The Daily Reviewer | ScienceDaily: Popular Culture News

Are Latino teens sexual risk takers? It's complicated, researcher says

Feb 21, 2010 9:00pm

An Illinois researcher advises caution when trying to characterize gender roles and sexual behavior among U.S. Latino adolescents and young adults....

Cultural history colors thought about bioethics, evolution

Feb 20, 2010 9:00pm

Popularized ideas about evolution assume that some human groups are more evolved than other human groups. These cultural views of evolution can have important ethical implications, says an expert on theological and biomedical ethics....

Study: Consumers don't want wallet phones; airline, movie tickets on cell phones more acceptable

Feb 18, 2010 9:00pm

Of the things users expect their cell phones to be -- address book, calendar, camera, music player -- a wallet isn't one of them, according to a new study. Cell phone users are leery of putting banking accounts, identification and other sensitive information onto cell phones....

Spitzer goes to the Olympics: Art professor to show space telescope-inspired work at Winter Olympics digital art exhibition

Feb 12, 2010 5:00pm

Artwork inspired by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is making an appearance at this year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. No, it's not battling other telescopes for the "gold," but its observations are now on display as part of the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad Festival....

People out and about make cities secure

Feb 8, 2010 8:00pm

Young people who have experienced threats and violence feel more insecure than others in urban public spaces, especially when alone....

Hackers at the movies

Feb 3, 2010 9:00pm

Researchers in Ireland have analyzed 50 non-documentary movies from the last four decades featuring hackers and come to some intriguing conclusions about the hacker stereotype with implications for policy makers and education....

Violence is part of the job, say nurses, as study shows only 1 in 6 incidents are reported

Feb 3, 2010 2:00pm

Three-quarters of nurses providing private and public care experienced workplace violence, but only one in six incidents were formally reported, according to a new study. The majority (92%) had been verbally abused, 69% had been physically threatened and 52% had been physically assaulted. Nurses faced an average of two to...

Reaching for the stars to create music of the universe

Feb 3, 2010 2:00pm

While a supernova can be seen, it can't be heard, as sound waves cannot travel through space. But what if the light waves emitted by the exploding star and other cosmological phenomena could be translated into sound? That's the idea behind a "Rhythms of the Universe," a musical project to...

Scientists and cast of thousands swarm stage in Europe

Jan 27, 2010 9:00pm

Typically science doesn't bed down with theater, much less mate with artistic vigor, but the accord between the two is explored in the recent production Heuschrecken [The Locusts] developed by Stefan Kaegi of Rimini Protokoll....

Toronto's entertainment district 'hot-spot' for violence-related injuries

Jan 25, 2010 9:00pm

Each day people living in large urban centres are injured as the result of violent acts such as physical assault. While existing research tells us where such events are most likely to happen, a new study by Canadian scientists has gone one step further....

Making family board games electronic

Jan 25, 2010 5:00pm

A groundbreaking technology may make traditional board games a thing of the past. The technology allows groups of friends or family members to play electronic games like they used to do board games: in a sociable and physical setting, placed together around a table. It also eases game controls by...

UK: Science in the media reasonably healthy but somewhat affected by wider crisis in journalism

Jan 21, 2010 9:00pm

A new report on science and the media found that in some respects specialist science news reporting in the UK is in relatively good health. However the research also warns about the serious threat to the quality and independence of science reporting posed by the wider crisis in journalism....

People born in the 1940s not the spenders we thought they were

Jan 17, 2010 9:00pm

People born in the 1940s are often portrayed as having both the means and the willingness to spend money on consumption, but how do they appear in the consumption statistics? According to the Consumption Report 2009, they top the list in terms of disposable income per consumption unit, but do...

Might not be a tomorrow: Youth anticipate early death

Jan 13, 2010 2:00pm

A unique study indicates that although young criminals are aware of the risks of violent injury, death or punishment, the possibility of a shorter life span encourages them to focus more on the "here and now."...

Of girls and geeks: Environment may be why women don't like computer science

Dec 28, 2009 11:00am

In real estate, it's location, location, location. And when it comes to why girls and women shy away from careers in computer science, a key reason is environment, environment, environment....

Santa should get off his sleigh and walk, says public health doctor

Dec 19, 2009 2:00pm

Santa should share Rudolf's snack of carrots and celery sticks rather than brandy and mince pies and swap his reindeer for a bike or walk, says a public health expert....

Nonverbal communication of race bias on TV influences viewers' own bias

Dec 17, 2009 11:00pm

Subtle patterns of nonverbal behavior that appear on popular television programs influence racial bias among viewers. Black characters elicit especially negative nonverbal responses, such as facial expressions and body language, from other characters, and viewers exhibit more racial bias after exposure to such negative responses....

Health effects of low-intensity warfare studied

Dec 13, 2009 11:00pm

Anthropologists have established a conceptual framework for measuring the health as well as the social impacts of violence in northern Kenya. The study has worldwide implications, as violent conflict is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality....

Movies promote smoking among Mexican-American adolescents

Dec 2, 2009 9:00pm

The more movie scenes of smoking they watch, the more likely Mexican-American youths are to experiment with smoking, researchers report....

Distrust of men doesn't stall low-income mothers' romantic unions

Dec 1, 2009 9:00pm

Ninety-six percent of low-income mothers who participated in a recent study on gender-based distrust indicated a strong general feeling of distrust of the opposite sex. However, this general distrust towards men did not prevent them from entering into a marriage, live-in, or romantic relationship....

Homicide rates linked to trust in government, sense of belonging, study suggests

Dec 1, 2009 11:00am

When Americans begin routinely complaining about how they hate their government and don't trust their leaders, it may be time to look warily at the homicide rate. A historian tried to make sense of changing homicide rates by sifting through records of tens of thousands of homicides in the United...

Are the effects of pornography negligible?

Nov 30, 2009 9:00pm

A new study has been launched in Canada to examine the effects of pornography on men. "We started our research seeking men in their twenties who had never consumed pornography. We couldn't find any," says the researcher....

'Too fat to be a princess?' Young girls worry about body image, study shows

Nov 26, 2009 8:00am

Nearly half of the 3- to 6-year-old girls in a new study worry about being fat. The study surprisingly concluded that the girls did not appear to be influenced by short video clips of stereotypically beautiful, thin princesses in animated children's movies. But it's still important for parents to use...

National Anti-gun Violence Program Largely Successful

Nov 25, 2009 2:00am

Project Safe Neighborhoods -- a community-based policing effort launched in 2001 -- has been largely successful in its goal of reducing violent crime, according to a new analysis....

Daycare may double TV time for young children, study finds

Nov 24, 2009 8:00am

In a new study, the amount of television viewed by many young children in child care settings doubles the previous estimates of early childhood screen time, with those in home-based settings watching significantly more on average than those in center-based daycares....

Shifting blame is socially contagious

Nov 22, 2009 2:00pm

Merely observing someone publicly blame an individual in an organization for a problem -- even when the target is innocent -- greatly increases the odds that the practice of blaming others will spread with the tenacity of the H1N1 flu....

Foreign Subtitles Improve Speech Perception

Nov 11, 2009 5:00pm

You can improve your second-language listening ability by watching the movie with subtitles -- as long as these subtitles are in the same language as the film. Subtitles in one's native language, the default in some European countries, may actually be counter-productive to learning to understand foreign speech, according to...

Experts Offer Strategies For Working With Immigrant Victims Of Violence

Nov 8, 2009 9:00pm

Last year, the United States provided asylum and resettlement assistance for nearly 80,700 people from other countries, an increase from 71,300 individuals in 2007, according to the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Health experts say the increase has made issues of immigrant and refugee violence and the need for...

For Improving Early Literacy, Reading Comics Is No Child's Play

Nov 6, 2009 5:00pm

A professor of library and information science says that comic books are just as sophisticated as other forms of literature, and children benefit from reading them at least as much as they do from reading other types of books....

TV Bombards Children With Commercials For High-fat And High-sugar Foods

Nov 5, 2009 11:00am

Childhood obesity in the United States is reaching epidemic proportions. With more than one fourth of advertising on daytime and prime time television devoted to foods and beverages and continuing questions about the role television plays in obesity, a new study examines how food advertising aimed at children might be...

TV Exposure May Be Associated With Aggressive Behavior In Young Children

Nov 3, 2009 5:00pm

Three-year-old children who are exposed to more TV appear to be at an increased risk for exhibiting aggressive behavior, according to a new report....

Researchers Rest Their Case: TV Consumption Predicts Opinions About Criminal Justice System

Oct 29, 2009 2:00am

People who watch forensic and crime dramas on TV are more likely than nonviewers to have a distorted perception of America's criminal justice system, according to new research....

More Students Than Ever Before Studying Engineering And Physical Sciences At Degree Level, UK Figures Show

Oct 21, 2009 9:00pm

More students than ever before have been accepted onto science and engineering related degree courses this autumn, according to the University and Colleges Admissions Service in the UK. Science is also now the most popular subject at school according to a new poll of children aged 5 to 18....

Distracted By A Cell Phone? Some Cell Phone Users Fail To See Unicycling Clown Passing Them

Oct 20, 2009 8:00am

Everyone tends to float off into space once in a while and fail to see what is sitting there right in front of them. Recently researchers decided to put the theory of "inattentional blindness" to the test: the unicycling clown test. They documented real-world examples of people who were so...

Television Has Less Effect On Education About Climate Change Than Other Forms Of Media

Oct 15, 2009 9:00pm

Watching television has no significant impact on viewers' knowledge about the issue of climate change, a new study suggests. However, reading newspapers and using the Web seem to contribute to people's knowledge about this issue....

Recent 'Momentum' Influences Choices Of Baby Names, Professors Find

Oct 14, 2009 8:00am

New research suggests that the change in popularity of babies' names over time increasingly influences naming decisions in the United States. Like momentum traders in the stock market, parents today appear to favor names that have recently risen in popularity relative to names that are on the decline....

Tanked-up Teens: Cheap Alcohol Strongly Linked To Harmful Underage Drinking In The UK

Oct 9, 2009 2:00am

Researchers studied the drinking habits of 9,833 15- to 16-year-olds in the North West of England, finding that excessively low cost alcohol products and illicit purchase are strongly related to harmful underage drinking....

High Rates Of Childhood Exposure To Violence And Abuse In United States, New Study Finds

Oct 7, 2009 8:00pm

A new study finds that US children are routinely exposed to even more violence and abuse than has been previously recognized, with nearly half experiencing a physical assault in the study year....

Sexually Satisfied Women Have Better General Well-being, Study Finds; Older Women Score Higher Than Younger Women

Oct 1, 2009 8:00pm

Pre- and post-menopausal women who self-rated themselves as being sexually satisfied had a higher overall psychological well-being score and scores for "positive well-being" and "vitality," compared with sexually dissatisfied women in a study of 295 women sexually active more than twice a month. The study also uncovered a positive association...

Celebrities Spawn Copycat Suicides, Study Confirms

Oct 1, 2009 5:00am

Results of a new study warn against glamorizing celebrity suicides in the media. The study has found evidence that the increasing reach and influence of the media, combined with a growing number of people assigned celebrity status, could increase the probability of widespread suicide pandemics....

Orgasms, Sexual Health And Attitudes About Female Genitals

Sep 28, 2009 11:00pm

A new study reports that women who feel more positively about women's genitals find it easier to orgasm and are more likely to engage in sexual health promoting behaviors. The study created a scale for measuring attitudes toward women's genitals. Such a scale could be useful in therapeutic, medical and...

Fit For Fashion And Purpose: Women Call For Better And Safer Clothing To Meet Their Work Needs

Sep 28, 2009 5:00pm

As London Fashion Week comes to a close, women working in the engineering, science, technology and construction sectors are calling on clothing manufacturers to fashion better and safer clothing for women. The Women’s Engineering Society is launching a survey on their website for women working in science, engineering, technological and...

Software Could Pave The Way To End Tune Plagiarism

Sep 28, 2009 5:00pm

Software developed by a UK researcher could spell the end for future melody plagiarism. The research focuses on how to predict court decisions on music plagiarism using cognitive similarity algorithms....

Hummer Owners Claim Moral High Ground To Excuse Overconsumption, Study Finds

Sep 25, 2009 2:00pm

Hummer drivers believe they are defending America's frontier lifestyle against anti-American critics, according to a new study....

Animal Rights Extremists Threaten Researchers And Health Outcomes, Scientists Say

Sep 14, 2009 9:00pm

Two new expert commentaries released in the Sept. 16 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience spotlight the increasingly violent animal rights attacks and the need for an educated public and engaged research community to ensure the safety of animals and researchers, as well as the continuation of health advances....

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