Mind, features and articles | Educational Science

May 31, 2015

How Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Could Improve Health

The Supreme Court decision that same-sex couples anywhere in the United States have a right to marry could improve the health of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, experts say. A large body of evidence shows that heterosexual people who are married have better physical and mental health than people who...

Apr 30, 2015

Thin Air Might Increase Depression in Mountain States

The eight intermountain states of the American West, sometimes called the Suicide Belt, have high elevations and the associated thin air. Now, researchers say the low oxygen in these areas is linked with signs of depression, and could potentially even contribute to suicides in some regions. In 2012, Colorado, Wyoming,...

Apr 30, 2015

1 in 20 People Has Hallucinated

About 1 in 20 people in the general population has experienced at least one hallucination in their lifetime that wasn't connected to drugs, alcohol or dreaming, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed information from more than 31,000 people in 18 countries who were interviewed as part of a mental...

Apr 30, 2015

Contact Lenses May Alter Bacteria in the Eye

Wearing contact lenses may change the community of bacteria living in your eyes, according to a small new study. In the study, the surface of the eye in the people who wore contact lenses had triple the proportion of certain bacteria species, on average, compared with the people in the...

Dec 31, 2014

How Dwelling on a Breakup Might Help You Get Over It

After a breakup, your friends might tell you to find distractions — start a new workout regime, go on dates, or basically do anything to keep an ex out of your mind. That might be good advice. But a new study suggests that taking some time to dwell on the...

Dec 31, 2014

Schizophrenia: Symptoms and Treatment

Schizophrenia is a chronic, debilitating mental disorder characterized by distortions of thinking and perception. A central element of schizophrenia is psychosis, which means having an abnormal perception of reality. People with schizophrenia can have hallucinations and delusions. Hallucinations are often hearing voices or seeing things. People might say that they...

Dec 31, 2014

What Makes Bill Gates Feel Stupid

Bill Gates built the world's largest software company, and with his billions, he's also become one of the world's most prolific philanthropists. But there's still one thing that he says makes him feel dumb: not being able to speak a foreign language. Gates took questions from the public today (Jan....

Nov 30, 2016

MDMA for PTSD? How Ecstasy Ingredient Works in the Brain

The active ingredient in the drug ecstasy is set to be studied in large-scale clinical trials as a treatment for people with post-traumatic stress disorder, the New York Times reported on Nov. 29. The ingredient, MDMA, has been shown to be effective in treating people with PTSD in smaller studies,...

Sep 30, 2016

Scientists Can Make People Hallucinate Using Flickering Image

How can we measure the mind? When you ask someone what they're thinking about, what they tell you is not necessarily the truth. This doesn't mean they're lying. It means many environmental, social and personal influences can change what someone tells us. If I put on a white lab coat,...

Aug 31, 2016

Why a 4-Day Workweek May Not Be Good for Your Health

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Many employers and employees love the thought of a four-day workweek. Supposedly, a four-day work schedule allows workers extra time to pursue leisure activities and family togetherness. Spurred on...

Jul 31, 2016

Lasting Childbirth Pain Tied to Postpartum Depression

Women who continue to experience pain from childbirth one month after having a baby may be more likely to develop postpartum depression, a new study suggests. Specifically, researchers found that women in Singapore who had pain that lasted longer than four weeks after they gave birth had higher scores on...

Jun 30, 2016

Brain Zapping May Sharpen Vision

Stimulating the brain's vision center with electricity may improve people's vision for a short period of time, according to a new, small study. In the study, researchers used a mild electrical current to stimulate an area of people's brains that processes visual information. The people either had normal vision, or...

May 31, 2016

Brain Tumor Risk Linked with Higher Education, Study Finds

People with higher levels of education may be more likely to develop certain types of brain tumors, a new study from Sweden suggests. Researchers found that women who completed at least three years of university courses were 23 percent more likely to develop a type of cancerous brain tumor called...

Apr 30, 2016

Is Penis Envy Real?

Known as the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, who would have turned 160 on May 6, founded a branch of psychological therapy that focuses on the conscious mind and the unconscious mind and how the two interact. Among his many attention-grabbing theories and ideas is the concept of penis envy....

Mar 31, 2016

Concussions and Cognitive Skills: What's the Impact?

NEW YORK — Concussions may have lasting and widespread effects on a person's cognitive abilities, according to two new studies presented here at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society's annual meeting. In one study, presented on Sunday (April 3), researchers found that a concussion's effect on visual working memory — the ability...