Brining A Whole New (Other) Meaning to "Businesswomen" Around The World

The Economist's Schumpeter column, which I often vehemently disagree with for its extreme opinions, hit a home run last week with The Daughter Also Rises: Women Are Storming Emerging-World Boardrooms. It chronicles the sagas of numerous female "businesswomen" (which in Russia has a less than flattering double meaning...who knew? See the article!) in emerging markets around the world and the painful but steady shifts that working, educated even millionaire and billionaire women are making in places where culture has stood firmly to dangerous and lethal beliefs about what half the population can and can't do!

Insomniac Blues! Lack of Sleep Kills Productivity

Insomnia costing US workforce $63.2 billion a year in lost productivity, study shows

ScienceDaily (2011-09-02) -- Insomnia is costing the average US worker 11.3 days, or $2,280 in lost productivity every year, according to a new study considered to be more accurate than previous estimates. Researchers hope such numbers will prompt the implementation of screening and treatment programs for employees. Because insomnia is not considered an illness -- the kind that results in lost days at work -- employers tend to ignore its consequences. ... > read full article

Alarm Bells in the Brain: Alcohol Indeed Turns That Ringing Down

Alcohol dulls brain 'alarm' that monitors mistakes, study finds

ScienceDaily (2011-09-02) -- Most people have witnessed otherwise intelligent people doing embarrassing or stupid things when they are intoxicated, but what specifically happens in the brain to cause such drunken actions? A new study testing alcohol's effects on brain activity finds that alcohol dulls the brain "signal" that warns people when they are making a mistake, ultimately reducing self control. ... > read full article

Beating the Young Whipper Snappers: Decision Making Does Get Better With Age

Older adults are better at decision-making than young adults

ScienceDaily (2011-08-23) -- We make decisions all our lives -- so you'd think we'd get better and better at it. Yet research has shown that younger adults are better decision-makers than older ones. Some psychologists, puzzled by these findings, suspected the experiments were biased toward younger brains. ... > read full article

I Love "Aha" Moments: How the Brain Makes Predictions

Everyday 'clairvoyance:' How your brain makes near-future predictions

ScienceDaily (2011-08-18) -- Every day we make thousands of tiny predictions -- when the bus will arrive, who is knocking on the door, whether the dropped glass will break. Now, in one of the first studies of its kind, researchers are beginning to unravel the process by which the brain makes these everyday prognostications. ... > read full article

This Is Why I Look The Way I Do: Lack of Sleep and Beauty Are Linked

The key to being attractive (and looking healthy)? A good night's sleep

ScienceDaily (2010-12-16) -- If you want to look attractive and healthy, the best thing you can do is get a good night's sleep, finds new research. ... > read full article

Talking and Listening Processed in the Same Region of the Brain fMRI Reveals

Speaking and understanding speech share the same parts of the brain

ScienceDaily (2011-08-16) -- The brain has two big tasks related to speech: making it and understanding it. Psychologists and others who study the brain have debated whether these are really two separate tasks or whether they both use the same regions of the brain. Now, a new study finds that speaking and understanding speech share the same parts of the brain, with one difference: we don't need the brain regions that control the movements of lips, teeth, and so on to understand speech. ... > read full article

It's Cool to Be Fat? At Least for Dogs...

If fat dogs are cool, could fat people be, too?

ScienceDaily (2011-08-13) -- Fat dogs are cool. And obese people may be, too. That's what new research suggests. ... > read full article

I Eat When I'm Stressed!?

Scientists highlight link between stress and appetite

ScienceDaily (2011-08-12) -- Researchers have uncovered a mechanism by which stress increases food drive in rats. This new discovery could provide important insight into why stress is thought to be one of the underlying contributors to obesity. ... > read full article

Not Sure About More Kids But...Family Life Sacrificed for a Career in Science :(

Many top U.S. scientists wish they had more children, study finds; 25 percent of scientists consider leaving the profession for family life

ScienceDaily (2011-08-08) -- Nearly half of all women scientists and one-quarter of male scientists at the United States' top research universities said their career has kept them from having as many children as they had wanted, according to a new study. ... > read full article

Sleep Deprivation Does Impair Cognition...Especially in Visual Searches

Sleep Deprivation Affects Airport Baggage Screeners' Ability To Detect Rare Targets

ScienceDaily (2007-06-12) -- Sleep deprivation can impair the ability of airport baggage screeners to visually search for and detect infrequently occurring or low prevalence targets that may ultimately pose a threat to an airline and its passengers. ... > read full article

Genes Dictate if 8 or 12 Hours of Sleep Is Enough! Oh That's My Problem!

Why does lack of sleep affect us differently? Study hints it may be in our genes

ScienceDaily (2010-10-25) -- Ever wonder why some people breeze along on four hours of sleep when others can barely function? It may be in our genes, according to new research. ... > read full article

Why Eating is Fun: Thank the Hormone Ghrelin

The Neurobiology Behind Why Eating Feels So Good

ScienceDaily (2006-10-19) -- The need to eat is triggered by the hormone ghrelin. Ghrelin is produced in the gut and triggers the brain to promote eating, but it remains to be determined precisely how ghrelin affects different parts of the brain. A new study shows that in mice and rats, ghrelin triggers the same neurons as delicious food, sexual experience, and many recreational drugs; that is, neurons that provide the sensation of pleasure and the expectation of reward. ... > read full article

The Hormone Ghrelin Linked to Increased Willingness to Pay for Food

Ghrelin increases willingness to pay for food

ScienceDaily (2011-07-15) -- New research suggests that ghrelin, a naturally occurring gut hormone, increases our willingness to pay for food, while simultaneously decreasing our willingness to pay for non-food items. ... > read full article

New Protein Fish Batter Makes Fried Food Better

ScienceDaily (January 1, 2006) -- Deep-fried fish could get healthier with a new protein-based batter extracted from the muscle of discarded fish parts. When coated onto the fish it forms a barrier, locking in taste and moisture while blocking out fat. Read full story..

Food Labeling Can Be Improved!

One in six fast-food customers cut calories after US food labeling system introduction

ScienceDaily (2011-07-26) -- Around a sixth of fast food customers used calorie information and, on average, bought food with lower calories since the introduction of a labeling system in the US, says a new study. ... > read full article

Happy Decision Making!

Shop when you're happy: Positive feelings improve consumer decision-making abilities

ScienceDaily (2011-07-15) -- Consumers who are in a positive mood make quicker and more consistent judgments than unhappy people, according to a new study. ... > read full article

Buying Pretty

Anatomy of a shopping spree: Pretty things make us buy more

ScienceDaily (2010-12-14) -- With the holidays fast approaching and consumers in full shopping mode, new research shows a single luxury item purchase can lead to an unintended shopping spree. ... > read full article

Don't Hide That Tiny Flaw...People May Like it More Than Perfection

Is a little negativity the best marketing policy?

ScienceDaily (2011-07-11) -- Researchers say that a "blemishing effect" takes place when a small flaw is introduced into the marketing of a product. Surprisingly, when positioned in the right way, such a flaw may improve a consumer's overall evaluation of the item. ... > read full article

Neural Basis for Out of Body Experiences

Out-of-body experiences linked to neural instability and biases in body representation

ScienceDaily (2011-07-11) -- Although out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are typically associated with migraine, epilepsy and psychopathology, they are quite common in healthy and psychologically normal individuals as well. However, they are poorly understood. A new study has linked these experiences to neural instabilities in the brain’s temporal lobes and to errors in the body’s sense of itself – even in non clinical populations....read full article