Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 30, 2005

Voice of Reason: 'War of the Worlds' Truths and Myths

The recent Hollywood movie War of the Worlds by Steven Spielberg is garnering much attention, but it's nothing like that accorded the 1938 radio version of H.G. Wells' novel. Although the extent of the panic that broadcast caused is still debated, along with the claim that it was intended to...

Apr 30, 2005

Tech Firms Owe Debt to 'Star Wars' Creator

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ After filming the first Star Wars'' movie with special effects far from special, George Lucas spent millions to develop a complete digital editing system to populate his sequels with armies of X-wing fighters and Gungan warriors. Then, he virtually gave it away. We were 10 years...

Apr 30, 2005

Pre-K Kids Kicked Out of Schools Across the Country

Johnny is causing headaches in classrooms across the country even before the spit wads of grammar school start flying. A new study finds pre-K students are expelled three times more often than K-12 children in general. The problem appears to have more to do with a lack of teacher resources...

Mar 31, 2005

When Money Does Buy Happiness

Invoke the old clich? as you wish, but for disabled people, money seems to buy a measure of happiness. For others, well, the price hasn't changed. A survey of 478 Americans over nine years, before and after they became disabled, found that wealth generally allowed substantially better well-being, and less...

Mar 31, 2005

High-tech Probes Sneak Inside Your Cells

The newest generation of nano-sized probes should give scientists a look into the secret lives of nuclei within your body, researchers say. The tiny probes, called quantum dots, are a melding of biology and technology. The crystalline semiconductors with a biological protein coating are no larger than a few hundred...

Feb 28, 2005

Mama's Boys Get Better Milk

The tendency of some mothers to coddle their sons may be ingrained, at least in species where males compete for mates. A recent study of Iberian red deer on a research farm has shown that mothers produce more milk of higher growth-potential for a male calf than a female one....

Feb 28, 2005

Laser's Co-inventor Wins $1.5 Million Religion Prize

NEW YORK (AP) -- Charles Townes, co-inventor of the laser and a Nobel Prize-winner in physics, was named Wednesday as the recipient of a religion award billed as the world's richest annual prize. Townes, 89, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, won the Templeton Prize for Progress Toward...

Feb 28, 2005

Scientists Build 'Frankenstein' Neanderthal Skeleton

Anthropologists have built a Frankenstein Neanderthal skeleton, the first and only full-body reconstruction of the species. The result, announced today, is a shape no one expected. It's almost like making my own fossil discovery, said Gary Sawyer, one of the skeleton's architects. Sawyer, an anthropologist at the American Natural History...

Feb 28, 2005

IMAX theaters Reject Science Shows under Religious Pressure

Some IMAX theatres are refusing to show movies that mention evolution or the Big Bang because of protests by religious groups who say the ideas contradict the Bible. While the number of protests is small -- perhaps a dozen or fewer IMAX theaters -- the effect could be significant because...

Feb 28, 2005

Sports Injuries... After the Game

Sports injuries are common. It's what happens after the game that might come as a surprise. Residents of a city in Wales take a post-game beating, especially when the locals wins. Soccer and rugby are popular in Cardiff, the largest city in Wales. Matches often attract more than 70,000 fans....

Jan 31, 2005

Oldest Human Skulls Suggest Low-Brow Culture

A new analysis of two human skulls previously found in Africa shows they date from nearly 200,000 years ago, making them the oldest known examples of our species. The finding suggests our ancestors spent a long, long time wallowing in an uncultured era with no music, art or jewelry. The...

Jan 31, 2005

Yes, Evolution is a Theory. It's Religion and Politics that are the Problems

Students in Cobb County, Georgia, are being told by the school board that scientific material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered. And this has irritated some so much that a lawsuit was filed, demanding that this outrage be stopped. U.S. District Court Judge Clarence...

Dec 31, 2004

District Loosens 'Intelligent Design' Rule

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- A school district that required science teachers to read a statement about alternatives to the theory of evolution decided Friday that teachers can choose not to read it, but their classes will still hear it. Under the Dover Area School District's temporary exemption, administrators will read...

Dec 31, 2004

Spain's Catholic Church Backs Condoms

MADRID, Spain (AP) _ In a substantial shift from traditional policy, the spokesman for the Catholic Church in Spain has said it supports the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS. Condoms have a place in the global prevention of AIDS,'' Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, spokesman for the...

Dec 31, 2004

New Language Has Surprising Structure

A language in use for just 70 years has evolved quickly and with unexpected structure, researchers said Monday. The Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) is as an alternative language for a community of about 3,500 people, several of whose members are deaf. It has been in use for three generations,...