Creative people more open to stimuli from environment
Psychologists from U of T and Harvard University have identified one of the biological bases of creativity
The study in the September issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology says the brains of creative people appear to be more open to incoming stimuli from the surrounding environment. Other people’s brains might shut out this same information through a process called “latent inhibition” – defined as
Nearly half the British population – 46% -claim to have changed their minds about the war with Iraq, new research by academics at Cardiff University has shown.
While 83% said they “supported allied forces” during the war, only 44% now say they support the decision to go to war with Iraq.
Researchers in the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, conducted a detailed nationwide survey of more than 1,000 adults, to explore the shifting nature of public opinion towards the
Exercise enthusiasts have more reasons to put on their running shoes in the morning, but an Oregon Health & Science University scientist says they shouldn’t step up their work-outs just yet.
A study published today in the journal Neuroscience, journal of the International Brain Research Organization, confirmed that exercise increases the chemical BDNF – brain-derived neurotrophic factor – in the hippocampus, a curved, elongated ridge in the brain that controls learning and memory. BDNF
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have tested and validated novel proteins, created by California-based Xencor, that block activity of a major molecule involved in the onset of inflammation, an innovation that may translate into new therapeutic options for people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Researchers at both institutions report in today’s issue of Science that blocking the activation of a regulator of inflammation called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) decreased swel
Managers about to add new computer-based systems should be aware: a technology that fosters access and coordination will be embraced by workers while one that controls behavior to increase productivity will be rejected, say two Penn State researchers who studied how workers adopted IT tools such as software, cell phones and other Internet applications.
“We have this production view of the world in which new software will improve workers’ efficiencies and effectiveness, but new technolo
Transitioning through menopause is not accompanied by a decline in working memory and perceptual speed, according to a study appearing in the Sept. 23 issue of Neurology Journal. In the study, led by researchers at the Department of Preventive Medicine, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, 803 randomly selected Chicago-area African American and white women aged 40 to 55 were tested annually for loss of brain function over the course of six years. The study, begun in 1996, is t
After working at it for the past decade, gerontologist and Dean of the Decker School of Nursing Sarah Gueldner has led a team of colleagues from institutions the world over in the development of a unique research tool to quantifiably measure almost anyone’s sense of well-being. Refined across four countries and three continents, with the help of more than 3,000 study participants, the instrument looks as if it was torn from the pages of a children’s coloring book and can be completed with a crayon.
An IBM study released today reveals that companies in the electronics industry who adopt a flexible, adaptive, on-demand business model can produce up to twice the revenue per employee and more than twice the operating income per employee than less mature companies.
According to the study, The On Demand Outlook for the Electronics Industry, average revenue per employee for electronics companies surveyed for the period 1998-2002 was about US$300,000 for companies implementing on-deman
Staying healthy may involve more than washing hands or keeping a positive attitude. According to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it also may involve a particular pattern of brain activity.
By monitoring activity levels in the human brain’s prefrontal cortex, the researchers demonstrate for the first time that people who have more activity in the left side of this area also have a stronger immune response against disease. The findings, soon to be published i
Environmental cues associated with prior drug use can provoke a relapse. In a new study, scientists have linked the relapse behavior to specific nerve cells in a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens. The findings may foster further research into what makes long-abstinent drug users prone to relapse and lead the way to new strategies for treating drug addiction.
“The study finds an increase in neuronal activity that persists after the behavioral response of seeking the drug is absen
Local elites in post-communist accession countries have a limited knowledge of the EU and were not engaged in the accession process, according to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
“Local officials, business people, the media and the cultural intelligentsia feel that the accession process is relevant only to national decision-makers and has little to do with them,” says Dr. Jim Hughes of London School of Economics, who led the project, which is part of the exte
Blocking the formation of neurons in the hippocampus blocks the behavioral effects of antidepressants in mice, say researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their finding lends new credence to the proposed role of such neurogenesis in lifting mood. It also helps to explain why antidepressants typically take a few weeks to work, note Rene Hen, Ph.D., Columbia University, and colleagues, who report on their study in the August 8th Science.
“If antidepressants work by stim
Previous Food and Drug Administration approval for use of retinoids to treat another form of childhood cancer, will mean clinical trials in pediatric medulloblastoma patients to begin with minimal delay
Researchers find that vitamin A derivatives may be highly effective and minimally toxic treatments for medulloblastoma, the most common form of childhood brain cancer. Clinical trials of the drugs, known as retinoids, are being planned for children who are at high risk for tumor relaps
For over two thousand years, musicians and scientists have puzzled over why some combinations of musical tones played together sound more harmonious than others. Now, Duke University perception scientists David Schwartz, Catherine Howe and Dale Purves have presented evidence that variation in the relative harmoniousness, or “consonance,” of different tone combinations arises from people´s exposure to the acoustical characteristics of speech sounds. Schwartz and Howe are postdoctoral fellows, and Pur
A study of 137 new product launches in 16 European countries shows the persistence of major regional disparity in the era of the European Union, according to an article in a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®).
“While we expected some differences, we were surprised by the size of the differences,” the authors write. “We were also surprised by the fact that Scandinavian countries tend to have the shortest `time-to-takeoff´ of all E
The search for life on other planets could soon extend to solar systems that are very different from our own, according to a new study by an Ohio State University astronomer and his colleagues.
In fact, finding a terrestrial planet in such a solar system would offer unique scientific opportunities to test evolution, said Andrew Gould, professor of astronomy here. In a recent issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters, he and his coauthors calculated that NASA’s upcoming Space Interferome
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