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Energy Drinks Promise Edge, but Experts Say Proof Is Scant
The New York Times: Energy drinks are the fastest-growing part of the beverage industry, with sales in the United States reaching more than $10 billion in 2012 — more than Americans spent on iced tea or sports beverages like Gatorade. ... Last August, Scottish researchers reported that 1,000 milligrams of taurine taken as a supplement appeared to improve the performance of middle-distance runners. But other taurine studies have been negative or inconclusive. “We found it difficult to make any conclusions about what taurine was doing,” said a graduate researcher at Tufts University, Grace Giles, who headed a study that ran participants through a battery of mental reaction and memory tests.
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Babies’ language lessons may start inside the womb
CBC News: Newborn babies respond differently to their mother tongue as compared to foreign languages thanks to all the listening they did while in the womb, a joint study by American and Swedish researchers suggests. ... "This study moves the measurable result of experience with speech sounds from six months of age to before birth," lead author Christine Moon, a psychology professor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., said in a statement. Moon described the study as the first to show that fetuses learn about these sounds prenatally.
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The Psychology of Desire Reveals How to Achieve Any New Year’s Resolution
The Huffington Post: Did Oscar Wilde give the best psychological advice on New Year's Resolutions? These usually involve redoubled, yet fruitless, efforts to resist the temptation you succumbed to last year, so in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Wilde declared, "The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
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How Sherlock Holmes Can Help Bring You Success in Life and Work
The Wall Street Journal: Sherlock Holmes is the world’s most famous detective. And while he may be fictional, in that fictional world of his he also happens to be the greatest: success follows upon success, the biggest scoundrels fall under his careful scrutiny, the world bends to his will. How easy it would be for the master sleuth to rest on his laurels—or at the least, to keep taking those cases that have a familiar air, that would be more likely than not to guarantee a quick, successful outcome. But he doesn’t. In fact, he does the opposite. Consider, for instance, “The Adventure of the Red Circle,” when Holmes chooses to enmesh himself further in a case which he has ostensibly solved.
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To regift or not to regift: Is it ever OK?
TODAY: OK, I’ve done it. And quite frankly, I always feel guilty about regifting. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the present. But sometimes you get something that you really don’t like or can’t use, and there’s no way to take it back to the store. You don’t want to offend the person who gave it to you and you don’t want to throw it away. So you pass it along to someone else who might appreciate it more. Is this a resourceful way of dealing with an unwanted gift? Or is this rude and distasteful behavior? ...
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The 21-Minute Marriage Cure!
I know. I know. It sounds like one of those late-late night TV pitches, or some volume on the self-help shelf of a bookstore. Six-pack abs or a lucrative new career today—no effort required. Only $19.95—half off if you act now! I’m as cynical as you are about such claims, and we’re right to be. Any offer of something for nothing is almost always a gimmick or scam. But what if such a claim were based on scientific theory and supported by credible evidence? Would we be able to put our skepticism aside and give the claim a fair hearing, even if it sounds outlandish? Eli Finkel is hoping that you can. Finkel is a psychological scientist at Northwestern University and an expert on relationships.
