Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 30, 2011

Do the Math! Sex Divide Is Cultural, Not Biological

Many explanations for the gender gap in math skills don't hold up, suggests new research on math skills and gender in 86 countries. Math has traditionally been seen as a man's game, and the statistics often indicate that there are differences between males and females in their math skills, participation...

Nov 30, 2011

The 6 Most Tragic Love Stories in History

Bad Romance (Image credit: Artist: Ernesto Ferreira Condeixa)Nothing makes one's heart flutter quite like a good love story. And by good, we mean tragic, of course. Though Shakespeare's plays are littered with doomed lovers — unrequited passion and death makes for good reading, apparently — couples equally as star-crossed can...

Nov 30, 2011

Transitioning Back to Civilian Life (Infographic)

As U.S. troops are expected to be home from Iraq by Dec. 31, a new report from the Pew Research Center suggests they may have a tough time readjusting to civilian life, though religion seems to help buffer the struggle. The survey included 1,853 veterans, finding that 27 percent said...

Oct 31, 2011

In-Group Blindness: Why Penn State Students Rioted for Paterno

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Last night I witnessed the aftermath of the brief, angry riot at Penn State: an overturned news van being righted by a bulldozer, debris from battered cars and upended trash cans littering the street, college kids in “Joe Knows Football” t-shirts stumbling away from College Avenue...

Oct 31, 2011

Scantily Clad Men Viewed As Less Competent

Men who show skin are viewed as more sensitive, but less competent than those who are fully clothed, suggests new study that shows a similar response to scantily clad women. The research reveals that semi-naked people aren't necessarily viewed as mindless objects, but are instead attributed a different kind of...

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? ...