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Study: Variation in the Smell of Our Sweat Can Convey Fear or Disgust
The Atlantic: PROBLEM: Some animals can communicate their emotional states through chemical signals called chemosignals. Can human animals do so as well? METHODOLOGY: Researcher Gün Semin and company at Utrecht University in the Netherlands induced strong feelings in their subjects by showing them fear- or disgust-inducing films, then collected and froze their armpit sweat . The 10 male "sweat donors" had been decontaminated in the days leading up to the experiment by avoiding smoking, exercise, strong-smelling foods, and alcohol.
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Hurricane You
Slate: Hurricane Sandy charged into the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States today. Sandy isn’t exactly a common name these days. How can you get a tropical storm named after yourself? Lobby the National Weather Service. The World Meteorological Association maintains lists of tropical storm names for each of the next six years. When that six-year cycle ends, the sequence of names goes back to the beginning. If your name is Valerie, for example, you might have a storm named after you this year and again in 2018. Wilfreds can hope for tropical storm namesakes in 2014 and 2020. Ophelias should stay tuned to the forecast in 2017 and 2023.
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Wie man aus Fehlern lernt (How to learn from mistakes)
ORF Austria: "Self-Affirmation" heißt eine Theorie, die der US-amerikanische Psychologe Claude Mason Steele in den 80er Jahren vorgestellt hat. Sie geht davon aus, dass Menschen die Integrität ihres Selbstwerts aufrechterhalten, obwohl dieser von widrigen Einflüssen wie Stress und Ängsten bedroht wird. Gelingt ihnen das, reagieren sie auch gelassener bei offensichtlichen Fehlern - und bewahren sich die Offenheit, daraus zu lernen. Welcher Mechanismus dahintersteht, war bislang unklar. Lisa Legault von der Clarkson University hat nun mit zwei Kollegen Licht in die Sache gebracht. Sie teilte Probanden in zwei Gruppen und befragte sie nach deren Werten und Überzeugungen.
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To Regift or Not to Regift, That Is the Question
The Huffington Post: I admit it: I'm a chronic regifter. There are few things in life that give me more pleasure than finding a new home for an item that's just taking up space in my house. So one of my kids gets a birthday present she already has? She may see disappointment, but I see opportunity. What's that, honey, you already have one of those? I'm so sorry. Why don't you pass it over to Daddy. Oh, and sweetie, keep the plastic wrap on there. Regifting rules. (In fact, literally so -- yes, there are actual websites devoted to the rules of regifting, efforts to spell out the social norms governing acceptable and unacceptable practices in this area.) Why am I fan?
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Boredom at school: Is stress the cause?
Deseret News: Conventional wisdom tells us kids feel bored at school because they are under-challenged, under-motivated or poorly taught. A 2012 report from the Association for Psychological Science says the classic signals of boredom might be telling a different story, according to an Education Week blog by Sarah D. Sparks. When a child gazes out of a classroom window, fidgets and acts out at school, or heaves a sigh that says "I'm so bored!", the real problem might be outside stressors that can interfere with schoolwork, and even health. "I think teachers should always try to be relevant and interesting, but beyond that, there are other places to look," Sparks was told by John D.
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The Road to Language Learning Is Iconic
Languages are highly complex systems and yet most children seem to acquire language easily, even in the absence of formal instruction. New research on young children’s use of British Sign Language (BSL) sheds light on one mechanism - iconicity - that may play an important role in children's ability to learn language. For spoken and written language, the arbitrary relationship between a word’s form – how it sounds or how it looks on paper – and its meaning is a particularly challenging feature of language acquisition. But one of the first things people notice about sign languages is that signs often represent aspects of meaning in their form.
