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What the Bourne films get right and wrong about amnesia

  • Written by Jennifer Talarico, Associate Professor, Psychology, Lafayette College

In 2002’s “The Bourne Identity,” our protagonist wakes up having been shot and plucked, unconscious, from the Mediterranean on to a fishing boat with no memory of who he is or how he got there. From there, the movie franchise follows Jason Bourne as he recovers memories of past events and rediscovers his identity.

But, although...

Read more: What the Bourne films get right and wrong about amnesia

Why it's hard for adults to learn a second language

  • Written by Brianna Yamasaki, Ph.D. Student, University of Washington
imageWhat makes some individuals good at learning languages?Language image www.shutterstock.com

As a young adult in college, I decided to learn Japanese. My father’s family is from Japan, and I wanted to travel there someday.

However, many of my classmates and I found it difficult to learn a language in adulthood. We struggled to connect new sounds...

Read more: Why it's hard for adults to learn a second language

The talking dead: how personality drives smartphone addiction

  • Written by James A. Roberts, Professor of Marketing, Baylor University
imageSome people are more prone to become glued to their phones than others.'Phone Woman' via www.shutterstock.com

How many times a day do you check your smartphone?

According to a recent survey, the typical American checks once every six-and-a-half minutes, or approximately 150 times every day. Other research has found that number to be as high as 300...

Read more: The talking dead: how personality drives smartphone addiction

Build disaster-proof homes before storms strike, not afterward

  • Written by T. Reed Miller, Researcher in Environmental Engineering & Technology Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
imageFEMA photograph by John Fleck taken in Mississippi.Wikimedia Commons

On Breezy Point in Queens, New York, construction will start soon on Diane Hellreigel’s new house. Dubbed the #HurricaneStrong Home, it will replace a house built in 1955 by Hellriegel’s grandfather that was wrecked during Superstorm Sandy in the fall of 2012.

The demons...

Read more: Build disaster-proof homes before storms strike, not afterward

If cash is king, how can stores refuse to take your dollars?

  • Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State University
imageLegal tender no more?Legal tender via www.shutterstock.com

We’ve been talking about society’s transition to a cashless society for a long time, but it begs an important question: Can stores and other retail establishments refuse to take your dollars and cents?

As odd as it sounds, this is not hypothetical anymore as a small number of...

Read more: If cash is king, how can stores refuse to take your dollars?

Geomythology: Can geologists relate ancient stories of great floods to real events?

  • Written by David R. Montgomery, Professor of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington
imageCataclysmic natural disasters frame indelible human stories.Francis Danby, The Deluge, CC BY-NC-ND

Modern people have long wondered about ancient stories of great floods. Do they tell of real events in the distant past, or are they myths rooted in imagination? Most familiar to many of us in the West is the biblical story of Noah’s flood. But...

Read more: Geomythology: Can geologists relate ancient stories of great floods to real events?

On rocky road to Rio, the biggest loser may be the glory of hosting Olympics

  • Written by John Rennie Short, Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The opening of the Summer Olympics signals the beginning of the most televised event on the planet.

This year, like past years, the Olympics will capture global attention as we watch gifted athletes compete at the very highest levels and our television screens are filled with come-from-behind victories, spectacular feats of athleticism and...

Read more: On rocky road to Rio, the biggest loser may be the glory of hosting Olympics

Music training speeds up brain development in children

  • Written by Assal Habibi, Senior Research Associate, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
imageHow does music training in early childhood help the developing brain?woodleywonderworks, CC BY

Observing a pianist at a recital – converting musical notations into precisely timed finger movements on a piano – can be a powerful emotional experience.

As a researcher of neuroscience and a pianist myself, I understand that the mastering of...

Read more: Music training speeds up brain development in children

Expanding citizen science models to enhance open innovation

  • Written by Kendra L. Smith, Policy Analyst at the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, Arizona State University
imageImagine where working together on open data can get us?Puzzle pieces image via www.shutterstock.com.

Over the years, citizen scientists have provided vital data and contributed in invaluable ways to various scientific quests. But they’re typically relegated to helping traditional scientists complete tasks the pros don’t have the time or...

Read more: Expanding citizen science models to enhance open innovation

Will the Amish turn out for Trump? Don’t bet the farm

  • Written by Kyle C. Kopko, Associate Professor of Political Science, Elizabethtown College

Supporters of Donald Trump’s campaign have recently employed an unorthodox tactic to secure additional votes in Pennsylvania and Ohio – forming a super PAC to mobilizeAmishvoters.

The aptly named Amish PAC has already purchased billboard and newspaper advertisements in in an effort to appeal to Amish voters.

But will the Amish vote for...

Read more: Will the Amish turn out for Trump? Don’t bet the farm

More Articles ...

  1. Don't let the scale fool you: Why you could still be at risk for diabetes
  2. Deadly medical errors are less common than headlines suggest
  3. What the favorite TV shows of Trump supporters can tell us about his appeal
  4. Will social media define the success of the Olympic Games?
  5. Can environmentalists learn to love – or just tolerate – nuclear power?
  6. Radicals in the Democratic Party, from Upton Sinclair to Bernie Sanders
  7. Can 'climate corridors' help species adapt to warming world?
  8. Museum economics: how the contemporary art boom is hurting the bottom line
  9. It's not 'corporate poaching' – it's a free market for brilliant people
  10. As coal mining declines, community mental health problems linger
  11. Why Bernie Sanders' supporters should be good losers
  12. As the Olympics approach, stains on Rio's architecture, infrastructure
  13. Why many people don't talk about traumatic events until long after they occur
  14. The future of genetic enhancement is not in the West
  15. Sex on TV: Less impact on teens than you might think
  16. Why Brazil's post-Olympics hangover will hit so hard
  17. Since ancient Greece, the Olympics and bribery have gone hand in hand
  18. Want college to be affordable? Start with Pell Grants
  19. In Zika, echoes of US rubella outbreak of 1964-65
  20. Philip Morris gets its ash kicked in Uruguay; where will it next blow smoke?
  21. A record 65.3 million people were displaced last year: What does that number actually mean?
  22. Why 'Sharknado 4' matters: Do climate disaster movies hurt the climate cause?
  23. How vulnerable to hacking is the US election cyber infrastructure?
  24. Traveling to Mars with immortal plasma rockets
  25. Help your children play out a story and watch them become more creative
  26. Can your Facebook friends influence your decision to buy a house?
  27. Do opioids make pain worse?
  28. German responses to terror range from cautious to conspiratorial
  29. A third term for the Clintons?
  30. More than scenery: National parks preserve our history and culture
  31. Clinton vs. Trump: Whose acceptance speech hit the right note?
  32. Will the historic nature of Clinton's nomination give her a bump in the polls?
  33. Does practice make an Olympian? Not by itself
  34. What's really behind our obsession with 'clean' athletes?
  35. Candidates control their own social media. What message are they sending?
  36. How black grassroots politics led to the 14th Amendment and black citizenship
  37. GMOs lead the fight against Zika, Ebola and the next unknown pandemic
  38. How will Turkey's failed coup and massive purge affect its economic future?
  39. Going public: Could Clinton's health care proposals work?
  40. Why Turkey wants to silence its academics
  41. What is a party platform, and why do candidates often ignore them?
  42. The science behind Hillary Clinton's problems with trust
  43. Why fear of childbirth must be studied in the US
  44. Even presidential candidates need sleep
  45. What Peru's new president can learn from Brazil's fight against corruption
  46. Gambling on limited information: our visual system and probabilistic inference
  47. The tragedy of Turkish democracy in five acts
  48. Can nature advocates save threatened Boundary Waters wilderness – again?
  49. Clinton's new college compact plan explained
  50. In Rio's bulldozed _favelas,_ echoes of America's shantytowns