So apparently, according to this study run by Evolutionary Psychology Professor Robin Dunbar at Oxford University, you can only count on a small, small percentage of your Facebook friends.

Read More

The study hypothesizes that the development of depression and anxiety in women may be tied into the fact that we often tie a person's value to how much money they make.

Read More

This study from Binghamton University revealed that most people who receive a text with a period placed at the end view said text as less sincere.

Read More

A new study by sociologists at the City University of New York titled "The omnivore’s neighborhood? Online restaurant reviews, race, and gentrification" looked at 7,046 Yelp reviews in Greenpoint, a pre-dominantly white gentrifying neighborhood and Bed-Stuy, a pre-dominantly black gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.

Read More

According to a study performed by the University of Buffalo, California Lutheran University, and the University of Texas, men can't deal with a girlfriend who might be smarter than them.

Read More

That need most of us have to bond with others? The drive to maintain a semblance of social acceptability when we would rather hide under the blankets in ratty pajamas binge watching Netflix? Turns out, it's not just good manners and a way to ensure regular showering -- it may also be an evolutionary trait that helps us survive tough times. A study of Barbary macaques in Northern Morocco suggests that natural selection may favor the ability to make social connections.

Read More

Women of the Internet, start your editing engines. If it's one thing we've learned recently from go-to Web info source Wikipedia, it's that what the user-edited encyclopedia could use more of is you. Researcher Santiago Oritz has developed Wikipedia Gender, "an interactive visualization that shows which articles have more male or female editors". The graph matrix runs the spectrum of user ratio against female-to-male, with scrollover dots and a color key that help identify specific subjects. Two things immediately become clear: First, that the number of male editors far outweighs female editors (as reported by the New York Times earlier this year, women make up just 13% of total contributors). Two, that, apparently, the only subjects where the ratio almost levels out are on drastically female-body-oriented subjects like menstruation, or, for reasons that could perhaps merit their own article, gender identity. In fact, of the 3,000 articles analyzed by Ortiz, the only article that has a female majority is the one for the Cloth Menstrual Pad. Understandable, but….yikes.

Read More

Erika Ebbel Angle, host of the live science show "The Dr. Erika Show", has two costume elements that should tell you everything you need to know; a lab coat, and her Miss Massachusetts tiara. The tiara in particular is a big hit with the studio audience of kids, most of them girls. Ebbel Angle, who is an MIT graduate with a Ph. D. in biochemistry, says the crown-and-labcoat pairing is meant to subvert what she feels is a stereotype about female scientists, and their presumed slovenly appearance. She wants to prove beauty and brains are possible for scientific women, and makes sure that the kids are getting the message. But swinging too far to an emphasis on beauty is its own extreme stereotype, and Ebbel Angle's show is seen by some as a case of protesting too much. If popular entertainment for the age group can be taken as a reasonable sample of our cultural mores, the show is speaking that language, and using it to make science more inviting. The "Princess Scientist" concept is tailored to its target audience of young girls, many of whom could be drawn to consider an area they had not otherwise. At the same time, it re-enforces an ideal of the smart, career-oriented woman who should also maintain a perfect physical appearance. It seems like, either way, there's no winning. The real question becomes whether it is more important to appeal to impressionable would-be female scientists or enthusiasts, or to examine why this spectrum exists, and what can be done to change the perception of choices for the way women represent themselves.

Read More

This Iron Throne cake will doubtlessly lead to the downfall, if not of your house, then perhaps to your resistance of dessert. (DeathandTaxes)

Read More

In a recent study conducted in Portugal, researchers found that children aged nine to ten who spend 75% of their time engaging in sedentary activities, such as watching TV or using a computer, are up to nine times more likely to exhibit poor motor coordination than more active children in the same age range. Not too surprising, right? The researchers also concluded that sedentary activity levels are an independent predictor of poor motor coordination in skills such as balance and jumping. In other words, it doesn't matter if a kid plays in Little League or if the only exercise he gets is walking home from school, he'll still have subpar motor coordination if he spends too much time on the couch.

Read More

Ever since what seems like the beginning of time, or at least the beginning of widespread digital piracy, groups like the RIAA and MPAA have been projecting their losses by assuming that every illegal download was actually a legitimate purchase lost. While the problems behind that logic may be clear to you or me, the fallacy persists in a lot of anti-piracy arguments. A new study, Reel Piracy: The Effect of Online Film Piracy on International Box Office Sales, has shown that BitTorrent has not had any actual effect on U.S. box office earnings and that a large percentage of losses due to piracy abroad may, in fact, be the movie industry's own fault.

Read More

In a twist very dissimilar from the old "PCs are for games, Macs are for art," adage, a new study has found that Apple's mobile phone juggernaut, the iPhone, is primarily used for games, where its competition, Android, is primarily used for apps. This is something Apple has not quite experienced before, and still doesn't experience in the computer market, as Windows is still seen as the primary PC game platform, whereas Macs are still trying to play catch-up, even with the help of services like Steam that have filled the OS X gaming library.

Read More

According to new research by Michigan State University, both boys and girls who play video games tend to be more creative, whether or not the games are violent. MSU researchers surveyed 491 middle school students regarding how frequently they used different forms of technology, and measured their creativity with a widely used Torrance Test of Creativity Figural. The test included creativity exercises one may remember from writing classes, such as being tasked with drawing an interesting picture from a prompt, giving it a title, then writing about it. The study found that the boys and girls preferred different types of games. Unsurprisingly, the boys played games more than the girls and gravitated more toward violent and sports games, whereas the girls gravitated more toward games focused on interaction with others (human and nonhuman). Regardless of the type of technology use in which the children participated, the study found that only video game interaction increased levels of creativity, and it didn't matter what type of game was being played. So next time you're playing video games instead of doing some kind of project, you can now rationally tell yourself it is to enhance your creative juices to ensure a better final product.

Read More

As the old saying goes Kansas, like many midwestern states, is as flat as a pancake. Somehow, pancakes became the golden standard for flatness, but do they really deserve such a title? A team of researchers from Texas State University and Arizona State University decided to find out. The researchers scientifically tested whether or not the state of Kansas was as flat as a pancake, and were surprised at what they found. Pancakes might be flat, but they are by no means the golden standard. The state of Kansas is actually flatter than a pancake. Who would have thought that was possible? The researchers figured this out by gathering data from the US Geological Survey about the topography of Kansas. They then obtained sample pancakes from none other than that breakfast staple, The International House of Pancakes. Armed with science and breakfast, the researchers headed into the lab.

Read More

No sex, no shoes, no problem? Maybe if you are as attached to your cellphone as one new study would suggest. A new study, commissioned by communications company TeleNav, says that our society is obsessed with cellphones. The study sought an answer to the question: Exactly what would people give up before their cell phone? The answer is a surprising amount of life's pleasures (and essentials). The results show there are differences between the different types of smartphone and between genders, but overall, people were willing to go to great lengths to keep their phone in the palm of their hand. A third of all people surveyed were willing to give up sex for a week rather than go without their cellphone (although, 70 percent of these people were women). Another 70 percent said they would give up alcohol, 63 percent were willing to forego chocolate, and 55 percent of people were willing to go without caffeine rather than have no access to their cell phone. However, there were some limits to how far people would take their cellphone separation anxiety.

Read More

According to a study conducted at Ohio State University, authored by doctoral student of neuroscience Laura Fonken and professor of neuroscience Randy Nelson, being exposed to light during nighttime may lead to obesity, even if no physical activity or amount of food consumed change from one's regular nighttime habits. Really.

Read More

A new study from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, suggests that we unconsciously give away our opinions through our hand gestures. Specifically, which hand we gesture with when we speak often reveals whether we view our statements as positive or negative, a fact that plays out well for left-handed politicians on television.

The study is the latest to explore body-based conceptions of good and bad. Previous studies have found that we tend to associate good things with the dominant side of our bodies and bad things with the non-dominant sides. Given that 90% of people are right-handed, right is often associated with good and left with bad. This association is particularly obvious in our language. We use phrases like “the right answer” and “two left feet,” which associate positive feelings with the right side of our bodies and negative feelings with the left side. (Note: Political notions of Right and Left are something different. Don’t start.)

>>>Read the full post at Mediaite.

Read More