Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Dec 31, 2004

Sex in High School Involves Long Chains of Relations

A study of sexual and romantic relations at a high school found students connected by long chains, rather than in a tight network with a core group of a promiscuous few. Sharing of partners was rare, but many students were indirectly linked through one partner to another and another. The...

Nov 30, 2006

Gender Difference in Grammar

Most children make adorable slip-ups in grammar when they're learning to speak. Now scientists say the mistakes could vary by gender. Boys and girls tend to use different parts of their brain to learn some fundamental parts of grammar, according to a new study. Sex has been virtually ignored in...

Nov 30, 2006

Study: Laughter Really Is Contagious

If you see two people laughing at a joke you didn't hear, chances are you will smile anyway--even if you don't realize it. According to a new study, laughter truly is contagious: the brain responds to the sound of laughter and preps the muscles in the face to join in...

Nov 30, 2006

Recipe for Genius Revealed

If you think the innate talents of your child alone will produce the next Albert Einstein, think again. The real recipe for producing a bright-minded adult, according to a new study, calls for a few ingredients—cognitive abilities, educational opportunities, interest, and plain old hard work. The 35-year study, published online...

Nov 30, 2006

Virtual Mind Games Revive Controversial Experiment

Infamous experiments almost 50 years ago discovered that ordinary people--under orders from an authority figure--would deliver apparently lethal electrical shocks to complete strangers. The disturbing findings both shed light on the limits of human behavior and the mind but also ignited an ethical controversy that has made it impossible nowadays...

Nov 30, 2006

Stem Cell Loss in Aging Brain May Bring Poorer Memory

(HealthDay News) -- Having trouble remembering things with age? A new study in rats finds that stem cells in aging brains divide less frequently, leading to a dramatic drop in the number of new nerve cells being born in the hippocampus, the brain's learning and memory center. The finding, published...

Nov 30, 2006

Study: Saturated Fats an All in the Family Affair

Adults with kids in the home eat more saturated fat--the equivalent of about one frozen pepperoni pizza each week--than do adults who don't live with children, scientists report. This study really points out that we need to focus on the family as a whole, that the entire family needs to...

Oct 31, 2006

Social Pressure, Not Health Warnings Influence Sexual Behavior

Young people often decide if they should use a condom by whether they perceive their sexual partners as “clean” or “unclean.” In a study reported today in the journal Lancet, researchers found the factors like this one that influence a young person’s sexual practices are strikingly similar worldwide. Since nearly...

Oct 31, 2006

CDC Blocks Publication of Abortion Research

Regardless on your views of abortion—in favor or against legalization—new and disturbing research should unite all of us. According to the current issue of the medical journal The Lancet, illegal abortions are as common as legal ones worldwide. Some 20 million women seek illegal abortions each year, a number that...

Oct 31, 2006

Tattoos Less Sensitive to Touch

That tattoo you decided to get in college may look cool, but it might also be decreasing your skin’s sensitivity to touch. University of Northern Colorado psychologist Todd Allen tested 21 undergraduates who had gotten tattoos within the last couple years, most commonly on their lower back for females and...

Oct 31, 2006

Women Unaware Cervical Cancer Caused by Virus

Americans are in the dark about a virus linked to cervical cancer that can kill them, two new studies suggest. A vaccine exists to protect against types of the virus, called human papillomaviruses (HPV). But when presented under the umbrella of sexually-transmitted-disease protection, women are less likely to get vaccinated....

Oct 31, 2006

New Eye Implant Clears Cloudy Vision

A new type of cornea implant could restore some vision in infants and children who are blind due to a cloudy or damaged cornea, a study has found. The cornea is a typically clear covering of the eye that serves as our window to the world. But in some children,...

Oct 31, 2006

Science Confirms Diet Tactic: Eat Slow, Eat Less

Although the idea that eating slower inhibits appetite has been around for decades, there was no scientific evidence. Now the first study to evaluate the claim finds it to be true. It started in about 1972 as a hypothesis that eating slowly would allow the body time for the development...

Oct 31, 2006

Why Marijuana Impairs Memory

Scientists may have just found out why marijuana impairs memory and why the brain's natural versions of the drug might help against epilepsy. The active ingredient of marijuana, THC, is known to impair memory and to bind to areas of the brain linked to memory, such as the hippocampus. Still,...

Oct 31, 2006

Good Food Gone Bad

Pizza (Image credit: Afonso Lima / Stock.XCHNG)What a pity that most Americans have never eaten pizza and confuse it for the junk food advertised on television. In Italy there are laws defining pizza, which set allowances on the type of flour, tomato, mozzarella, olive oil, basil and oregano. Pizza is...