Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 30, 2006

Graves Searched for 'Black Paul Bunyan'

EAST HADDAM, Conn. (AP)—Archaeologists have begun digging up the 200-year-old graves of a slave family in hopes of separating fact from fiction in the legend of the black Paul Bunyan.'' The dig has the blessing of more than a dozen descendants of Venture Smith who believe science can finally lend...

May 31, 2006

New Device Disables Digital Cameras

Researchers have built a prototype device that disables digital cameras. Future versions might thwart unwanted photo-taking at a specific location and even prevent clandestine videos from being made. The technology might one day prevent espionage in a building or stop pirating of movies from theaters. It could even be used...

Apr 30, 2006

One-Third of Young Americans Can't Find Louisiana

WASHINGTON (AP)—Despite the wall-to-wall coverage of the damage from Hurricane Katrina, nearly one-third of young Americans recently polled couldn't locate Louisiana on a map and nearly half were unable to identify Mississippi. Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 fared even worse with foreign locations: six in 10 couldn't...

Apr 30, 2006

Bosnian Pyramids: Great Discovery or Colossal Hoax?

It's either one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of our time, or man has made a giant pyramid out of a molehill. In the wake of recent news that evidence of colossal pyramids had been found in the small Bosnian town of Visoko, many in the archaeological community are speaking...

Apr 30, 2006

'Poseidon' Packs Punch of Real Science

MOVIE REVIEW Pity the cruise ship Poseidon, for fortune does not follow her. But it’s that same doomed nature that drives director Wolfgang Petersen’s 2006 update of the 1972 disaster epic The Poseidon Adventure. One is forced to wonder whether another remake of producer Irwin Allen’s Adventure is warranted—especially after...

Apr 30, 2006

Multimedia Babies: What's a Parent to Do?

WASHINGTON (AP)—They're bombarded with electronics starting in infancy, from the new Sesame Street'' for 6-month-olds to game-playing laptops for toddlers. But when does being a multimedia youngster help—and when does it hurt—children's malleable brains? The claims vary widely, from proponents who say TV and baby software can help kids learn...

Apr 30, 2006

Al Gore Takes 'Inconvenient Truth' to Cannes

CANNES, France (AP)—Michael Moore has been the American on a mission at the Cannes Film Festival for the past few years. This time it's Al Gore's turn, with the studious but engrossing documentary An Inconvenient Truth.'' The former U.S. vice president climbed Cannes' famous red carpet in black tie this...

Apr 30, 2006

Scientists Aim to Duplicate Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak

WASHINGTON (AP)—Imagine an invisibility cloak that works just like the one Harry Potter inherited from his father. Researchers in England and the United States think they know how to do that. They are laying out the blueprint and calling for help in developing the exotic materials needed to build a...

Apr 30, 2006

Cell Phone Users Make Polling More Difficult

Telephone polling has long been a staple of political prognosticating and otherwise sampling the tastes and opinions of Americans on everything from evolution to hybrid vehicles to cell phone use. But there is a growing potential problem pollsters must confront: More than 7 percent of U.S. residents rely entirely on...

Mar 31, 2006

Jesus Could Have Walked on Ice, Scientist Says

Rare conditions could have conspired to create hard-to-see ice on the Sea of Galilee that a person could have walked on back when Jesus is said to have walked on water, a scientist said today. The study, which examines a combination of favorable water and environmental conditions, proposes that Jesus...

Mar 31, 2006

The Meaning of White Space

Did the white space above this story attract your attention? Designers in advertising and media have used white space for decades just for that reason. But why? Consumers associate white space with refined taste and upscale qualities, according to a new study that traces the history of its use in...

Mar 31, 2006

Meet the Skepchicks

Anyone familiar with the skeptical community knows that the number of women involved in conferences, activism, and other events has historically been low. Why is this? CSICOP has explored the question in Skeptical Inquirer through the years, with insights from Carl Sagan, Carol Tavris, and many others. Are women simply...

Feb 28, 2006

Republicans Happier than Democrats

Overall happiness among U.S. residents has not changed much over the years, according to the latest survey by the Pew Research Center that finds 34 percent of adults are very happy. Among 3,014 telephone respondents, half reported being pretty happy, and 15 percent said they are not too happy. The...

Feb 28, 2006

Cheating on Spouse or Taxes Morally Acceptable for Many

Nearly one in five Americans think cheating on taxes is morally acceptable or is not a moral issue. Some 10 percent are equally ambivalent about cheating on a spouse. In a survey by the Pew Research Center released today, 88 percent of respondents said it was morally wrong to have...

Jan 31, 2006

Ancient Cave Art Full of Teenage Graffiti

Many art historians and anthropologists believe Paleolithic cave wall art was done by accomplished shaman-artists, but mixed in with the finer paintings are graffiti-like scenes of sex and hunting. An analysis of thousands of paintings from the late Pleistocene epoch suggests the graffiti artists back then were likely the same...