Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 31, 2011

Eyewitness Testimony Can Be Tragically Mistaken

Last night's execution of convicted murderer Troy Davis reportedly sent those convinced of Davis' innocence into hysterics. One of their concerns — that eyewitness testimony in the case had been recanted — also concerns cognitive scientists. This is not the first time a person is pretty much convicted based on...

Aug 31, 2011

Life's Extremes: Outgoing vs. Shy

In this weekly series, LiveScience examines the psychology and sociology of opposite human behaviors and personality types. We all know them: The exuberant, outgoing glad-handers who relish a social gathering, and the reserved, shy wallflowers who might not attend the event at all. On a given day, of course, any...

Aug 31, 2011

Top 10 Cancer-Fighting Foods

Foods Associated with a Lower Cancer Risk (Image credit: Tom Tomczyk | shutterstock)The countless books and news articles about cancer-fighting foods might lead you to think you can ward off this dreaded disease simply by eating better. Alas, it's not that simple. Anytime you see a headline stating Cure...

Jul 31, 2011

King Tut Related to Half of European Men? Maybe Not

A personal genomics company in Switzerland says they've reconstructed a DNA profile of King Tutankhamen by watching the Discovery Channel, claiming the results suggest more than half of Western European men are related to the boy king. But researchers who worked to decode Tut's genome in the first place say...

Jul 31, 2011

Positive Thoughts May Help Treat Depression

Gratitude and optimism may be a key to managing depression, a new review of relevant research finds. Called positive activity interventions (PAIs), the treatment involves intentional positive behaviors and thoughts, such as performing acts of kindness, expressing gratitude, meditating on positive feelings toward others and using one's signature strengths. Although...

Jul 31, 2011

Fat Can Be Healthy: Some Obese People Live Long Lives

Not everyone who is obese needs to lose weight — it's possible to carry extra pounds and still be healthy, a new study says. Although obesity brings an increased risk of many health complications, the new study shows that people who are obese but do not have such complications might...

Jul 31, 2011

Brain Changes in Stutterers Involve More Than Speech

The brains of people who have stuttered since childhood show evidence of rewiring, with the right side taking on tasks generally handled by the left. A new study, in which participants tapped their fingers in time with sounds, shows that this rewiring extends beyond speech. Research so far indicates that...

Jul 31, 2011

Family Warns Swimmers About Brain-Eating Amoeba

Jeremy and Julie Lewis were dreading the warm months, when so many people go swimming, and the headlines that emerged in August confirmed their fears. Three more people had died from the brain-eating amoebas that killed their son a year ago. On Aug. 29, 2010, the Texas couple lost their...

Jul 31, 2011

Why Supermoms Should Chill

Trying to have it all could be bad for your mental health, according to a new study that finds that supermoms have higher rates of depression compared with working moms who let things slide. The research, presented Aug. 20 at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Las...

Jul 31, 2011

Will Bill Clinton Turn You into a Vegan?

Former President Bill Clinton dropped another bombshell confession last week on CNN with the admission that he is... and I hope you are sitting down for this... a vegan. He has tried tofu, tempeh and seitan, and he has inhaled. And the results have been spectacular: Clinton, who had quadruple...

Jun 30, 2011

Study Finds Why We Crave Chips & Fries

It's hard to eat just one potato chip, and a new study may explain why. Fatty foods like chips and fries trigger the body to produce chemicals much like those found in marijuana, researchers report today (July 4) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). These...

Jun 30, 2011

Benign Brain Tumors Not Linked to Cell Phones

Using a cell phone for many years does not increase the risk of developing a benign type of brain tumor, a new Danish study finds. Those in the study who used cell phones for 11 years or more were no more likely to develop these tumors, known as vestibular schwannomas,...

Jun 30, 2011

DNA Molecules Harnessed as Test Tube Computers

Supercomputers, robots and the human brain represent the artifacts of a long evolutionary chain stretching back to a soupy mass of molecules floating in Earth's oceans billions of years ago. Now researchers have gone back to the primordial ooze by creating a new type of artificial intelligence based on DNA...

Jun 30, 2011

Want a Big Brain? Head North

Brains are larger in those who live farther from the equator — in order to help them see better, researchers now suspect. Scientists have long known that brain volume increases with latitude — that is, the closer one gets to the poles. That might be mistaken for implying that intelligence...

Jun 30, 2011

Mental Disorder Behind Many Nose Job Patients

Many of the people who get nose jobs have a mental illness in which they obsess over a mostly imaginary bodily flaw, a new Belgian study suggests. People with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) can't stop obsessing over their appearance, and they have an exaggerated perception of a flaw that is...