Why do some people have such a hard time quitting smoking? The benefits of smoking are nonexistent, yet the risks are high: smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the U.S. Knowing this, many smokers are able to successfully kick the habit, but what of the ones who can't? A new MRI study [...]
A good education begins at home, long before kindergarten, according to a new MRI study. While anecdotal evidence is in agreement (many parents have made this claim!) there has never before been a scientific study correlating early childhood reading sessions with future literary success, until now. The findings of the study, entitled Parent-Child Reading Increases [...]
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), found in large quantities in cities, are toxic particulates in the air caused by smoke, vehicle emissions, fossil fuels and other pollutants. Previous studies have linked exposure to PAHs to increased risk of suicide, and now a new study's findings may link prenatal exposure to PAHs to slower cognitive processing and [...]
Have you ever driven an unfamiliar, winding highway as a tourist? Spotting locals is easy--they're the ones passing and speeding on the treacherous roads! People tend to get reckless as they grow increasingly familiar with their surroundings. Similarly, humans tend to ignore online security warnings once they've habituated to them, a new MRI study reports. [...]
Many people have done a Meyers Briggs personality test (or something similar) to confirm whether they're one of two extremes: introvert or extrovert. The difference is basic: introverts need alone time to recharge their energies, while extroverts thrive and feel energized being around others. But of course there's more to these simplistic categories; there are [...]
"Let food be thy medicine..." said Hippocrates. "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down," added Mary Poppins, centuries later. Flash forward to the present day, when a team of researchers discover the flavanols found in chocolate help turn back the clock on memory loss. Specifically, flavanols found in chocolate increase blood flow [...]
Vitamin D is a dual nutrient: it is both a vitamin and a hormone the human body can create from sun exposure. It is also vital for bone health and immunity and--according to new research--brain health. (Vancouverites especially should pay attention to these findings, considering the past few weeks' rainfall!) The findings of the study [...]
In this unusual study, researchers used MRI to measure how certain triggers (associations with dental pain vs. contemplating one's own mortality) could affect the human brain's affinity for understanding surrealistic artworks. The study, called Ceci n'est pas la mort: Evidence for the recruitment of self-reference from surrealistic art under mortality salience, was published in the [...]
What's scarier, an MRI brain study showing participants images of dirty toilets and mutilated bodies, or its researchers concluding that your reaction to such images is enough to predict whether you lean towards political conservatism or liberalism? Researchers from the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute published their study, entitled Nonpolitical Images Evoke Neural Predictors of [...]
Albert Einstein was five years old when he handled his father's compass and found himself awestruck by a powerful curiosity: what invisible forces of nature were responsible for the device's unerring ability to point northward? Many professionals report similar childhood experiences in which a new subject piqued their interest so urgently that their subsequent education [...]