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Beware of ‘Neuromyths’
The Wall Street Journal: No, you do not, in fact, use just 10% of your brain, and "learning styles" make no difference in the classroom. Psychology professor Christopher Chabris discusses these and other "neuromyths" Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal
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What Are Animals Thinking?
PBS: We humans have long wondered how animals see the world—and us. Does your dog really feel shame when it gives you that famous "guilty look?" What is behind the "swarm intelligence" of slime mold or a honeybee hive? How can pigeons possibly find their way home across hundreds of miles of unfamiliar terrain? In this episode of NOVA scienceNOW, David Pogue meets—and competes—with a menagerie of smart critters that challenge preconceived notions about what makes "us" different from "them," expanding our understanding of how animals really think. Read the whole story: PBS
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How Smart Can We Get?
PBS: How do you get a genius brain? Is it all in your genes? Or is it hard work? Is it possible that everyone’s brain has untapped genius–just waiting for the right circumstances so it can be unleashed? From a man who can immediately name the day of the week of any date in history to a “memory athlete” who can remember strings of hundreds of random numbers, David Pogue meets people stretching the boundaries of what the human mind can do. Read the whole story: PBS
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Changing Our Environment Can Change Our Diets
October 26, 2012 - Understanding nutrition doesn’t guarantee that we will develop healthy eating habits, says Brian Wansink of Cornell University. In this video from the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health, Wansink explains that our environment has a profound influence on how we eat. The lighting in the place where we’re eating, the amounts the people around us are eating, and the size of the serving spoons used to put food on our plates are all factors that influence our diets.
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Can You Trust Nexi?
People face this predicament all the time—can you determine a person’s character in a single interaction? Can you judge whether someone you just met can be trusted when you have only a few minutes together? And if you can, how do you do it? Using a robot named Nexi, Northeastern University psychology professor David DeSteno and collaborators Cynthia Breazeal from MIT’s Media Lab and Robert Frank and David Pizarro from Cornell University have figured out the answer. The findings will be published in the journal Psychological Science.
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How Voters Really Decide
APS Fellow Jonathan Haidt explains how the science of moral judgment can shed light on voter behavior, political ideology, and compromise.
