Culture
Why are there no Unicorns?
Perhaps horses develop in a way that cannot be easily modified to produce a Unicorn, so such creatures have never arisen. Or maybe Unicorn-like animals have been born in the past but because there is no advantage for a horse to have a horn, such creatures did not thrive and were weeded out by natural selection.
The problem highlights a general issue in evolutionary biology of what determines the range of plants and animals we see compared to those that might have evolved theoretically. To what extent does observed biodiversity reflect the rules of development or…
People addicted to alcohol and young adults who are heavy drinkers, but not considered alcoholics, have something in common: they possess poor decision-making skills, according to psychologists at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The findings are based on research examining binge drinking and heavy alcohol use among college students.
The study was led by Anna E. Goudriaan, a former postdoctoral student in the College of Arts and Science’s Department of Psychological Sciences, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands). She collaborated with Emily R.…
A new analysis has found that many alcohol treatment studies are designed in ways that inadvertently omit women and African-Americans from participation. The Stanford University School of Medicine researcher who led the effort said the findings should remind all scientists that strict study eligibility criteria can have unintended, negative consequences.
In reviewing data from a pool of 100,000 alcohol treatment patients, Keith Humphreys, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, determined that women and African-Americans were substantially more likely to be excluded from…
McDonald's new advertising campaign to promote high-level career opportunities within the company is a great way to fight the connotation of dead-end drudgery and low wages that comes with "McJobs," according to Jerry M. Newman, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the University at Buffalo School of Management.
Having worked undercover at seven fast-food restaurants across the United States, including McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's, Newman, author of "My Secret Life on the McJob," says that McDonald's has the right idea in its newest television commercial.
The spot features Karen…
A new study by The George Institute for International Health was designed to determine the risk of a crash associated with passenger carriage compared with that of using a mobile phone while driving.
"Drivers with passengers were almost 60% more likely to have a motor vehicle crash resulting in hospital attendance, irrespective of their age group. The likelihood of a crash was more than doubled in the presence of two or more passengers," noted the study's lead investigator, Dr Suzanne McEvoy.
Mobile phone use has long been considered more dangerous than carrying passengers - earlier studies…
Automobile crashes remain the leading cause of death for adolescents and young adults, compounded by the effects of alcohol and failure to use seatbelts. Although males have tended to be associated with alcohol-related crashes, a study to be presented at the 2007 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Annual Meeting shows that young females are beginning to show an alarming increase in fatal automobile crashes related to alcohol use and a failure to use seatbelts.
The study, led by Virginia W. Tsai MD, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Irvine Medical Center…
An interdisciplinary team of McGill researchers has uncovered a connection between growing economic inequality and an increase in the number of plant and animal species that are threatened with extinction.
"Our study suggests that if we can learn to share economic resources more fairly with fellow members of our own species, it may help us to share ecological resources more fairly with other species," said Dr. Greg Mikkelson, assistant professor in the McGill School of Environment and Department of Philosophy.
Mikkelson and his colleagues related indicators of income inequality and…
A Mediterranean diet halves the chances of developing progressive inflammatory lung disease (COPD), reveals a large study, published ahead of print in Thorax.
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is an umbrella term for chronic progressive lung disease, such as emphysema and bronchitis. It is expected to become the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2020, with cigarette smoking the primary factor in its development.
The researchers tracked the health of almost 43,000 men, who were already part of the US Health Professionals Follow up Study. This began in 1986 and involved more…
What do mutual grooming, politeness, priestly celibacy, military heroism, car insurance, and overwork have in common?
All are probable examples of the recently discovered evolutionary mechanism called "reciprocal altruism." Put simply, the concept means, "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." Although rare in animals, reciprocal altruism colors much of human emotion and social behavior.
Over the course of our evolutionary history we humans have developed a great variety of social contracts ranging from food-sharing among hunter-gatherers to observing the rules of the road in…
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High intelligence is the best protection against early sexual activity during adolescence, research has shown. Can it be that intelligent kids don't need free condoms to be convinced they shouldn't have sex? Well, yes, that may be, but it may also be that smart kids just can't get dates.
To reach this conclusion about intelligence and sexual activity in teens, researchers in this year 2000 study at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and McGill University took two separate sample groups in the 7th to 12th grades. Both studies used the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) as an…