Archeologists have long used the shapes and styles of pottery as a proxy for ancient cultures. But how does the cultural alignment of ceramic forms arise? To explore this question, Tetsushi Nonaka and colleagues asked 21 potters in three different communities—one in France in Bourgogne and two in India in Bulandshahar district, Uttar Pradesh—to throw...
Culture
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Many Reported Gender Differences May Actually Be Power Differences
Why do men and women seem so different? According to a study, a wide range of gender differences that have been attributed to biological sex may actually be due to differences in power. Psychological differences between men and women have multiple possible explanations, including natural selection for sex-specific adaptations on the one hand and socialization...
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Live Music Emotionally Moves Us More Than Streamed Music
How does listening to live music affect the emotional center of our brain? A study carried out at the University of Zurich has found that live performances trigger a stronger emotional response than listening to music from a device. Concerts connect performers with their audience, which may also have to with evolutionary factors. Music can...
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Why We Hate to Wait
Back in 1981, Tom Petty sang that the waiting is the hardest part. New research from The University of Texas helps to explain why. In two recent papers, Annabelle Roberts, Texas McCombs assistant marketing professor, explores the internal negotiations that happen when people feel impatient: whether they’re standing in a long queue or awaiting an important...
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Sustainable Practices Can Save Mexico’s Blue Agave, Tequila and Bats
Many associate tequila with lime wedges, salt, and parties. But the popular drink also has a negative impact on biodiversity, both on the blue agave from which it is made and, perhaps more unexpectedly, on bats. Both are threatened by one-sided cultivation. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, together with colleagues in Mexico and the...
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Jealousy – We Understand Our Own Sex Best
Do you really know why your partner gets jealous? We understand a surprising amount about other people’s jealousy, but we understand our own sex best. We may not always fully understand why our partners get jealous, and women and men often get jealous for completely different reasons. Two researchers from the Norwegian University of Science...
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Mom Talk:’ Immigrant Bilingual Latina Mothers Have Dual-Language Personalities
Children who hear a language other than English at home currently make up more than 25 percent of the school-aged population in the United States. A large majority of those children hear Spanish because that is the native language of their parents. When their parents came to the U.S., they brought not only their language,...
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Nelson Mandela’s Personal Items Under the Hammer in New York? Why It Outraged Some, and What’s at Stake
An identity document, a pair of reading glasses, a hearing aid and a pair of worn shoes. These are just some of Nelson Mandela’s personal items that were due to go on auction on 22 February 2024. A month before the auction was due, the New York-based Guernsey’s auction house put a notice on its...
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Study Suggests Secret for Getting Teens to Listen to Unsolicited Advice
A new study may hold a secret for getting your teenager to listen to appreciate your unsolicited advice. The University of California, Riverside, study, which included “emerging adults” — those in their late teens and early 20s — found teens will appreciate parents’ unsolicited advice, but only if the parent is supportive of their teens’...
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I Pagliacci, Clowns and Relevance at the FGO
How does the opera world bring in new and younger fans? This is not a new question, and there are many audience members who really do not care, and prefer not to change anything in order to appeal to a supposedly fickle younger crowd. But much of the opera world realizes that the art will...
