Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 31, 2008

Apocalyptic 'New Jerusalem' Sect Falling Apart

In Mexico's strange town called New Jerusalem, there's no freedom of religion. You can't play soccer, either. But John F. Kennedy is a saint, explains reporter Chris Hawley. With its spiritual leaders dying after 35 years of all this, things in New Jerusalem are getting weirder, Hawley wrote this week...

Sep 30, 2008

Palin vs. Biden: How Sex May Change the Debate

If history repeats itself, the vice presidential candidates will pull no punches at Thursday night's debate. But this time there's a woman in the mix, and that could really turn things upside-down. Sarah Palin might take on a more manly, aggressive style while Joe Biden steps into a less combative,...

Sep 30, 2008

Leakey: Economic Woes Could be 'Devastating' to Science

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Famed scientist Richard Leakey warned that the worldwide credit crisis will be just devastating to scientific research in coming years, as endowment interest income drops and companies cut donations. Leakey, who once served on a government economic team in his native Kenya, said much of...

Sep 30, 2008

Xenophobia Founded on Faulty Assumptions

America has always been a cultural melting pot, but that pot has always been kept at a rolling bubble by the heat of xenophobia. And sometimes it boils over causing great damage. Every generation of citizens, many of them immigrants themselves or of recent immigrant ancestry, is afraid of the...

Sep 30, 2008

Chicken Soup and Wine

Recent research confirms one of the few truths about health research: You never know. GOOD: Grandma said chicken soup is good for a cold, and she was right. Now we learn that a variation may fight high blood pressure. Scientists in Japan find that chicken legs and feet pack high...

Sep 30, 2008

Americans Flunk Simple 3-Question Political Survey

Some news audiences are more politically savvy than others, according to a new poll, with readers of The New Yorker and similar high-brow magazines being the most knowledgeable. The survey, conducted between April 30 and June 1 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, measured the...

Sep 30, 2008

'Stayin' Alive' Sets Perfect Beat for CPR

CHICAGO (AP) — Stayin' Alive might be more true to its name than the Bee Gees ever could have guessed: At 103 beats per minute, the old disco song has almost the perfect rhythm to help jump-start a stopped heart. And in a small but intriguing study from the University...

Sep 30, 2008

Top 10 Scariest Movies Ever

That's Scary! Researchers have found that closing your eyes can make creepy music feel creepier. (Image credit: Stockexpert)Some films have it all, that is, all the goods to make for a frightening, must-leave-the-lights-on, lots of gore and splatter, flick. Here are 10 of the scariest movies ever made. They are...

Sep 30, 2008

Devil's Night: The History of Pre-Halloween Pranks

We all know what happens on Halloween, the night that little boys and girls dress up and (unwittingly) celebrate the ancient Celtic tradition of Samhain and All Hallows Eve. Anyone who has woken up on Halloween morning to find their house egged, their pumpkin smashed or yard toilet-papered, however, is...

Sep 30, 2008

Studies Find a Candidate's Looks Matter

Voters look for someone who appears both competent and attractive when choosing a president, at least when the candidate is female, finds a new study. If true, the reportedly astronomical fees spent on vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's appearance could have been right on the money. Campaign managers seem to...

Aug 31, 2008

Darwin Gallery: Darwin on Display

Darwin Portrait (Image credit: © From the Richard Milner Archive)One of the last photographs taken of Charles Darwin, circa 1878. Darwin, the most in-depth exhibition ever mounted on this highly original thinker, starts November 19, 2005 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Tree of Life (Image...

Aug 31, 2008

Study: Credit Cards Cause More Spending

If you're trying to save money, leave your credit cards at home and pack cash only. A four-part study found what many financial planners already knew: People spend more money when using credit cards compared to cash purchases. People also spend less when they look at their expenses in detail,...

Aug 31, 2008

Political Views Driven by Biology

Fierce individualists, Americans figure that we choose our own political beliefs, but actually it could come down to biology. Individuals who are more easily startled by threats are more likely than others to support protective policies, such as military spending, the Iraq War and the death penalty, finds a new...

Aug 31, 2008

Scientists Predict the Next President

Two mathematicians have devised what they say is a surprisingly effective means to predict the outcome of the U.S. presidential election using median statistics based on voter polling. In a paper in the journal Mathematical and Computer Modeling, Wes Colley, of the University of Alabama, Huntsville, and J. Richard Gott...

Aug 31, 2008

The Flip Side of Flip-Flopping

The economy has brought the dire state of the American financial markets into the public's consciousness with sharp focus—along with the presidential candidates' positions on the issue. When insurance megacorporation AIG requested $85 million in taxpayer bailouts, John McCain stood firmly against it, saying We cannot have the taxpayers bail...