Research News

Science

How The Concept Of Implicit Bias Came Into Being

7:25am October 17, 2016

Implicit bias has become a key part of the national dialogue on race in America. To learn more about the history of the term, we turn to Mahzarin Banaji, one of the researchers who founded the theory.

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An artist's rendition of the gigantic ring system circling J1407b.

Science

Spin To Survive: How 'Saturn On Steroids' Keeps From Self-Destructing

6:38pm October 14, 2016

by Rebecca Hersher

A distant planet has rings so large it makes Saturn look like a child's toy. But, until now, scientists have been baffled about how the enormous rings keep from self-destructing. The answer: spin.

Scientists found that Phidippus audax can also "respond to airborne acoustic cues."

A Spider Across The Room Can 'Hear' You, Study Finds

2:56pm October 14, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

"Based on what we know, this shouldn't be happening, but it definitely is," Harvard fellow Paul Shamble says. The researchers' finding changes what we know about how spiders experience the world.

Each time a particular finger on a robotic hand is touched, a blindfolded Nathan Copeland "feels" as if his own finger were being touched, thanks to a brain implant. That sort of sensory feedback could help him hold a fragile object without crushing it.

Brain Implant Restores Sense Of Touch To Paralyzed Man

4:35pm October 13, 2016

by Jon Hamilton

A mind-controlled robotic arm has pressure sensors in each fingertip that send signals directly to a paralyzed man's brain. It's still experimental, but could eventually help thousands, engineers say.

Science

Research Explores The Effects Of Trade And Economic Disruption

7:43am October 13, 2016

by Shankar Vedantam

Economic disruption has been a big part of the political conversation. Free trade might be a net benefit to the U.S., but there are large areas of the country that bear the brunt of negative effects.

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Since a single scientific study rarely provides a definitive answer, researchers combine the results of several studies to reach clearer conclusions.

Reviews Of Medical Studies May Be Tainted By Funders' Influence

4:33pm October 12, 2016

by Richard Harris

Researchers often combine the results of many medical studies to evaluate treatments. But when the combiners have a financial interest, the results might be inaccurate, a scientist says.

Science

Nobel Prize-Winning Thoughts On Incentives And The Importance Of Contracts

10:10am October 12, 2016

Two economists who figured out the underlying patterns to make better contracts won this year's Nobel Prize in economics. Steve Inskeep talks to Bengt Holmstrom of MIT, who was one of the winners.

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Why Parents Don't Get Their Children Vaccinated For The Flu

7:59am October 10, 2016

by Patti Neighmond

Parents decline to vaccinate kids against the flu because they don't think they need it. Influenza leads to more hospitalizations and deaths among children than any other vaccine preventable disease.

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Sure, keeping a teenager's thoughts corralled may seem like lion taming. But that impulsivity may help them learn, too.

Teens' Penchant For Risk-Taking May Help Them Learn Faster

5:25pm October 06, 2016

by Erin Ross

The impulsivity and risk-taking that are common among teenagers may be a side effect of having a brain tuned to learn a lot of new stuff fast, researchers say. So it could be good in the long run.

Ancient, whole female cannabis plants discovered in a tomb in northwestern China.

Trove Of Cannabis Plants Found In Ancient Tomb In China

2:55pm October 06, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

"Medicinal and possibly spiritual or at least ritualistic Cannabis use was a widespread custom among Central Eurasian peoples during the first millennium before the Christian era," the scientists say.