Social Sciences

Research at the University of Sheffield, published today in Nature, has solved the mystery of why women live so long after their reproductive years have ceased. Basically, grandmothers can ensure the success of their own family by helping to increase the reproductive success of their adult children, thus propagating their own genes.

Dr. Virpi Lummaa and her PhD student Mirkka lahdenperä, from the University of Sheffield and Turku in Finland, examined the family histories of women in Finland

Parents who lose a child have an increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study published in the March 9 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study found that parents whose child died were 50 percent more likely to develop MS than parents who did not lose a child.

The results show that psychological stress may play a role in the development of MS. Researchers have believed that stress plays a role in MS, b

It appears the brain builds a repertoire of rote responses to frequently encountered problems to save time and effort

New studies suggest that humans might prefer to switch their brains to automatic pilot whenever possible to conserve their cogitating resources.

For example, when learning skills such as arithmetic, the brain doesn’t necessarily reach back into its basic calculating skills for each problem, suggested the researchers who made the finding. Rather, the brain bui

A review of previously published studies suggests that among patients with chronic health conditions, Tai Chi appears to have beneficial effects on balance, flexibility, and cardiovascular health, according to a review article in the March 8 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

According to the article, Tai Chi is a traditional Chinese martial art that has been practiced in China for centuries. Tai Chi combines deep breathing with relaxation and po

Aggressive 15 year olds who attended religious services, felt attached to their schools or were exposed to good family management were much less likely to have engaged in violent behavior by the time they turned 18, according to a new multi-ethnic study of urban youth by University of Washington researchers.

The study also showed that the likelihood of violence at 18 among aggressive youth was reduced when they had been exposed to several of what are called protective factors, even when the

fMRI shows certain brain areas “light up” as we learn

Memories do indeed light up the corners of our mind, just as the songwriter said.

Scientific evidence for this notion comes from studies using magnetic resonance imaging to examine the living human brain. These studies show that certain brain areas “light up” as an individual is learning information.

Scientists had previously established that people remember emotionally charged events and facts better than neutr