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The male paradox
Calgary Herald: Disturbing male-oriented crime stories were all over the news in 2011. So-called honour killings in Ontario. An Edmonton filmmaker convicted of a lethal luring that mimicked his film script. The allegations of torture and sexual assault against Calgary’s Dustin Paxton. And, of course, that testosterone- and alcohol-fuelled riot in Vancouver after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup to Boston. A fascinating article published in 2011 may give us some powerful insights into these tragedies. According to two University of South Florida psychologists, our manhood is actually a very fragile and precarious commodity. When it’s threatened, we’ll go to extreme lengths to defend it.
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We’re not like chameleons copying everything everybody does
Yahoo India: It's common for people to pick up on each other's movements - scratching your head, crossing your legs - but we don't copy everything like chameleons, according to a new study. It says people only feel the urge to mimic each other when they have the same goal. "This is the notion that when you're having a conversation with somebody and you don't care where your hands are, and the other person scratches their head, you scratch your head," said Sasha Ondobaka of the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.
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Healing After My Second Awake Brain Tumor Surgery
Huffington Post: The anesthesiologist grabbed my hand as I woke up in the room. As I embraced her touch, my head was locked into metal equipment even when I could move other parts of my body. But I wasn't supposed to. Standing behind me, my neurosurgeon reminded me not to try moving my head. With his hands in my brain, his touch worked to save my life. Sometimes life makes people return to difficult places and experiences for survival. For me, that includes my second awake brain surgery in September 2011. My first brain surgery in 1998 and recovery was completely new to me. Since then, I have come to understand some essential health and healing components needed when dealing with cancer.
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Les puissants se voient plus grands qu’ils ne sont
Le Monde: En avril 2010, la destruction de la plate-forme pétrolière de BP, Deepwater Horizon, provoque la plus importante marée noire jamais enregistrée aux Etats-Unis. Quelques semaines plus tard, le président de BP fait scandale en déclarant, au sujet des victimes de cette catastrophe : "Nous nous soucions des petites gens." Comme s'il y avait d'un côté les grands hommes et, de l'autre, les minus de la plèbe. C'est à la suite de cette phrase que deux chercheurs américains ont l'idée d'explorer une étonnante hypothèse : l'expérience du pouvoir modifie-t-elle la perception que les puissants ont de leur propre taille ? Read the full story: Le Monde
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Royal Institution’s Christmas Lectures watched by 2.4million
University of Bristol News: The recent Royal Institution’s Christmas Lectures, delivered by renowned experimental psychologist Professor Bruce Hood from Bristol University, were enjoyed by 2.4million viewers over the festive period. Professor Hood, Director of the Bristol Cognitive Development Centre, invited viewers to Meet Your Brain in a demonstration-packed, three-part series of lectures, delivered in the iconic theatre at the Royal Institution between 27 and 29 December and broadcast on BBC Four. Read the whole story: University of Bristol News
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Majority Doesn’t Care Whether Boss Is Male or Female
Forbes: It’s not all Devil Wears Prada out there in the workplace. A recent study showed that “fewer and fewer Americans care whether the boss is a man or a woman. A 1953 Gallup poll showed that 25% of participants had no preference for a male or female boss; by 1983, the number had risen to 36%, and by 2006, it was at 43%. A recent online survey of more than 60,000 people by Kim M. Elsesser of UCLA and Janet Lever of California State University shows that the proportion having no preference now stands at 54%. Read the full story: Forbes
