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When Smiles in Childhood Photos Lead to Future Happiness
The Wall Street Journal: "Smile!" It's the word that millions of children hear just before a bright flash freezes their features for posterity in the American school ritual of Picture Day. I was recently reminded of this when my 7-year-old son donned his colorful collared shirt and combed his hair in the mirror in preparation for the event. I couldn't help saying, "Now be sure to smile!" Who doesn't remember being encouraged, begged or admonished to do the same? My son's eagerness prompted me to crack open my own yearbooks, stored deep beneath the blankets in the hallway closet.
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The Case Against Brain Scans As Evidence In Court
NPR: It's not just people who go on trial these days. It's their brains. More and more lawyers are arguing that some defendants deserve special consideration because they have brains that are immature or impaired, says Nina Farahany, a professor of law and philosophy at Duke University who has been studying the use of brain science in court. About 5 percent of murder trials now involve some neuroscience, Farahany says. "There's a steady increase of defendants seeking to introduce neuroscience to try to reduce the extent to which they're responsible or the extent to which they're punished for a crime," she says.
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Keep the mornings honest, the afternoons for lying and cheating
The Guardian: Good afternoon, how are you doing? I have to say your hair looks wonderful, and whatever perfume that is, it's delightful. In fact, it's precisely the same scent as Alexa Chung wears. Yes, she was telling me as much just last week when we were in that hot tub together in Berne waiting for Vladimir. Vladimir Putin. He's just hired me and Alexa as consultants in the campaign to preserve the Siberian tiger. Yeah, it's a really great job. I get paid in pelts. Sorry about that, couldn't help myself. You see it's past midday and I find it very easy not to lie. Sorry, I mean very difficult. Neither am I alone – or am I?
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Baby’s Gaze May Signal Autism, a Study Finds
The New York Times: When and how long a baby looks at other people’s eyes offers the earliest behavioral sign to date of whether a child is likely to develop autism, scientists are reporting. In a study published Wednesday, researchers using eye-tracking technology found that children who were found to have autism at age 3 looked less at people’s eyes when they were babies than children who did not develop autism. But contrary to what the researchers expected, the difference was not apparent at birth. It emerged in the next few months and autism experts said that might suggest a window during which the progression toward autism can be halted or slowed.
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Could Hunger Make Us More Charitable?
NPR: Hunger can make people emotional, that's for sure. Some people get "hangry" when their blood sugar levels drop and their irritability rises. Others get greedy. But new research suggests that we may have another, innate response to hunger: a desire to encourage others to share what they have. Researchers Lene Aarøe and Michael Bang Petersen, both in the department of political science and government at Aarhus University in Denmark, wanted to explore the possibility that we are evolutionarily wired to want to share food. Their logic?
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‘If You Get Too Cold, I’ll Tax The Heat’
The Huffington Post: Nobody likes the taxman. Even those who in principle believe in spreading the wealth -- even they get a twinge of fear at the mention of the IRS, April 15th and -- worst of all -- the dreaded audit. Don't deny it. That's because the IRS has been pretty heavy-handed over the years, relying on the threat of audits and liens and seizures and harsh fines to scare citizens into compliance. These punitive tactics are based on classical economic theory, which says that we are all essentially self-interested, motivated only by the drive to maximize our own financial interests. Without such deterrents, according to this reasoning, there would be rampant cheating. ...
