Blog

When she says, ‘It’s not you, it’s me,’ it really might be you, UCLA study suggests

Women with stable but not-so-sexy mates become more distant, critical during periods of high fertility

Long after women have chosen Mr. Stable over Mr. Sexy, they struggle unconsciously with the decision, according to a new study by UCLA researchers who look at subtle changes in behavior during ovulation.

At their most fertile period, these women are less likely to feel close to their mates and more likely to find fault with them than women mated to more sexually desirable men, the research shows. (more…)

Read More

For Presidential Candidates, Image May Trump Debate Issues

The wide swings in debate performances by this year’s presidential candidates reflect the fact that in modern campaigns, a candidate’s image is the message, according to linguistic anthropologists who have studied presidential campaigns.

Candidates send important messages to voters through even their smallest gestures, the researchers say. For example, in this year’s first debate, President Barack Obama often looked down at the podium and was criticized for appearing disengaged. In subsequent debates Obama directly addressed his Republican opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and increased the use of a hammering hand gesture sometimes called the “power grip.” (more…)

Read More

IBM Establishes the Smarter Energy Research Institute to Advance the Utility of the Future

Hydro-Québec (Canada), Alliander (Netherlands) and DTE Energy (USA) Join as the First Members

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. – 25 Oct 2012: IBM today announced the launch of the Smarter Energy Research Institute, a new industrial research collaboration model aimed at accelerating innovation across the global energy and utilities market. Hydro-Québec (Canada), Alliander (Netherlands) and DTE Energy (USA) join as the first members. (more…)

Read More

Racial ‘Hierarchy of Bias’ Drives Decision to Shoot Armed, Unarmed Suspects, CU-Boulder Study Finds

Police officers and students exhibit an apparent “hierarchy of bias” in making a split-second decision whether to shoot suspects who appear to be wielding a gun or, alternatively, a benign object like a cell phone, research conducted by the University of Colorado Boulder and San Diego State University has found.

Both the police and student subjects were most likely to shoot at blacks, then Hispanics, then whites and finally, in a case of what might be called a positive bias, Asians, researchers found. (more…)

Read More

Science Supports Sex Addiction as a Legitimate Disorder

UCLA researchers test proposed criteria for diagnosing ‘hypersexual disorder’

The idea that an individual might suffer from a sexual addiction is great fodder for radio talk shows, comedians and late night TV. But a sex addiction is no laughing matter. Relationships are destroyed, jobs are lost, lives ruined.

Yet psychiatrists have been reluctant to accept the idea of out-of-control sexual behavior as a mental health disorder because of the lack of scientific evidence.

Now a UCLA-led team of experts has tested a proposed set of criteria to define “hypersexual disorder,” also known as sexual addiction, as a new mental health condition. (more…)

Read More

Commentary: John E. Savage – Cybersecurity Needed in the Public Domain

President Obama designated October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month. We asked John E. Savage, the An Wang Professor of Computer Science, to share his views on what can and should be done to ensure cybersecurity at the national level. Savage is active in cybersecurity from both a policy and technology point of view, having spent the 2009-10 academic year in the U.S. Department of State as a Jefferson Science Fellow.

In a major policy speech delivered last week, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta sparked a new discussion of cyberwarfare threats, warning that cyberattacks “could virtually paralyze the nation.” (more…)

Read More

Archivist an Expert on All Things ‘Born Digital’

No longer primarily paper documents, donations to the Yale University Library now also come in digital forms and formats — including floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, and flash drives. Archivists are faced with a new and challenging dilemma: how to preserve “born-digital” collections in a form that can be read by available technology and also saved in a way that will be accessible in the future.

At Yale Library’s Manuscripts & Archives department, Mark Matienzo, Digital Archivist, is helping to develop strategies to reclaim and organize information that was created within the past 20 years — on media that may be already becoming obsolete. (more…)

Read More