Long before Amy Chua’s provocative 2011 memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, raised the bar for tough-love parenting, psychologists at UC Berkeley were studying the effects of three kinds of child-rearing: authoritarian (too hard), [...]
Surprising turns in magnetic thin films could lead to better data storage
A magnetic phenomenon newly discovered by MIT researchers could lead to much faster, denser and more energy-efficient chips for memory and computation. The findings, reported in the journal Nature Materials, could reduce the energy needed [...]
Exposure to high pollution levels during pregnancy may increase risk of having child with autism
Women in the U.S. exposed to high levels of air pollution while pregnant were up to twice as likely to have a child with autism as women who lived in areas with low pollution, according [...]
Seeing Data: Using visual arts to represent big data
More data are being created, consumed, and transported than ever before, and in all areas of society, including business, government, health care, and science. The hope and promise is that this influx of information—known as [...]
Noble gases hitch a ride on hydrous minerals
The noble gases get their collective moniker from their tendency toward snobbishness. The six elements in the family, which includes helium and neon, don’t normally bond with other elements and they don’t dissolve into minerals [...]
Herbal extract boosts fruit fly lifespan by nearly 25 percent
The herbal extract of a yellow-flowered mountain plant long used for stress relief was found to increase the lifespan of fruit fly populations by an average of 24 percent, according to UC Irvine researchers. But [...]
Tackling a framework for surgical innovation
An international team of investigators co-led by Weill Cornell Medical College is offering a new framework for evidence-based surgery and device research, similar to the kind of risk and benefit analysis used in evidence-based medicine. [...]
Aspirin may fight cancer by slowing DNA damage
Aspirin is known to lower risk for some cancers, and a new study led by a UC San Francisco scientist points to a possible explanation, with the discovery that aspirin slows the accumulation of DNA [...]
IQ link to baby’s weight gain in first month
New research from the University of Adelaide shows that weight gain and increased head size in the first month of a baby’s life is linked to a higher IQ at early school age. The study [...]
Concussion patients show Alzheimer’s-like brain abnormalities
The distribution of white matter brain abnormalities in some patients after mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) closely resembles that found in early Alzheimer’s dementia, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology. [...]
Facebook effect: Social media dramatically boosts organ donor registration
A social media push boosted the number of people who registered themselves as organ donors 21-fold in a single day, Johns Hopkins researchers found, suggesting social media might be an effective tool to address the [...]