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The Physiological Power of Altruism
The Atlantic: In the fight against the disease that will kill one of every four people you know, most scientists studying cardiovascular epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health are focusing on usual suspects like cholesterol, obesity, and cardiac structure. But research fellow Eric Kim has a unique focus: purpose in life. How does it affect health, how is it gained and lost, and how can it be weaponized to keep people alive and well? When Canadian tenth-graders in a recent study began volunteering at an after-school program for children, the high schoolers lost weight and had improved cholesterol profiles compared to their non-volunteering peers.
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It’s a week into January and a quarter of us have already abandoned our New Year’s resolutions
The Washington Post: Considering the number of people who make New Year's resolutions — somewhere between 40 and 50 percent of us, according to various reports — there isn't an overwhelming amount of recent research on how successful we are. But as you might not suspect, the data we do have show that 46 percent of us succeed — or say we succeed — for at least six months. Change is hard, but for a while we seem to be able to keep it up. Still, the speed at which many of us fail is pretty surprising. A 1989 study by John C.
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How We Learn Fairness
The New Yorker: A pair of brown capuchin monkeys is sitting in a cage. From time to time, their caretakers give them tokens, which they can then exchange for food. It’s a truth universally acknowledged that capuchin monkeys prefer grapes to cucumbers. So what happens when unfairness strikes—when, in exchange for identical tokens, one monkey gets a cucumber and the other a grape? When Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal carried out just this experiment, in 2003, focusing on female capuchin monkeys, they found that monkeys hate being disadvantaged. Read the whole story: The New Yorker
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Lead Exposure Linked to ADHD in Kids with Genetic Mutation
Exposure to miniscule amounts of lead may contribute to ADHD symptoms in children who have a particular gene mutation, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “This research is valuable to the scientific community as it bridges genetic and environmental factors and helps to illustrate one possible route to ADHD. Further, it demonstrates the potential to ultimately prevent conditions like ADHD by understanding how genes and environmental exposures combine,” says lead researcher Joel Nigg, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the OHSU School of Medicine.
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We’ve Got Resolutions All Wrong
NPR: This weekend, Facebook's "Memories" reminded me of a post from Jan. 2, 2009: "Tania Lombrozo is generating New Year's resolutions...that look a lot like last year's." I could, unfortunately, post the same again today. In fact, one of my resolutions for 2015 — to be smart about my smartphone — was shared here last year on 13.7, and I can report pretty imperfect success. I'm surely not alone in failing to achieve my resolutions: How many people resolve to eat healthier diets and to exercise more regularly, year after year? It's an unfortunate reality that good intentions aren't enough to bring about good behavior, especially when that behavior is hard. Read the whole story: NPR
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Parents: Your math anxiety is only making homework harder for your kids
Quartz: While doing a math problem with my six-year-old recently during a classroom session for parents, I barked at her, “Just put the number in any circle.” She looked at me as if I was speaking a different language. Turns out, I was. Her teacher, who overheard the conversation, corrected me. The sum, she explained, goes in the top circle. Three circles form a pyramid and the bottom stack are for addition or subtraction while the top is for the total. I wrongly assumed order was insignificant. ...
