Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 31, 2011

Life's Extremes: Left- vs. Right-Handed

In this weekly series, LiveScience examines the psychology and sociology of opposite human behavior and personality types. To get a sense of human handedness, take a survey of those combination chair-desk furniture pieces in classrooms. The desktops tend to wrap around from the right. That's so right-handers can comfortably rest...

Oct 31, 2011

Crusader's Arabic Inscription No Longer Lost in Translation

A rare Arabic inscription from the Crusades has been deciphered, with scientists finding the marble slab bears the name of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, a colorful Christian ruler known for his tolerance of the Muslim world. Part of the inscription reads: 1229 of the Incarnation of our Lord...

Oct 31, 2011

Finding Extrasolar Planets with Einstein's 'Useless' Method

This ScienceLives article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. In his last year of graduate school at Stanford University, David Bennett happened to read an article in the Astrophysical Journal that discussed the gravitational microlensing method. Though he had been training as a theoretical particle...

Oct 31, 2011

World's Oldest Fish Hooks Show Early Humans Fished Deep Sea

The world's earliest known fish hooks reveal that humans fished the open sea for much longer than previously thought. Past studies have revealed that early humans were capable of crossing the open ocean as far back as 50,000 years ago, such as they did to colonize Australia. Until now, however,...

Oct 31, 2011

Image Gallery: Science Meets Art

Where Art & Science Intersect (Image credit: Christophe Gissinger, Princeton University Art of Science Competition)Princeton University's annual Art of Science exhibition explores the interplay between science and art, with each piece in the exhibit revealing those moments of discovery when what you perceive suddenly becomes more than the sum of...

Sep 30, 2011

Culture Poisons Brain With Racism, Study Finds

For years, social scientists have uncovered the unsettling truth that no matter how egalitarian a person purports to be, their unconscious mind holds some racist, sexist or ageist thoughts. But a new study finds that this may say less about the person and more about the culture that surrounds him...

Sep 30, 2011

Why Arnold's Self-Statue Is Very Serious. Really.

Photographs of former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger grinning next to a self-commissioned, larger-than-life bronze statue of himself in his body-building days may be eyebrow-raising, but social scientists say that Schwarzenegger is simply following a trend laid down by thousands of years of human history. It's the kind of thing that...

Sep 30, 2011

Mark Your Calendars: End of World Coming Oct. 21, Camping Says

The radio preacher who predicted Judgment Day on May 21 has not backed down from his claims that the end of the world is near, despite the lack of a Rapture or world-devastating earthquakes leading up to the doomsday. In an announcement on his Family Radio Network website, Harold Camping...

Sep 30, 2011

Neanderthals' Legs Look Ideal for Steep-Hillside Strolls

Neanderthals had shorter lower legs than we do, leading scientists to theorize that this was an adaptation to the cold times in which they lived, even if it slowed them down. But two scientists offer a new explanation for those short lower legs: They allowed these early humans to move...

Sep 30, 2011

Where Do 7 Billion People Live? (Infographic)

5 Ways the World Will Change Radically by 210010 Species the Human Population Explosion Will Likely Kill OffEat the Old: Could a 'Soylent Green' System Solve Future Food Shortages? ...

Sep 30, 2011

Spirituality Helps Chronically Ill Men and Women Differently

Spirituality improves health outcomes for both men and women who are facing chronic illnesses, but in different ways, a new study shows. Being involved in religious or spiritual activities improves women's mental health, while men experience better physical health as well as improved mental health. Numerous previous studies have shown...

Sep 30, 2011

Medieval Graves Disturbed For Surprising Reasons?

Once laid to rest, the remains of many who died in medieval Europe were not left in peace. As much as 40 percent of graves from the mid-fifth to mid-eighth centuries appear to have been disturbed after burial. Grave robbers, searching for wealth buried along with the dead, have frequently...

Aug 31, 2011

Did Nostradamus Really Predict the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks?

It's a story that began nearly a decade ago, circulated widely for months, and is still believed by many around the world: That the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centers had been foretold by the famous sixteenth-century French writer Nostradamus. He wrote in ambiguous, nearly inscrutable sets...

Aug 31, 2011

UFO Reports Spiked this Summer

According to an organization that tracks UFO reports, this summer has been an especially busy period for UFO sightings. The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) noted that sightings increased over the past six weeks, with some states more than doubling their normal numbers. Are we on the cusp of an alien...

Aug 31, 2011

Belief in God Boils Down to a Gut Feeling

For many people, believing in God comes down to a gut feeling that a benevolent deity is out there. A study now finds that gut feelings may be very important in determining who goes to church every Sunday and who avoids the pews. People who are generally more intuitive in...