Category: ideas

A set of researchers believes it may have solved “a challenging problem: how to let visually impaired ‘see’ others’ emotions. To make this possible the research group has developed a new technology based on an ordinary web camera, hardware as small as a coin, and a tactile display. This enables the visually impaired to directly interpret human emotions.”

“Why do so many teens lack the necessary motivation to rigorously focus on their schoolwork? To quote William Shakespeare – whom your seventh-grader should be studying right now, rather than instant-messaging her friends – the problem may be in their mind’s eye.”

“The volcano. Nature has devised the perfect metaphor for the burden of unionhood, forcing Europeans to recognize, like it or not, that they are bound together, a family of nations, albeit with Iceland as the exceptional and slightly alarming cousin at the end of the dining room table who still believes in elves.”

“Nobody knows for sure, but we do know that sleep deprivation is eventually fatal. Rats that are kept awake die after two weeks, less time than it takes them to starve to death. There are no records of a human having been intentionally kept awake long enough to kill them.”

“Vlatko Vedral, an Oxford physicist, examines the claim that bits of information are the universe’s basic units, and the universe as a whole is a giant quantum computer. He argues that all of reality can be explained if readers accept that information is at the root of everything.”

A new neuropsychology study suggests that “[m]en get antisocial under pressure, but women tend to react in the opposite way: they ‘tend and befriend,’ engaging in nurturing and social networking,”

“When activists petition to remove Native American mascots from the logos of sports teams, the answer of traditionalists often boils down to: What’s the harm? Newly published research provides an unexpected answer. It suggests exposure to one stereotype – however whimsical or benign in its intent – apparently activates others.”

“The theory behind the therapy is that the combination of sound and movement can activate a network of brain regions that overlap with brain areas thought to be abnormal in children with autism. Researchers think the intensive, repetitive training on sound paired with motion will help strengthen those abnormal areas.”

“People playing computer games to train their brains might as well be playing Super Mario, new research suggests. In a six-week study, experts found people who played online games designed to improve their cognitive skills didn’t get any smarter.”