Findings

As we reported in February, students who are exposed to the idea that free will is an illusion are more likely to cheat on tests. Not surprisingly, the notion that our actions aren’t truly controlled by our conscious mind seems to undermine our sense of personal responsibility. Well, our ethical foundations eroded a bit more this week.

Barack Obama’s eloquent plea for a national dialogue on race may go unheeded for a simple psychological reason: The topic makes a whole lot of people uncomfortable, and our favorite way of dealing with anxiety-provoking subjects is to ignore them.

Watch The Three Stooges get Income Tax Sappy in which Shemp proposes to claim 11 dependents: "My ex-wife and 10 bartenders."

In Miller-McCune.com's interview with nutritionist Marion Nestle, the author of What to Eat and other books declared, "You've got to get rid of the vending machines in the schools. They shouldn't be there in the first place." A recent study conducted in Philadelphia public schools, while not going to the lengths recommended by Nestle, suggests that a multi-pronged approach —incorporating healthier food choices; nutrition education for teachers, students, and parents; and encouragement of physical activity — can have a substantial impact on the incidence of overweight (a body mass index for their age in the 85th to 94th percentile) among children.

The 'free' part of freeways may be on the way out as the United States tries to maintain the 'way' portion.

In the advertising world, “sex sells” is an accepted truism. In a new study of the male brain, Stanford University researchers have determined why.