Junk Diet Rewires Rat Brains

Choosing a user name starting with a letter appearing earlier in the alphabet is just one scientifically vetted way to increase the odds of turning an online encounter into a first date. Christopher Intagliata reports

High-calorie and exceedingly pleasurable foods appear to change rat brain rewards circuitry, causing the rodents to continue to seek such fare. Erika Beras reports

Parkinson’s patients derived more benefits from a salt solution they were told was an expensive drug than from the same solution when it was described as being cheap medication. Karen Hopkin reports

Of studies presented at conferences, those that found a cognitive benefit to bilingualism were almost twice as likely to get published in journals as were studies finding no benefit. Karen Hopkin reports

Implicit bias against another race lessened after volunteers experienced themselves via virtual reality as a member of that race. Karen Hopkin reports

Levels of a protein fragment in the blood paralleled how long head injuries benched hockey players. Ingrid Wickelgren reports

If you're in an up mood, you may walk more energetically. But a study finds that purposefully walking more energetically may improve your mood. Christie Nicholson reports

Subjects who kept pace with a walking colleague estimated a potential enemy to be smaller and lighter than did other walkers who were not marching. Karen Hopkin reports

Young adults who’d had highly controlling parents were less able to stress their own viewpoints to a friend or partner in confident and productive ways. Daisy Yuhas reports

Absence from work due to illness increased dramatically for those who slept less than six hours or more than nine hours per night. Christie Nicholson reports