Social Sciences Archives

How the Placebo Effect “Tricks” the Brain

April 3, 2023March 25, 2023 Science Connectedmedicine

You have probably heard of the placebo effect, but what is it and how does it work? Can something that’s in our heads actually provide relief?

Linguistics Psychology

How Children Learn Language

March 24, 2023March 18, 2023 Science Connectedlanguage, psychology

Children learn language for the first time in a cool way, and the good news is that adults can, too. Find out how.

Arts and Humanities Neuroscience Psychology

Magic Makers: Art Therapy for Neuropsychiatric Patients

March 15, 2023March 14, 2023 Science Connectedart, brain, neurology, psychology

Art therapy may help adults with mild cognitive impairment feel happier and more empowered—and slow the progress of cognitive decline.

why we prefer villains who remind us of ourselves

Psychology

Why People Are Drawn to Fictional Villains

February 1, 2023January 30, 2023 Science Connectedpsychology

Why do people love some fictional villians more than heros? Much like the villains themselves, the answer is complex and, well, interesting.

University of Vermont scientists Peter Dodds and Chris Danforth led a new Big Data study confirming that humans use more happy words than sad words.

Psychology

Preference for Positive, Happy Words

October 21, 2022October 20, 2022 Science Connectedcommunication, computer science, engineering, language, linguistics, technology

Scientists have used a massive data set of billions of words from actual usage to find that people around the world use more happy words than sad words.

Archaeology Biology Neuroscience

Can You Smell Handshakes?

May 30, 2022May 30, 2022 Science Connectedbehavior, neurobiology, smell

Why do people shake hands? A Weizmann Institute study suggests one of the reasons for handshakes may be to discretely sniff each other.

All of Us project addresses the problem of lack of diversity in medicine

Citizen Science Diversity in Science Genetics and Heredity

All of Us: A Lack of Diversity in Medicine

April 15, 2022April 17, 2022 Science Connectedcitizen science projects, diversity, genome

With the release of its first 100,000 genomes this project is solving a dangerous problem: a startling lack of diversity in medicine.a

Gold jewelry from Senuna Roman Britain (Photo courtesy of Elizabethe via Flickr)

Archaeology

Archaeologists at Ancient Roman Gold Mines

March 9, 2022March 9, 2022 Science Connectedarchaeology, mining

Archaeologists in Spain studying Las Médulas, the largest known ancient Roman gold mine, found a bigger operation than previously thought.

Greek technical diver Alexandros Sotiriou discovers an intact ceramic table jug and a bronze rigging ring on the Antikythera Shipwreck. (Brett Seymour, Return to Antikythera 2014)

Archaeology

Underwater Archaeology, Ancient Shipwreck

March 2, 2022March 2, 2022 Science Connectedhuman civilization

An underwater archaeology team has retrieved new finds from an ancient Greek ship that sank over 2,000 years ago.