12/1 Summary: "Why Do Smart People Do Foolish Things?"
From Scientific American
(Summary)
People often associate the words smart or intelligent with someone who is knowledgeable and makes wise decisions. Although someone’s intelligence is often measured by the IQ test, several studies have failed to find evidence that IQ affects life satisfaction or longevity, which means most intelligence tests fail to capture real-world decision-making and our ability to interact well with others. Instead, the ability to think critically, wrongly believed as intelligence, is associated with such things. For instance, critical thinkers can overcome all sorts of cognitive biases. Moreover, according to a series of studies, they also experience fewer bad things in life. Also, unlike intelligence, critical thinking can be taught and improved with training. (112 words)
11/30 Summary: "States Crack Down on 'Fake Service Animals'"
From AARP
(Summary)
Massachusetts are creating a law about pets passed off as service animals. If the law is enacted, the state will become the 20th state to create the same law. One of the reasons behind this legislation is that some people get around bans in apartments, condos, and restaurants. They can also avoid paying an extra fee for airplane passenger cabins, knowing service animals are exempted from the fee. Another reason is to not give true service animals a bad reputation. This law, however, would rule out other kinds of support animals, since only a dog is defined as a service animal by the Americans with Disabilities Act. (107 words)
11/29 Summary: "People who feel younger at heart live longer"
From CNN
(Summary)
The new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine online shows that elder people who felt younger than their years outlived those who felt their age or felt older. The researchers are trying to understand the reasons behind the findings. There seem some possibilities including a wider range of health behaviors than they measured, and self-perceived age seems possible. So, by intervening it, it could be possible to promote health behaviors and attitudes toward aging. Another study indicates that conscientiousness and optimism help people live a longer life. (87 words)
11/28 Summary: "Fractions: Where It All Goes Wrong"
From Scientific American
(Summary)
Few children master fractions, according to a survey. What’s worse, children in the US perform much worse on fraction problems than those in other European and Asian countries. The reasons why they have difficulty understanding such problems can be classified into two groups: inherent and cultural difficulty. Inherent sources of difficulty come from the nature of fractions. For example, the notation used to express fractions makes it difficult to understand. Another inherent difficulty involves the different procedures needed to calculate fractions. In contrast, difficulties which come from the culture include poor teacher understanding about fractions, the language (English), and US textbooks presenting far fewer problems with fraction division than multiplication. However, it is possible to make the current situation better by tackling each problem. What is more, educational programs which teach children about fraction importance or encourage them to find answers more by themselves than the standard curriculum seem promising. (150 words)
11/27 Summary: "Nice Brains Finish Last"
From Scientific American
(Summary)
Based on the reactions to economic inequity, humans can be categorized into three: prosocials, who value economic equity, individuals, who are concerned with maximizing their own resources, and competitive, whose crucial outcome is that they have more than other people. According to a study, whether or not they got more money than others, prosocials’ amygdalae, which in the brain are associated with feelings of stress, were activated, while the individualists’ ones were activated only when they were the sufferers. Another study using a brain imaging technique also showed the same result. Furthermore, by using a common depression questionnaire, the researchers found having a prosocial pattern of brain activation was associated with more depression, as psychiatrists have long suggested. The hope is that they can inhibit stress by using the prefrontal cortex, associated with regulation of these depression although participants in this study were between 18 and 26 while the cortex becomes mature around age 26. (155 words)
11/25 Summary: "Babies Learn What Words Mean before They Can Use Them"
From Scientific American
(Summary)
According to a study, babies seem to learn words and the meanings well before they start talking. Researchers studied 6-month-old babies and suggests judging from eye tracking that infants can tell a word apart from the unrelated word. They think this study will pave the way for finding out how to enhance vocabulary development, and that paying a careful attention to what babies look at and care about might be of help. This work also suggests to parents that their babies’ learning start on the first the of life, not the first day of school. (95 words)
11/23 Summary: "Everyday Mysteries: The purr of a cat"
From Newsela
(Summary)
Kittens learn how to purr when they are a few days old. According to veterinarians, this purring functions as a signal to a kitten’s mother that the baby is OK and as a bonding mechanism between them. Adult cats also purr when they are content and pleased as well as injured and in pain, which play the role of healing themselves. As for how they purr, most scientists agree that both the larynx, also called the voice box and a neural oscillator are involved and allow them to make sound. (90 words)
