Bruce Landon: Social Psychology

brain

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 06:13:35 GMT

Three Florida teenagers recently pleaded not guilty to the brutal beatings and in one case, death, of homeless men. One of the beatings was caught on surveillance video and in a most chilling way illustrates how people can degrade socially outcast individuals, enough to engage in mockery, physical abuse, and even murder. According to new research, the brain processes social outsiders as less than human; brain imaging provides accurate depictions of this prejudice at an unconscious level.

[Science Blog -]

games

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:57:45 GMT

Gaming to Save the World. The recent Games for Change Conferenc e was covered on NPR, featuring interviews with the developers of games such as Darfur is Dying and Peacemaker. The premise of these games is that to reach the Net Generation with socially progressive ideas, you need to engage them with their favorite interactive media. Since one of the familiar objectives in many of our campus' strategic plans is to develop the next generation of leaders, and to ensure that our graduates participate effectively in the political process, these new models of developing thoughtful and yet engaging game environments to teach progressive values seem worth paying attention to, both for the lessons they teach, and more generally as models of platforms for thinking about future educational environments. [Academic Commons -]

networking

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:54:09 GMT

Research Projects You Should Know About. - sharing wifi with your neighbors -- BL

[Slashdot]

persuasion

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:29:08 GMT

Drinking coffee makes you more open-minded. Caffeine can make you more easily convinced by arguments that go against your beliefs because it improves your ability to understand the reasoning behind statements, suggests experiments at University of Queensland. ... [KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News]

networking

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 06:40:43 GMT

Americans' circle of friends is shrinking, new study shows.

Americans' circle of close confidants has shrunk dramatically in the past two decades and the number of people who say they have no one with whom to discuss important matters has more than doubled, according to a new study by sociologists at Duke University and the University of Arizona.

[Science Blog -]

depression

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 06:39:49 GMT

Brain function and negative thinking linked to late-onset depression.

Late-onset depression, which first emerges in people aged 60 and over, is linked to a decline in the brain's executive functions that leads to repetitive, negative thought patterns a new study reveals. Executive functions are those that enable people to plan and control their thoughts and actions.

[Science Blog -]

aggression

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 19:12:05 GMT

Florida Virtual School Students Win International Diplomacy Competition - Yvonne Marie Andres. â€œGolden Bridges: Connecting People to Peaceâ€� Project Aims to Increase Awareness of Global Humanitarian Efforts of the United Nations. Leveraging technology, an innovative learning initiative and a passion to build a better global community, three Florida [Online Learning Update]

abuse

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 16:47:04 GMT

New theory: Child abuse can cause schizophrenia.

University of Manchester researcher Paul Hammersley is to tell two international conferences, in London and Madrid on 14 June 2006, that child abuse can cause schizophrenia. The groundbreaking and highly contentious theory, co-presented by New Zealand clinical psychologist Dr John Read, has been described as "an earthquake" that will radically change the psychiatric profession.

[Science Blog -]

audio

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 16:44:49 GMT

Researchers build an ultrasound version of the laser.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at the University of Missouri at Rolla have built an ultrasound analogue of the laser. Called a uaser (pronounced WAY-zer) -- for ultrasound amplification by stimulated emission of radiation -- the instrument produces ultrasonic waves that are coherent and of one frequency, and could be used to study laser dynamics and detect subtle changes, such as phase changes, in modern materials.[and people? -- BL]

[Science Blog -]

networking

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 06:45:32 GMT

Teaching Social Software with Social Software - Ulises Mejias, Innovate Online. This article explores how the current wave of information and communication technologies (ICTs) known as social software can enable new forms of study and research, preparing students to participate in networks where knowledge is collectively constructed [Online Learning Update]

privacy

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 06:44:29 GMT

Drilling Down: You've Got Someone Reading Your E-Mail. More than a third of American companies with 1,000 or more workers say they employ people to read through other employees' outbound e-mail. By ALEX MINDLIN. [NYT > Technology]

drugs

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 05:43:26 GMT

Psychopharm Going 'Mainstream' In Schools?.

[Slashdot]

violent

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 15:11:49 GMT

Intermittent explosive disorder affects up to 16 million Americans.

A little-known mental disorder marked by episodes of unwarranted anger is more common than previously thought, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has found. Depending upon how broadly it's defined, intermittent explosive disorder (IED) affects as many as 7.3 percent of adults -- 11.5-16 million Americans -- in their lifetimes. The study is based on data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, a nationally representative, face-to-face household survey of 9,282 U.S. adults, conducted in 2001-2003.

[Science Blog -]

honesty

Thu, 04 May 2006 21:42:05 GMT

The Sound of Science: When Ideology Trumps Evidence.

Know Nothing ideologues in government twist the language -- and often the facts -- to keep scientific evidence out of health and safety rule-making.

[Science Blog -]

networks

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 15:41:23 GMT

Social Networking From Your Cell.this is just the beginning --BL

[Slashdot]

ecology

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 15:13:16 GMT

Earth's Biodiversity Now on Your Desktop.

Anyone in the world with an Internet connection and an interest in the Earth's living species can now access worldwide networks of biodiversity data from his or her desktop, thanks to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The world's biodiversity encompasses all living species of plants, animals and organisms on the planet Earth, as well as their genetic variants and the ecosystems in which they live.

[Science Blog -]

wireless

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 04:41:36 GMT

Wi-Fi City Sees Startup Woes. It may be the first city to roll out free internet access, according to analysts, but the new Wi-Fi network in St. Cloud, Florida has enough hiccups many residents are keeping their for-pay service for now. [Wired News: Top Stories]

eCulture eLearning

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 03:33:12 GMT

Be Polite, E-Polite - David Epstein, Inside Higher Ed. Two faculty members at the University of Oregon have added â€œnetiquetteâ€� to the syllabus. Lamia N. Karim, an assistant anthropology professor, had gotten more than enough e-mails from students asking for directions to the library, or the bookstore, she sai [Online Learning Update]

remote control

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 06:17:55 GMT

Motorola Patents Therapy Patch. Instead of the annoying buzz of current cell-phone vibrating alerts, a new design can be applied anywhere on the body that will "stimulate" you when a call comes in. [Wired News: Top Stories]

networks

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 05:32:30 GMT

U.S. flu spread based largely on work commute.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conclude that the regional spread of annual influenza epidemics throughout the United States is more closely connected with rates of movement of people to and from work than with geographical distance or air travels. They also found that epidemics spread faster between more populous locations.

[Science Blog -]