Culture | Page 1873 | Science Codex

College readiness in under-performing schools declines when focus is improving test scores

Education reform policies that penalize struggling schools for poor standardized test scores may hinder -- not improve -- students' college readiness, if a school's instructional focus becomes improving its test scores, suggests a new study that explored efforts to promote a college-going culture at one Texas high school.

Published recently in The High School Journal, the case study reveals the unintended consequences of school reform policies, and how these mandates may warp schools' instructional focus and thwart students' academic success.

How the presence of conservation researchers affect wildlife

In a study that compared three sites within the Dja Conservation Complex in Cameroon, Africa, investigators found that the presence of a conservation research project acts as a deterrent to chimpanzee and gorilla poachers, and community awareness and involvement in research lead to an increased value of apes and intact forests to local people, thus limiting hunting practices.

The results provide evidence that the mere existence of research programs exerts a positive impact on the conservation of wildlife in their natural habitats.

Inconsistent Medicaid expansion under ACA will widen disparities in female cancer screenings

Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center researchers recently conducted a study that found low-income and uninsured women in states that are not expanding their Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid coverage are less likely to receive breast and cervical cancer screenings compared to states that are implementing expansions.

Gap year before college does not weaken study success

A gap year between high school and the start of university studies does not weaken young people's enthusiasm to study or their overall performance once the studies have commenced. On the other hand, adolescents who continue to university studies directly after upper secondary school are more resilient in their studies and more committed to the study goals. However, young people who transfer directly to university are more stressed than those who start their studies after a gap year.

Researchers find self-promotion often backfires

Bragging to coworkers about a recent promotion, or posting a photo of your brand new car on Facebook, may seem like harmless ways to share good news.

However, a new study from City University London, Carnegie Mellon University and Bocconi University shows that self-promotion or a "humblebrag" often backfires.

Bilingual kids may be better natural communicators

Young children who hear more than one language spoken at home become better communicators, a new study from University of Chicago psychologists finds. Effective communication requires the ability to take others' perspectives. Researchers discovered that children from multilingual environments are better at interpreting a speaker's meaning than children who are exposed only to their native tongue.

Political talk on Facebook similar to political talk in real life

Political discussions conducted on social networking sites like Facebook mirror traditional offline discussions and don't provide a window into previously untapped participants in the political process, according to a new study that includes two University of Kansas researchers.

Babies prefer listening to other babies

Everyone likes to look at young babies. But who wants to listen? Well...it turns out that other babies do. In fact, a McGill University/UQAM research team has discovered that 6-month-old infants appear to be much more interested in listening to other babies than they are in listening to adults. It is an important finding because the researchers believe that an attraction to infant speech sounds may help to kick start and support the crucial processes involved in learning how to talk.

Infant sounds grab infant attention

Cardiovascular risk factors extremely high in people with psychosis

Extremely high levels of cardiovascular risk factors have been found in people with established psychosis, with central obesity evident in over 80 per cent of participants, in a study by researchers from the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) and King's College London.

Miscarriages are widely misunderstood

May 11, 2015 -- (BRONX, NY) -- A survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults has found that misperceptions about miscarriage and its causes are widespread. Results of the survey, conducted by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Health System, show that feelings of guilt and shame are common after a miscarriage and that most people erroneously believe that miscarriages are rare.

For kids with autism, trips to the dentist may be easier

Going to the dentist might have just gotten a little less scary for the estimated 1 in 68 U.S. children with autism spectrum disorder as well as children with dental anxiety, thanks to new research from USC.

In an article published on May 1 by the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, researchers from USC and Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) examined the feasibility of adapting dental environments to be more calming for children with autism spectrum disorder.

Lack of prosocial words impacts Congress approval rating

U.S. Congress approval ratings are at record lows. Now a new study suggests that this may be partly due to a decline in the use of warm, agreeable language in the House.

The study, co-authored by University of British Columbia business professor Karl Aquino, found that the use of prosocial words -- language such as cooperate or contribute -- by lawmakers predicts public approval of Congress six months later.

Men, mental illness and mass murder

Mass murders in the United States are rare, but they receive a lot of media attention and are the focus of an ongoing controversy regarding the link between mass murder and mental illness among the perpetrators of these heinous acts, almost always men.

The mental health problems most common in mass murderers and why men at risk are so difficult to identify before they can carry out mass killings are discussed in "Mass Murder, Mental Illness, and Men" in Violence and Gender.

Kids more likely to get HPV vaccine after electronic health record prompts at doctor visits

A new study finds that a simple reminder via electronic health record systems may go a long way in encouraging patients to get the HPV vaccine that protects against cervical cancer. The HPV vaccine has the lowest completion rates of any other vaccine.

900 undergraduates co-author genomics paper

Recent reports on undergraduate education have emphasized the crucial role of authentic research experiences. A genomics research article published in the May issue of G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics allowed 940 undergraduate students not only to engage in original scholarship, but also to be authors on a peer-reviewed scientific paper. The research, on the evolution of an unusual chromosome in fruit flies, was powered by the contributions of students at 63 higher education institutions across the US, coordinated by the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP).