Information Related to "In the News October 2010"
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A team of French scientists has found that the human brain can successfully cope with two separate tasks at the same time, but on adding a third, the brain ceases to be efficient and one task gets dropped.
This fact may explain why, when people are given a long list of choices, they are more likely to make illogical decisions. The study analyzed brain activity while participants were engaged in one, two and three different tasks.
The frontal lobe on the left side of the brain would light up with one task, and the right side followed as the second task began. When a third task was initiated, the frontal lobes couldn't keep up and the accuracy of the tasks declined rapidly (Helen Briggs, "Brain 'Splits to Multi-Task,'" News.BBC.co.uk, April 15, 2010).
The yearly Nielsen data on the American television audience for 2009 shows that 90 percent of Americans subscribe to paid television services either by cable, satellite or other wireless service. This makes cable nearly as ever-present as broadcast networks.
VCRs, which are still in 65 percent of homes, are rapidly disappearing from use, especially with the rise of DVRs. DVD players are in 88 percent of homes, but ownership is not expected to increase as online viewing grows.
On average, a household watches 58 hours and 29 minutes of television every week, which is more than eight hours each day. Interestingly, the number of viewers aged 18 to 49 shrank last year, while the number of 50-year-old and older viewers increased (Aaron Barnhart, "TV-Viewing Report a Real Eye-Opener," The Columbus Dispatch, May 1, 2010).
As laptop computers and now iPads become more mobile and creep into the bedroom, light emitted from these screens may cause sleep disruption, say some sleep researchers. Light from these electronic sources apparently tricks the brain into thinking that the artificial light is daylight, which upsets one's circadian rhythm.
Concerns about electronically induced insomnia were revived with the release of Apple's new iPad computer. Compared to e-book readers, which don't emit light, the iPad does, and the light shines directly into the eyes at a close distance (John Sutter, "Trouble Sleeping? Maybe It's Your iPad," CNN.com, May 13, 2010).
Although some researchers are skeptical of the link between insomnia and the use of computers before going to sleep, avoiding this is worth trying if you are having trouble sleeping. Experts also say that if a person has to be on the computer not long before going to bed, it's helpful to decrease the emission of blue light and increase amber light, which is easier on the eyes.
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65% of social media users didn't even attempt to block
out strangers with privacy settings.
—Kathy Kristof, "6 Things Never to Post on Facebook," Shine.Yahoo.com,
June 23, 2010
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Gaming Takes a Toll
A study done by the University of Essex in the United Kingdom tested elite online gamers to see how they compared to professional athletes and if gaming qualified as an athletic sport. They found that the gamers had the mental traits of sportsmen, nearly the reaction time of jet fighter pilots and the competitiveness of athletes. However, their physical health and fitness levels were far below actual athletes.
The sedentary lifestyle of these online games competitors leads to very poor health. One study participant had the lungs and aerobic fitness of a 60-year-old chain-smoker, even though he looked fit. Researchers fear that this kind of inactivity could contribute to rising childhood obesity levels ("Computer Gamers 'Have Reactions of Pilots but Bodies of Chain Smokers,'" Telegraph.co.uk, June 7, 2010).
As companies like Facebook and Twitter continue to try to figure out who owns all the information and images that people share, there are some things that just don't need to be online.
A recent article by Kathy Kristof gives the following six items that should never appear on your Face-book page or Twitter feed ("6 Things Never to Post on Facebook," Shine.Yahoo.com, June 23, 2010):
1. Birth date and birthplace—Day is okay, but year and place too is an I.D. theft freebie.
2. Vacation plans—Thieves live for this kind of knowledge.
3. Home address—Don't make it too easy for people to find you.
4. Confessions—This excess information could get you fired or lose you friends.
5. Password clues—mother's maiden name, birth city, etc. Don't make it easy for potential identity thieves to gather this information by posting it in your profile.
6. Risky behavior—If you are an intentionally reckless driver and brag about it, you could end up with a higher insurance premium. Insurance companies search for these types of details.
A new form of harassment has emerged for the texting generation. "Textual harassment" has become a new element of dating violence. Texts demanding to know where a dating partner is, whom she is with and ensuing threats if the texter is not answered have become common in abusive relationships.
Excessive, demanding and threatening texts are now admissible in court as evidence of stalking and other crimes, and the electronic trail is helping authorities convict perpetrators ("Text Messages Become a Growing Weapon in Dating Violence," WashingtonPost.com, June 21, 2010).
If you are a victim of this type of abuse or stalking, ask God for protection and the courage to seek help from a trusted individual and the authorities. This is not a normal part of a healthy relationship.
Researchers in Germany have discovered that seals are able to detect prey by following the invisible trails left by fish in the water. Even in low visibility and murky water, seals use their whiskers as a locating device, picking up movement in the wake of prey up to 35 seconds after the fish have passed by.
Experts believe that all seals, and likely sea lions, share this ability. The role whiskers play in hunting is comparable to echolocation used by dolphins and whales. Seals may also use their whiskers to tell the size of the fish and speed at which their prey is traveling (Richard Gray, "Seals Can Detect Underwater Wakes Left Behind by Fish," Telegraph.co.uk, June 20, 2010).
God's creation is vast and varied. The creatures He designed are brilliant in their complexity, and their God-installed instincts are astounding.
From age 20 to 22 is still acknowledged as the period by which a person should be finished with school, have a job and live on his or her own, but today many people well into their 30s are still working on these goals.
Changing economic outlooks and social mores have led to the shift in delayed maturity. More than half of college students are women, as well as almost half the workforce. These changing priorities have led to an age shift in childbearing years, from the early 20s to the 30s.
Having children is seen as a lifestyle choice rather than a mandatory part of adulthood, and while the median age for a first marriage in 1980 was 23 years old, it is now 27 for men and 26 for women (Patricia Cohen, "Long Road to Adulthood Is Growing Even Longer," The New York Times, June 11, 2010).
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