60-Second Psych

Choosing a username starting with an early alphabet letter is just one scientifically vetted way to increase the odds of turning an online encounter into a first date. Christopher Intagliata reports. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

High calorie and exceedingly pleasurable foods appear to change rat brain rewards circuitry, causing the rodents to continue to seek such fare. Erika Beras reports. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Parkinson’s patients derived more benefits from a salt solution they were told was an expensive drug than from the same solution when it was described as being cheap medication. Karen Hopkin... -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Of studies presented at conferences, those that found a cognitive benefit to bilingualism were almost twice as likely to get published in journals as were studies finding no benefit. Karen Hopkin... -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Implicit bias against another race lessened after volunteers experienced themselves via virtual reality as a member of that race. Karen Hopkin reports. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Levels of a protein fragment in the blood paralleled how long head injuries benched hockey players. Ingrid Wickelgren reports. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

If you're in an up mood, you may walk more energetically. But a study finds that purposefully walking more energetically may improve your mood. Christie Nicholson reports. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Subjects who kept pace with a walking colleague estimated a potential enemy to be smaller and lighter than did other walkers who were not marching. Karen Hopkin reports -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Young adults who’d had highly controlling parents were less able to stress their own viewpoints to a friend or partner in confident and productive ways. Daisy Yuhas reports -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Absence from work due to illness increased dramatically for those who slept less than six hours or more than nine hours per night. Christie Nicholson reports -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

The direction of your gaze when looking at someone offers an unconscious, automatic giveaway of whether your initial reaction is romance or sex. Christie Nicholson reports -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

People who had to strike up conversations on a subway later reported feeling happier than those who didn’t. Christie Nicholson reports. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Survey subjects rated life experiences as making them happier and as a better use of money than buying objects. But they actually spent their cash on material goods, whose value is more easily... -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Chidren who experience neglect, abuse and/or poverty can have smaller amygalas and hippocampuses, brain regions involved in emotion and memory, compared with kids raised in nurturing environments.... -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Monkeys trained to play fixed video games made moves indicating that they expected certain patterns to occur. Erika Beras reports -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Researchers studying anesthetized rats discovered a handful of activity patterns that may mark the path to consciousness after anesthesia. Karen Hopkin reports -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

The European Southern Observatory broke ground June 19th to build the world's largest telescope atop the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile. Clara Moskowitz reports. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Our ability to pinpoint pain varies across the body, and in a specific pattern. Christie Nicholson reports -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Researchers could tell what sounds blindfolded volunters were hearing by analyzing activity in their visual cortexes. Christie Nicholson reports -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Thirty-three families allowed themselves to be recorded for up to six nights. Parents who said they supported corporal punishment did it often and with little provocation. Christie Nicholson... -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com