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Magazine
In the Nov. 10 SN: Real benefits of virtual therapy, monkey malaria in humans, round electrons disappoint, mouse pups with two dads, bats’ hover techniques, Europa’s icy spikes, a vampire burial and more.
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News
Why science still can’t pinpoint a mass shooter in the making
03/23/2018 - 11:46 Science & Society, Psychology, Mental HealthImmediately after a 19-year-old shot and killed 17 people and wounded 17 others at a Florida high school on Valentine’s Day, people leaped to explain what had caused the latest mass slaughter.
By now, it’s a familiar drill: Too many readily available guns. Too much untreated mental illness. Too much warped masculinity. Don’t forget those shoot-’em-up video games and movies. Add (or...
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Reviews & Previews
How biology breaks the ‘cerebral mystique’
03/12/2018 - 07:00 Neuroscience, History of Science, PsychologyThe Biological MindAlan JasanoffBasic Books, $30
At a small eatery in Seville, Spain, Alan Jasanoff had his first experience with brains — wrapped in eggs and served with potatoes. At the time, he was more interested in finding a good, affordable meal than contemplating the sheer awesomeness of the organ he was eating. Years later, Jasanoff began studying the brain as part of his...
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Editor's Note
Discussing what matters when facts are not enough
Scientists and journalists live for facts. Our methods may be very different, but we share a deep belief that by questioning, observing and verifying, we can gain a truer sense of how the world works.03/09/2018 - 10:20 Science & Society, PsychologySo when people question the scientific consensus on issues such as climate change, vaccine effectiveness or the safety of genetically modified organisms (SN: 2/6/16, p. 22), it’s no...
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Editor's Note
In play, kids and scientists take big mental leaps
I know a lot of adults who don’t like to cook, but I’ve never met a child who doesn’t enjoy playing with a toy kitchen — or one who doesn’t want to help chop vegetables for dinner. Other versions of practical play: A cousin, at the age of just 4 or 5, asked for only one thing for Christmas — a snow brush. And on a beach trip last year, I witnessed a duo of 2-year-olds squealing with...02/07/2018 - 15:30 Science & Society, Psychology, Anthropology -
Feature
When it’s playtime, many kids prefer reality over fantasy
02/06/2018 - 11:45 Psychology, Anthropology, ArchaeologyYoung children travel to fantasy worlds every day, packing just imaginations and a toy or two.
Some preschoolers scurry across ocean floors carrying toy versions of cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants. Other kids trek to distant universes with miniature replicas of Star Wars robots R2-D2 and C-3PO. Throngs of youngsters fly on broomsticks and cast magic spells with Harry Potter and...
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Letters to the Editor
Readers inspired by SN 10 scientists’ research
Wanting more11/15/2017 - 13:17 Science & Society, Robotics, PsychologyFor the third year in a row, Science News profiled 10 early- and mid-career innovators who are transforming their fields in “The SN 10: Scientists to watch” (SN: 10/14/17, p. 16).
The profiles left some readers inspired, intrigued and wanting to know more about these scientists’ research.
“Really enjoying these portraits, thanks, SN!” online reader Maia commented...
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Scicurious
Whether psychology research is improving depends on whom you ask
10/29/2017 - 08:00 PsychologyFor more than a decade, psychology has been contending with some of its research findings going up in smoke. Widely publicized attempts to replicate major findings have shown that study results that scientists and the public took for granted might be no more than a statistical fluke. We should, for example, be primed for skepticism when studying priming. Power posing may be powerless.
A...
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News
Economics Nobel nudges behavioral economist into the limelight
10/09/2017 - 17:45 Science & Society, PsychologyA founding father of behavioral economics — a research school that has popularized the practice of “nudging” people into making decisions that authorities deem to be in their best interests — has won the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Richard Thaler, of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, received the award October 9 for being the leader of a discipline...
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Feature
M. Ehsan Hoque develops digital helpers that teach social skills
M. Ehsan Hoque, 35Computer scientistUniversity of Rochester10/04/2017 - 13:51 Computing, Technology, Psychology, Science & SocietyA growing band of digital characters that converse, read faces and track body language is helping humans to communicate better with one another. While virtual helpers that perform practical tasks, such as dealing with customer service issues, are becoming ubiquitous, computer scientist M. Ehsan Hoque is at the forefront of a more...
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Confusion lingers over health-related pros and cons of marijuana
09/22/2017 - 07:00 Psychology, Science & SocietyConfusion over effects
No one knows whether chronic marijuana smoking causes emotional troubles or is a symptom of them.... This dearth of evidence has a number of explanations: serious lingering reactions, if they exist, occur after prolonged use, rarely after a single dose; marijuana has no known medical use, unlike LSD, so scientists have had little reason to study the drug…....