The hearts of many Americans fell and walls of distrust rose when news of Floyd Landis testing positive for illegal doping broke only days after he won the Tour de France. Director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University cautions not to give up on sports, because it is not inherent in sport to push athletes to cheat, but the loss of perspective which affects people in every walk of life.
New Yorkers who avoid paying cigarette taxes cost the state millions of dollars in lost revenue and undermine tobacco cessation and prevention efforts, according to a new report conducted by researchers at RTI International for the New York State Department of Health.
A new Cornell study describes a series of linguistic experiments showing that the sounds (phonology) of a word can indicate whether it is a noun or a verb. An article on the subject will appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Research in prosocial psychology examines how we resolve the age-old dilemma of working with others versus taking care of ourselves.
New York's Clean Indoor Air Act, celebrating its third anniversary, has reduced secondhand smoke exposure without financially straining bars and restaurants, according to a study conducted by RTI International.
Scientists have determined that people spontaneously use a system of communicating when they speak that either reinforces their message or provides additional information that is not conveyed by words alone. Dubbed "analog acoustic expression," this uninvestigated form of communication is described as a sort of verbal gesturing.
It may take more than anti-smoking lessons in the classroom to keep school-age children and teens from lighting up, according to a recent review of studies. There is little strong evidence that school-based programs are effective in the long term in preventing kids from taking up smoking, said Dr. Roger Thomas, lead reviewer and a professor in the family medicine department at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
In his new book, Inventing Intelligence: A Social History of Smart, Arizona State University Professor Paul Privateer charts the history of intelligence from its earliest forms in Greek culture to postmodern artificial intelligence. He illustrates that intelligence has had diverse social and cultural significance over time.
Women are more likely than men to stalk, attack and psychologically abuse their partners, according to a University of Florida study that finds college women have a new view of the dating scene.
Federal policy has shifted responsibility for affordable housing to local governments and local markets without fully considering the social, political and economic risks in a global context, according to a new book edited by urban planning faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
In a new biography, a distinguished historian finds Vietnam and the Great Society were "branches from the same root" -- Social Gospel idealism.
"Abuse of women knows no boundaries of social status or race" is a simple message that obscures crucial complexities and could well short-change women of color. Research shows that race and ethnicity, economic resources, and age do make a difference.
Researchers report that graduated driver licensing programs reduce, by an average of 11 percent, the incidence of fatal crashes of 16-year-old drivers.
People who were given a simple visual task while mildly intoxicated were twice as likely to have missed seeing a person in a gorilla suit than were people who were not under the influence.
In the first study to look at self-assessed Internet competence and its relationship to actual online ability, women and men are found to have equal skills. Yet women rank their skills significantly lower than men do. The findings are consistent with research on math and science ability and may have serious implications for women.
Three years after the preliminary results first were presented at a scientific meeting and drew wide attention, University of Utah psychologists have published a study showing that motorists who talk on handheld or hands-free cellular phones are as impaired as drunken drivers.
Real, historical pirates can be just as entertaining as the romantic, humorous swashbuckling Hollywood heroes, says a Purdue University historian. Frank Lambert, a professor of history and author of "The Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic World," says that Hollywood films have always played a "bit fast and loose" with historical accuracy when it comes to pirates.
In a country known more for conflict than conservation, a joint effort by the government of Afghanistan and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been launched to protect the region's unique wildlife and develop the country's first official system of protected areas.
Blackbeard and Ben Franklin deserve equal billing for founding democracy in the United States and New World, a new University of Florida study finds.
"Look both ways for cars before you cross the street." That's one of the most important warnings American children hear when they're old enough to walk alone. That's because we live in a culture in which cars, trucks and SUVs rule the streets. But it wasn't always that way, said Peter Norton, assistant professor in the Department of Science, Technology and Society at the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Today's anti-American feelings in Latin America are as much about history as they are about current feuds over oil and leadership issues, says a Purdue University history professor.
In a far-reaching advance in the field of personality psychology, a UNH professor has developed a new way of understanding personality and addressing the age-old question, "Who Am I?" It provides the first integrated picture of personality that combines the lasting insights of the theories of noted 20th century psychologists such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and their peers, with the ideas of contemporary personality.
Americans ranked highest in a survey of national pride in their pride for their democratic system, their political influence in the world, their economy, their achievements in science and technology and their military. Canadians rank higher regarding pride in their social security system and their treatment of different groups within their society.
Americans' circle of close confidants has shrunk dramatically in the past two decades and the number of people who say they have no one with whom to discuss important matters has more than doubled, according to a new study by sociologists at Duke University and the University of Arizona.
A new book by a Purdue University professor maps the complicated characters, history and ideas that make Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote" the most popular novel of all time.
Power grid operators now have the ability to train like pilots, with simulators providing faulty readings designed to throw them off. Such misleading data and resulting loss of "situational awareness" was identified as a major cause of the August 2003 blackout "“ which cost the country between $4 billion and $10 billion.
Instead of punching ballots in this summer's primary elections, voters will use new touch screen voting machines. This will be the first time the technologies, touted as more accurate, will be put to the test in official elections. Nationally recognized voting expert Thad Hall is available for comment and analysis.
Don't let a food splurge end your efforts to lose weight.
The Prince of Wales is helping the University of Maryland launch a new international effort aimed, in part, at promoting better understanding and easing tensions between Islam and the West. The university is publishing a new series, Essays on the Alliance of Civilizations, written by high-level world figures to stimulate more constructive international dialogues. Prince Charles has written the inaugural essay.
As long as children continue to be coerced into militias -- as they are by the thousands in Colombia, Sudan and dozens of other countries -- peace talks in those countries to settle armed conflicts are unlikely, assert two Cornell researchers.
Depression among youth is a growing public health concern. To determine what programs are effective in preventing depressive symptoms, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of the last 20 years of research on interventions aimed at preventing depressive symptoms in youth. The results showed that targeted interventions for those at risk for depression have greater effect sizes than universal interventions.
A new book written by Katherine Isbister, associate professor of language, literature, and communication at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, reveals that the key to good character design is leveraging player psychology. Better Game Characters By Design (Morgan Kauffman, June 2006) explains how concepts from psychology and social science can be applied to character design to create powerful social and emotional connections with players.
Non-fatal, self-inflicted injuries by adolescent and young adult females are major public health problems and researchers have found physiological evidence that this behavior may lead to a more serious psychological condition called borderline personality disorder.
People who want to live a moral life, a life of service and love of neighbors often ask, "What Would Jesus Do?" But a Baylor English professor said they could just as easily ask "What Would Superman Do?"
The image of the blonde, blue-eyed woman as the epitome of beauty is no stranger to American culture. But this image is a global phenomenon, even extending to Ghana, a predominantly black-skinned nation, based on a recent study by an assistant psychology professor at Southern Connecticut State University. Opportunity, acceptance and power also were equated with fair skin.
Wicked. Evil. Foul. Bad. Those words mean essentially the same thing, but we don't talk about "wicked weather," "foul witches" or the "forces of bad." Understanding such subtle differences in usage is the goal of a linguistics professor, and a Web site he's built has attracted a following of thousands of regular users in 83 countries.
Davidson College Professor of Political Science Ken Menkhaus was hoping to use his sabbatical year to expand his research on African politics into new parts of the continent. But major developments in Somalia, his principal country of expertise, have forced him back to that troubled land.
Imagine showing up to a therapy session and one of your therapists is slithering on the ground, staring at you with small black eyes, a pronged red tongue protruding from its mouth. If deemed appropriate, one of your therapists could be a snake.
About 17 percent of college students report that they have cut, burned, carved or harmed themselves in other ways, reports a survey by Cornell and Princeton University researchers. Fewer than 7 percent of the students studied, however, had sought medical help for their self-inflicted injuries.
The portrayal of disabilities in children's picture books awarded the celebrated Caldecott Medal is largely inaccurate. New research shows that characters with disabilities in the oft-read books can give children an inaccurate view of what it's like to have a disability, reinforce negative stereotypes and underrepresent more prevalent disabilities.
Greg Snyder, associate professor of religion at Davidson College, explains that the Biblical reference to "666" is a numeric code for a feared Roman Emperor, and not an indication of apocalypse.
Members of groups that comprise the "religious right" exhibit negative attitudes toward other religious groups on the right, making the building of political coalitions more difficult. In contrast, according to the first national survey of "sectarianism" among various religious traditions, "liberal" religious group members are more inclined to build cooperative political partnerships with those of similar ideological views.
Fears of 666, long believed to be the dreaded mark of Satan, are based on a "widespread misinterpretation" of the chapter in Revelation -- appropriately, chapter 13 -- in which the number is discussed, according to a University at Buffalo expert on the origins, nature and meaning of cults, superstitions and cultural identities.
When cigarette prices drop, young people are more likely to pick up the smoking habit, according to a Canadian study of adults age 20 to 24.
Most people would support a state law that makes it illegal to use a cell phone while driving, a new University of Michigan study indicates.
Sex and Love Actually: New approach to sexual health helps individuals integrate sex and love in intimate relationships by addressing the core factors that inhibit sexuality and intimacy.
A 32-nation study of violence against dating partners by university partners found that about a third had been violent, and most incidents of partner violence involve violence by both the man and woman. The second largest category was couples where the female partner was the only one to carry about physical attacks, not the male partner.
The University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory will present a seminar on its Space Exploration Experience (SEE) Project for the Blind and Visually Impaired at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at the Wisconsin Lions Club State Convention, which will meet in Middleton.
Despite the view that Zionists dominate U.S. policy toward Israel, American Jews vary markedly in their support for the Middle Eastern nation depending on age, religious practices and ethnic pride, a new University of Florida study finds.
A national survey conducted by a Western Carolina University think tank reveals doubts about federal security and preparedness in several critical areas in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the response to Hurricane Katrina.
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