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Addiction to food, drugs similar in the brain
CNN: Ice cream and other tasty, high-calorie foods would seem to have little in common with cocaine, but in some people's brains they can elicit cravings and trigger responses similar to those caused by addictive drugs, a new study suggests. Women whose relationship to food resembles dependence or addiction -- those who often lose control and eat more than they'd planned, for example -- appear to anticipate food in much the same way that drug addicts anticipate a fix, according to the study, which used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans. Read the whole story: CNN
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Foolish Familiarity
You’re running late to an important meeting; there’s a cab close by from a company you don’t know and a cab farther away from a company you know well, which one do you choose? The first cab is the smarter choice since you’re in a hurry, but research suggests most people would choose the one they’re familiar with. A study published in Psychological Science found that people prefer a familiar option over a non-familiar one, even when they know it’s the worst option. Volunteers played a game called Math Tower that was designed to be boring, unpleasant, and hard.
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Study: Pitchers more likely to ‘bean’ batters in hot weather
USA Today: Researchers analyzed data from more than 57,000 Major League baseball games from 1952 through 2009 and found that pitchers whose teammates were hit by a pitch were more likely to nail an opposing batter when the temperature reached 90 degrees F than on cooler days. If the temperatures were in the 50s during a game, there was a 22% chance a pitcher would hit a batter if a teammate had been hit by a pitch during the first inning. But the likelihood of such retribution increased to 27% if temperatures were in the 90s.
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To alter consumer behavior, some companies reach out to academics
The Washington Post: At Arlington-based Opower, success is measured by the amount of energy homeowners conserve. But the company’s software, which allows consumers to track their usage, cannot yield that result on its own. The homeowners themselves have to flip the switch. The company has sought to bridge that disconnect between product and intended result with the help of behavioral psychologists, whose research helps break down why people are motivated to make certain decisions. Read the whole story: The Washington Post
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Colorless Food? We Blanch
The New York Times: Without the artificial coloring FD&C Yellow No. 6, Cheetos Crunchy Cheese Flavored Snacks would look like the shriveled larvae of a large insect. Not surprisingly, in taste tests, people derived little pleasure from eating them. Their fingers did not turn orange. And their brains did not register much cheese flavor, even though the Cheetos tasted just as they did with food coloring. “People ranked the taste as bland and said that they weren’t much fun to eat,” said Brian Wansink, a professor at Cornell University and director of the university’s Food and Brand Lab. Read the whole story: The New York Times
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Two Scientists Walk Into A Bar
Host of NPR’s Science Friday Ira Flatow says “Insert your joke here. Can jokes with a science twist be funny? And can they ever appeal to a mass audience?” Flatow invites guests to exchange jokes as they discuss the challenges of making science funny, and whether having a sense of humor can help scientists communicate their work to the public. Catch the show every Friday from 2-4 pm, Eastern time. Guests include Brian Malow (Science Comedian and freelance science video correspondent for Time), Tim Lee (Science Comedian), Norm Goldblatt (Physicist and Comedian), and Flora Lichtman (Multimedia Editor of NPR's Science Friday). Check out the radio program information here.
