Writing increases test scores

Worried about taking a test and failing? Do you panic and choke when doing something critical for your job or life? Findings published in Science Magazine (vol 331:211-13, 2011) show that writing about your fears just prior to taking an important test can actually elevate test scores.

Drs. Gerardo Ramirez and Sian Beilock of the University of Chicago tested groups of high school or college age students to see if writing just prior to a test (10 minutes or so) could impact the outcome.

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WMO confirms 2010 hottest year

2010 was 0.01 degrees Celsius hotter than the number two hottest year 2005 and 0.02 degrees Celsius hotter than the third hottest year, 1998.

Having combined the datasets of Met Office’s Hadley Centre/Climatic Research Unit (HadCRU), NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), the World Meteorological Organisation can today confidently confirm 2010 broke the temperature record.

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Floods & La Niña: direct, indirect and other causes to heavy rains around the world

Extreme rainfalls and floods across different continents dominate the global news. A connection to La Niña has been suggested.

But to what extent can the floods in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, the Philippines and north-western Europe be attributed to the Pacific climate phenomenon? Here’s an extensive summary of the meteorological situation for each of the affected areas and an attempt to show the entire climate system is connected – although we can’t call all of that La Niña.

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Engineering population growth: part 1, the problem

Ask engineers and they’ll say there is an engineering solution to any problem. With respect to climate change and geoengineering that’s hotly debated, with respect to overpopulation it’s a novelty.

Today the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers presented a report called ‘Population: one planet, too many people?’ (PDF), backed by research of 70 involved engineers, issuing several engineering solutions that will have to be ‘urgently implemented’ to prevent this Century’s 2.5 billion extra people from ‘crushing earth’s resources’.

Today we’ll start with the quantitative demographic projections the report – in a somewhat random fashion – presents. Most are not based on own research, but on the medium variant of the UN World Population Prospects (2008 Revision):

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Musical high triggers dopamine release

Music is everywhere in our lives from film, television, marketing, radio, and so on. Even the musical hum of cars outside our offices is a form of music; although it’s debatable if it is pleasurable. Those who work with music as a marketing or movie enhancing tool know that musical choices are critical.

Researchers have now shown that the pleasure-inducing neurotransmitter dopamine is released in response to our favorite music and link the ancient parts of our brain involved in survival with pleasurable responses to music.

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