In sports, on a game show, or just on the job, what causes people to choke when the stakes are high? A new study by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) suggests that when there are high financial incentives to succeed, people can become so afraid of losing their potentially lucrative reward that […] … learn more→

The Tennessee legislature recently passed a bill stating that teachers cannot encourage “gateway sexual activity,” as part of the state\’s abstinence-based sexual education movement. Seizing the opportunity implied by the new law, officials in Sumner County last week banned John Green’s Young Adult novel “Looking for Alaska” from the school curriculum because it contains an […] … learn more→

Think about the ideal student. He or she focuses on learning, not grades; improvement, not appearances; competency, not competition. This person wants to understand and grow, not just prove how smart he or she is. So how is that mindset – which tends to lead to high levels of engagement and performance, resiliency in the […] … learn more→

Leela Prasad knew that asking a class of Duke students to devote all of their courses over an entire year to studying topics related to India — on two continents, no less — would be a challenge. An international video phone call eased her concerns about whether the students would embrace it. \”While we were […] … learn more→

Evidence for a forgotten ancient language which dates back more than 2,500 years, to the time of the Assyrian Empire, has been found by archaeologists working in Turkey. … learn more→

Rick Perry, was once quoted as saying: “The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land we inhabit are not only critical elements in the quality of life we enjoy – they are a reflection of the majesty of our Creator.” Given that the current governor of Texas and former candidate for US […] … learn more→

Calling something a “scientific truth” is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it carries a kind of epistemic (how we know) credibility, a quality assurance that a truth has been arrived at in an understandable and verifiable way. On the other, it seems to suggest science provides one of many possible categories of truth, […] … learn more→

With each passing day commercial interests seem to find new ways to harness the tools on which the web was built. Policy initiatives such as the US’s now-defunct SOPA and in-progress CISPA now involve the sharing our online activities, raising the ire of groups from Anonymous to Wikipedia. There is, it seems, a never-ending battle […] … learn more→

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is co-ordinating a new venture to tackle short-lived global warming agents such as black carbon. Should we be paying more attention to black carbon? Yes, indeed we should, because black carbon plays complicated and multi-faceted roles in global carbon dynamics. It also poses some deep research challenges and moral […] … learn more→

When Thailand’s government started offering microfinance loans to villagers, did anyone benefit … learn more→