Can what you don’t know really hurt you? According to a series of studies on studies in the September issue of Sexuality Research and Social Policy, the answer is yes. Not only is abstinence-only sexual education ineffective, but it also violates basic human rights. “First and foremost, [the studies found that] abstinence-only education programs don’t [...]

When gamers become characters in online games like Second Life and There.com, they appear to be influenced by the same social cues found in their “first” life, researchers have found. In a recent study that used a massive multiplayer online game (MMOG), gamers’ avatars responded to requests similarly to how their owners would in real [...]

You probably already know that people’s violence in relationships often stems from their parents. Still, just how violence is transmitted between generations remains unclear. Indiana University psychologists found that the strategies children of high-conflict couples take to handle social information differ significantly from their peers’, and these differences may persist into adulthood. Specifically, they found [...]

Binge drinking. Drunkenness. Benders. These are terms we have all heard around Indiana University, but researchers from the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) want to add another word to our vocabulary for drinking in excess, “extreme drinking.” Adding extreme drinking to research studies will broaden the scope of research on alcohol consumption to include [...]

A car run entirely on converted remnants of grass and corn stalks sounds like the stuff of a kid’s imagination. Thanks to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, though, that dream is closer than ever to reality. Through funding by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, researchers have discovered a process [...]

Children who are good at estimating the number of objects in a group also do well in math, according to scientists.   Researchers at Johns Hopkins Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences published their findings in the journal Nature in October.   “One of the most fascinating aspects of our result," according to principle investigator [...]

In Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report,” the main character walks down a long corridor as personalized advertisements chase after him along the walls. A video billboard shouts to Tom Cruise’s character in the film: “John Anderton, you could use a Guinness right about now!” Current advances being made in computer science indicate that real-time advertising, specifically [...]

  College freshmen view recreational use of stimulants and analgesics as only slightly risky compared to the use of other drugs, according to a recent study published in Prevention Science. The study also found that students classified as sensation-seekers are more likely to engage in this kind of drug abuse. Jon Agley, of the Indiana [...]

Odd though it may seem, a woman’s menstrual blood may one day save limbs, if not lives, according to a new study. “It may sound odd but that’s usually how medical studies are received at first before they start saving lives,” said Leann Tolliver a registered nurse for local medical doctor of cardiology, Carter Henrich, [...]

Take a deep breath and relax. Researchers have found more evidence of the mind/body connection. This time at a cellular level. The study shows that the daily practice of relaxation can change the activity of genes that relate to how a healthy body deals with stress. Certain mindful activities produce a state of deep physiological [...]