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‘Was Doing’ Versus ‘Did’: Verbs Matter When Judging Other People’s Intentions

By Guest PostFebruary 16, 2011Cultureaction, communication, courtroom, criminal law, defense attorney, did, doing, dolores albarracín, english, grammar, gun, imagine, imperfective, innocent or guilty verdict, people, perceptions, perfective, prosecutor, report of a crime, shot, subtle variations, university of alabama, verb form, was shooting, william hart

Your English teacher wasn’t kidding: Grammar really does matter. The verb form used to describe an action can affect how the action is perceived—and these subtle variations could mean the difference between an innocent or guilty verdict in criminal law, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

William Hart, of the University of Alabama, was inspired to conduct the study by research on how people think about narratives. “Research was showing that when you describe somebody’s actions in terms of what they’re ‘doing,’ that action is way more vivid in [a reader’s] mind” than if the action is described in terms of what the person ‘did.’ At the same time, other researchers had found that when people imagine action vividly, they were more likely to think the person performing the action was doing it intentionally. (more…)

Astronomers Identify Thick Disc of Older Stars in Nearby Andromeda Galaxy

By Guest PostFebruary 16, 2011Scienceandromeda, andromeda galaxy, astronomer, evolution, formation of the andromeda system, galactic evolution, hawaii, hubble imaging, keck observatory, keck telescope, m31, michael rich, michelle collins, Milky Way, motions, robert gendler, scott chapman, spiral galaxy, spiral structure, thick stellar disc

An international team of astronomers has identified for the first time a thick stellar disc in the Andromeda galaxy, the nearest large spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way.

The discovery of the thick disc, a major result from a five-year investigation, will help astronomers better understand the processes involved in the formation and evolution of large spiral galaxies like ours, according to the team, which includes UCLA research astronomer Michael Rich and colleagues from Europe and Australia. (more…)

Obesity Has Doubled Since 1980, Major Global Analysis of Risk Factors Reveals

By Guest PostFebruary 16, 2011Healthaustralasia, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol, diastolic blood pressure, global problems, goodarz danaei, gretchen stevens, heart disease risk factors, high income countries, hypertension, lancet, majid ezzati, North America, obese, obesity, risk factor, southeast asia, western countries, WHO, world health organization

*Study shows western high-income countries have achieved impressive progress in lowering hypertension and cholesterol*

The worldwide prevalence of obesity has nearly doubled since 1980, according to a major study on how three important heart disease risk factors have changed across the world over the last three decades. The study, published on Feb. 4 in three papers in the Lancet, looked at all available global data to assess how body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol changed between 1980 and 2008.

The study shows that in 2008, more than one in ten of the world’s adult population was obese, with women more likely to be obese than men. An estimated 205 million men and 297 million adult women were obese – a total of more than half a billion adults worldwide. (more…)

‘Growing Economy Sparks Change in Chinese Mating Preferences’

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2011Cultureattractive mates, chastity, China, cultural evolution of values, cultural mate preferences, david buss, economic changes, economic prosperity, Economy, evolutionary hypothesis, evolutionary psychologist, good earning capacity, grow, mates, premarital sex in china, sexual partner, social status, trait, young adults

AUSTIN, Texas — As China’s economy continues to grow, more young adults desire potential mates with good financial prospects, according to new psychology research from The University of Texas at Austin.

In a paper published in the February issue of Personality and Individual Differences, David Buss, an evolutionary psychologist at the university, and a team of researchers found the preference for financial security reflects the extraordinary economic changes in China over the past 25 years. (more…)

IBM Introduces New Systems to Bring More Efficiency to Data Centers Run Amok

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2011Technologyblade network technologies, bnt, chips, data centers, database applications, datapower xI50z, dave michlowski, ex5 blade system, hardware, high-performance computing, hpc, ibm, medical informatics, microsoft exchange, ras, software, storwize rapid application storage, system x, systems, tivoli storage, websphere, workloads, xI50, zbx, zenterprise bladecenter extension

*Continues Ongoing Investments in Innovative Workload-Optimized Systems*

ARMONK, N.Y. – 15 Feb 2011: IBM today announced workload-optimized systems to help companies manage a range of more demanding workloads that are placing new stresses on already over-taxed data centers.

The offerings, which span IBM’s systems portfolio, represent IBM’s continued investment in systems integrated and optimized across chips, hardware and software, for a range of work at a time when companies face unprecedented amounts of data and are under pressure to become more efficient in managing and drawing timely insights from the information. (more…)

Quest for Designer Bacteria Uncovers a Spy

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2011Sciencebacteria helper, biosensors, coerce bacteria, directed evolution, escherichia coli, james bardwell, mcgill university, molecular assistant, shu quan, spy

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Scientists have discovered a molecular assistant called Spy that helps bacteria excel at producing proteins for medical and industrial purposes.

Bacteria are widely used to manufacture proteins used in medicine and industry, but the bugs often bungle the job. Many proteins fall apart and get cut up inside the bacteria before they can be harvested. Others collapse into useless tangles instead of folding properly, as they must in order to function normally. (more…)

Patient Privacy Should be Respected Abroad and Online

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2011Culture, Healthamerican medical student, developing countries, dominican republic, ecuador, erik black, ethical gray area, Facebook, federal guidelines, haiti, health care providers, lindsay thompson, medical students, patient, patient privacy, reed van deusen, social media, spring break, terry kind, unauthorized photo, united states, web

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Taking an unauthorized photo of a patient and posting it on Facebook is a giant no-no for health-care providers, who follow strict federal guidelines protecting patient privacy.

But what if the patient is a little girl in Ecuador receiving a vaccine from an American medical student, who’s in the country on a medical outreach trip? Although taking photos of patients in developing countries and posting them on the Web may not be illegal, it’s not ethical, say researchers from the University of Florida.

It’s long been a common practice for health care providers to snap photos while volunteering their time in developing countries, generally to bring back evidence of the conditions patients face there. But reporting in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, UF College of Medicine researchers say providers should treat patients’ privacy with the same reverence no matter where the care takes place. (more…)

Why Are Vines Overtaking the American Tropics?

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2011Environment, ScienceAmazon, american tropics, barro colorado island, beauty kingdom, bolivian smazon, brazil, carbon, carbon storage, el nino events, english ivy, forest canopy, forests, french guiana, human communities, impact on animals, japanese honeysuckle, kudzu, liana vines, milwaukee, oliver phillips, oriental bittersweet, panama, planet, Smithsonian, south carolina, stefan schnitzer, subtropical forests, tropical forests, united states, vines

A Million-Dollar Question

Sleeping Beauty’s kingdom was overgrown by vines when she fell into a deep sleep. Researchers at the Smithsonian in Panama and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee received more than a million dollars from the U.S. National Science Foundation to discover why real vines are overtaking the American tropics. Data from eight sites show that vines are overgrowing trees in all cases.

“We are witnessing a fundamental structural change in the physical make-up of forests that will have a profound impact on the animals, human communities and businesses that depend on them for their livelihoods,” said Stefan Schnitzer, research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and associate professor at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. (more…)

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