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Changing Minds about Climate Policy Can Be Done – Sometimes

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2013Environmentchanging minds, climate change, climate policy, economic status, erik nisbet, george mason university, government intervention, lifestyle, mitigate the problem, morgan ellithorpe, nation, ohio state, open mindedness, ps hart, psychological test, status quo, teresa myers

Simply communicating the benefits is not enough

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Some open-minded people can be swayed to support government intervention on climate change – but only if they are presented with both the benefits and the costs, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that those who were open-minded didn’t change their view if they heard arguments for only one side of the issue.

People who are relatively more closed-minded did not change their mind regardless of the messages they received, or what their original views were. There was also no evidence of open-minded people becoming less supportive of government intervention, no matter if they heard both sides of the argument or only one. (more…)

Ancient Fossilized Sea Creatures Yield Oldest Biomolecules Isolated Directly from a Fossil

By Guest PostFebruary 21, 2013Nature, Scienceamerican midwest, analytical tools, ancient, aquatic sea creatures, aromatic compounds, biological signal, biomarkers, calcite crystal, carboniferous period, christina omalley, complex organic molecules, crinoids, crinoids today, DNA, feathery arms, fine grained sediment, fossil, fossilization, fossilized sea creatures, function, gas chromatograph, geochemist, geologic time, geologists, hard calcite shell, Indiana, iowa, layer, living tissue, mass spectrometer, midwest, mountain chains, North America, ohio, ohio state, ohio state geologists, ohio state university, oldest biomolecules, organic matter, organic molecules, pigments, pores, predators, quinines, sand dollars, sea lily, spindly animals, toxins, vast inland seas, volcanism, william ausich, yu ping chin

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Though scientists have long believed that complex organic molecules couldn’t survive fossilization, some 350-million-year-old remains of aquatic sea creatures uncovered in Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa have challenged that assumption.

The spindly animals with feathery arms—called crinoids, but better known today by the plant-like name “sea lily”—appear to have been buried alive in storms during the Carboniferous Period, when North America was covered with vast inland seas. Buried quickly and isolated from the water above by layers of fine-grained sediment, their porous skeletons gradually filled with minerals, but some of the pores containing organic molecules were sealed intact. (more…)

New Tool for CSI? Geographic Software Maps Distinctive Features inside Bones

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2012Scienceagricultural tool, amanda agnew, anthropology, arcgis, body size, bones, compression, crime statistics, cross section, david rose, disease, excavation site, flood model, foot bone, geographic, gis, human, human remains, information system, julie field, mapping software, metatarsal, microscope, ohio state, osteons, osteoporosis, pattern, sam stout, scientific criteria, sex, skeletal variation, spatial data, statistical measure, study, tension

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A common type of geographic mapping software offers a new way to study human remains.

In a recent issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, researchers describe how they used commercially available mapping software to identify features inside a human foot bone – a new way to study human skeletal variation. (more…)

Study: With the Right Photo, Your Facebook Text Profile Hardly Matters

By Guest PostMarch 7, 2012Technologyabout me, brandon van der heide, erin schumaker, extrovert, Facebook, introvert, jeff grabmeier, jonathan dangelo, ohio state, photograph, positive photo, profile photo, text, van der heide

COLUMBUS, Ohio – In most cases, your profile photo on Facebook tells viewers what they need to know to form an impression of you – no words are necessary, new research suggests.

College students who viewed a Facebook photo of a fellow student having fun with friends rated that person as extraverted – even if his profile said he was “not a big people-person.” (more…)

Children Don’t Give Words Special Power to Categorize Their World

By Guest PostJanuary 1, 2012Scienceadults, carrot eaters, dog, experiment, fictional creatures, flurps, jeff grabmeier, language, meat eaters, objects, ohio state, salient feature, scientists, thinking of children, triangle antennae, vladimir sloutsky, wei deng, young children

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research challenges the conventional thinking that young children use language just as adults do to help classify and understand objects in the world around them.

In a new study involving 4- to 5-year-old children, researchers found that the labels adults use to classify items – words like “dog” or “pencil” – don’t have the same ability to influence the thinking of children. (more…)

Elderly Can Be as Fast as Young in Some Brain Tasks, Study Shows

By Guest PostDecember 30, 2011Science25 year olds, asterisks, children, computer screen, decision making tasks, elderly, faster response, gail mckoon, jessica love, john opfer, large number, nonwords, ohio state, quick decisions, roger ratcliff, small number

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Both children and the elderly have slower response times when they have to make quick decisions in some settings.

But recent research suggests that much of that slower response is a conscious choice to emphasize accuracy over speed.

In fact, healthy older people can be trained to respond faster in some decision-making tasks without hurting their accuracy – meaning their cognitive skills in this area aren’t so different from younger adults. (more…)

Study Debunks Stereotype That Men Think About Sex All Day Long

By Guest PostDecember 4, 2011Sciencebiological needs, biological sex, erotophilia, erotophobia, every seven seconds, frequency, male or female, mary jo pittenger, men, ohio state, psychology, sex, sexual thoughts, sexuality, sociosexual orientation, stereotype, terri fisher, women, young women, zachary moore

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Men may think about sex more often than women do, but a new study suggests that men also think about other biological needs, such as eating and sleep, more frequently than women do, as well.

And the research discredits the persistent stereotype that men think about sex every seven seconds, which would amount to more than 8,000 thoughts about sex in 16 waking hours. In the study, the median number of young men’s thought about sex stood at almost 19 times per day. Young women in the study reported a median of nearly 10 thoughts about sex per day. (more…)

Focus on Testing Hurts Students in High School Health Classes

By Guest PostNovember 21, 2011Educationann o connell, appalachia, deleon gray, derek lane, eric m anderman, extrinsic focus, george mason university, health education, healthy behavior, high school health classes, knowledge, low pressure, mastery focus, navigate sexual situations, ohio state, pamela cupp, pregnancy prevention, rick zimmerman, rural communities, safe sex habits, sex related topics, sexual advances, studying hiv, teacher, university of kentucky

COLUMBUS, Ohio – High school health classes fail to help students refuse sexual advances or endorse safe sex habits when teachers focus primarily on testing knowledge, a new study reveals.

But when teachers emphasized learning the material for its own sake, and to improve health, students had much better responses. In these kinds of classrooms, students had lower intentions of having sex and felt better able to navigate sexual situations.

“A focus on tests doesn’t help students in health classes make healthier choices,” said Eric M. Anderman, lead author of the study and professor of educational psychology at Ohio State University. (more…)

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