Laura’s Psychology Blog

Here are some of the stories going on right now! :

• cheaper and better satelites made from toys

“Instead of investing in their own computer research and development, engineers at the NASA Ames Research Center are looking to cellphones and off-the-shelf toys to power the future of low-cost satellite technology.”

• addiction drugs may boost weight loss

“The Lancet reports that Naltrexone, commonly used to treat alcoholics and heroin addicts, and the anti-smoking drug bupropion led to greater weight loss than diet and exercise alone.”

• dopamine determines impulsive behavior

“….serial daters might perpetually be living at the whim of their latest impulse, and now research is getting to the biological basis of their seemingly random behavior. 

• more than a feeling

“…anyone who has felt the sting of tears while listening to a bugler play “Taps,” swooned to a love song or cringed with irritation as a neighbor cranked the heavy metal knows that music can exert a powerful emotive effect.”

• reading terrorists minds

“If the new test used by the Northwestern researchers had been used in such a real-world situation with the same type of outcome that occurred in the lab, the study suggests, culpability extracted from the chatter could be confirmed.”

• the good and the bad in the hands of politicians

“In laboratory tests, right- and left-handers associate positive ideas like honesty and intelligence with their dominant side of space and negative ideas with their non-dominant side,” says Daniel Casasanto of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. To find out whether people link ‘good’ with ‘dominant’ beyond the laboratory, Casasanto and co-author Kyle Jasmin examined spontaneous gestures during positive and negative speech in the final debates of the most recent US presidential elections.”

• Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel holds visuals of brainstem and spinal chord

“Michelangelo, the 16th century master painter and accomplished anatomist, appears to have hidden an image of the brainstem and spinal cord in a depiction of God in the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers reports. These findings by a neurosurgeon and a medical illustrator, published in the May Neurosurgery, may explain long controversial and unusual features of one of the frescoes’ figures.”

We have a beautiful grape trellis with Concord Grapes running 30 feet or more. This may not sound too unusual, unless you realize what part of California we are in. CLICK on the picture to see what I am really thinking about!

Here are a couple of stories that might be amusing! :

• More foods hinder rather than aid sleep

“The bad news for people trying to talk about food and sleep is that . . . generally it’s hard to find foods that help with sleep,” says Michael Grandner, a sleep researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology.”

• did you give your lemur a contraceptive today?

“Doses of Depo-Provera, a common contraceptive for people, shift the odor secretions of female lemurs so dramatically that their scents no longer give clear cues to kinship, identity and genetic quality”

after 3 monthes of use, I still love the iPad!

Here are a few readings for today:

• can you ask a pig if a glass is half full?

“Experts from the university’s School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development have shown for the first time that a pig’s mood mirrors how content he is, highlighting that pigs are capable of complex emotions which are directly influenced by their living conditions.”

• the real cost of college texbooks!

“Why do new college textbooks cost so much? It’s a perennial complaint, but with the growing concerns over student debt levels and the spiraling costs of higher education generally, students and their parents are not the only ones asking that question.”

No, I only WISH I was golfing at St. Andrews in Scotland! CLICK on the picture to see St. Andrews today!

Here a couple of fun reads for today:

• mind meld enables good conversation!

“Why does human conversation come so easily? A new study chalks it up to a sort of “mind meld” between participants. Researchers have found that the brains of speakers and listeners become synchronized as they converse and that this “neural coupling” is key to effective communication.”

• science of a boxing knockout

“But being on the losing end of a KO punch can damage a lot more than a pugilist’s pride—research suggests that the blows that cause knockouts can be debilitating to a boxer’s short and long-term health”

CLICK on picture above to check out what happened this year at Comic Con!

comic con toys to thrill

“SAN DIEGO — Get ready to seriously spoil your inner child, because Comic-Con International is here and so are the exclusive toys. This year’s limited-edition offerings range from a gigantic plush doll to a bobblehead of a serial killer, a fanboy action figure, and the perfect Christmas gift for your stingy boss. These made our heads spin as we tried our best to not check out the Hawaii Five-0 hula girls.”

iPad joins the Academia this fall

“The iPad is about to have its academic chops put to the test this fall in a number of programs around the country. Colleges and universities are looking to adopt the iPad as a collaborative tool, a standardized mobile device to integrate into curriculums, and, in some cases, even a cost-saving device.

“social web and its tipping point

“EVERY move you make, every twitter feed you update, somebody is watching you. You may not think twice about it, but if you use a social networking site, a cellphone or the internet regularly, you are leaving behind a clear digital trail that describes your behaviour, travel patterns, likes and dislikes, divulges who your friends are and reveals your mood and your opinions. In short, it tells the world an awful lot about you.”

why more education lowers dementia

“A team of researchers from the UK and Finland has discovered why people who stay in education longer have a lower risk of developing dementia — a question that has puzzled scientists for the past decade”