Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/4zof2XuO6kE

Lovers of post-apocalyptic stories may be better prepared to weather stressful events like the recent pandemic say Penn State psychologists.

https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/zombie-movies-prepared-you-pandemic/

#zombie #disasters #pandemic #stress #anxiety

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/x_lyciTe1Cw

When composing tweet, texts, and answering surveys, you tend to reveal more private, confidential information on your smartphone than on your desktop computer.  University of Pennsylvania researchers report this conclusion from their analysis of more than 369,00 tweets, nearly 20,000 call-to-action web ads, and 10,000 restaurant reviews.

The investigators attribute this “truth serum” phone effect to our intimacies with these devices.  Because phones often serve as our adult pacifiers, we view them as safe zones.  We all too often lower our defenses and risk our own data security.

This study should prompt us all to be extraordinarily careful with content we provide on social media via the phone.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022242920912732

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200503092738.htm

#smartphone #socialmedia #privacy #security

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/zK6pbWPEUeM

A new MRI technique permitting simultaneous brain scanning of two persons face-to-face touching one another shows that their sensory and motor regions light up in response to a partner’s actions but also in anticipation of them.  

Finnish neuroscientists, psychologists, and biomedical engineers modified a standard MRI coil to permit two person scanning.  Ten GenZ subject-pairs, all friends or romantic partners, were examined.

Though the image resolutions of this split coil technique were lower, the researchers could determine that motor activities in the brains of those touching triggered sensory activity in the brains of those being touched in a coordinated fashion.

This is only the beginning of many more studies to come.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00279/full

#mri #romance #touching #love

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/3Pc3rYZ8kmI

Pre-schoolers overwhelmingly choose to hear and read stories about the workings of the world around them.  This from a Vanderbilt University analysis of story choices by 48 kids 3-4 years of age.

The investigators presented children two versions of 2 stories.  One version was causally-rich with details about why and the  minimally-causal version provided just the story line.  Though the kids comprehended both versions equally, they clocked a preference for the causally-rich stories in 70% of cases.

You now have endless hours at home with your children.  Please them by providing non-fiction or fictionalized science.  Particular winners are books about the how and why of animals.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00666/full

#children #parenting #reading #nonfiction #fictionalizedscience

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/eTICNcwIdy0

An unexpected observation during awake neurosurgery at Emory University demonstrates that laughter leads to a sense of calm and happiness.

https://news.emory.edu/stories/2019/02/laughter_electricity_brain_jci/index.html

#laughter #pain #neurosurgery #anxiety

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/LiuC2g-tfcA

A common food additive may cause autoimmune celiac disease.  Microbial transglutaminase used to glue food together may be the culprit as the rise of celiac disease is associated with increasing use of this food ingredient.

https://celiac.org/about-the-foundation/featured-news/2019/01/association-between-a-common-food-additive-and-celiac-disease/

#celiac #transglutaminase #autoimmunity #mTG #foodadditive

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/j_fPJhPW-Bs

Two Part Series

Boston Children's Hospital’s Dr. Richard Ferber and Dr. Smith take calls from parents with questions about children who won’t fall asleep and stay asleep.  Dr. Ferber is the author of SOLVE YOUR CHILD’S SLEEP PROBLEMS.

#ferber #pediatrics #sleep #wbznewsradio #BostonChildrensHospital

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/iIys4XV64Cg

Two Part Series

Boston Children's Hospital’s Dr. Richard Ferber and Dr. Smith take calls from parents with questions about children who won’t fall asleep and stay asleep.  Dr. Ferber is the author of SOLVE YOUR CHILD’S SLEEP PROBLEMS.

#ferber #pediatrics #sleep #wbznewsradio #BostonChildren'sHospital 

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/XA1MDUI--vo

A young couple travel abroad for unique psoriasis therapy.  

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1697753/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1697753/

#psoriasis #travel #turkey #kangal #drfish #WBZNewsRadio

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/nK1WSlxwud0

A young couple travel abroad for unique psoriasis therapy.  References after Part 2.

#psoriasis #travel #WBZNewsRadio #drfish