Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

May 31, 2007

PG-13 Films Loaded with 'Happy Violence'

If you take a young child to the movies these days, you might find him staring placidly at the violence while you, the adult, look away. A new study suggests why kids today don't cringe at the violence in films: They don't associate violence with its natural consequences. PG-13 films...

May 31, 2007

Gun Show Regulations Work, Study Finds

California’s stringent weapons laws go a long way toward reducing illegal purchases at gun shows without alienating potential customers, finds a leading researcher in the prevention of firearm violence. Garen Wintemute, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of California, Davis, covertly observed and documented illegal gun sales at...

May 31, 2007

Baby Boomers Can't Afford to Retire

WASHINGTON (AP)—As the baby boomers begin to ease into their 60s, most expect to delay retirement longer than their parents or grandparents. That's good, because many can't afford to stop working anytime soon. Two new reports portray aging boomers as better educated, with higher incomes and longer life expectancies than...

May 31, 2007

Strange Things Do Happen at Full Moon

COMMENTARY Recently BBC News reported that some British police departments have decided to add extra officers on nights with a full moon. The concern isn't over werewolves or vampires—no need to issue silver bullets or wooden stakes—but more human threats such as petty thieves and violent criminals. For years, some...

May 31, 2007

Thieves Steal Herman Munster's Identity

WASHINGTON (AP) — Did Internet thieves steal Herman Munster's MasterCard number? Crooks in an underground chat room for selling stolen credit card numbers and personal consumer information offered pilfered data purportedly about Herman Munster, the 1960s Frankenstein-like character from “The Munsters” TV sitcom. The thieves apparently didn't realize Munster was...

May 31, 2007

EXCLUSIVE: Courthouse 'Ghost' Video Mystery Solved

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO—Over the past week, a glowing, fuzzy white blob became an unlikely international star. It was captured on videotape early Friday morning, June 15, by a security camera at a courthouse here. The “ghost video” has been seen over 75,000 times on YouTube; what started as a...

May 31, 2007

U.S. Patriotism is Flagging

Fewer Americans are showing their colors these days. A new survey finds 62 percent of Americans display the flag at home, in the office, or on their car. That's down from 75 percent in August 2002, a year after the 9/11 attacks. Further, those who say they are very patriotic...

May 31, 2007

Science Not to Blame for Non-Religious Scientists

Scientists are less religious than the general population, a new study shows, but the reason has little to do with their study of science or academic pressures. The findings challenge notions that science is responsible for a lack of faith among researchers, indicating that household upbringing carries the biggest weight...

Apr 30, 2007

The Blurry World of Claude Monet Recreated

Claude Monet's paintings diffuse into nothing more than a fuzzy riot of color when viewed too closely. Ironically, the impressionist's vision got cloudy late in life, and his whole world blurred like, well, like a Monet. Now scientists have recreated the world as Monet saw it. The new perspective reveals...

Apr 30, 2007

JFK Lone Gunman Theory Flawed

New research finds flaws in the evidence used to implicate lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald in the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The findings are based on updated bullet analysis techniques and throw a wrench in the case-clinching evidence previously cited by experts to rule out a second...

Apr 30, 2007

The Surprising Realities of Mythical Creatures

NEW YORK—While sailing the ocean near Haiti, Christopher Columbus in 1493 reported seeing three mermaids from a distance. The Genoese explorer was not impressed. Up close, the sea maidens were “not as pretty as they are depicted,” he wrote in his journal, “for somehow in the face they look like...

Apr 30, 2007

Man Says He's Got a New Loch Ness Video

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) -- She's as much an emblem, and a tourist draw, as tartan, bagpipes, and shortbread. And now Nessie's back. An amateur scientist has captured what Loch Ness Monster watchers say is among the finest footage ever taken of the elusive mythical creature reputed to swim beneath the...

Mar 31, 2007

College Students Know More About Politics Than American Idol

The stereotype of the self-involved, culture-obsessed U.S. college student is wrong, according to a new study. American college students today are actually very engaged in politics to the point that they are much more likely to know the names of their U.S. senators or congressional representatives than the names of...

Jan 31, 2007

White House Press Cut Presidents Few Breaks

The White House press corps has cut U.S. presidents few breaks for the past 48 years on the topic of the economy during news conferences, but journalists tend to be creampuffs when it comes to foreign affairs, a new study shows. Statistical analysis of White House transcripts from four randomly...

Dec 31, 2006

Dracula's Castle For Sale

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- The family that owns a Transylvanian castle famous for its connections to the 15th century medieval ruler who inspired Dracula'' said Wednesday it wants to sell the fortress to local authorities for $78 million. The local council said it was interested in buying Bran Castle, perched...