Quantcast
Channel: Shankar Vedantam
Browsing all 134 articles
Browse latest View live

Can You Learn While You're Asleep?

If you're a student, you may have harbored the fantasy of learning lessons while you sleep. Who wouldn't want to stick on a pair of headphones, grab some shut-eye with a lesson about, say, Chinese...

View Article


Five Ways To Spot A Fake Online Review, Restaurant Or Otherwise

Thinking of going to a nice restaurant? Before you decide, you probably go online and read reviews of the place from other customers (or you listen to these actors read them to you). Online reviews of...

View Article


Why Pictures Can Sway Your Moral Judgment

When we think about morality, many of us think about religion or what our parents taught us when we were young.

View Article

A Lively Mind: Your Brain On Jane Austen

At a recent academic conference, Michigan State University professor Natalie Phillips stole a glance around the room. A speaker was talking but the audience was fidgety. Some people were conferring...

View Article

Behind A Halloween Mask, Even 'Good' Kids Can Turn Into Candy Thieves

Vampires and monsters will be out in force tonight, but some of the darkest creatures out there might be your little angels inside those Halloween costumes.It's been more than a quarter-century since...

View Article


What Earthquakes Can Teach Us About Elections

In January 2010, more than a year before Mitt Romney had formally announced he was running for president, political historian Allan Lichtman predicted President Obama would be re-elected in 2012.On...

View Article

Reading 'Maxim' Can Make You A Target For Thieves

Some time ago, a man wearing jeans, cowboy boots and a hoodie drove a dirty Ford Explorer into a carwash in Fort Worth, Texas. As soon as the car came back clean, he got it filthy again, and drove to...

View Article

Do Orchestras Really Need Conductors?

Have you ever wondered whether music conductors actually influence their orchestras?They seem important. After all, they're standing in the middle of the stage and waving their hands. But the musicians...

View Article


Can Murder Be Tracked Like An Infectious Disease?

If I asked you to think of a murderer, what's the image that springs to mind?If you're like most people, you'll probably think of an evil psychopath, or someone bent on revenge. Perhaps you'll see a...

View Article


Why Some Kids Have An Inflated Sense Of Their Science Skills

If you're a student at the halfway point of the academic year, and you've just taken stock of your performance, perhaps you have reason to feel proud of yourself.But a recent study suggests some of the...

View Article

Can Skinny Models Undermine Your Dieting Goals?

The millions of Americans who make New Year's resolutions to lose weight often have pictures in mind.They're pictures that have been repeatedly supplied by the health and beauty magazines at...

View Article

'Stand Your Ground' Linked To Increase In Homicides

If a stranger attacks you inside your own home, the law has always permitted you to defend yourself. On the other hand, if an altercation breaks out in public, the law requires you to try to retreat....

View Article

Elite Colleges Struggle To Recruit Smart, Low-Income Kids

Across the United States, college administrators are poring over student essays, recommendation letters and SAT scores as they select a freshman class for the fall.If this is like most years,...

View Article


When Crime Pays: Prison Can Teach Some To Be Better Criminals

In popular lore — movies, books and blogs — criminals who go to prison don't come out reformed.

View Article

Pig Out In The Winter Or When Money's Tight? Blame Evolution

Has the recession made you fat?To the long and growing list of risk factors known to increase the risk of obesity, scientists recently added a new one: scarcity.People given subtle cues that they may...

View Article


Why You Love That Ikea Table, Even If It's Crooked

Have you ever spent a couple of hours working on a craft project — or a presentation for work — and then fallen in love with what you've accomplished?

View Article

Your Child's Fat, Mine's Fine: Rose-Colored Glasses And The Obesity Epidemic

About 69 percent of American adults are overweight or obese, and more than four in five people say they are worried about obesity as a public health problem.But a recent poll conducted by NPR, the...

View Article


Shift In Gay Marriage Support Mirrors A Changing America

When Ohio Republican Sen.

View Article

Why Not Apologizing Makes You Feel Better

To err is human.So is refusing to apologize for those errors.From toddlers and talk show hosts to preteens and presidents, we all know people who have done stupid, silly and evil things, then squared...

View Article

To Find Insider Trading, Follow The Kids' Money

In New York and Washington, government regulators are cracking down on insider trading, the illegal practice in which people with internal information about important company events make stock market...

View Article
Browsing all 134 articles
Browse latest View live