Week beginning Sunday June 15th, 2008
In this section I try to summarise some of the stuff currently going on in scientific research that may (or not!) be useful to you as well as forthcoming TV and Radio programmes in the UK that might be of interest. There are some great learning resources out there. If you are an Open University student check out DSE212, or the Open University links from the MyStudyGuide home page.
Here is a link to the American based Psychology Today - some of these articles tend to be quite "pop" psychology.
The PsychWatch Newsletter, Forensic news links (US)
News from the American Psychological Association
Further science stories can be found at The Observer and always take a peak at the Annals of Improbable Research.
Channel 4's science links.The BBC's science links.
If you miss a radio programme you can hear it via the BBC web page up to a week later.
In the newspapers
The New Brain Sciences: Perils and Prospects.
How stereotyping yourself can change you behaviour - says my boss in Scientific American Mind. Harvard's 'professor of happiness', Tal Ben-Shahar, suggests four ways to lift your spirits in 2008. A loser in life? Blame your initials. Psychologist explains secret of children's word explosion. Autumn and winter births put a spring in babies' steps. Emotional tests pinpoint teens at risk. And now for the good news about therapy. The relativity of time. Why we make the stupid choices we make. The woman who ignores her voices. Brain type may dictate politics. Why engineers yawn less than psychologists. Autistic traits linked to testosterone in mother's womb. Bird brain - or parrot prodigy?
Scientists develop technique to induce out-of-body experiences. Brain scans pinpoint how chocoholics are hooked. Jessica Alba has the perfect wiggle, study says. What a relief for us older persons - those little memory lapses are merely normal 'storage failure'. Psychologist explains secret of children's word explosion. Invisible playmates increase confidence and can help the young to tackle bullies, says study. Why do people attack each other via blogs and online forums? Learn to forget: how the mind blocks painful memories. Do people pass judgments about you based on how you speak? New research has confirmed that our moods and aptitudes follow a pattern each week. We should think twice about amnesia drugs. Men 'just as chatty as women'. New research shows that feelings of injustice are enough to cause stress and heart attacks. The man who was terrified of human contact. I think I was a happier person before I properly encountered psychometric testing says a Guardian journalist. Research shows that girls with 'feminine' names steer clear of 'masculine' maths and science. The Lucifer Effect is a formidable and chilling study of the atrocities that were perpetrated at Abu Ghraib. Does the time of year we are born affect the illnesses we are prone to? Is there such a thing as a "run lf luck". The truth about lying and laughing. The men women see as too good to be true.
Got Kylie stuck on replay? Hands-free car phones are 'as dangerous as drink-driving'. Keep your pupils stretched and watered. The self-help culture is making us miserable. Who'd be a Psychotherapist? Simulation shows effect of smoking. Missing deadlines - Beyond 9 to 5: Your Life in Time. Paul McKenna makes business people more successful. Why you should have a phone mast as close to your house as possible - not psychology but this guy is great at talking about science. To celebrate the anniversary of Freud's 150 birthday there is a lot of stuff: "A time to celebrate, not denigrate, Freud";" Denial, defence mechanisms, repression - Freud's words are firmly established in our discourse" by Paul Broks. Until what age does mother know best? Anger management has the power to rehabilitate offenders. Mobile technology means that most of us are no longer 'out of the office'.
We don't have to buy into health hype. Replacement eyes and working hands created in race to build '$6bn human'. Sex cues ruin men's ability to make decisions. School spreads a little happiness with lessons on how to cheer up. Newborns do not understand feelings of pain. Sam lost her job when she told her boss she was bipolar. Speed dating research hopes to get to heart of matchmaking. People with mental health problems need therapy, not invasive treatment. If you can cope with 400 words on statistics, we can trash a front page news story together. Pill could make painful memories a thing of the past. BBC series claimed to show new evidence of the power of alternative medicine. Injections of stress hormone may reduce fear of spiders. How the brain presses replay to protect a new memory. Something to chew over ... the health benefits of gum. Sufferers from depression who do not respond to existing treatments could soon benefit from a new procedure.
Easing back into normal life will be crucial to Norman Kember's recovery.Scottish council 'on the brink of eradicating illiteracy'. Children with complex behaviour are learning techniques to cope with everyday social situations. Brain Gym exercises do pupils no favours. Questions about why we and the universe exist are worth asking. What physical attributes might signal future medical problems?
Magnetic attraction? Diet and habitat have caused recent tweaks in human DNA. TV ruled out as cause of child hyperactivity problems. Can religions be wicked? Breaking the Spell: Religion As a Natural Phenomenon. It's a mindfield out there, but there's a popular therapy to suit every type of troubled psyche. DNA study supports call to reclassify chimpanzees. Common drug may help to fight post traumatic stress. Tim Radford on the problem of scientific names. Babies leap from cradle to calculator. Freud's methods are slipping out of fashion as therapy booms. Tough problems 'best left to the unconscious mind'. A loving family can boost children's intelligence. Should we treat religion as a science? The military interest in new brain-scanning technology is beginning to show a sinister side. Darwinism has had it all its own way for too long, Warwick's controversial sociologist tells Zoë Corbyn. It is widely thought that wages are the key, if not the sole, reason we work.
Americans and Britons have the highest rates of mental illness. At Christmas, your family expect you to behave just as you did when you were six. Peter Stratton, a family therapist for 25 years, is the first to admit that he is no Supernanny. The internet's latest revolution creates new connections and brings people together. A guide to the real meaning of suicide notes is being developed. Almost 150 years after his birth, Freud's theories are as illuminating as ever. We avoid cracks in pavements, we're forever counting, we bargain with fate - is anyone immune? There is a huge demand for books about autism and Asperger's. If our genes aren't responsible for the onset of many mental illnesses, what is?
Psychologists have studied the individual psychology of illegal behaviour ad nauseam. Redundancy looming? Don't take it personally. Selfish lover or hopeless abstainer? New research on schizophrenia suggests that the drugs won't always work One respected journal claims that men are smarter than women. The MMR sceptic who just doesn't understand science. Abu Ghraib need not have happened and the Stanford prison experiment got it wrong. Strange encounters of the alien kind have more to do with sleep disorders. Could we ever devise a cast-iron formula for solving problems?
Playing, Laughing and Learning with Children on the Autism Spectrum:A Practical Resource of Play Ideas for Parents and Carers Walking with Cavemen - Professor Robert Winston tells the story of human evolution - DVD, Book, Video