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The 2011 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize: Honoring Dr. Brenda Milner for her pioneering work in cognitive neuroscience
Scientific American: Tragic it is when a young mother never gets to meet her newborn child; however, it is also awe-inspiring to see a victim of this circumstance rise above and honor his mother’s sacrifice. On December 11th, 1925, the complications surrounding Paul Greengard’s birth resulted in the death of his mother, nee Pearl Meister. Almost 75 years later, the Nobel laureate and Rockefeller University professor and his wife, Ursula von Rydingsvard, paid homage to his late mother – and to women in science – by launching the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize. This year’s recipient is Dr. Brenda Milner, the Dorothy J.
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Curiosity Doesn’t Kill The Student
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it's good for the student. That's the conclusion of a new study published in Perspectives in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The authors show that curiosity is a big part of academic performance. In fact, personality traits like curiosity seem to be as important as intelligence in determining how well students do in school. Intelligence is important to academic performance, but it's not the whole story. Everyone knows a brilliant kid who failed school, or someone with mediocre smarts who made up for it with hard work.
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Toughest Exam Question: What Is the Best Way to Study?
The Wall Street Journal: Here's a pop quiz: What foods are best to eat before a high-stakes test? When is the best time to review the toughest material? A growing body of research on the best study techniques offers some answers. Chiefly, testing yourself repeatedly before an exam teaches the brain to retrieve and apply knowledge from memory. The method is more effective than re-reading a textbook, says Jeffrey Karpicke, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University. If you are facing a test on the digestive system, he says, practice explaining how it works from start to finish, rather than studying a list of its parts. Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal
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Is It True Smiling Improves Your Mood?
The Wall Street Journal: Is it true smiling improves your mood? We tackled that question as part of our “Is It True?” video series here at the Health Blog — you can see the video below. We found a wealth of information on smiling and how it can boost positive emotions. Neuropsychologist Jodi Deluca gives us a brief overview of how the body responds to smiling and laughter, while George Bonanno, author of “The Other Side of Sadness,” talks about the benefits of a spontaneous joy-filled smile. Researchers who have studied the “facial-feedback hypothesis,” which originated with Charles Darwin, say smiling can intensify a person’s pleasure.
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No Trick: Fewer Babies Born On Halloween
LiveScience: "Happy Halloween" and "Happy birthday" may not be sentiments heard very often in the same breath, according to a new study. The research finds that the number of babies born drops on Halloween day, but spikes on Valentine's Day, a day with more positive associations. Most surprisingly, the birth decrease occurred not just among moms who scheduled C-sections or induced labors; spontaneous births rose and fell along with holidays as well. The researchers aren't sure how this holiday-birthday difference comes about, but the findings suggest that moms have some control over when they'll go into labor, said study researcher Becca Levy of the Yale University School of Public Health.
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The Importance Of Mind-Wandering
Wired: It’s easy to underestimate boredom. The mental condition, after all, is defined by its lack of stimulation; it’s the mind at its most apathetic. This is why the poet Joseph Brodsky described boredom as a “psychological Sahara,” a cognitive desert “that starts right in your bedroom and spurns the horizon.” The hands of the clock seem to stop; the stream of consciousness slows to a drip. We want to be anywhere but here. However, as Brodksy also noted, boredom and its synonyms can also become a crucial tool of creativity. “Boredom is your window,” the poet declared. “Once this window opens, don’t try to shut it; on the contrary, throw it wide open.” Brodsky was right.
