Have you ever gotten half-way into a story only to realize that you’ve told this exact tale before, to precisely the person you’re boring with it now? (In fact, you may have already told it to them several times?) According to research published in the current issue of the journal Psychological Science, losing track of whom you’ve
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Being crabby may not be a good way to earn new friends, but when it comes to decision-making and critical thinking, grumps may have a leg up on those with a sunnier outlook, according to research published in the current issue of Australasian Science. As the BBC reports, Australian psychologist Joseph Forgas conducted experiments
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To any dieter who has ever sworn off bread and pasta, the next sentence may come as no surprise. A new study, published in the Nov.9th issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, shows that after dieting for one year, people following strict, low-carb diets had more bad moods than dieters eating a high-carb (albeit low-fat) diet. And, …
Men really believe they read Playboy for the articles (although internet porn doesn’t even offer that excuse)—at least according to fascinating new research published as a working paper by Harvard Business School [hat tip: Economist]. The study sheds light on how people rationalize embarrassing or otherwise questionable behavior …
If it seems that you recall particular scents from childhood more vividly than other (more recent) smells, there may be a bona fide biological reason. New research suggests that these “first scents” occupy a privileged place in the brain.
For the study, appearing online in Current Biology, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of …
It’s been a long three weeks for the American Cancer Society. The public relations nightmare that started with an admission to the New York Times that they’d overstated the benefits of detecting many cancers is continuing with new evidence that two of the most reliable screenings—Pap smears for cervical cancer and colonoscopies for …
The internet and cell phones are bringing people together, not tearing us apart—at least, according to a new survey released today by the Pew Internet and American Life project. The research followed up a shocking 2006 study, which found that American social networks were rapidly contracting and that 25% of Americans reported that …
Many millions have been made in Hollywood by lampooning the acute effects of marijuana on memory—but Israeli researchers suggest that they might one day be harnessed to prevent or treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And today’s election results bringing medical marijuana dispensaries to yet another state suggest that day …
People who suffer with a chronic disability or illness may be happier if they give up hope that things will ever improve, suggests a small but intriguing study published in this month’s issue of Health Psychology, the journal of the American Psychological Association.
Why? Because people don’t adapt well to situations they think are …
Approximately 270,000 of the 10 million cancer survivors alive in the U.S. were diagnosed and treated before they were old enough to buy themselves a drink, according to the National Cancer Institute. Thanks to scientific advances, as many as 80 percent of children treated for cancer go on to live full lives, but the shadow of the …
A new study casts doubt on the accuracy of self-reported smoking during pregnancy. The study, published last week in the British Medical Journal, involved a random sample of 3,475 pregnant women in Scotland. Researchers compared the women’s self-reported smoking status with results of blood tests that measured the women’s recent nicotine …
Do antidepressants actually start to work immediately? Although people with depression don’t usually feel better right away, a fascinating new study suggests that these medications change the way people see the world within hours, not the two to six weeks that patients typically must wait before they sense that their mood has lifted. …
A link between exposure to traumatic stress and cancer has long been suspected—but researchers don’t yet fully understand how severe stress could produce this insidious effect or which types of cancer might be most affected. A new study of cancer risk amongst Holocaust survivors offers some clues.
The research also suggests that …
