violence , a sweeping account of crime’s biological roots, including genetics, neuro-anatomy and environmental toxins like lead. He spoke with Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook .

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Seeds of Dementia: What Do Alzheimer s, Parkinson s and Lou Gehrig s Have in Common? (preview)

Mon, 06 May 2013 07:00:00 EST

Under a microscope, a pathologist searching through the damaged nerve cells in a brain tissue sample from a patient who has died of Alzheimer's disease can make out strange clumps of material. They consist of proteins that clearly do not belong there. Where did they come from, and why are there so many of them? And most important, what do they have to do with this devastating and incurable disorder? The search for answers has turned up a startling discovery: the clumped proteins in Alzheimer's and other major neurodegenerative diseases behave very much like prions, the toxic proteins that destroy the brain in mad cow disease.

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Video Game Play Sharpens Elderly Minds

Fri, 03 May 2013 16:03:08 EST

Wanna help grandma keep her mind sharp? Consider throwing out her crossword puzzles and giving her a joystick. Because a study finds that elderly people who played a video game for at least 10 hours gained three years of protection from cognitive decline. Gamers also became quicker at processing information. The research is in the journal PLoS ONE. [Fredric D. Wolinsky et al., A Randomized Controlled Trial of Cognitive Training Using a Visual Speed of Processing Intervention in Middle Aged and Older Adults ]

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Now Hear This! Most People Stink at Listening [Excerpt]

Fri, 03 May 2013 10:00:00 EST

Editor's note: This excerpt of a chapter from The Plateau Effect describes a study that authors Bob Sullivan and Hugh Thompson conducted with Carnegie Mellon University into the nature of “digital distractions.” Listeners in general are terrible at comprehension, but the authors found that the mere possibility that one’s phone may ring diminishes a person’s cognition skills up to 20 percent. The authors’ research adds to a growing body of work that suggests attention is becoming an increasingly rare commodity, thanks to the proliferation of gadgets, not to mention people, vying for our limited time. [More]

Gap Grows between Wanting and Working

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:50:08 EST

It’s a common complaint, perhaps leveled by every generation about the ones that follow: kids nowadays are too materialistic, with their inflated sense of entitlement, and now flat screens and cell phones. Well, turns out this gripe might finally be true. Because today’s adolescents seem to want more in the way of worldly goods than did teens 30 years ago, and they don’t really want to work for it.

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Are Doctors Diagnosing Too Many Kids with ADHD?

Wed, 01 May 2013 08:00:00 EST

A German children's book from 1845 by Heinrich Hoffman featured “Fidgety Philip,” a boy who was so restless he would writhe and tilt wildly in his chair at the dinner table. Once, using the tablecloth as an anchor, he dragged all the dishes onto the floor. Yet it was not until 1902 that a British pediatrician, George Frederic Still, described what we now recognize as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Since Still's day, the disorder has gone by a host of names, including organic drivenness, hyperkinetic syndrome, attention-deficit disorder and now ADHD.

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