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Why it Pays to be a Jerk – JERRY USEEM

Smile at the customer. Bake cookies for your colleagues. Sing your subordinates’ praises. Share credit. Listen. Empathize. Don’t drive the last dollar out of a deal. Leave the last doughnut for someone else. Sneer at the customer. Keep your colleagues on edge. Claim credit. Speak first. Put your feet on the table. Withhold approval. Instill fear. Interrupt. Ask for more. And by …

dog-and-human

Our bond with dogs may go back more than 27,000 years

Dogs’ special relationship to humans may go back 27,000 to 40,000 years, according to genomic analysis of an ancient Taimyr wolf bone reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on May 21. Earlier genome-based estimates have suggested that the ancestors of modern-day dogs diverged from wolves no more than 16,000 years ago, after the last Ice Age. The genome from this …

Awe may promote altruistic behavior

Inducing a sense of awe in people can promote altruistic, helpful and positive social behavior according to research published by the American Psychological Association. “Our investigation indicates that awe, although often fleeting and hard to describe, serves a vital social function. By diminishing the emphasis on the individual self, awe may encourage people to forgo strict self-interest to improve the …

Attention Span is Shortening Significantly by the Year – But Why? – Robert Harrington

A study from Microsoft involving more than 2,000 people has found that the average attention span has dipped to a low 8 seconds – down from 12 seconds in 2000. A goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds. There are many effects from smartphones and the like on the human body which are never written about. Information technology (IT) is much …

human cells

A microscopic quest to find out what we’re really made of. – Courtney Humphries

How many types of cells are there in the human body? Textbooks say a couple of hundred. But the true number is undoubtedly far larger. Piece by piece, a new, more detailed catalogue of cell types is emerging from labs like that of Aviv Regev at the Broad Institute, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which are applying recent advances in single-cell genomics …

New research suggests afterlife belief preserves hope when thinking about death

The prospect of death does not necessarily leave people feeling hopelessly mortal but depends rather on afterlife belief, suggests new research from psychologists at the University of Kent. Dr Arnaud Wisman and Dr Nathan Heflick, of the University’s School of Psychology, set out to establish in four separate studies whether people lose hope when thinking about death – known as …

bee

Are Scientists Exposing Bee Death Epidemic Facing Censorship and Threats? – Christine Sarich

A formal letter to the United States Department of Agriculture reports that scientists are being harassed and their research on bee-killing pesticides is being censored or suppressed by the Monsanto-infiltrated agency (the USDA). Surprised, anyone? At least we are organizing formally against a scourge that has been painfully obvious for years now. A broad coalition of farmers, environmentalists, fisheries and food-safety organizations (over 25 …

goldfish

Microsoft: Humans have shorter attention span than a goldfish – Brooks Hays

A small study by researchers at Microsoft has found the human attention span is shortening. At just 8 seconds, they say it is now shorter than the attention span of the average goldfish. The study, which featured a combination of surveys and mind games, was an apparently genuine attempt by scientists with the software company to better understand how mobile …

HunterGathererGoldenAge

Early men and women were equal, say scientists – Hannah Devlin

Our prehistoric forebears are often portrayed as spear-wielding savages, but the earliest human societies are likely to have been founded on enlightened egalitarian principles, according to scientists. A study has shown that in contemporary hunter-gatherer tribes, men and women tend to have equal influence on where their group lives and who they live with. The findings challenge the idea that …

DNA

YOUR DNA CHANGES WITH THE SEASONS, JUST LIKE THE WEATHER – NICK STOCKTON

AH, MY SWEET summer child. What do you know of inflammation? Inflammation is for the winter, when genes uncoil in your blood and messengers send codes containing the blueprints for proteins to protect you from the harsh diseases of the cold. Inflammation is for those long nights, when the sun hides its face, or rain clouds block the sky, and trillions …