Threatening children does not promote truth-telling, according to research by McGill University scientists. In fact, using threats of punishment can have the opposite effect. “Children often lie to try to avoid getting in trouble–especially when they have done something wrong,” Victoria Talwar, professor of educational and counseling psychology at McGill University and lead researcher on the … Read more
For the first time, doctors have been found to be making more money by ordering more procedures rather than for providing service to more patients. The results of recent UCLA research, which surprised the team behind the study, have led them to suspect that the pay-for-service system may encourage behavior that is not in the best interest of patients. “The … Read more
Sensitive early care–or the lack thereof–has a significant effect on the relationships of adults, according to new research by scientists at the University of Delaware and the University of Minnesota. The researchers found that early care had long-term implications for relationships with others–including intimate partners–and that the effects were seen across all racial, gender and socioeconomic lines. Sensitive … Read more
Women are not comparing themselves with the thin, attractive models in the magazines they enjoy–some, at least. Instead, women are living vicariously through the thin, attractive models–engaging in “thinspiration,” according to new research from Ohio State University. Not only that, women who enjoy these magazines are actually less likely to make an effort to look more attractive, the … Read more
The bias groups have to view their own actions as driven predominantly by love while viewing the actions of their rivals as driven more by hate has been explained by recent research conducted by a team from Northwestern University. The researchers found that in reality conflicts were driven by the same motivations, but the view from each … Read more
MoPoTyse, an NGO based in Phnom Penh, is using a peer education model that is cheaper and more effective than utilizing conventional doctors and clinics. This method is proving to reach many more diabetics and those prone to it, initially in poor areas in the capital and eventually in the outlying rural provinces. Upwards of 10 … Read more
People are unaware that various innocuous-sounding things are actually affecting them on a regular basis, according to new research by Bayer College of Medicine. Newspapers, radio and tv can influence the way people act by using words that trigger powerful emotions, the researchers found–clean words cause clean thoughts, which produce ethical actions, and dirty words produce … Read more
Hundreds of paddle-powered boats raced at the Bon Om Touk water festival this month on the Siem Reap River, an occasion in which Cambodians celebrate the Mekong River’s biannual water flow reversal and the beginning of the fishing season. While the river itself wasn’t the main object of attention during the festivities in the Southeastern Asia country, it did serve to … Read more
A leading geoengineer has admitted that he is “terrified” of geoengineering technology. Dr Matthew Watson, principal investigator for the Spice project, said that humans may have to admit having failed as planetary stewards, commenting on his own and others’ technology–used to reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the earth though manipulation of the atmosphere–science that, … Read more
While Costa Rica prepares for its annual high-season, store fronts reopen, restaurants become chaotic, and tourists flock to the elegant beachfront hotels of Guanacaste. Despite the surplus of business and affluent tourists, a devil lurks within the most peculiar of places: the Aedes mosquito. With globalization on the rise, infectious, virulent diseases have become an … Read more
The Speaker recently interviewed Dr Shane Gero, a marine biologist who has been studying sperm whales in the Caribbean for the past 10 years. We talked to Gero about his research in Dominica as well as his current project, which represents many firsts in the science of sperm whale communication. Gero’s findings offer a greater … Read more
Montana State University environmental scientists have found conclusive evidence that hailstones originate in biological material. MSU researcher Alex Michaud turned travesty into understanding by peeling back the onionlike layers of the crystalline compositions he collected from the Bozeman and two other Rocky Mountain hailstorms, and the results promise to increase our understanding of the role of aerosol particles in atmospheric condensation and, as … Read more