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A Quest to Understand What Makes Things Funny
The New Yorker: What would happen if Communism were introduced to Saudi Arabia? Nothing—at first. But soon there’d be a shortage of sand. This—one of many political jokes circulating inside the Soviet Union during the late Cold War—is Joel Warner’s favorite. Warner is the co-author, with Peter McGraw, of “The Humor Code,” which was released on April Fool’s Day. “It can be analyzed all sorts of ways,” he told me. “Did Soviet citizens tell jokes like this as a form of coping, of using humor to lessen their psychological distress? Or was it a reflection of changing attitudes and growing unease among the populace?
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Piccole carezze ai neonati migliorano il loro sviluppo sociale (pleasant touch may promote early social development in infants)
La Stampa: Accarezzare gentilmente un neonato è importante anche per il suo sviluppo sociale e fisiologico. Lo hanno scoperto alcuni scienziati del Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences di Leipzig, Germania. A quanto si legge sulla rivista Psychological Science, i risultati di questa ricerca forniscono prove fisiologiche e comportamentali che la sensibilità alle piccole carezze si sviluppa molto presto nel neonato e gioca un ruolo importantissimo nella regolazione delle interazioni sociali umane. Read the whole story: La Stampa
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Idealistic Thinking Linked With Economic Slump
Envisioning a bright future should pave the way for success, right? Maybe not. Research suggests that thinking about an idealized future may actually be linked with economic downturn, not upswing. “[F]antasizing about having attained a desired future may lead people to mentally enjoy the idealized future in the here and now,” explain researchers A. Timur Sevincer of the University of Hamburg and colleagues.
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Want To Be More Patient? Practice Gratitude
The Huffington Post: Patience -- it's good, but notoriously hard, to have. Now, a new study shows a potential way to increase it: Have gratitude. Published in the journal Psychological Science, researchers from Northeastern University, the University of California, Riverside, and Harvard University found that feelings of gratitude are associated with increased patience in the context of a test where waiting leads to a greater monetary reward.
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Illustrated Story Teaches Young Kids Natural Selection
Scientific American: Once upon a time, there was an animal called a pilosa that caught insects with its trunk. Some pilosas had wide trunks. Others had skinny trunks. When habitat changes caused their dinners to tunnel underground, pilosas with wide trunks began to starve and die. The pilosas with thin trunks could still reach the bugs. So they stayed healthy and had babies that also had thin trunks. Eventually, all pilosas had skinny trunks and they lived happily ever after. Or they might have, if they were real. Read the whole story: Scientific American
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By the Numbers
Studies on human development have shown that even as infants, we have an approximate sense of numbers and amounts. How does this underlie our ability to perform complex calculations? Stanislas Dehaene explores this question through neuroscience. He has used brain imaging to study how the human mind processes numeracy, as well as language. Through his work he has found brain regions specifically involved in mathematical thinking, including the distinction between subtraction and multiplication. Dehaene has also uncovered the neural activity at the core of conscious awareness and experience.