Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 31, 2005

Fine Line Revealed Between Creativity and Insanity

History suggests that the line between creativity and madness is a fine one, but a small group of people known as schizotypes are able to walk it with few problems and even benefit from it. A new study confirms that their enhanced creativity may come from using more of the...

Aug 31, 2005

Nuclear Tests Leave Mark in Teeth, Reveal Age

Aboveground testing of nuclear bombs during the 1950s and 1960s produced large amounts of radioactive carbon that diffused around the globe. One of the places this radioactive element ended up is in our teeth, a new study reports. Carbon 14 (C14) is a radioactive form of carbon that makes up...

Aug 31, 2005

People Respond to Computer's Flattery

Humans love flattery so much they warm to it even when it comes from a computer, and even when they don't realize it's occurring. Researchers built head-and-shoulders computer agents, then had them present an argument to various study subjects. In some cases, the computer agent's head movements mimicked the listener...

Jul 31, 2005

Surprise! 1-in-25 Dads Not the Real Father

About 4 percent of men may unknowingly be raising a child that really belongs to the mailman or some other guy, researchers speculate in a new study. Here's the real news: With modern methods, the truth will become known more frequently. Researchers pawed through a host of scientific articles published...

Jul 31, 2005

Doctor's Advice: Have Your Heart Attack During Normal Business Hours

No time is a good time to have and survive a heart attack. But a new study finds that normal business hours are your best bet. Heart attack victims who arrive at a hospital during off-hours or on the weekend wait longer for help and are at a higher risk...

Jul 31, 2005

Scientists: You Learn Without Knowing It

You can learn without realizing what your are doing, a new study finds. The process is similar to how other animals learn, scientists suspect. The idea is that humans have a robust capacity for habit learning, independent of conscious memory, said Larry Squire of the University of California, San Diego....

Jul 31, 2005

Hormone Therapy Prevents Wrinkles, Scientists Say

Post-menopausal women who use hormone therapy for long periods have fewer wrinkles, a new study found. These benefits were seen in women who had consistently used hormone therapy and had been in menopause for at least five years, said Hugh Taylor of Yale School of Medicine. We don't believe hormone...

Jun 30, 2005

Women Suffer More than Men

Which is the weaker sex when it comes to pain? It may be hard to say since women and men have different experiences with pain. New research has found that women report more pain throughout their lifetime. Compared to men, women feel pain in more areas of their body and...

Jun 30, 2005

Golfers with Pain are Weaker, Study Finds

Low back pain makes life miserable for anyone who has it. For golfers, it can take the fun out of life. Even Tiger Woods has dealt with it, though he can hardly be compared to the average duffer, since he managed a 4-under-par performance last year during a round in...

Jun 30, 2005

Why We Blink Without Noticing

Scientists have figured out why we rarely notice our own blinking. Our brains simply miss it, they say. The quest for the new discovery began in the 1980s, when researchers found that visual sensitivity starts decreasing just before we blink. But what goes on in the brain remained a mystery....

Jun 30, 2005

Top 10 Missing Links

Top 10 Missing Links (Image credit: Wikimedia commons user Wapondaponda)Every few years scientists unearth the bones of humanity's forefathers. From Lucy to the Hobbits of Flores Island -- we are gradually seeing building the puzzle of mankind's evolution. Neanderthal (Image credit: Mauro Cutrona)Stocky and squat and well suited for the...

May 31, 2005

Scientists Discover Trust Potion

Get someone to sniff a new potion made from the chemical oxytocin and they'll be more willing to loan you money. Trust us on this. Scientists discovered that inhaling the chemical made people more trusting in social situations with random people. Researchers know very little about the biological basis of...

May 31, 2005

West Nile Virus Spreads More Easily, Study Finds

Mosquitoes appear to get infected with West Nile virus more quickly than previously thought, according to a new study that also discovered mammals can transmit the deadly agent. West Nile, which killed 88 people in the United States last year and more in previous years, is typically thought to be...

May 31, 2005

Old Brains Shrink But Work Just as Well

Scientists know that our brains shrink with aging, but does less gray matter really matter? Apparently not, according to a new study of 446 people in Australia. We found that, on average, men aged 64 years have smaller brains than men aged 60, said Helen Christensen of the Australian National...

May 31, 2005

Heavy Weights in Thin Air

Porters in Nepal frequently carry heavy loads - sometimes weighing as much as they do - up in the thin air of the Himalayas.? Scientists have quantified the porters' energy efficiency and found it exceeds that of trained soldiers with backpacks. The Nepalese porters place supplies and goods in a...