Spending Time in Nature Makes People Feel More Alive, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (June 3, 2010) — Feeling sluggish? The solution may require getting outside the box -- that big brick-and-mortar box called a building.

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OH Senate Passes Bill Banning Human-Animal Hybrids

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday June 03, @12:10PM
from the no-centaurs-allowed dept.

An anonymous reader writes"The sci-fi movie Splice seems to have scared the Ohio's State Senator Steve Buehrer. The Ohio Senate has passed Sen. Buehrer's bill banning 'the creation, transportation, or receipt of a human-animal hybrid, the transfer of a nonhuman embryo into a human womb, and the transfer of a human embryo into a nonhuman womb.' So much for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

Study Finds That "Extreme Gamers" Play 48 Hours a Week

Posted by Soulskill on Friday June 04, @12:57AM
from the i-blame-blizzard dept.

games

An anonymous reader writes"Think you're a big gamer? According to a new study from market research firm NPD Group, to be considered among the real hardcore you'll need to play an average of 48.5 hours a week — nearly seven hours a day. This group of gamers is, on average, '29 years old, and — perhaps surprisingly — one-third of them are female. They're more likely to play on consoles than on the PC, and on average they've purchased 24 titles in the past three months — a bill that could easily run over a thousand dollars. But dedicated though they may be, the Extreme Gamers are just a small minority: a mere 4% of the US's 174-million-strong gaming public. '"

Muppets Train IBM

Snails On Methamphetamine

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday June 01, @02:09PM
from the escargot-on-ice dept.

sciencehabit writes"Science answers the question: What happens when you put a snail on speed? From the article: 'The results suggest that meth improves memory, something that has been previously observed in creatures with large, complex brains like rats and humans. But since the snails store their memories in a simple, three-neuron network, the team hopes that studying the meth effect in these gastropods will help pinpoint how the drug's memory magnification powers work.'"

Students Show a Dramatic Drop In Empathy

Posted by kdawson on Sunday May 30, @05:33PM
from the well-boo-hoo dept.

education

science

MotorMachineMercenar writes"Several news sources report that today's college students show a precipitous drop in empathy (here's MSNBC's take). The study of 14,000 students shows that students since the year 2000 had 40% less empathy than those 20 and 30 years before them. The article lays out a laundry list of culprits, from child-rearing practices and the self-help movement, to video games and social media, to a free-market economy and income inequality. There's also a link so you can test your very own level of narcissism. Let's hope the Slashdot crowd doesn't break the empathy counter on the downside."