Many people are wired to seek and respond to rewards. Your brain interprets food as rewarding when you are hungry and water as rewarding when you are thirsty. But addictive substances like alcohol and drugs of abuse can overwhelm the natural reward pathways in your brain, resulting in intolerable cravings and reduced impulse control. A...
A new University of Michigan-led international study finds that fruits and vegetables grown in urban farms and gardens have a carbon footprint that is, on average, six times greater than conventionally grown produce. However, a few city-grown crops equaled or outperformed conventional agriculture under certain conditions. Tomatoes grown in the soil of open-air urban plots...
Scientists have shown that people are able to tell apart morning from evening depictions in paintings using simple and subtle colour clues in the image. A study by Newcastle University, UK, and Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, published in the Journal of Vision, has found that people use a combination of colour and brightness in a...
The rising cost of health insurance is an ongoing concern in the United States. New research shows that increasing health insurance costs are eating up a growing proportion of worker’s compensation, and have been a major factor in both flattening wages and increasing income inequality over the past 30 years. In a study from the...
By using acoustic data and machine learning to decipher cows’ vocalizations, Virginia Tech researchers hope to shed new light on the animals’ health, welfare, and environmental impact. You may not know it, but cows share information every time they burp, moo, and chew that speaks volumes about their health and welfare. Through the work of...
Statewide broadband adoption remains high with 91% of households in California enjoying high-speed internet access at home, according to new survey results released today by USC, the California Emerging Technology Fund and the California Department of Technology. The overall findings are consistent with the 2021 results of the biennial Statewide Digital Equity Survey, which monitors Californians’ digital access. The...
In a new JAMA viewpoint, Boston University School of Public Health researchers Sondra Crosby and Leonard Glantz denounce rectal feeding practices that occurred at these prisons, and call for medical officers who enabled this “medicalized rape” to be held accountable for violating ethical and legal standards. Nearly 10 years ago, a US Senate Intelligence committee report detailed for the first time the horrors of forced rectal...
The recent firing and rapid rehiring of Sam Altman, the co-founder and CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, illustrates the delicate dance between visionary CEOs and the boards who oversee them. Some CEOs — often founders — are fueled by strong convictions about the strategic direction their companies should take. But their boards sometimes don’t share...
When you go running in the woods in your running tights, elastane is the reason they fit you so comfortably. Elastane is an elastic material that allows the fabric to stretch and adapt to your body. But when elastane fibres are mixed with cotton, wool, nylon or other fibres, as is the case in many...
A new book called Bottled: How Coca-Cola Became African tells the story of how the world’s most famous carbonated drink conquered the continent. It’s a tale of marketing gumption and high politics and is the product of years of research by critical writing lecturer Sara Byala, who researches histories of heritage, sustainability and the ways...
