| MIND Reviews: Neuro-Economic Boom Does sex really persuade us to buy a product? Why do economies slip into depressions? And how much do we let our emotions influence our decision making? A spate of new books tries to answer these and other questions about how we make our choices, why they are sometimes so far off the mark and what their consequences are. Animal Spirits--How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism (Princeton University Press, 2009) examines the relation between economic fluctuations and psychological forces. Economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller explore how “animal spirits”--the term coined by economist John Maynard Keynes to describe levels of consumer confidence--lie at the core of such questions as why there is unemployment and why minorities are often particularly poor. [More] rss.sciam.com |
DNA Testing to Help Sharks Keep Fins I should start this podcast off with an admission--I have a serious problem with shark fin soup. Fishermen slice the fin off the shark and toss the creature back into the water to die. This happens to millions of sharks around the world, and some of those shark populations are endangered. Scientists have been trying to figure out which shark populations are most at risk by the slash-and-toss. Now there’s new DNA evidence that’s aiding the effort.Researchers used a tool called “genetic stock identification” to test samples of 62 scalloped hammerhead shark fins--an endangered species--from the Hong Kong fin market. They analyzed the mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down from the mother and is traceable to the sharks’ birth waters. Fifty-seven of those sharks came from Atlantic and Indo-Pacific waters, and 21 percent live in the western atlantic, where sharks’ numbers have now collapsed. The results were published online in the journal Endangered Species Research . [More] rss.sciam.com |
Busting Big Myths in Popular Psychology (preview) Parts of this article are adapted from 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior , by Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio and Barry L. Beyerstein. Copyright © Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Popular psychology has become a fixture in our society, and its aphorisms, truths and half-truths permeate our everyday existence. A casual stroll through our neighborhood bookstore reveals dozens of self-help, relationship, recovery and addiction books that serve up heaping portions of advice for steering us along life’s rocky road. About 3,500 self-help books are published every year, and numerous new Internet sites on mental health sprout up every month. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Spare Times: For Children A selected guide to events for and by children in New York and the area. nytimes.com |
Massive offshore wind-power backbone inspired by marine scientist's model Renewable energy made big national headlines October 12 as a group of investors, including search engine giant Google, announced plans to build a 560-kilometer offshore wind power transmission "backbone" off the U.S. eastern seaboard. The developers of the plan say it will make wind power more economical and enhance the reliability of the existing grid. [More] rss.sciam.com |