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Brain Collector Seeks Trump-Like Donors to Probe How Personality Is Formed
Bloomberg: Jacopo Annese wants Donald Trump’s brain, literally. That’s the example cited by Annese, a 45-year-old neurologist, in describing who might be the ideal candidate for a 1,000-donor campaign being run this year by his University of California San Diego brain bank. The center is seeking people who can supply detailed life histories before they die, and their physical brains afterward. Annese already is working with a former flying monkey from the “Wizard of Oz,” and a woman who can’t feel fear. Trump’s history as a real-estate developer, author and TV star would be a good addition, he said.
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Studies Find ‘Easy’ Material May Not Be Easy to Learn
EDUCATION WEEK: Emerging research suggests that, contrary to what students may think, material that’s easy to understand is not always easy to learn—and working harder can help them hold on to what they’ve learned. It’s a typical school scenario: A student strolls into class on test day, telling classmates how he crammed the night before and certain he will ace the exam, only to be confounded by how little he actually remembers from hours of studying. Read the whole story: EDUCATION WEEK
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Social environment linked to gay teen suicide risk
Reuters: Lesbian, gay and bisexual teens are five times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers - but those living in a supportive community might be a little better off, according to a new study. The findings, published online today in Pediatrics, showed that lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) teens living in counties with a high proportion of gay and lesbian couples, and those who went to schools with gay-straight alliances and anti-discrimination policies, were less likely to attempt suicide than LGB teens living in less accepting environments. Read the Whole Story: Reuters
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Sad in the spring? Allergy-mood link is real
CNN: You know spring has sprung when hundreds of people daily turn to Twitter to vent about their itchy eyes, dripping nose and uncontrollable sneezing and coughing. And if it's not obvious that allergies can ruin a person's day, watch how many tweets go by that use "allergies" and the f-word in the same sentence. Seasonal allergies, which affect about 36 million Americans, aren't just an annoyance; many doctors agree there is a real connection between allergies and mood. "'Cranky' is really the best word for it," says Katie Ingram, 30, of Alexandria, Virginia, a triathlete who suffers seasonal allergies. "I take a lot of medication for it and that makes me sleepy.
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: The Two Sides of Emotional Intelligence
People often assume that having good emotional intelligence makes you a better person. Not so, say the authors of a study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Emotional skills can be used for good or for evil—for the betterment of the group or for humiliating your coworkers. A popular book on emotional intelligence that came out in the mid 1990s equated emotional intelligence with good character.
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The Possibilian
THE NEW YORKER: When David Eagleman was eight years old, he fell off a roof and kept on falling. Or so it seemed at the time. His family was living outside Albuquerque, in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. There were only a few other houses around, scattered among the bunchgrass and the cholla cactus, and a new construction site was the Eagleman boys’ idea of a perfect playground. David and his older brother, Joel, had ridden their dirt bikes to a half-finished adobe house about a quarter of a mile away. When they’d explored the rooms below, David scrambled up a wooden ladder to the roof.
