Sarcoma is a rare cancer, the main type of which typically affects tissues like bone or muscle. Sarcomas develop in our connective tissues—the kind of tissue which supports other tissue in the body and has a structural role, making them quite different from other cancers, and they make up about…
Action-oriented goals produce higher probability of purchases under tight deadlines
If you want something done, ask a busy person — or so the saying goes. According to a new paper co-written by a University of Illinois scholar who studies attitudes and persuasion psychology, if you want to sell something quickly, it helps to try a busy consumer. People on a…
Artificial intelligence could help air travelers save a bundle
Researchers are using artificial intelligence to help airlines price ancillary services such as checked bags and seat reservations in a way that is beneficial to customers’ budget and privacy, as well as to the airline industry’s bottom line. When airlines began unbundling the costs of flights and ancillary services in…
Area of brain linked to spatial awareness and planning also plays role in decision making
New research by neuroscientists at the University of Chicago shows that the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), an area of the brain often associated with planning movements and spatial awareness, also plays a crucial role in making decisions about images in the field of view. “Traditionally this part of the brain…
Deciphering how the brain encodes color and shape: Study reveals how the brain processes the external world using overlapping visual circuits
There are hundreds of thousands of distinct colors and shapes that a person can distinguish visually, but how does the brain process all of this information? Scientists previously believed that the visual system initially encodes shape and color with different sets of neurons and then combines them much later. But…
Screams contain a ‘calling card’ for the vocalizer’s identity: Finding may help explain evolutionary origins of screams
Human screams convey a level of individual identity that may help explain their evolutionary origins, finds a study by scientists at Emory University. PeerJ published the research, showing that listeners can correctly identify whether pairs of screams were produced by the same person or two different people — a critical…
Moral concerns override desire to profit from finding a lost wallet
The setup of a research study was a bit like the popular ABC television program “What Would You Do?” — minus the television cameras and big reveal in the end. An international team of behavioral scientists turned 17,303 “lost” wallets containing varying amounts of money into public and private institutions…
Astrocytes protect neurons from toxic buildup
Astrocytes are overtaxed neurons’ pit crew. The brain cells collect damaged lipids secreted by hyperactive neurons, then recycle those toxic molecules into energy, researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus report May 23, 2019, in the journal Cell. It’s a mechanism to protect neurons from the damaging…
Believing machines can out-do people may fuel acceptance of self-driving cars
In order for self-driving cars to hit the streets, more people may need to concede that machines can outperform humans, at least in some tasks, according to Penn State researchers. In a survey, people who had no trouble believing that machines can outperform humans — also called posthuman ability —…
Sound sense: Brain ‘listens’ for distinctive features in sounds: Researchers explore how the auditory system achieves accurate speech recognition
For humans to achieve accurate speech recognition and communicate with one another, the auditory system must recognize distinct categories of sounds — such as words — from a continuous incoming stream of sounds. This task becomes complicated when considering the variability in sounds produced by individuals with different accents, pitches,…
Thanking and apologizing: Talk that isn’t cheap
We place a high value on teaching children to say “thank you” and “I’m sorry.” As adults, these simple words are central to many social interactions. Uttering the words is easy, so why do people often hold back? And why does the failure to confer thanks or to apologize so…