Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 30, 2008

History Repeats: How 2008 Reflected the Past

For all the talk about change, everything old seemed oddly new again in 2008. The events of this year, perhaps more than any other, had a way of dredging up historic memories, bad and good — from the ongoing, Depression-like economic scare to the Civil Rights struggles that led to...

Nov 30, 2008

Police Often Bungle Missing Child Cases

The search for a missing Florida girl named Caylee Anthony received worldwide attention this year, and recently came to a tragic end. The 3-year-old was last seen in June, though her mother Casey Anthony inexplicably waited a month before reporting her daughter missing. Police were unable to find Caylee, but...

Nov 30, 2008

Obama & Celebs Reprimanded for Bad Science

When during a pre-election debate Barack Obama and John McCain both said that an apparent rise in autism cases might be connected to vaccines, those who knew better squirmed at the lack of scientific knowledge of the two remaining presidential candidates on this topic. In fact, studies have found no...

Nov 30, 2008

Smiles Are Innate, Not Learned

From sneers to full-blown smiles, our facial expressions are hardwired into our genes, suggests a new study. The researchers compared the facial expressions from more than 4,800 photographs of sighted and blind judo athletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games. The analyses showed sighted and blind individuals modified...

Nov 30, 2008

5 Predictions for 2008 That (Thankfully) Failed

As the year draws to a close and a new year begins, it is natural to reflect on what has passed and what may lie ahead. Goals are set, resolutions are kept (or not), and inevitably predictions are made. Of course, anyone can make a prediction; all it takes is...

Oct 31, 2008

Past Presidential Elections Far Nastier

The 2008 campaign for president was the most vicious in U.S. history, some pundits have said. There were certainly some cheap-shot moments here and there but, relatively speaking, was the 2008 race really that nasty? Not at all, compared to labels like jackass and hermaphroditical tossed around during presidential elections...

Oct 31, 2008

Women Mellow with Age

Or, as the British press put it, they become less bitchy because once they hit 50 they are more likely to warm to other females because they no longer see them as rivals. The British press don't mince words. The study was rather small, however, so don't read too much...

Oct 31, 2008

Martians Would Think John McCain Won

The conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, after looking at a map showing county-by-county results, said: If you just landed here from Mars, and you looked at that map, you would swear the Republicans won this thing in a landslide, if you didn't know where the population centers are. Indeed,...

Oct 31, 2008

Unhappy People Watch Lots More TV

Unhappy people glue themselves to the television 30 percent more than happy people. The finding, announced on Thursday, comes from a survey of nearly 30,000 American adults conducted between 1975 and 2006 as part of the General Social Survey. While happy people reported watching an average of 19 hours of...

Oct 31, 2008

God and Evolution Can Co-exist, Scientist Says

NEW YORK — A scientist is going public with his Christian belief in God and acceptance of evolution, in the wake of the Dover trial and recent, high-profile scholarly writings that have highlighted the contradictions between religiosity and science. Karl W. Giberson, a physics professor at Eastern Nazarene College in...

Oct 31, 2008

Scientists Team Up with Hollywood

When the worlds of science and Hollywood collide, the results often highlight the differences between the two realms instead of celebrating their similarities. The National Academy of Sciences is trying to change that with a new initiative called, The Science and Entertainment Exchange. This is the Academy's first formal effort...

Oct 31, 2008

Bank Run: How Ginko Financial Went Down

A string of bank collapses prompted Alan Greenspan, U.S. economic guru and former head of the Federal Reserve, to admit last month that lending institutions could not always be trusted to regulate themselves. He could have taken a cue sooner by looking at the 2007 collapse of Ginko Financial, a...

Oct 31, 2008

Apocalyptic 'New Jerusalem' Sect Falling Apart

In Mexico's strange town called New Jerusalem, there's no freedom of religion. You can't play soccer, either. But John F. Kennedy is a saint, explains reporter Chris Hawley. With its spiritual leaders dying after 35 years of all this, things in New Jerusalem are getting weirder, Hawley wrote this week...

Sep 30, 2008

Palin vs. Biden: How Sex May Change the Debate

If history repeats itself, the vice presidential candidates will pull no punches at Thursday night's debate. But this time there's a woman in the mix, and that could really turn things upside-down. Sarah Palin might take on a more manly, aggressive style while Joe Biden steps into a less combative,...

Sep 30, 2008

Leakey: Economic Woes Could be 'Devastating' to Science

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Famed scientist Richard Leakey warned that the worldwide credit crisis will be just devastating to scientific research in coming years, as endowment interest income drops and companies cut donations. Leakey, who once served on a government economic team in his native Kenya, said much of...