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Does Aging Affect Decision Making?

Does Aging Affect Decision Making?

Jun 03 2015 | comment(s)

Aging is associated with significant decline in cognitive functions. But does this translate into poorer decision making? Psychologists from the University of Basel and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development report that in simple decision situations, older adults perform just as well as younger adults. However, according to their study published in the academic journal Cognition, aging may affect decision performance in more complex decision situations.

Important decisions in politics and economics are often made by older people: According to Forbes magazine, the average age of the world's most powerful people in 2013 was 61 years. As populations across the globe age, the selection of older individuals into such powerful roles may even be further intensified.

Kids Receive Conflicting Career Messages From Media - Especially Girls

Kids Receive Conflicting Career Messages From Media - Especially Girls

Jun 03 2015 | comment(s)

Teenage girls find female CEOs and military pilots to be better role models, but they like and feel more similar to women in careers like modeling and acting, say psychologists.

For the study, 100 girls and 76 boys ages 14 to 18 were shown photographs of model Heidi Klum, actress Jennifer Aniston, CEO Carly Fiorina and military pilot Sarah Deal Burrow. Klum and Aniston represented the appearance-focused careers (Aniston probably wasn't consulted on that, since she is clearly the best actress of the "Friends" cast) and Fiorina and Deal Burrow represented the non-appearance focused careers.

Fast Charging Electric Bus In Testing

Fast Charging Electric Bus In Testing

Jun 03 2015 | comment(s)

Electric vehicles are all the rage for wealthy elites but they have a more practical future benefit - mass transit, assuming the electricity source is low-emission like nuclear or solar. 

Right now, things like electric buses require more cost because of the maintenance and downtime. They take huge batteries, which means when those die off and they are placed into landfills we will replace global warming with acid rain. And to match gasoline's energy density would take a battery larger than could fit on a bus. 

The solution instead has to be much faster charging times. 
Conservation Of Energy

Conservation Of Energy

Jun 03 2015 | comment(s)

There are multiple conservation laws in nature meaning these are considered to be scientific truths which are fundamental and foundational to all modern science as we know it.

Perhaps the most familiar or common conservation law in science is that of the conservation of energy.
Brainprint: Our Reactions To Terms Could Replace Passwords

Brainprint: Our Reactions To Terms Could Replace Passwords

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

Passwords have to be complicated in order to keep them from being stolen but our reactions to words are subjective - and those could lead to the best security of all.

In a new study, researchers from Binghamton University observed the brain signals of 45 volunteers as they read a list of 75 acronyms, such as FBI and DVD. They recorded the brain's reaction to each group of letters, focusing on the part of the brain associated with reading and recognizing words, and found that participants' brains reacted differently to each acronym, enough that a computer system was able to identify each volunteer with 94 percent accuracy. The results suggest that brainwaves could be used by security systems to verify a person's identity. 
The Surprising Futility Of Drug Labeling

The Surprising Futility Of Drug Labeling

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

In  the United States, there are calls from the environmental fringes to put more labels on food - but not for a USDA federal standard label on GMOs, mandatory ones chosen by lobbyists in state governments. 

Labels are political, and everyone says they want more information on labels. But we know few people really read them on food, that is why so many people are fat. And few seem to read them on medicine or, if they do, they still think more will work better.
Are Local Crowd-Funded Turbines The Future For Wind Energy?

Are Local Crowd-Funded Turbines The Future For Wind Energy?

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

The UK’s onshore wind power industry may have been dealt a huge blow by new government policies announced last week, but this apparent setback should instead be seen as an opportunity. Elsewhere in Europe local, cooperative wind power is flourishing – could your town be next?

Citizen Scientists Send Microbes Into Space

Citizen Scientists Send Microbes Into Space

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

Do microbes grow differently on the International Space Station than they do on Earth? Results from the growth of microbes collected by citizen scientists as part of Project MERCCURI indicate that most behave similarly in both places - and that is a good news for space travel.

To save lives:

To save lives: "World No Tobacco Control" Day

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

Every May 31st, the W.H.O.
No Sign of Quantum Space-Time Foam from Quasar Light.

No Sign of Quantum Space-Time Foam from Quasar Light.

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

Most models of quantum gravity propose or predict that at very short distances space is a frothing foam where distance and time intervals themselves fluctuate rapidly.  These models predict that if light can travel long distances there will be a cumulative effect due to photons from a source gaining slightly different phases.  The precise nature of the effect, the underlying mechanisms would vary but otherwise they would be probed by the same observation of quasars, the most distant short wavelength light we can observe.
Healthy Chocolate And Why Our Confirmation Bias Gets Trolled So Easily

Healthy Chocolate And Why Our Confirmation Bias Gets Trolled So Easily

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

Earlier in the year the world was finally treated to some good news from science: a report was published that claimed to show that eating chocolate could help you lose weight faster.

Southern Western Australia Wheat Belt Also Means Acid Saline Groundwaters

Southern Western Australia Wheat Belt Also Means Acid Saline Groundwaters

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

The "wheat belt" and "gold fields" of southern Western Australia are associated with a regional acid saline groundwater system. Groundwaters hosted in the Yilgarn Craton there have pH levels as low as 2.4 and salinities as high as 28%, which have greatly affected bedrock and subsurface sediments. This is manifested above ground as hundreds of shallow, ephemeral acid saline lakes.

In the June issue of GSA Today, Kathleen Benison of West Virginia University and Brenda Bowen of the University of Utah write that the limited volume of groundwater, in combination with its acidity, salinity, and high concentrations of some metals, make southern Western Australia a difficult place for human habitation.
Not Simply Deniers: Climate Change Beliefs More Nuanced Than Perceived

Not Simply Deniers: Climate Change Beliefs More Nuanced Than Perceived

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

Asking a few thousand Norwegians what they thought about climate change and not providing canned responses to choose from led to answers that were far more nuanced than the simplistic media portrayals that people accept every study or they are climate deniers.

The respondents were drawn from the Norwegian Citizen Panel, and the survey is part of the LINGCLIM project at the University of Bergen. This project is looking at the language used and the interpretations that prevail in the climate-change debate. The survey was carried out in 2013 as an online questionnaire. This kept the costs down, making it possible to collect data from a sample pool of respondents.

Data Glasses That Make You Look Less Like A Dork

Data Glasses That Make You Look Less Like A Dork

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

Google Glass gave the idea of data glasses an uphill cultural hill to climb - rather than being a must-have accessory, they became a source of derision.
The Legacy Of Texan Surgeons And Artificial Hearts

The Legacy Of Texan Surgeons And Artificial Hearts

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

Haskell Karp was 37 when he suffered his first heart attack, and over the next ten years he suffered a variety of related problems. By 1969 even the slightest effort, like combing his hair or brushing his teeth, would bring on chest pain or extreme shortness of breath.
Gene Defect Linked To Visual Impairment In Dyslexics

Gene Defect Linked To Visual Impairment In Dyslexics

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

A risk gene for dyslexia is associated with impairments in visual motion detection, according to a study published May 27 in The Journal of Neuroscience. Mutations in the gene DCDC2 have previously been associated with dyslexia, and this study found that dyslexics with an altered copy of the gene are unable to detect certain types of visual motion.

  • The researchers used a series of visual tests to compare typical readers with two groups of dyslexics -- one with and one without a specific deletion in the DCDC2 gene.

Could There Be An Asthma Cure Within Five Years?

Could There Be An Asthma Cure Within Five Years?

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

A recent study has revealed a breakthrough in asthma research might be on the horizon. Following extensive research carried out across a number of institutions, it has been discovered that protein molecules - known as calcium-sensing receptors - have a vital role in asthma. Although they have not previously been used to treat asthma, there is already medication available (calcilytics) that could be used to block these proteins.

In asthmatics, the immune system essentially misidentifies harmless substances, such as pollen for example, as a threat. The airways then restrict in an attempt to keep the ‘harmful’ substances from entering the lungs leading to the body facing constricted airways and, therefore, less ability to breathe properly.

Perfume Researchers Tackle Latrines

Perfume Researchers Tackle Latrines

Jun 02 2015 | comment(s)

About 2.5 billion people worldwide don't have access to sanitary toilets. Latrines are an option for many of those people, but these facilities' overwhelming odors can deter users, who then defecate outdoors instead. To improve this situation, fragrance scientists paired experts' noses and analytical instruments to determine the odor profiles of latrines with the aim of countering the offensive stench. Their report appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.

How Forests Can Effect Our Climate

How Forests Can Effect Our Climate

Jun 01 2015 | comment(s)

A global-scale study has estimated how forest emitted compounds affecting cloud seeds via formation of low-volatility vapours. According to the latest projections, terrestrial vegetation emits several million tons of extremely low-volatility organic compounds (ELVOCs) per year to the atmosphere.

How Will Congressmen Vote? Just Look At Their Social Circles

How Will Congressmen Vote? Just Look At Their Social Circles

Jun 01 2015 | comment(s)

U.S. Congress members' social circles are more important in how they vote than their liberal or conservative beliefs or constituents' opinions, according to a new model of voting behavior created by Dartmouth College researchers.

The study appears in the journal Research & Politics. A PDF is available on request.

The standard model of voting behavior basically assumes there is only one factor that matters: where a legislator lives on the liberal-conservative axis. That position, derived from their roll call votes, serves as an ideological marker that presumably summarizes the various forces that can influence the legislators' votes, including personal preferences, party preferences and constituent opinion.