Latest Science and Society News

Relationship between Lead Exposure and Academic Achievement of Children

As researchers at Cornell University and Drexel University College of Medicine demonstrate in their recent article, a relationship between lead exposure and the academic achievement of children in New York State remains easily discernible.

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Gross Domestic Product Ticking Upward, Happiness Down

The gross domestic product of the United States — that oft-cited measure of economic health — has been ticking upward for the last two years. But what would you see if you could see a graph of gross domestic happiness? A team of scientists from the University of Vermont have made such a graph — and the trend is down.

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Social media in protests: Study finds ‘recruiters’ and ‘spreaders’

A study has explored the dynamics behind social network sites in recruiting and spreading  calls for action that contribute to mass mobilisations in riots, revolutions and protests.

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Breathing and heartbeat synchronize in people singing in choir

One may expect that people singing in a choir would synchronize their breathing, but would they also synchronize their heartbeats? In a study recently published in PLoS ONE, researchers from the Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin have looked at both. Using electrocardiographic and respiratory movement recordings, the authors investigated oscillatory couplings among eleven singers and one conductor engaged in choir singing.

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Findings offer new clues into the addicted brain

UC Berkeley researchers have found how neural activity in the brain’s orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex regulates our choices. These astonishing new findings could pave the way for more targeted treatments for everything from drug and alcohol abuse to obsessive-compulsive disorders.

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Party drug (meow meow) mephedrone works like a combination of methamphetamine and MDMA

A researcher at the University of Sydney has discovered how the increasingly common street drug mephedrone affects the brain, helping to explain why it is potentially such an addictive substance.

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